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Finding the Demon's Fiddle: On the Trail of the Ravanhattha
A European arrives in India and comes upon an ancient mythical instrument. This instrument, the Ravanhattha, is not only the earliest ancestor of the western violin, but was also, according to the early versions of the Ramayana, invented by the Great Demon King, Ravana.
Who exactly was Ravana? Was he just the vengeful abductor of Sita and the sworn enemy of Lord Ram? Or was he the wise and compassionate ruler of Lanka? Could Ravana be responsible for the birth of Zen Buddhism in Japan? How did Ravana contribute to the invention of Chinese Kung Fu? As the author's fascination for the Ravanhattha and his growing obsession with the Demon King himself take over, he is drawn into a world of desert musician-priests, obscure traditions and vibrant characters. This intimate and often humorous account of Patrick Jered's visit to India and Sri Lanka, reads like an engaging page-turner of a novel. The author skilfully interweaves a personal travel narrative with the history, scripture and arcane religions surrounding the Ravanhattha, drawing together several tales that all eventually reach their own surprising conclusions.
Who exactly was Ravana? Was he just the vengeful abductor of Sita and the sworn enemy of Lord Ram? Or was he the wise and compassionate ruler of Lanka? Could Ravana be responsible for the birth of Zen Buddhism in Japan? How did Ravana contribute to the invention of Chinese Kung Fu? As the author's fascination for the Ravanhattha and his growing obsession with the Demon King himself take over, he is drawn into a world of desert musician-priests, obscure traditions and vibrant characters. This intimate and often humorous account of Patrick Jered's visit to India and Sri Lanka, reads like an engaging page-turner of a novel. The author skilfully interweaves a personal travel narrative with the history, scripture and arcane religions surrounding the Ravanhattha, drawing together several tales that all eventually reach their own surprising conclusions.
618 pages, Hardcover
First published March 17, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 13, 2015
Always interesting to read a book about a writer travelling in India and more passionate about our country and its multi faceted history. The story pulled me in but it is in the end about Patrick's journey through religion and myth and history. I do want to visit and read more of Sri Lanka and Rajasthan's history of Ravana. It was a long long book and am so glad it is over as he is not as easy to read as say a William Daryample...
July 16, 2021
As author Finding the Demon's Fiddle: On the Trail of the Ravanhattha rightly claims that book does not fall in most of the predefined categories like a autobiography, travelogue or proper research on the music / instrument, this seems so very correct. It is an experience worth going...
Honestly, such madness is required to write a wonderful book like this. After hearing music on Ravanhatta during visit to India, he starts an amazing journey in India and Sri Lanka. I have been to Rajasthan several times but never heard this instrument. In fact, never seen a single picture or some remote reference of it.
However author successfully founds a lot (in real sense) about the instrument and some more interesting facts. There are some sentences like below which are worth re-reading and framing...
"The only real difference between classical and folk music, she had learned, was that classical music was abstraction of what went in people's heads, whereas folk music was the expression of what went in their lives."
Editors repeated some lines (in fact paragraphs) and instead of author they need to be careful for such gross errors.
One of the most interesting learning from book is about several local versions of Ramayana and temple of Ravana. A recommended reading.
Honestly, such madness is required to write a wonderful book like this. After hearing music on Ravanhatta during visit to India, he starts an amazing journey in India and Sri Lanka. I have been to Rajasthan several times but never heard this instrument. In fact, never seen a single picture or some remote reference of it.
However author successfully founds a lot (in real sense) about the instrument and some more interesting facts. There are some sentences like below which are worth re-reading and framing...
"The only real difference between classical and folk music, she had learned, was that classical music was abstraction of what went in people's heads, whereas folk music was the expression of what went in their lives."
Editors repeated some lines (in fact paragraphs) and instead of author they need to be careful for such gross errors.
One of the most interesting learning from book is about several local versions of Ramayana and temple of Ravana. A recommended reading.
December 14, 2022
2.5/5 The premise of the book seemed interesting - the search for the origins of Ravanhatta - a bowed musical instrument supposedly invented by Ravana himself. What better than a travelogue combining mythology ? I had loved Nine Lives and India: A Sacred Geography by foreign authors earlier, so decided to read this too.
It started well but the main problem was that after the 40% mark, it became repetitive and tedious. Except for his travel to Sri Lanka , there was little of interest in the second half of this 600 page tome. With a skilled editor, might have made for a really good travelogue. A decent read but short of greatness certainly.
It started well but the main problem was that after the 40% mark, it became repetitive and tedious. Except for his travel to Sri Lanka , there was little of interest in the second half of this 600 page tome. With a skilled editor, might have made for a really good travelogue. A decent read but short of greatness certainly.
September 11, 2017
The Meer hint of Hindu mythology on the cover predicts this book to be an interesting read. But once you start ravelling the pages, it takes many an interesting forms !
It's certainly an interesting travelogue with intriguing situations dealt by the author in the course of his journey.
It's a lovely and a subtle read.
Specially recommended for the travellers, star gazers, solitude lovers and of course for those who believe that there lies a connection, between anything to everything.
It's certainly an interesting travelogue with intriguing situations dealt by the author in the course of his journey.
It's a lovely and a subtle read.
Specially recommended for the travellers, star gazers, solitude lovers and of course for those who believe that there lies a connection, between anything to everything.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews