Ok, first of
all, reading the title of this post, do not get me wrong & assume that I
did not enjoy the Shiva Trilogy at all; it merely is symbolic of my now-on,
now-off relationship with Amish’s epic tale of the “Man behind the Myth –
Shiva” (I cannot understand though why it is Shiva & not Shiv, why do we
still put an “a” behind our deities names, and how is it phonetically relevant!!).
Anyways,
back to the the Shiv”a” Trilogy.
Mythology is
a lovely study. It is considered a science that is the study of myths, legends,
and folk tales handed down generations after generations through written texts
of great sages & “sacred seers”, and is a civilisation’s potent identity of
its foundations; in short an “ideology passed on in a narrative form”. Another
best part (as I pointed in my earlier post on EPIC FANTASY) is that since
historically these myths cannot be proven as real recorded happenings, they are
open to myriad interpretations, which is where fantasy authors get to score the
best, and readers get to enjoy their age old stories in new formats. So, Amish
took the legend of Lord Shiv and made an assumption, what if Lord Shiv was a
man, just like you & me and not a God as we think today; and years of legend
made him a God in our eyes today?
It was a BIG
gamble, and one that supposedly did pay off. I will first explain in short what
I felt about each book of the trilogy:
·
IMMORTALS OF THE MELUHA – Took me one full year to go
through this book, which I did rather painfully. I did overcome the mental
block of Lord Shiv being made into a Tibetan immigrant, as I wanted to read
what the author wanted to say in this tale. However what I really could not get
around was the heavily Americanised lingo used in the book. It made the whole
book come down many notches in my eyes. I understand that the book was written
in a more contemporary parlance to reach out to younger readers, but did it
have to be so Americanised? It was hilarious reading Shiv say “what the freakin’
hell” or Sati say “You are kidding me, right?!!”, until I had to put the book
down completely for many months. Finally I did finish it. Immortals…was at best
an average read, except in the end where the climax & its philosophical subtext
between Good & Evil & its ultimate perception, presenting a very
interesting point, and the book ended with a startling note.
·
THE SECRET OF THE NAGAS – By far the best book of the trio.
By this time I got used to the American lingo, and thankfully Shiv & Sati’s
irritating romance track was toned down (however some other irritating romance
tracks started, but were in control). Having said that, this book was near
flawless. It was page on page turner & I managed to finish it in 2 days flat.
The secret of Somras, the Nagas and exactly who they were, the characters
introduced were all brilliant. Sati finally came out as a more worthy &
full character than just a cardboard caricature that she was in the previous
book. The book ended pretty well for me.
·
THE OATH OF THE VAYUPUTRAS – By now Amish became an Indian
J.K.Rowling of sorts. You have to give it to the man. The frenzy he created for
readers to throng & book the copies of the last in the trilogy, was a
miniature version of the crazy madness for Harry Potter series, but at least an
Indian author achieved that frenetic response. As for the book, I liked it in
parts and I felt it was very plodding in parts. But what Amish had built in The
Secret of the Nagas, was not actually carried forward in the third book. Which
is something that usually happens, when an author’s earlier works became so
popular, that under pressure his creativity gets the worst impact; an
observation I had provided in my EPIC FANTASY post earlier. The book is crafted
purely as a blockbuster & the fight sequences are very Spartacus indeed.
Now to the
next part, what worked for me in the trilogy & what did not:
WHAT WORKED:
·
A re-imagining of a classic tale & giving it a humanised form –
simply brilliant.
·
Character parallels to old legends were drawn beautifully – Kali, Ganesh,
Daksha, Parashuram (most intriguing), Brihaspati, Sage Brighu…the parallel
drawn with the legendary characters was simply stunning. Even Nandi’s character
parallel was believable & stunning in its human form. It is not easy to
re-imagine & draw character parallels, especially in a country where the
above names mean lot more than, well, just names & have serious religious connotations
too, that could have led to unnecessary controversies.
·
The story of Somras – BRILLIANT!! What a way to describe the old legend of the
mystical Somras, churned on Mount Mandar over Saraswati River. What a realistic
take on that legend, & oh so logical, that now I almost feel what Amish has
envisioned is the version is what actually happened!! Like it or hate it, his
version of the Somras story is real, believable & has its logic in place. The
ensuing story of Halahal was another cleverly crafted piece (the mighty poison
that according to old Hindu mythology came out after Somras from the same
cosmic churning & was so powerful that it was depleting life on Earth
simply by its presence; until the great Lord Shiv stepped up & consumed the
whole poison & locked it in his throat, thus the Blue Throat or Neelkanth).
The whole concept of Halahal got a very different, yet logical & believable
meaning. For that…bravo Amish!!
·
The discussion of Good vs. Evil – The book is full of it, and it is
the most interesting aspect of the trilogy. What is good & what is evil?
Who is to say? One’s good is another person’s evil. Too much of Good one day
becomes Evil. Evil comes out of Good, and Good comes out of Evil. Two sides of
same coin, yet viewed so differently. These discussions were very sublime food
for thought material, and reveal so much about Amish’s brilliant philosophy of
life, and how we view it.
·
The creation of 1900 BC regions of
India: The
different areas of India & Pariha were re-created with some logic &
brains applied to it. So, you will not read the ancient cities as you know
historically. The author has taken his own liberty to create his own version of
these cities. Meluha, Swadweep, Branga, Panchavati, Dandak Forest are areas
with a character of their own. In fact the character sketches of these cities
are far more overwhelming than the character sketches of, well the actual
characters of the books. The comparison of Meluha’s state of affairs &
Swadweep’s state of affairs & how both are run the way they are run is a
comparison you will find relevant even today; Controlled, organised but
dictatorship regime where you HAVE to follow what is laid out for you without a
choice; or unorganised, shabby, uncontrolled but where YOU HAVE A CHOICE of how
to live your own life your way. The discussion was thought provoking &
relevant even today.
·
The concept of Maika, Vikarma, Nagas: The sheer concept of these theories
was so well sketched out that it does challenge our age old teachings to quite
an extent & makes you think hard of whether what was written in your many
scriptures was true, or what the author is presenting in his everday layman
thought process is true. Just because he is not a learned sage of the ancient
era, does not make his words weigh any less!! They do provide you logic after
all.
WHAT DID NOT WORK:
·
“Like Really”, “Oh Yum”, “But Maa..”, - “What in the holy Lord Rama’s name was
that??!!” Are you freaking kidding me Amish!! I know you needed to use a more contemporary
parlance, but “dude” your characters at times look more Manhattan than Meluha,
to be quite frank. If writing on India, please do not try to be an ABCD and do
it. Your characters at times seem to be BPO workers, who are enacting your
novel in their spare morning shift!! Like, seriously. Use language & lingo
that makes sense & yet reaches out to your core audience – Read George
R.R.Martin’s “Song of Fire & Ice” or closer home read Ashwin Sanghi’s
Chanakya’s Chant. And do not imagine your readers to be so dumb that they
cannot recognise good English from a slang version. Many loaders of philosophy
like me can actually be quite turned off, and you might not end up driving the
real point home thanks to the Archies comics lingo that you used in a piece of
literature.
·
Weak Character Sketches – No character leaves the impact that
is generally associated with Epic Fantasy books. The characters were just not
sketched well enough. The story was the real hero here. Shiva (please call him
Shiv next time) was hardly inspiring, while actually he should have spawned
various pages on social blogging sites with a strong no.of likes. Sati is just
a cardboard caricature; so is Ganesh reduced to one. They are too idealistic
& do not push the envelope anywhere for the readers to identify their
favourite one amongst the lot. The death of some characters does not evoke the
sentiment that it should have (hell I remember howling & crying when just
Hedwig, the owl, died in HP series, leave alone the great Dumbledore). The
characters it seemed were left underdeveloped, because you wanted to tell a lot
more in a short span of 3 novels. Kartik, as a character, had some promise, but
he also ended up being nowhere at all.
·
Bad Romance Tracks: Oh the romance tracks were so
uninspiring, so bad. They were actually cringe-worthy many times, especially
the romance of Shiv & Sati, which in reality is a very romantic story. And
why was there lack of sex by the way; we are grown-ups, we can handle it? I am
not saying use sex to sell the books, but 1900 BC India was very open with sex,
and while Anandmayi could have been a blazing character, the author made her
bawdy & vulgar in the first half, and suddenly a saintly missus in the
next. An Epic Fantasy is fuelled best when the parallel romance tracks are also
blazing & have a potent fire in them. Then the readers spawn their
favourite couples’ pages on social websites and well, isn’t that the whole
point of a wholesome Epic Fantasy. Someone as fiercely romantic & sexy as
Lord Shiv (according to legends in Hindu mythology) was reduced to a simpering
man who made no sense at all.
·
Too many concepts, too less volumes: There was just so much that the
author wanted to say – Decoding of old legends, philosophy, re-imagining of the
main plot, side plots, side characters, main characters, travel through India,
plot development along with philosophy deepening, mystery, twists in the tale
and in midst of all this – a Hollywood blockbuster of a war!! Too many things,
too less volumes. Hence many concepts remained underdeveloped & this huge
melting pot of Indian curry lost its flavour somewhere towards the end.
·
Abrupt end to the story – In the end it seemed the author just
wanted to wrap up the story hurriedly. The end was quite an anti-climax for
sure, and that was simply because many concepts were started in the book &
were left hanging midway.
·
Absurdity – There was lot of this too!! Suddenly
you see Scherezade in the mix (the central character of the legendary Arabian
Nights) – only her name was used in reality though, in the book. But reading that
legend of a name, I almost expected Sinbad & his sailors or even Superman
to come in & join Shiv anytime. India in 1900 BC was re-imagined most
absurdly. I understand this is fantasy, but it is set in a historic time period ,at
least get your historic detailing correct. Idlis in 1900 BC India? Dinner on
dining table & chairs? Shiv cooking breakfast in bed for Sati- when Hindus
as a practise hated & considered eating breakfast in bed as a ridiculous
& negative practice, even medically; Indians ate their first meal only after
taking a bath, and that was the practised norm. Again, please do not assume
that the readers are stupid and do not know much about historic detailing. As
readers, we understand your creative liberty in imagining that Lord Ram’s tale
preceded Lord Shiv’s legend by a thousand years (when Raavan actually
worshipped Lord Shiv in the epic Ramyan), but that is a liberty an author can
take. However, many of the above mentioned absurdities made the Shiva Trilogy an
average work. Thank god that the story was good.
All in all,
The Shiva Trilogy is an average read; it works on some & does not on some
levels. But I applaud Amish for this brave work and to change the paradigm for Indian
authors. It was not an easy task taking up an age old, well entrenched legend
with serious religious connotation & turn it into one’s own version of
bestseller, without generating fanatic controversies. In fact it is a very
tough job, but not only did he accomplish it, he created an era in itself for
future Indian authors & untold legends of India. He has a long way to go to
become perfect, and maybe his version of Mahabharat (that he hinted could be
his next book) can take him there.
But dude,
seriously, lose the ABCD lingo and get your period detailing correct!!
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