The Immortals of Meluha (2010)

Paperback

Language: English

Author: Amish Tripathi

This is the first of the Shiva Trilogy by Amish Tripathi. The author has taken Hindu mythology and has fictionalized it a bit to give a good novel.

The story is about the fight between the Meluhan Suryavanshi’s and the Chandravanshi’s who have joined force with the Naga’s to defeat the Meluhan’s. The king of Meluha invites various tribes to his country (Expat workers ?!!), one of them is a tribe from Tibet of which the leader is Shiva.

From the serene personality shown in the backdrop of Mount Kailash with his trishul, damaru & a snake coiled around his deep blue coloured neck we have seen in calendars, books and in our pooja rooms, we see a completely different Shiva here. A chillum bearing, marijuana smoking warrior and a lovable leader of a tribe.

Although the characterization takes a while to settle in you, it doesn’t disturb you. By the end of the first few pages the author manages to pull the readers into the fictional web he spins. Mahadev becomes a post occupied by great leaders, Somras makes Shiva’s throat go blue, Sati who becomes Shiva’s wife is a widow who remarries him.

There are places where you feel a slight reduction in the intensity with which the book moves. But by and large the author manages to keep the reader glued to the pages. And more importantly you start thinking about the second book by the time you finish this one.

A very good read