THE IMMORTALS OF MELUHA - Amish

The legend of Shiva, the Destroyer God according to Hindu mythology, is a very fertile ground for authors to adapt and weave magic tales of adventure from. Amish Tripathi in his Shiva trilogy aspires to do that. The Immortals of Meluha is first of the three.

This book is based on the belief that actions, deeds and karma are the only determining factors to metamorphose an ordinary man to a God-like figure or one whom legends make God! Amish, in his book, attempts to humanize the Hindu infinite 'Mahadev', The God of Gods and the Destroyer of Evil, with a refreshing take on mythology, but wavers in the process. Shiva's life, that he depicts, is credible in some parts and amateurish in others. It will definitely appeal to those who have no knowledge about mythology, but not to those who are acquainted with some facts about Shiva.

The story is set in Meluha, a near perfect land, around where the Indus Valley civilization existed. Shiva, a young tribal from Tibet, comes to Meluha with his tribe and discovers that he is the legendary 'Neelkanth', the Savior, who is apparently supposed to destroy evil which the Suryavanshis comprehend as destroying the neighbouring Chandravanshis.

The story is written in simple manner, which, however, in places comes out as neither fluent nor gripping. Another aspect gone wrong is the oversimplistic plot and cheesy dialogues. That does not humanize Shiva, rather makes the entire story sound filmy. Even the development of secondary characters is not done well enough. The intriguing part, however, are a few descriptions of the society. It does seem believable at first, making the reader wonder whether this was actually the case and has been interpreted in a pretty different way by the religious and other ancient texts. However, other concepts like the non-acceptance of disfigured people and the weird idea of newly born babies being taken away from their parents soon after their birth sounded preposterous.

Even though there was a mixing of various historical events which in a way took the entire chronological timeline of India for a spin, I felt a considerable liking in the underlying philosophy that what is considered evil or wrong by some may not be perceived in the similar way by others. There were also other theories mentioned which were appreciable.

Overall, Amish had a good idea and an interesting concept in mind, but was not able to execute it properly. It is good in parts, and will be liked by those who are willing to overlook the obvious inaccuracies. Moreover, the biggest credit of the book can be accounted for as introducing the clueless youth, as well as others, to the culture and mythology of our country.