Shiva Trilogy by Amish Tripathy

Anyone who loves reading fictions, ought to admit that our Mythology has enough resource in it that is yet unexplored. I am not a voracious reader of book and I do not have a pattern to what I read. I pick book that can kindle my interest.

I got to know about the Shiva Trilogy from many and also the many reviews about the two installments “Immortals of Meluha” and “The Secret of Nagas”.

 “Immortals of Meluha”. It’s the first book of the Shiva Trilogy by Amish Tripathy.

The book is written in simple English and is very easy to understand. I soon realised that my apprehension about the handling of such mythical characters and the events to follow in the story was pleasant and the transition and connection from mythology to fiction to history was flawless. All the characters became more and more humane and myths started becoming historical facts. Shiva ceased to be the God we worship but is a tribal hed then to that of a hero, a warrior, a lover, a husband, a father, a respected leader and in the end to the Shiva that we are familiar with...

In “Immortals of Meluha”, the progression of a tribal head to a leader was so captivating, that I was unable to put the book down even for a while. It was unstoppable.

Not to give you some idea about the plot, the story happens to a major part in the near perfect empire of Meluha. This empire was created many centuries earlier by one of the greatest emperor Lord Ram and the subsequent rulers and people are terms as “Suryavanshi’s”. The primary river of the empire is the revered Saraswati and this river is very essential to their existence. This empire is faced with incessant terrorist attacks from the east, the land of the Chandravanshis (Ayodhya) who have joined forces with the Nagas (a cursed race with physical deformities).

Daksha is the king of Meluha and he sends his messengers to Tibet and far of land to invite tribes to migrate and live in Meluha. One of the invited tribes from Tibet is the Gunas, whose chief Shiva is a brave warrior and protector. Shiva accepts the proposal and moves to Meluha with his people. On their very first night, the Gunas wake up amid high fever and sweating. Ayurvati, the Chief of Medicine of the Meluhans, carries on the healing process. However, Ayurvati finds out that Shiva is the only one devoid of these symptoms and that his throat has turned blue. The Meluhans announce Shiva as the Neelkanth, their fabled savior.

The story then moves on little romantic note when Shive meets Sati and his attraction soon turns to respect, attraction, love and marriage. Sati refuses Shiva’s initial attempts and she is believes that she is cursed due to past lifes sins and she is untouchable under Meluhan laws. Sati is more worried about protecting Meluha from the terrorist attacks on its main research facility at Mount Mandar that killed.

Shiva announces himself Neelkanth and leads the Meluhan army against the Chandravanshis of Swadeep. With the Meluhan general Parvateshwar, he leads and encourages the army calling each of them as Mahadev – “Har Ek Mahadev – Har Har Mahadev”. The battle is won – but at Ayodhya – the capital of defeated Swadeep, Shiva finds Sati, now his wife getting attacked by a Naga!

The Second book, “Secret of Nagas” starts exactly from where “Immortals of Meluha” ended – with the attack on Sati by a fierce Naga. How they found reclusive residents of land beyond Ganga in the east – the Branga, and eventually met the Nagas of south the feared Dandak forest.

This book further etches out the character’s humane side, as Shiva explores to differentiate Good from Evil. It compares the near perfect lives of Meluhas against the chaotic lifestyle of Chandravanshis. How regimen of Meluha helps them to keep order while killing innovation and creativity, the very two aspects that marks the success of chaotic Chandravanshi way of life. Shiva’s journey slowly brings out the characters of his son Kartikeya and Sati’s estranged sister Kali and son Ganesh. It keeps you wondering how author’s treatment of characters explains so many myths of our Gods and Goddesses, and makes them so much believable. True to the captivating narrative with one surprise after another in the First book, the second one was no lesser. This book recreated the same effect at the end of “Immortal’s of Meluha”. Taking on the Third book “The Oath of the Vayuptra’s was uncontrollable and the eagerness to continue was immense.

The third and the final book in the Shiva Trilogy “The Oath of the Vayuputra’s” has just over 500 pages. To me this book does not get the same rating at the previous two books. I was extremely disappointed with the way the story unfolds in this book... the protagonist, Shiva who was supposed to demonstrate traits which will help him become a God from being a mere mortal, has been reduced to someone who has just got plain lucky from start. The real hero of this book is Sati, she steals the show with her valor, compassion, and for being the women-women. I was unable to read the book in full and it was just dragging and the events lacked suspense and speed. The fact at the end of the book, Shiva still remains nothing but a mortal being who was very lucky and blessed and exactly was what I had expected!!

After all, thanks to the Shiva trilogy, Shiva is now a living companion, an almost flesh and blood character whom I can reach out and touch!

Whatever said, a very big thanks to Amish for his errforts to make Shiva so dear to people.