Guess it’s so intertwined – you just cant stop with one! I couldn’t with 2…
Summary: A small tribe and their leader were finding it hard at Mount Kailash with intermittent inter tribal fights. Shiva led the Gunas and he was confused between what was brought to him by the Meluhans and his uncle’s prediction that his destiny would take him far.
Meluhans an otherwise perfect society were about to face a calamity, which they thought would destroy them. They were also facing attacks from terrorists and they were in search of their savior. Legend has it that after Lord Rama – the one with the blue throat – The Neelkanth, would destroy the evil and save them. Thats how they unite – The Meluhans meet their legendary savior and Shiva was about to unravel his own destiny.
The Meluhans were a wonder to Shiva – they lived for 100 years, they stayed young, beautiful and healthy. Everything from the houses to the streets seemed to have precision and a system around it. A system so blissfully beautiful doesn’t need a savior is what he believed and in the due course he saw he was wrong.
Then comes the Chandravanshi kingdom – the discovery of whom led to new and appalling revelations for Shiva! The good, the evil, the Nagas and the Vashisht Maharshis – A lot of surprises and weird things unfold in Shiva’s life after Meluha happened!
Review: As always fascinated by Mythology, my first instinct after a couple of pages was – Dint RSS kill Amish for the kind of modernism he has brought into Shiva’s character?. I mean for a person who believes that there are so many strict rules to follow when you intend to go to the temple or pray, it came as a shock to read that Shiva called his friends “Dude”! 😛 But I must admit it brought me a smile too many to see Shiva as a really hot and cool avatar – not to talk about my happiness in realizing its Hrithik whos been chosen to enact this character onscreen! As I read somewhere perhaps its true that Amish stopped with the names of the characters in his book and did not divulge into the details of the strength of them in the mythology…But I feel then his book would lose character and it would mean a mere adaptation of mythology. This book on the other hand had a flavor of its own, it attempted to stay alone while it also tried to vaguely remind us of our mythology and get us intrigued and thrilled to no extent!
Advice – Go for it – If you like mythology but at the same time have an open mind to accept Shiva as a cool hunk!!! You might wanna switch from Om Namah Shiva – to Yo my shiva!!!
Verbivore’s say – A delightful Potluck of mythology, history, philosophy, imagination and literary freedom!!! Party!!!
As I Devour... 