Have a look at http://www.authoramish.com/
This comprises of three books -
- The Immortals of MELUHA
- The Secret of the NAGAS
- The Oath of the VAYUPUTRAS
People in modern India have actually relished the new look and profile of the Gods they worship. We like our Gods to be Humane. We like our Gods to be in the Earth, not in the Heaven.
However, the most important credit of Amish is probably that he is successful in escaping the usual gripes of the so called protectors of Hindu Religion. I was amazed to see that there was practically no remonstrations and disputes over anything on these books. Otherwise, you have so many guardians of our religion and belief, that you do not have any freedom to express your views and thoughts. Leave alone any new experimentations.
Amish has quite intelligently engaged all the Great Gods of Hindu religion in very pertinent positions in the book. Everybody worships Lord Ram in Meluha. Everybody follows his rules and orders blindly. Thus, the author got the full buy-in of the North India.
The Vasudev tribe in the book are the protector of the legacy of Lord Vishnu. They are very capable in whatever they do. They are the armaments of Good things in the world. Thus, another front is won.
You have the Vayuputras as the tribe Lord Rudra has left. They are the destroyers. Destroyers of all Evil things and sins in this world. Everybody respects them. Everybody fears them. Thus, all the Shiva deities has now nothing to complain about.
But I believe, it is not only about winning the battle with so called Hindu guardians over here. But due the similar portrait of mythology, people could very quickly hook up to the book, promptly understanding it, respecting it - thus loving it.
Another imperative achievement of Amish is that he could actually create fictional characters in the novel with very similar traits and qualities as we have in our mythology. And more importantly, the storyline is structured in line of these characters, the incidences happening are very much in accordance with the stories we are aware of. When we read the character of Sati, we can quickly relate to the avatar of her we have in our mind. When we understand Ganesh in the book, he is very akin with our Lord Ganesh. When we comprehend the spirit of Kali in the novel, it instantly feels alike with our Goddess.
Take any character, you can see this mostly in this way.
For example, Bhahaspati - we imagined him as a grand old man with lots of knowledge and thoroughly respected and valued. Amish made him the chief of scientists.
Daksha - we know him as the offender of the death of Sati, and being illogical. He is the weak and hopelessly distrustful emperor in the book.
Karthik - at our imagination he is the most handsome man around and also most formidable warrior. In the book he is enjoying the similar character.
Nandi - he is the blind follower of Lord Shiva. His image in the book is exactly the same.
And the list goes on.
Having said that, the final book is not very much impactful as the storyline initially promised. The EVIL, whatever it is, is projected as a very big thing in first two books, specially in The Secrets of the NAGAS. But while concluding everything happened in a rush. Leaving a lot of things unanswered. The massive plot that has been created and ballooned in first two episodes crashed in the third installment - The Oath of the VAYUPUTRAS. Most of the characters seem to be clueless of what they should do when the events in the climax were taking place. It is like a film which creates a lot of fuss, but could not conclude well as per the expectation, most of the plot, characters and actors are wasted. It is a little difficult to fathom that only the Somras and the few protectors of that are that so big an Evil.
I genuinely feel Amish could not carry the burden of the substantial connive that has been crafted by himself in first two books.
Shiva, the character, has been very beautifully architected throughout. Very strong, reasonable, follower of rules and honor, very much focused on the enormous duty on his shoulder, very much aware of the legacy he is part of, and he should leave behind.
But finally using the Pashupatashra and destroying Devagiri entirely, made him a comparatively weaker character. Which is not as He should be as The Neelkanth. Probably, that incident was included in line with the Tandav and Annihilation done by Lord Mahadev in our mythology. He was not also able to leave a very colossal bequest behind him. Neither in terms of a genuine tribe with a long term considerable responsibility, nor in terms of any introduction of big rules and idealism.
However, on top of everything, the series is a good addition in Indian literature. Not because these books are so astonishingly written, but because it should start a new type of texts in India. And hopefully will encourage new adventurous writers to produce new experiments, and new thinking is brought into the light.
The generation, today, is capable to accept these challenges.
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