Meluha  (Gujarati, Paperback, Tripathi Amish)

Meluha is the first novel in the Shiva trilogy. It is a retelling of Hindu mythology wherein Lord Shiva is depicted as an ordinary man whose actions transform him to Mahadev or the God of Gods.

Summary Of The Book

Shiva, the protagonist of the novel is a 21 year old warrior and the head of the Guna tribe. Shiva dislikes the unnecessary violence inflicted by another tribal group called the Pakratis. When he is invited by the Meluhans to join them, he decides to go along with them.

In the land of Meluha, the Suryavanshi kings are facing problems from their Chandravanshi and Naga neighbors in the East. The Meluhans believe in an ancient legend that tells of a man with blue throat, the Neelkanth, who will save them. On the Guna tribe’s first night in the land of Meluha, they all fall ill except for Shiva, whose throat turns blue. This results in Shiva being accepted as their savior and Neelkanth.
Neelkanth is now responsible to lead the Suryavanshi clan and avenge the evil forces. While living in Meluha, Shiva is enamored by Princess Sati, the untouchable daughter of King Daksha. He tries repeatedly to court her and is finally successful in marrying her. He also partakes in the war against the Chandravanshis who reveal that they too believe in the legend of the Neelkanth who will save them from the "evil" Suryavanshis.

Is the Tibetan immigrant Shiva really Neelkanth? Will he chose the Suryavanshis or the Chandravanshis? Who is good and who is evil? Will he be able to save Princess Sati?

Published in 2010, the book has received much critical and commercial success. The Shiva Trilogy is among the fastest selling series in India and has sold over 1.7 million copies. The books have been translated to other languages like Hindi, Assamese, Bengali, Marathi, and Telugu. A movie based on the book by Karan Johar is expected soon.

About Amish Tripathi

Amish Tripathi is an Indian novelist.

The other books by him include The Secret of the Nagas and The Oath of the Vayuputras.

Amish was born in Mumbai in 1974. Before venturing in the writing field, Tripathi served in the financial services industry for 14 years. He completed his MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta. He has worked with leading companies like DBS Bank, Standard Chartered, and IDBI Federal Life Insurance. Always interested in history, Amish decided to finally write about the human civilization and philosophy. Despite initial rejection by publishers, Amish’s novels have achieved much success today.