Book Review: The immortals of Meluha by Amish Tripathi

So finally I picked this book and then there was no looking back. I still wonder why I couldn’t read this book back in 2013 when i gave it my first try. I had this impression that this book is just too hyped. And now I know why. It’s worth the appreciation and the hype.

I am already a big fan of Amish’s conceptualisation of Ram Chandra Trilogy. I read the series recently and wasn’t sure if reading Meluha will be overwhelming. But it wasn’t.

I loved Amish’s idea of a society which is near-perfect but also realises it’s shortcomings and ready to make amendments in its ‘Ramrajya times’ laws. They are waiting for the ‘Legend of Neelkhant’ and after he arrives, it’s interesting to see how an efficient but simple mountain-man ‘Shiva’ realises his potential along the way.

The book brings up interesting twists and turns and explains how duality plays an significant role in human lives through the concepts of masculine/feminine, Shiva/Sati, Suryavanshi/Chandravanshi, Asuras/Devtas and how nothing in this universe is neither right nor wrong.

I loved the climax where after a series of win/loss, Shiva realises that his understanding of evil is incomplete and there is another layer to his wisdom beyond what he currently knew.

For me, it brought the much needed clarity of the fact that once you take an action and then when you realise that it was wrong, you want to go back in time, re-live and fix those wrongs selectively. This is not possible since it’s the new wisdom that gave you the understanding of the wrong. Going back to the old will also take away the new wisdom that you now have through which you are imbibing the new world and your shortcomings.

‘There are no mistakes just the lessons’ is what Shiva learns to get ready for the next phase of this life.

Hoping some more magic from the next book in series ‘The secret of the Nagas’.

Most of you must have read the trilogy but for those how didn’t – I highly recommend.

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Some of my favourite quotes:

“There are many realities. There are many versions of what may appear obvious. Whatever appears as the unshakeable truth, its exact opposite may also be true in another context. After all, one’s reality is but perception, viewed through various prisms of context.”

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“Exactly!’ The pandit beamed again. ‘So think about the colour of that leaf from the perspective of the leaf itself, the colours it absorbs and the one it rejects. Is its colour green? Or is it every single colour in the world except green?”