Immortals of Meluha

Amish Tripathi takes the concept - what if Lord Shiva was not a God but a man like us who became a God - and develops it into one of the best Indian books to come out in a long time. This is the story of how a Tibetan tribal leader became the most revered, respected, feared, loved and admired legend and how Lord Shiva - Mahadev and destroyer of evil came into being. It deals beautifully with the myths surrounding the legend.

This book presents lord Shiva as a young tribal leader in Kailash Mansarovar, -a chilled out guy- whose favorite pastime is to smoke marijuana with his friend. The book follows his journey to a city called Meluha which is ruled by the descendants of Lord Ram.

The book presents a beautiful juxtaposition of the perceived good and evil; the “by the books” and “the free spirited”. The author does a remarkable job in narrating the story by treating the mythological characters with logic. For example the character Nandi is not actually a bull but a person from the bull caste.The story is fast paced and interesting. Amish manages to keep the reader completely engrossed. The best part of the book is that it makes almost all the God legends into possible human beings who achieved greatness and contributed so much to society that story tellers made them Gods.

'The Immortals of Meluha' explains how Lord Shiva got Nandi, a blue throat and the Trishul. I am eagerly waiting for Amish's next two books and his view on the rest. Keep an open mind and take Amish’s writing for face value.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GP8Qzv2r3iI