Book Review : The immortals of Meluha : Shiva Trilogy by Amish Tripathi
In Short:
After cricket & movies, religion is the third obsession
of Indians(not particularly in that order) and Amish has recognised & used
it well in his fiction woven around Lord Shiva. This is the first book of a
series of 3 books. The other 2 books are also out.
Before I reach to the plot, let me clarify that this book by
no means is a portrayal of Lord Shiva’s life or deeds and is as good as any
other fiction with the only exceptions of making it relatively easier to
connect by using Shiva’s name and other related character’s name for the plot.
The story weaves around Shiva, a clan leader from Tibet who
travels to Meluha: A land of Suryavanshis (a clan that follows solar calendar).
His journey took a turn when he became “Neelkanth: The God” as his throat
turned blue on drinking somras (a famous drink that delays ageing). The
Meluhans, who called themselves Suryavanshis, believed that the Neelkanth will
one day come as their saviour and save them from all the evils. Chandravanshis
(a clan that follows lunar calendar) were perceived as the evil by all the Meluhans/Suyravanshis.
Shiva takes on the responsibility and started the battle against Chandravanshis
leading it from the front. The battle ends leading to victory for Suryavanshi’s
but not the end of evil. As Shiva then realises that another tribe responsible
for all attacks :Nagas are not related to Chandravanshis and therefore his task
is not yet complete
The romance of Sati: daughter of King Daksha , the ruler of
Meluha and Shiva and the friendship of Shiva & Bhadra serves as a sub-plot
Key Picks &
Critics:
- The definition of Har Har Mahadev as “We all are Gods” is being criticised as the wrong interpretation of the phrase
- The fictious character ‘Shiva’ is an uneducated tribal who smokes marijuana and is thus being criticised for the association with Lord Shiva
- Terms used throughout the book like “Oxygen” amongst other words like “damn”, “bullshit” and “idiot” were definitely not used four millennia ago !
Author:
Following the trend, an IIM passout who turned author in
order to follow his passion, Amish after 14 years of engagement with financial
sector came up with these books. The first book was rejected by quite a few
publishers before finally getting a chance and then there was nothing stopping
him.
For review
of the Second & Third book of Shiva Trilogy : The secret of the Nagas , The
oath of the Vayuputras - Watch out this
space!
He and his books are a rage! Recently he came to Infosys Bangalore for book reading event and it was telecasted live across other DCs; but I could not attend.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the review. I didn't get time to read much about it. In fact I have purposefully not read his books because I did not want my impression of Lord Shiva to be diluted and distorted by fictitious writings in 21th century. I am a great fan of Devdutt Pattanaik and love his books on Shiva. Let us see if I read Amish. But I read that Amish is a Shiv Bhakt (devotee) and hence I was encouraged to read him...