THE IMMORTALS OF MELUHA
The Immortals of Meluha is the first book in Amish
Tripathi’s Shiva Trilogy which is 439 pages long,divided into 26 chapters with
a glossary of the Sanskrit/Hindi terminology. What makes this book, and the
following two, a good read is the simplicity of language and an easy and racy
narrative style. The plot hardly ever slows down enough for the reader to lose
interest as one event leads to another.
The story is set in a country not yet named
India and at a time when the mountainous abode
of Shiva was not known by the name of Tibet. In The Immortals of Meluha Amish
presents Lord Shiva as a human God who was not born a God but was thrust into
the role of one and fulfilled his destiny by making all the right choices and
doing his duty towards mankind. So when people read the novel, they will feel
as if God is someone who is one among us.
Amish
reintroduces us to some very basic tenets of human nature when he speaks of the
prominent features of the Suryavanshi and Chandravanshi societies (the clan of
the sun and the moon) and their differences. Mulling over this concept, I
realized that in our real world, we can actually classify people into
Suryavanshis and Chandravanshis too, based on their characteristics and
personalities. Asuras or demons and Suryavanshis represent the male characteristics,
while the Devas or gods and Chandravanshis represent the female features. Amish cleverly portrays how the Suryavanshis want the
Mahadev to help them annihilate the Chandravanshis while the Chandravanshis are
expecting Him to join their side against the Suryavanshis. The truth instead is
that the Mahadev has to look beyond the petty bickering of the two clans and
instead tackle a larger evil among them – all that threatens the very existence
of humanity.
The Immortals of Meluha reimagines Lord Shiva, one of the
Holy Trinity of Hindu Gods, as a mortal champion destined for greatness, a
change which is quite staggering in its implications since Lord Shiva is a part
of the core Hinduism beliefs and a major of the religion’s mythology is built
around him and his actions and his favours towards gods, mortals and demons
alike. This change necessitates a rewrite of almost all of Lord Shiva’s own
mythology and the people who interacted with him. To put it in a Western
Christian context, imagine that God is not a God but a unique individual within
a pre-existing Christian society and that he redefined the entire society and
culture when He came into His own after facing numerous adventures and trials
which tested His faith to its very limits.
Considering
the novel entirely on its own merits, I’ll have to say that it is a truly
wonderful debut. It has characters that I loved reading. The pacing is quite on
the straight and narrow. The level of exploration of the internal mythology is
superb. The novel seeks to turn some gender, societal and cultural norms on
their head and present a modern Indian epic that can appeal to people who
believe and support gender equality, while at the same time presenting these
norms in their proper context.
There is a level of pure excitement and
energy in the way that Amish Tripathi directs the entire mystery and purpose of
the “Neelkanth”. He intermixes the mythic clans of the Suryavanshis and
Chandravanshis, descendants of the Sun and Moon respectively, into this mystery,
represented by the people of the Kingdoms of Meluha and Swadweep. He also goes
on to put the Nagas, a species of humanoidal snakes, as the antagonists, and so
sets the stage for an epic conflict that has some interesting and far-reaching
consequences for everyone involved. That Shiva, the Neelkanth, is the
catalyst for these changes is another highlight of the novel, and it is an
element that I feel Amish Tripathi captured really well. The author has taken core concepts of Hindu mythology, done his own
unique spin on them, and then told a compelling and involved epic that feels
true to the epic fantasy/mythological fantasy genre. His characters, such as
Shiva himself and his intended romantic interest Princess Sati of Meluha, live
and breathe as characters of worth and purpose, characters who have a potential
that the author makes sure to take advantage of throughout the novel. Sati is
definitely a standout character in several aspects, more so for the fact that
she is rarely, if ever, a damsel in distress. She is a daughter of warriors and
her beliefs and attitudes are true to that legacy. She stands alongside Shiva
as an equal rather than someone used to move along his story
Amish Tripathi uses
a lot of modern jargon in the novel. It breaks the suspension of disbelief and
breaks the setting. I am willing to give the author some benefit of the doubt
since Indian terms and concepts do not translate well into English, but the
author simply went overboard in this respect. This really could have been
handled a lot better. The author describes many situations and often the
characters mouth dialogues and terms as if they were living in the modern era
instead of four millennia ago as per the tale settings. This was a point, which
has been criticized by many readers as well as many critics and is a thoroughly
valid one. This is the one major flaw of an otherwise very good debut. Many
might feel that the story seems very formulaic by epic fantasy standards in
spite of the Indian settings and that might something to keep in mind while
reading this debut. The characters appear a bit two-dimensional and are also a
bit predictable however since this is the first volume, I think we can wait to
see how the individual and overall characters arc pan out in the remaining volumes.
The story was based
on Meluha—the probable ancient
name for the Indus Valley
Civilisation, according to modern historians. Tripathi also included the Indian
Royal lineage of the Sun and the Moon Dynasties, calling them Suryavanshis and Chandravanshis. For the mythological parts in the
novel, Tripathi relied on the stories and fables that he had heard in his
childhood from his family. Tripathi's grandfather was a pundit and his parents are avid readers of
Indian mythology, hence he found it easy to trust what he had heard from his
parents and grandparents, and relied on them for the stories in the novel.
This book will
transport you to a different world, a world of perfection and chaos. Where life
can be chosen and destroyed, immortality is blessed upon the citizen who leads
a rather principled lifestyle without any form of rebellion. It is mythical
journey of infinite possibilities. Though, the work is fiction. The author
vivid imagination takes you to that journey steep in mystery . There is a clear
description of places and events that will make you feel like you are reading
an ancient history, that could have taken place thousands of years. It will
engrossed you with the author’s riveting way of writing. This book captures how
a warrior in search of his destiny , came to a land where he is worship as a
God. He must make the decisions to fight against what is perceived as evil,
only to find out the enemy is not really what he has always thought to be. He
is made to question his own better judgement. An in this search to fight
against evil, he has to sacrifice and lose out many things that has always been
dear to him.
The Immortals of
Meluha is a
ground-breaking novel that has set a new bar for Indian-themed fantasy, and
thus it is of immense value in that respect alone. It shows that what Western
mainstream fantasy has been doing for decades, Indian fantasy can do as well. I
look on at it as an important milestone that has already put Indian fantasy on
the world-map.
-
PRIYANKA TOMY
