I was SO fascinated with the book, I nosied around on the internet and managed to contact the author, Amish Tripathi, and requested him to answer a few questions that I had for him. If you've read the book, I'm sure some of the questions will be ones that you yourself might have had! He took some time getting back to me as he is currently busy working on the sequel to IOM and also busy with his day job... believe it or not, the famed author who found his first book top the national best seller list in India, actually works in the Insurance industry! He is also a graduate of the famed IIM Kolkata.
He kindly took some time out to respond to all my questions-
1) First of all Amish, thank you for writing such an inspiring and informative book! What is it that prompted you to write a book fictionalizing Hindu Mythology, and what percentage of it is fact and what percent have you allowed yourself creative liberty to tell the story of Shiva?
Honestly, I can't say that I planned this book. I had never even dreamt of being an author. Before The Immortals of Meluha, I had written no fiction. Ever. So I am as surprised as anyone else that I ended up being an author.
The book began during a conversation between my family and me. We were watching TV together and there was an interesting historical programme being broadcast, where we discovered something surprising. We all know that for ancient Indians, Gods were called Devas and Demons were called Asuras. What we don't know is that for ancient Persians, Gods were called Ahuras and demons are called Daevas - the exact opposite of the ancient Indians. This triggered an interesting conversation. Maybe if the ancient Indians and the ancient Persians met, they would probably be calling each other evil - because one person's god was the other person's demon. Now both the groups cannot be right can they? So who is evil? Both the groups? Neither? But what can't be denied is that evil does exist. It rises again and again. And it has to be destroyed. A philosophy occured to me on this topic and I started writing it down. Then my brother and sis-in-law gave me some good advice that readers will be more interested in a grand adventure where the philosophy happens to come across with it rather than a pure philosophy book. And hence I started writing the present novel with a hero whose journey conveys the philosophies I want to talk about. And since the story is about the destruction of evil, who better to be the hero than the destroyer of evil Himself, Lord Shiva!
2) The book goes into so much detail about the background of so many Hindu traditions, customs and phrases. As a Hindu, I found myself having many "aha" moments thinking, "THIS is where such and such tradition comes from!" How much research did you do before beginning to write the novel?
There are 2 aspects to the research in this book. First is the historical data and the second is our collective Hindu myths. On the historical data, I didn't do any specific research for this book. Or another way of looking at it is that I have been researching this book for the last 25 years! Because I have always been deeply interested in history and have been a voracious reader all my life. Some of the books that have helped in the historical interpretations for my book are Graham Hancock’s path-breaking Underworld and even primary research books like Gregory Possehl's brilliant treatise, The Indus Civilisation. As for our collective Hindu myths, I have depended a lot on what I have heard from my family over the years. My grandfather, besides being a teacher, was also a Pandit. Both my parents are very devout and religious. And we heard a lot of stories about Hindu myths from all of them when we were children. And of course, as for most people in our generation, the Amar Chitra Katha comics have been a fantastic source of knowledge to me of our fantasies. Anant Pai had done a great job!
3) For those wanting to study more about Shiva and Hindu Mythology in general, are there any books you can recommend? Any that you may have turned to while researching "Immortals of Meluha"?
The book began during a conversation between my family and me. We were watching TV together and there was an interesting historical programme being broadcast, where we discovered something surprising. We all know that for ancient Indians, Gods were called Devas and Demons were called Asuras. What we don't know is that for ancient Persians, Gods were called Ahuras and demons are called Daevas - the exact opposite of the ancient Indians. This triggered an interesting conversation. Maybe if the ancient Indians and the ancient Persians met, they would probably be calling each other evil - because one person's god was the other person's demon. Now both the groups cannot be right can they? So who is evil? Both the groups? Neither? But what can't be denied is that evil does exist. It rises again and again. And it has to be destroyed. A philosophy occured to me on this topic and I started writing it down. Then my brother and sis-in-law gave me some good advice that readers will be more interested in a grand adventure where the philosophy happens to come across with it rather than a pure philosophy book. And hence I started writing the present novel with a hero whose journey conveys the philosophies I want to talk about. And since the story is about the destruction of evil, who better to be the hero than the destroyer of evil Himself, Lord Shiva!
2) The book goes into so much detail about the background of so many Hindu traditions, customs and phrases. As a Hindu, I found myself having many "aha" moments thinking, "THIS is where such and such tradition comes from!" How much research did you do before beginning to write the novel?
There are 2 aspects to the research in this book. First is the historical data and the second is our collective Hindu myths. On the historical data, I didn't do any specific research for this book. Or another way of looking at it is that I have been researching this book for the last 25 years! Because I have always been deeply interested in history and have been a voracious reader all my life. Some of the books that have helped in the historical interpretations for my book are Graham Hancock’s path-breaking Underworld and even primary research books like Gregory Possehl's brilliant treatise, The Indus Civilisation. As for our collective Hindu myths, I have depended a lot on what I have heard from my family over the years. My grandfather, besides being a teacher, was also a Pandit. Both my parents are very devout and religious. And we heard a lot of stories about Hindu myths from all of them when we were children. And of course, as for most people in our generation, the Amar Chitra Katha comics have been a fantastic source of knowledge to me of our fantasies. Anant Pai had done a great job!
3) For those wanting to study more about Shiva and Hindu Mythology in general, are there any books you can recommend? Any that you may have turned to while researching "Immortals of Meluha"?
Like I said, I have depended more on what I have heard from my family for the myths on Lord Shiva. But all those who want to learn more about the Lord, should read up the Shiva Purana.
4) Speaking of which, what is your favourite book (fiction or nonfiction) book of all time?
That's difficult to say. There are so many. I really do like reading and my favourites change as I read more. But at this point of time, I am reading a book called Shiva, the wild god of power and ecstacy. It's brilliant.
5) In another interview of yours, I read that before beginning to write this book, you were a non-believer, and now are a true devotee of Lord Shiva. What specifically caused that transformation? Do you have any message for atheists out there?
Yes, it's true. I used to be a non-believer. But today I am a devoted Shiva Bhakt. Within the story of The Immortals of Meluha which shows the simple man behind the myth of a god, I discovered my devotion to the divinity in Him. But I have also discovered the beauty of other religions. I think I've finally understood what my father used to say when I was young. There is beauty and ugliness in every religion. The choice before us is what do we want to see...
As for a message for atheists, I would certainly not say that there is anything wrong with being an atheist. Every person has the right to follow philosphies that give him peace - as long as he does not try to impose them on others. But I will certainly say that I have found a lot of peace through faith. Mental peace is worth more than all the money in the world. If there are atheists who are unhappy, they may want to explore the path of faith. It may help answer some questions - as it did for me.
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Facebook: Connect with Amish Tripathi OR Shiva Trilogy OR join The Immortals of Meluha groupTwitter: Follow @amisht
Trailer film of book: http://www.shivatrilogy.com/theimmortalsofmeluha.html
www.shivatrilogy.com
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