Author: Amish Tripathi
Publishing Company: Westland Ltd.
Pages: 397
Price: Rs. 195
With a sadhu in its cover page gesturing it as a mythological fiction (as I am not greatly inclined towards mythology & history), I didn’t give it a damn to reading this piece of narration, a debut by Amish (Tripathi) -who prefers to be called by his first name only as he doesn’t endorse caste system, which his first series of trilogy depicts where Lord Ram established the Maika system in the empire. But, it’s instant hullabaloo in the market, and a recommendation with urge by the bookseller made me turn its pages. So, apparently certain anxiety groomed to read the magical thrill behind the scenes.
It had failed to impress me first time, and I decided to
lock it in the cupboard. But then, I went for a second chance to romance with
the depiction of landscape & lifestyle of Gunas & Meluhans up to a few
of pages, until I found a solace.
Shiva is a Tibetan immigrant whose tribe gets chosen by the
Meluhans to spend a peaceful and rich lifestyle in a near perfect empire. This decision
of migration might change the fate of Shiva for he would not be the chief but a
regular guy. He accepts the offer as it should be better off rather to fight
the Pakratis everyday for the survival.
With his entrance in the kingdom of Daksha, his destiny
turns, to the depth of confusion, which he eventually accepts. And, its credit
goes to the medicinal drink- Somras- which brought blue colour to the throat of
Shiva, and thus, he was being declared Neelkanth- the god of Gods who had been
eagerly awaited by the Meluhans to protect them from the evil spirits, Chandravanshis.
The sense of duty of Neelkanth towards
the Meluhans was also driven by his love for Sati. Sati was a vikarma, where
her bad fate had been carried off with an unfortunate event in the past. Amid
the misery of where Shiva’s fate drives him, he found unveiled truth about the
Chandravanshis. Later, with the guidance of Pandits he found serenity without
discrimination.
In the last two pages, Pandit advises Shiva to go for his
wife’s comforting embrace as they would discuss the conversation later, and here
Amish leaves readers with the anxiety of ‘next what?’.
So, to unveil the truth behind the picture, you have to
spend some bucks for the next two books in series. ;)
I observed that the author had gone with the flow so much
that he forgot to answer the queries of his protagonist (Shiva) – why did his
tribe get chosen by the Meluhans.
I liked the way the author has portrayed the character of
Daksha in respect to Shiva, unlike its depiction in the Hindu mythology; which
brought my interest to read the other characters. I applaud his questioning of
Lord Ram’s verdict for Sita.
Love of Shiva and Sati was very much Bollywood style which
might be the raison d’être of its movie version- soon to be filmed. Albeit, it fascinated
me first, but later it seemed exaggerated with their contest over the choice of
baby.
With some grammatical errors, I doubt if the editors have displayed
their consummation with conviction.
It’s a plain fiction with its characters’ names in
resemblance with the characters of the Hindu mythology. Don’t misunderstand it
with anything to do with mythology. It interested me later despite my mood
swing, so yes, it’s readable. I have found it average one.
Tell me, how much it fascinated you.
