Shiva #1 The Immortals of Meluha

An enticing synopsis, the ever elusive Indian mythology and my first Indian literature by a modern author. Presenting my honest views of Shiva #1 The Immortals of Meluha by Amish Tripathi and it was so so...read on and find out why.....(foreign readers please make note that this is trilogy is a work of fiction and by all means not what the Hindu religious scriptures say)

Here is the summary of the book:

1900 BC. In what modern Indians mistakenly call the Indus Valley Civilisation. The inhabitants of that period called it the land of Meluha a near perfect empire created many centuries earlier by Lord Ram, one of the greatest monarchs that ever lived. This once proud empire and its Suryavanshi rulers face severe perils as its primary river, the revered Saraswati, is slowly drying to extinction. They also face devastating terrorist attacks from the east, the land of the Chandravanshis. To make matters worse, the Chandravanshis appear to have allied with the Nagas, an ostracised and sinister race of deformed humans with astonishing martial skills! 

The only hope for the Suryavanshis is an ancient legend: When evil reaches epic proportions, when all seems lost, when it appears that your enemies have triumphed, a hero will emerge. 

Is the rough-hewn Tibetan immigrant Shiva, really that hero? And does he want to be that hero at all? Drawn suddenly to his destiny, by duty as well as by love, will Shiva lead the Suryavanshi vengeance and destroy evil?


Like every Pantheon of Gods in every religion around the world, India is also not far behind....we have our own Pantheon in the Hindu Religion - the big three Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva (also known as Mahesha) and the lesser famous deities Indra, Varun, Agni, etc. and the Shiva Trilogy is based upon this fact only, they are Gods but how did they become known were they divine entities or just simple Homo sapiens like us who became known hundreds of years later as Gods for the deeds they performed centuries ago.


Shiva in the 1900 BC, a rough hewn Tibetian immigrant, he is the leader of his tribe and as he is drawn to his destiny he and his whole tribe leave their old life style and go to Meluha, what modern India mistakenly known as the Indus Valley Civilization, a near perfect empire created centuries before by the Lord Ram but all in not perfect they face the extinction of their most important river, Saraswati and in addition to it terrorist attacks.  Is Shiva, really their hero as the legend of the Neelkantha says but the important question is will he accept his destiny.


Author Amish Tripathi has woven a clever and asthetic tale. Its history meet folk lore and the clever infusion of philanthropic and humanitarian issues. With these redeeming qualities it still needs a lot of work. The dialogues while simple could have been better, it is a historical tale and people then did not know swear words like "damnit", so yes the language needs much work. Then there is the fact that somras (aka liquor) is depicted as the drink that induces immortality, which is weird since it is injurious to health. The plot is flat, it doesn't have the factor that makes you loose yourself in it like a good novel should.


At last, not the greatest book but people are saying that the second book is much better, maybe i'll check it out later. We'll see.....

"Not the greatest book but just love the concept of the plot" 

Genre :      Historical Fiction, Mythology


Publisher: Westland


Rate:              3/5 (Liked It)