My thoughts on "The Secret of the Nagas"

I am a magnet to anything that has ancient written over it – people, movies, books, blogs, discussions… anything. Naturally, I was drawn to the fiction series currently in publication, the Shiva Trilogy by Amish Tripathi.

  

I bought the first book on Flipkart and started devouring it right away. Titled ‘The Immortals of Meluha’, the book introduced Shiva as a foreigner, migrating to India from Tibet. The author was successful in depicting Shiva as a mortal and in the course of his adventure, making sure that many fables and myths that we have heard about Shiva are stitched on to the story perfectly. A notable mention must be made to the wonderfully detailed description of ancient India, it’s geography and the culture. The language was a little light for readers of serious fiction, but employing that ‘light’ tone helped in showcasing the ‘human' personality of Shiva and sets the tone of his relationship with the various characters in the book – the light banter with Sati, the chaddi-dost talks with Bhadra, etc.. But of course, ‘goddamnit’, ‘bloody hell’… were over the top for me! That book was definitely a page turner and it ended with a high-note, a possible kidnap of Sati from the most fearsome enemy, the mysterious Naga.

I got the second book, ‘The Secret of the Nagas’, delivered at my doorstep, just a couple of days after the launch (thank you Flipkart!). Again, overnight reading was done. This book is not as fast as the first one, but the storytelling and the language have improved tremendously. The lightness in the narration is still present, but unnecessary slangs are not. The story picks off from the kidnap and we enjoy an adventure with Shiva and team from ancient east India to the south Indian Western Ghats, with a stop at Bengal :-). The actual secret which is revealed at the end is a letdown. I could guess it half-way through the book. But the most interesting aspect of this book is that Amish has cleverly weaved the most well-known fables of Shiva into the book and it all makes wonderful sense.

  

Faith of different cultures and how that leads to definition or personification of good and evil is, I think, the primary focus of the trilogy. Shiva is in doubt at every step because what he perceives as good is not the ‘good’ and what he understands as evil may not be evil. How does he do the right thing? Does he actually know whether he is fighting for the good or for the evil? From what does India need to be saved? The first book gives Shiva his first shock in understanding good vs. evil. The second one goes deeper, and at every step he is faced with this confusion. An interesting and hopefully explosive aswer awaits him and us in the third and last installment.

Few notes on the second book (Spoilers ahead):

Early Shiva

• The incident where Shiva could not save a woman keeps showing up. Does that event have anything to do later-on in the story or was it only a character-defining moment for Shiva?

• The part where an uncle gives the mysterious medicine (is that the naga medicine?) to Shiva is intriguing. He specifically asks him not to swallow but to retain the medicine in his throat. Is he setting the stage for Shiva to be the ‘Neelkanth’? If yes, is this all a puppet show by some one? 

Sati, Parvati, Kali, Durga, Uma?

• One of the most well-known stories about Shiva and Sati is the Daksha yagna story. In this story, Sati immolates herself in the yagna that Daksha would have performed in his kingdom. She does so because Daksha would have insulted Shiva by not inviting him to the festivities and Sati wishes to be born of parents who will respect her husband. Sati is then born as Parvati who marries Shiva. This story is not yet weaved into the story of the book. There is a slightly similar but opposite situation when Daksha comes to Swadweep without invitation and is insulted by Shiva and sent back to Meluha. Would Daksha take revenge for his humiliation in the next book? Would Sati die? Or is this story not a part of the trilogy?
• Amish has both Sati and Parvati created as the Sati of his books - Parvati is the daughter of Himavan or the lord of the mountains (Parvateshwar?). Kartikeya is actually the son of Parvati and not Sati.
• Slight difference in Kali’s birth – here she is Daksha’s daughter (Sati’s sister). According to the myths, she was created by Shiva out of rage after Sati immolated herself. Kali, along with Veerabhadra, was commanded to destroy Daksha and his men. They eventually beheaded Daksha but he was pardoned and a goat’s head was placed on him.
• Uma’s namesake is the brigadier at Branga. Durga has not made an appearance yet :-).

Brihaspati

• The angle of Bhrigu, Brihaspati and Tara is confusing for those who know the actual mythological relationship between these characters. Tara is Brihaspati’s wife and not Bhrigu’s daughter. Soma (or Chandra, the moon god) kidnaps Tara and a war is fought between Brihaspati and Soma. Brahma eventually stops the war and restores Tara back to her husband. Interestingly, Rudra sided Soma in this war! Another interesting tidbit is that Bhrigu is the son-in-law of Daksha. I think Amish has taken the writer’s liberty and has used these names for his story. I might be missing some link too. After all, the ancient stories are too vast to be read or remembered!

Peacocks and Kartik?

• The peacock slaying ritual is not explained fully. Lord Kartikeya’s symbol is a peacock – just a point to be noted :-)
• Surapadman was actually an asura whom Kartikeya kills. So this might be coming up in the third book. Maya is Surapadman’s mother and sage Kashyapa is his father. Isn’t Maya Athithigva’s naga sister? Or again is this a same-name conflict? He also had two brothers Taraka and Simhamukha. Simhamukha becomes Durga’s (another one of Shiva’s consort) vehicle in the form of a lion and Surapadman becomes Kartikeya’s peacock.

Sigh! These stories are wonderful and also endless. I admire Amish for the work he has done. He must have done vast and disciplined research to write such books on ancient India and also make bestsellers out of them. I am definitely waiting eagerly for the third book.