The Immortals of Meluha – by Amish Tripathi (Spoiler Alerts!)

I had seen the book in the library on earlier occasions. The front cover depicted someone who looked like Lord Shiva. ‘The Immortals of Meluha’ the title read. Maybe another fantasy novel for kids, I would always think before moving on. Even when a young colleague in office excitedly mentioned reading it, I didn’t think about reading it myself.

Then over lunch, one day, I asked her what Shiva’s connection to this ‘Meluha’ was. She said that the book is about  Shiva’s journey from an ordinary person to the Mahadev – The God of the Gods. Interesting! Maybe this will be a practical take on the mythological tales. I remembered reading the translated version of ‘Parva’ by noted Kannada writer S. L. Bhyrappa. Its contents had left me fascinated and shocked at the same time.

Intrigued, I brought the book with me on my next visit to the library. I picked it up, started reading and then began looking forward to the evening bus journey home when I would get a chance to pick up from where I had left off the earlier day. This indeed is a journey of Shiva’s life before he became Mahadev. The characters in his life – Sati, Daksha, Nandi – are more or less the same. But their journey is different than the one depicted in the scriptures. Some ancient terms like Somras are explained in practical terms. So much so that you wonder why didn’t you think of it this way before. On the other hand, some material sounds bizarre like e.g. the Chief Scientist of Meluha talking about anti-oxidants. But all in all, I rather like the Shiva who says ‘Damn it’ and doesn’t mind flirting harmlessly than the one who sits on Kailash grim-faced and angry. :-)

That said, some aspects of the story are eerily similar to the modern day and age e.g. the letter sent by the Chandravanshi king to Daksha denying their role on the attack on Mount Mandar seems as if it is sent straight from Pakistan. This, when combined with the information that the Chandravanshis flaunt the symbol of moon as an important part of their ancestry makes one wonder if this was just a coincidence. The author mentions that Ram Chandra means ‘moon faced’ – but I doubt if ‘Ram’ means ‘face’ in Sanskrit. Similarly, the word ‘Namaste’ does not come from ‘Nama astu te’ but from ‘Namah te’. ‘Namah astu te’ becomes ‘Namostute’. The word ‘Varjish’ from ‘Varjish Graha’ sounds more Persian than Sanskrit.  The author mentions Prahar as a measure of time and then talks about minutes & seconds while measuring the speed of the archers. Oops!

I must admit though that I read one paragraph 2-3 times before I moved on – what the priest at the RamjanmaBhumi temple tells Shiva about good and evil.

The strength that evil has it overestimated, my friend. It is not so difficult to annihilate. All it takes is for a few good men to decide that they will fight it. At practically all the times that evil has raised its head, it has met the same fate. It has been destroyed.

With the news of Sarabjit Singh’s death so fresh in my mind, the words sounded oddly comforting. I almost wished I was at the temple instead of Shiva. :-(

So all in all, I loved the story and was mightily disappointed when the library attendant told me that none of the copies of the 2^nd part of the trilogy – The Secret of The Nagas – were available. My colleague offered to lend me her copy but I told her I would wait. 

It’s always worth waiting for good things :-)