The Immortals of Meluha: Book Review by Asha Seth

‘The Immortals of Meluha’ is based on Lord Shiva’s life, so I’d heard. Being a devotee of the lord, I dropped everything to read it myself.

In the very first chapter itself I realized that the book is not based on Lord Shiva’s life but merely inspired from him. I read it nevertheless. So here’s the review; you can also find it on Goodreads.

Immortals of Meluha is the first book of the Shiva Trilogy written by Indian author Amish Tripathi. The story is set in Tibet where the good-looking, brave and no-nonsense Shiva is enjoying his chillum in the company of his friend Bhadra discussing a rather critical matter. At the same time, in a far distant land called Meluha, the inhabitants called Meluhans are fighting wars each day against the terrorist armies.

The story revolves around the three main tribes – The Suryavanshis, Chandravanshis and Nagas. Meluhans are the Suryavanshis who are facing constant battle
with the Chandravanshis along with the Nagas.

In order to, fight fair and bring an end to the troubles of Meluhans, the emperor of Meluha – Lord Daksha – sends his army to invite Shiva to Meluha. The whole idea of inviting Shiva to Meluha is backed by a myth that Shiva is the Neelkanth, and their long-awaited savior.

The following chapters entail how Shiva and his tribe acquaint themselves with the Meluhan traditions, rules and regulations. Shiva meets Lord Daksha and his family. He develops feelings for his daughter Sati and soon learns about her tragic story. The course of the story runs through several attacks on the Meluhans by the Chandravashi-Naga tribe that Shiva triumphantly saves them from, thus proclaiming their belief of him as their savior.

The protagonist of the book is Shiva. The other characters in limelight are:

Sati – Shiva’s love interest, and Emperor Daksha’s daughter
Bhadra – Shiva’s close childhood friend
Daksha – King of Meluha and Sati’s father
Nandi – Devotee of Shiva and captain of the Meluhan army,
the greatest Meluhan scientist and also Shiva’s confidante

The book is no doubt a fast paced one but starts to lack interest when Tripathi gets into the depth of explanations about the tedious journeys or the war descriptions making it an unnecessarily 500-odd page mammoth.

Although, his writing style is by far the best among all Indian writers of the period,
the language or style of dialogues used is rather annoying. It is a story set in ancient India and so, the use of foreign expletives or flirtations Shiva is accustomed to, look rather outlandish.

The characters are well established, and the author has done a brilliant job in leaving no strings loose when it comes to the plot, the events or the tension amidst groups. This makes the book a really fantastic read. The first part of the series ends surprisingly well, and heightens the reader’s interest to a level that makes you jump onto the second book as soon as you’re done with this.

If you happen to read ‘The Immortals of Meluha’ or have already read it, do share your thoughts below.

©The Musing Quill