Shiva Trilogy : An Evaluation

Amish Tripathi s closing de claration at the e nd of his one & a half thousand page Shiva Trilogy, ( ST ) : " Today, we kno w the inher ited tale of that war as one of the wor ld 's greates t epics : The Mahabhar at. If the Lord Nee lkan th allo ws it, the unad ul ter ated s tory of that terr ible war shall also be to ld one day "; come s somewhat as a warning, ne ce ssitating a prope r e valuation of his suppose dly unadulterated story of Shiva! ST must have be en, inde e d allowe d by the Lord Nee lkanth, as A mish would like us to be lie ve! We ll, Gods are ge ne rally gene rous with storie s about the m, if the success of innume rable mythological TV se rials is anything to go by, le t alone the popularity of Ramayan a & Mahabharat, ove r the age s. Howe ve r, impo rtan ce of the unpre cede nte d marke ting strate gie s e mployed by Amish & his te am, in the face of initial re je ction by innume rabl e publishe rs, cannot be ove rlooke d, in making S T the be st se lle r of all time ! Be that as it may , in the ultimate analysis, it is not the millions, (or, billions in this case !), which the author, (&/or the publishe r), make s, but the lasting impre ssion which a lite rary e ffort of such magnitude , le ave s on its re ade rs. Is it going to be for good, in this c ase ; o r, for e vil? Le t us se e !

ST , as it stands, i s totally a work of fiction. Like Ramayana & Mahabharat, it falls back upon se ve ral mythological storie s, for instance , Shiva marryi ng Sati, the daughte r of Daksha; Sati s de ath, Daksha be ing re sponsible for that; Gane sh & Kartike ya be ing sons of Shiva; Shiva the arche r, de stroying the triple fortre sses, Tripu ra; e tc. e tc. The author has made libe ral use of his own imagination & judgme nt in pre se nting the se & othe rs, d if f erently . For instance , Bhag irath , whose name is associate d with Ganga, is shown to be dive rting the course of Y amuna to me rge with Ganga! A major de viation is in the story of how Shivas ne ck turns blue giving him the title Nee l-kanth. In fact, the famous drink of De vas, re fe rre d-to as the Som-rasa in Rgve da, is shown i n a comple tely diffe re nt light in ST ! It was the purpose of Somras to turn Shivas ne ck blue, as ST says : " The purpose is no t the des tination but the journe y itse lf ... Somr as had served it' s purpose f or many, includ ing me , (Shiva), ... & f or Shiv a, the purpose is to end the jour ney of Somr as ! How it happe ns, is the purpose of ST ! Good and ev il are the two s ides of the same co in; it is only human greed of tr ying to ex tr ac t more and more f rom good, that turns it into ev il , goe s on ST , quoting Gita, if you ple ase ; Ati Sarv atr a V ar jaye t !!! Obviously, when ati goe s beyond control, in Yad a Y ada H i Dhar masya style , someone is

born, who, though in human, (or so me othe r?), form, e nds up as God, o n account of his Karma. Lord Rama, fo r instance , (& Krishna?), who is acknowle dge d in ST , as an incarnati on of Vishnu! Though Amishs Ram is born in unadul ter ated Ayodhya, he sets up his e mpire in Me luha, of all the place s, which according to Amish, is suppose d to be the name for Indus Valle y civilization, as we know it, today! Just as Ramayana & Mahabharat are part of Itihas a, A mish has also take n he lp of (ancie nt) history. Fortunate ly for him, he re again the re is ample scope for his imagi nation to run riot! And he has be e n more than libe ral! Historical e ve nts can't be said 100% accurate ly any way; it de pends upon the thinking of scholars of that time . As e arly as, in 500 AD, for instanc e , Arya-Bhat h ad e stimate d 3000 BC as a probable date of Mahabh arata w ar; it got thrown ove r-board be cause Mahabharat was ou t-rightly re je cte d as fiction by We ste rn scholars, who i ntroduce d the Aryan-invasion the ory inste ad. As it stands now, howe ve r, subse que nt archae ological discove ries, as we ll as linguistic & othe r anal yse s see m to support not only the authe nticity of Mahabharata, but mo re or le ss the same date , as we ll. Any way; Rgve dic Rive r Sarasv ati is one of the most hotly de bate d subje cts of the day. The Ghaggar-Hakra is ge ne rally ide ntifie d with the Ve dic Sarasvati Rive r by most scholars , tho ugh it is d ispu ted whe ther all Rigved ic ref erences to the S ar asv ati should be taken to ref er to this r iver ; (Wikipe dia). We ll, Amishs de scription of Sarasv ati e xactly matche s with drie d up course of Ghaghar Hakra rive r which was suppose d to have drie d up by 1700 BC. The re ason? Lo & be hold : Somras! The drink th at h as turne d pe ople of Meluha, immortal! We ll, not quite immortal, but ce rtainly kee ping them young for hundre ds of ye ars! Had it not been so, was it possible for a 21 ye ar old Shiva, to fall in love with an 85 ye ar old Sati? The re is suppose d to be some thing miraculous in the wate r of Sarasvati, without which, it is not possible to make Somras . Howe ve r, the e xce ptionally large quantity of Saras vati wate r re quired in the pre parati on of Somras , is be ginning to turn the rive r dry. ST shows an e arlie r course of Sarasvati , going right up-to the se a, at Lothal; & its pre se nt (1900 BC) course , e nding up in a de lta, north-we st of Lothal , highlighting this e ffe ct. Also, the e vil side of making, as we ll as, using Somras , right from the time of Lord Rama, is ge tting wide r now! In the long run, it had bee n turning Meluha wome n barre n Also, the y are incre asingly giving birth to de forme d childre n, whom Amish calls : NAGA! Not only that, the waste in pre pari ng Somras is dange rous, some thing like the mode rn nucle ar was te ! It spre ads cance r & othe r de adly dise ase s among the pe ople who come in contact with

the pollute d wate rs, downstre am of rive r Bramhaputra, in which Me luhans dispose -of the waste ! The situation is ripe for an av atar to take place ! Now, according to ST : Universe has a sys te m of 'balancing' be twe en good and the ev il Good e merges f rom Br amha, but it needs a V ishnu to harne ss it. A V ishnu can make people move away f rom a good that has turned ev il, by of f ering an al te rnate good But a Mahadev has to ask people to g ive up that good, withou t of f ering any thing in re turn . This is the bright idea be hind ST s birth , & re sponsible for its runaway succ e ss. A Good Idea can change one s Life , as it has indee d, done for Amish The re have bee n se ve ral avatars o f Vishnu, including those in human form; the fie ld for Shivas av atar on the above line s, was hithe rto fore , wide open!!! Rudra & Shiva are suppose d to be two avatars o f Mahade v, the De stroye r of e vil. A god name d Rudra is me ntione d in the Rg Ve d. The name Rudra is still use d as a name for Shiva. In Rg Ve d he is de scribe d as the "Fathe r of the Rudras", a gro up of storm gods, ( Vayu-Pu tr as ?). Als o, the Rudram, one of the most sac re d hymns of Hinduism, found both in the Rg and the Yaj ur Ve das, and addre sse d to Rudra, invo ke s him as Shiva in se ve ral instances. The te rm Shiva, ho we ve r, is use d as an e pithe t for Indra, Mitra & Agni too, in Rg Ve d! Coming back to ST , howe ve r : For V ishnu there are two key ques tio ns; What is the nex t gre at good? & when does good become ev il. While the Ke y ques tion f or Mahadev is what is ev il" . And he re one has a pe rfe ct good turne d e vil case , for Amishs Shiva, who doe snt waste time in identifying Somras as the e vil; to be born & de stroy it! Howe ve r, for doing this, he acquire s Pashupati -astra, a nucle ar fusion we apon, & employs it to de stroy the Me luhan capital that was housing the manufacturi ng facility of Somras. Incre dible that this may se e m, according to one school of thought, so me nucle ar activity might we ll have been re sponsible for sudde n de struction of Mohan-Jo-Daro! Amish has take n care to diffe re ntiate Pashupati-Astra from Brah mastra (& Vai shnav-astra) , whic h are nucle ar fissi on we apons! On account of the same d if f erence betwee n Vishnu & Shiva, as brought out in ST , while a V is hnu is an 'ins ider', a Mahadev has to be an 'outs ider ' . The Shiva the re fore has come from Tibe t, from the Guna tribe , ( G anas , in Sanskrit te xts, are atte ndants of Lord Shiva, at mount Kailash) . Amishs Shiva is not an Indian! Also, ST e nds up in Shiva le aving his succe ssors, in Tibe t only! His unname d tribe in Lhasa, is he ade d by his frie nd Bhadra, ( V irbhadr a of mythology), who is name d as the first LAMA! Not only that; Lamas h ave bee n assigne d the duty of saving Indi a fro m future onslaught of e vil!!!

Shiva, in his e ndeavors , also make s use of two tribe s, as pe r S T , who have miraculous powe rs : tribe of Vasude vas, custodians of the le gacy of Lord Rama, with he adquarte rs in Ujjain; & the tribe of Vayu-putras , custodians of the le gacy of Lord Rudra & having the ir he adquarte r in Pariha, a hypothe tical place in Iran-A fghanis tan. Thus ST in corporate s bits of Zoroastri anism too , in addition to the Upanishadic, Puranic, & Buddhist mythological imag e s. Amishs scope of i magination th e re fore , is vast an d ambitious a ble nd of mythology, his tory and fiction with pulpy dialogue s! To top it all, lucid de tails of armame nt & costume s, the landscape s & the e xtraordinary battle scene s have bee n pre se nte d in a ve ry conte mporary language ; all of which re nde r ST be autifully suitable for ce lluloid! Sure e nough, not only Indian but e ve n inte rnational film pro duction house s are able to sme ll Shivas mone y-pulling-powe rs! Amish howe ve r, is ne ithe r an e xpe rt in Ships, n or in battle logistics! ST is re ple te with e xte nsive troop move me nts; land to rive r transfe rs & vice ve rsa; as we ll as, rive r warfare ! The produce rs will have to make e ffort fo r all the se sce nes, to look re alistic! In addition, the re ade rs must ke e p the following de tails in mind : Nagas , though refe rre d to as the serpe nt people , are shown to be , in ST , the pe ople born with unusual body shape s & size s, due to the e vil e ffe ct of Somras! This is not only incorre ct, but misle ading, as Naga tribe has distinct ide ntity in history, as we ll as in mythology. Labe lling Gane sha & Kali; & it also i ncluds Ravan a, of all the pe ople , as Nagas , is in bad taste & should be avoide d. Though the word Meluha, (& se lling copie s of the first chapte r of the first book, FREE), h as appare ntly playe d an impo rtant role in making ST popular; it is in fact, incorre ct too. Ac cording to the Africa Adam Trilogy by Cathe rine Acholonu Ce nter fo r Afric an Cultural Scie nce s, Me luhha, (Black Land), is supposed to be a pre diluvial (Pre -Flood) e pithe t for the African contine nt! From Me luhha is de rive d the word 'Mel' which stands for 'Bl ack' in A fric a. Pre se nting Somras as some thing radio-active , is he ight of imagination, to s ay the le ast! It is totally diffe re nt from Rg Ve dic Soma-rasa! In fact, Soma ( Chandr a ) , as is se e n on Shivas he ad in picture s, is suppose d to be the thousand-pe talle d lotus inside the human he ad. As pe r the Hath-yoga, Somras is the juice that e xudes from this Soma & it is the re taining of this e xudation which is suppose d to make one immortal. If the Yog, whose body is f ull of So ma-r as a, were bitte n by T aks haka (snake), its po ison canno t per me ate his body , s ays Hathyoga Pradipika. Vayuputra God is the 'form le ss' AHURA MAZDA, not Rudra! Also, Vayuputra Chie f is MITHRA, re pre se ntative of Ahura Mazda. This

much of lite rary libe rty is pe rhaps tole rable ! Howe ve r, why to pre se nt Shiva as the son of Mithra's siste r? Who is Shiva's fathe r, any way? Eve n if it has to be name d that Egyptians we re hire d to kill Sati, why should the slaye r of Sati, turn out to be the ance stor of Pharaohs of Egypt? Too much of a coincide nce ! Suryavanshis are de fine d as the followe rs of Solar cale ndar! The y are NOT! Just as the followe rs of Lunar cale ndar, are NOT Chandravanshis! In any case , as pe r ST , the Suryavanshis e nd up forming the state of TRIPURA ; Chan drav anshis e nd up forming the state of MANIPUR!! What about the state of NAGALAND??? The ve ry conce pt of Maika down-south, to which pre gnant women trave l all the way, just to de live r the ir babie s; & trave l back without the m, is absolutely we ird & unpalatable ! What abo ut the ir trave l arrange me nts & othe r logistics??? Word Sati e voke s a totally diffe re nt picture in the minds of Indian wome n folk! Pre senting he r as a wi dow of an unknown characte r, be fore marrying Sh iva, doe s not go we ll with that! Eve n the te rm Vikarma , li fte d from Gita, is use d in the wrong se nse , i.e . for pe ople suffe ring for the ir bad karma; for, Vi karma me ans Non-action. An ord inary person (Bhog i), lives in action, (Kar ma); a realized person (Y og i), lives in inaction, (Akar ma); and only the God, (Par amatma), lives in non-ac tion, (V ikar ma) . According to ST , Gane sha was the only one to live long e nough to witne ss Mahabharat; so obviously, Gita must have been writte n only afte r the three books comprising ST . How come the n that the Gita Shlokas, (& the phi losophy!), have been quote d right thro ugh ST ???

Last but not the least, Har Har Mah ade v is a S anskrit e xpre ssion, & has a totally diffe re nt me aning from what ST conve ys in popular Hindi! Amish is lucky that no Hindutva fundame ntalist &/or Shiva love r has so far take n note of all his libe rtie s highlighte d above ; pe rhaps , be cause humanizing Shiva has hithe rto fore , be e n an uncharte d te rritory , as also brought out above . It is not going to be so with Mahabharata; for, Ramayana & Mahabharata are not me re storie s for Hindus! The y re side on bachche y bachche y ki zuban par , in a way! Th e re fore , all his gre at re putation, Ne elkanth ble ssings, & cle ve r marke ting strate gie s notwithstanding, Ami sh will have to be re ally care ful, un- adulte rating Mah abharata, i f he must!!!

Cdr. KK Varma Apr il,2013