December | 2011 | Civilprincess blogs here...

Lets start this way…

Who is Shiva???

No… I’m not joking… Seriously. Who is Shiva? At least who do you think he is? 😮

I know i’ll get most obvious answer: “A God. The destroyer in the Holy Trinity of Hindu mythology“.

That is the exact answer I would have given if you had asked this question to me a couple of months back. The book “Immortals of Meluha” has made me question the same answer that I would have given. I tell you my respect for Shiva has not decreased even by a milligram… but I’ve started seeing him in a whole new angle… like a hero. 🙂

Set in the 1900 BC, The Immortals of Meluha is

The story of the man,

whom the legend turned into a God.

And this post is a review of this awesome book that I read recently. It starts with an assumption: “What if Shiva was a normal man just like you and me and he showed his capacity and rose to the post (if I can say so) of a “God””.

I know you must be so confused now… do read on.. 😉 😀

The first book of the Shiva Trilogy by Amish Tripati starts with Shiva as a tibetian tribal leader who along with his tribe moves from their homeland (Mansarovar, Himalayan Foothills) to “Meluha”, a land that was earlier mistaken to be the Indus Valley Civilisation. The history of this new land was that it was established by Lord Ram (another mortal who rose to the level of God). It is a really civilized place and there is not a single instance of disorder in the place. Within a couple of days since his arrival in Devgiri (Capital of Meluha), it becomes evident that he is none other than the legendary Neelkanth, the only one (The Chosen one) who can save them against evil. He then joins the Suryavanshis and decides do the job assigned to him by the prophesy, to fight the evil. There starts the journey which makes Shiva, the mortal man, worthy enough for the position of God.

The Suryavanshis wage a war on the Chandravanshis who have allied with the Nagas, the deformed humans with enormous strength and martial skills and also known as carriers of bad fate, and it is believed that they have been responsible for the terrorist attacks in the Meluha. The incident that sparks revenge against Nagas in Shiva is the killing of his beloved friend. In the war that is waged with the sole intent of destruction of evil, Shiva doubts if he has got his target right.

With an awesome flow of events, the story line is gripping. The writing style is fresh and the author’s eye for detail is clearly shown when he links the characters from the mythology to the characters portrayed in this story. This debut book of Amish has the right portion of every thing like action, comedy, love, drama, etc. The book is easily the best among the stories related to mythology. It is a book that couldn’t stop reading in one stretch. 🙂

Here are some trailers released by the author for the Shiva Trilogy I.