CHAPTER I

Introduction

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 WHAT IS LITERATURE?
Literature is a powerful social and cultural force, which is closely stuck with all
our other ideas and activities. For many people the active agent in shaping their
view of life is neither religion nor philosophy but imaginative literature. The
process had begun well before the closing decades of 19th century, and it has
gone on with increasing rate and momentum until today. This means a radically
changed relation between Literature and the rest of our experience - a relation
quite different from the traditional.
The artist often tends to remain alienated from the stream of life, but he is a
product of the society in which he lives and in turn strongly influences and
shapes it. The poet, the painter, the sculptor, the musician, in fact, every artist,
no matter what his medium of expression – color, or sound, or stone, or words,
also remains isolate . The novelist, by the very nature of his art, is closest to the
heart of the people because the raw material of his work is human beings whom
he changes into the fictitious characters of his stories. Nevertheless, in doing so
he makes them more real than actual living persons.
All novels tell some kind of story. This is the basic and highest common factor of
all the novels. We find the story not only with the dawn of civilization: it goes back
to prehistoric times. The storyteller had to use his skill in writing. He should keep
suspense until the end. The main function of the storyteller was to create
suspense and to provide entertainment.
Gradually, another element came into the story - the morality. It came to be
considered the duty of the novelist to teach moral lessons to his readers and to
show in action that virtue succeeds and vice is defeated. Every novelist, directly
or indirectly, tended to influence the morality of his readers. If he was a skillful
novelist, he did it indirectly, that is to say it does not hurt the reader. So it was
accepted more readily. If he was a careless novelist, he preached directly. Even
when he wrote about the doing of undesirable people-rogues and scoundrels of
all kinds, he perceived to do it to warn his readers against such people and their
doings.
From the earliest days, to the last decades of the 19th century entertainment and
morality were considered as dual function of the novelist. This was possible
because, until 19th century, society had certain accepted values, which were
recognized by both the society and the novelists who portrayed that society.
Every novel was written against some fixed and known background, religious,
social, moral or economic.
The 20th century being an age of transition and has witnessed two collapses of
ancient empires. From Copernicus and Luther, down through the centuries, the
leaders have been changing the world. Darwin’s theory of evolution is the
keystone of the arch of scientific materialism no doubt; it weakened the faith in
religion. Marx’s proletarian revolution changed the economic and political thinking
of the world. The ideas of Darwin and Marx has reduced the humankind to the
status of an unimportant animal at the mercy of laws of the hereditary and
environment. Freud’s theories of the unconscious, created a new psychology of
man. It was because of teachings of Freud that men came to believe that
character is incidental, that human instinctive are supreme. Einstein was
understood by few and misunderstood by so many. According to him certainties
of science as they had been accepted, were no longer certain, and that the
physical universe was infinitely mysterious and relative. Others-astronomers,
anthropologists, psychologists, psychoanalysts, economists and sociologists,
have thought along the lines drawn by the great pioneers. We are living in the
age of science and technology everything from morning to evening must be done
according to the principles laid down in manuals and textbooks. The germ of the
Novel lay in the medieval romance, a fantastic tale of love and adventure, which
was born from the ballads and fragments of epic poems sung by the wandering
minstrel. In the 1350, Boccaccio wrote a world-famous collection of love stories in
prose, entitled the Decameron. Such short stories in Italian are called “novella.”
The term originally meant a “fresh story” but gradually came to signify a story in
prose as distinguished from a story in verse,( romance). When prose became
almost the universal medium the term “romance” implied a story or series of
stories of the legendary past, of which Malory’s Morte d’Arthur is a famous
example .It is often used today to describe a historical novel. This novel contains
picturesque qualities and exciting rather than scholarly elements. F. Marion
Crawford, and popular American novelist, once described the Novel as a “pocket
theatre,” containing as it does all the items of drama without requiring to be
staged before an audience. It is defined as “a long narrative in prose detailing the
actions of fictitious people.” Meredith called it “the within and the without of us. if
Fielding loosely characterized it as a comic epic in prose. It is the loosest form of
the literary art, but its very freedom from all limitations allows it to give a fuller
representation of real life and character than anything else can provide. Many
hundreds of new novels appear every year, but their literary standard is not, as
rule, a high one, for, as W.H. Hudson remarks, “anyone can write a novel who
has pens, ink, and paper at command, and a certain amount of leisure and
patience. It is nonetheless a very effective medium of the portrayal of human
thought and action. A novel, like a play, has a plot, and largely its characters
reveal themselves and their intentions in dialogue, the dramatist, however, must
depend on what he can make us see and hear for ourselves, whereas the
novelist can describe what could never be presented on any stage. He can tell us
what is happening, explain it, and, if he so wishes, give us his own comments on
it. His story need not be symmetrical in exposition, crisis, and denouement.. It
may begin with a crisis, and the rest of the book may be devoted to depicting
how that crisis arose; on the other hand it may work patiently up to a climax in its
very last pages. The novel has, in fact, no rigid framework, and English authors
have taken full advantage of the freedom this affords them. Foreign critics have
remarked that the English novel, with all its unrivalled richness and variety, is apt
to be lacking in one important element of the highest art – a sense of proportion.
There is some truth in this, for the novelist is eager to represent life in its fullness,
and his creative urge may overwhelm his sense of artistic unity and balance in
narrative, description, characterization, and dialogue. This, however, matters
comparatively little if the author’s handling of his plot and characters, and above
all, his own narrative style can keep the reader under his spell until the story is
ended. In any novel worthy of serious attention the author’s personality is another
important factor. for, as W.H. Hudson puts it, “directly or indirectly, and whether
the writer himself is conscious of it or not, every novel must necessarily present a
certain view of life and of some of the problems of life. That is, it must so exhibit
incidents, characters, passions, motives, as to reveal more or less distinctly the
way in which the author looks out upon the world and his general attitude
towards it. It is our conscious or unconscious agreement or disagreement with
this view of life that often decides our preferences in fiction.

1.2 ABOUT THE AUTHOR

AMISH TRIPATHI
My doctoral work is on the novels of Amish Tripathi ‘The Shiva Triology’ belongs
to the group of Indo-Anglican writers. An Indo-Anglican writer is a group of those
writers who are Indian but write in English. Amish Tripathi is Indian and is writing
in English. In 2011, he published this series and became famous. Although
literarily he is not a very strong writer, but his writing is so appealing that
youngsters are reading it with great interest. This series is covering many
subjects like Indian myths, history, philosophy, society etc. Before going to the
main topic, it is necessary to talk on Indian writings in English. The writers of the
English speaking countries write in English but their work is not described as
English literature, but as American, Canadian or Australian literature. Many
writers like Kipling, pearl Buck etc who tries to write about India are classed as
American writers. Amish Tripathi born in 1974 in Mumbai, and grew up in a
middle class family. His father was an engineer and worked in the well known
construction company, L&T and has a passion for music also. Amish’s family is a
religious family from Benares. Benares is a holy city and has a long religious
background, people here worship lord Shiva. Amish is also an ardent devotee of
Shiva. His grand -father was a Sanskrit scholar and a pandit in Benares. He says
that he has learnt most of his Hindu theology and religion from his grand-father
and his very religious parents. His family background gave him the material for
writing his books while his education and work experience helped him in
marketing his book.
Thirty eight year old ,the former national head, marketing and product manager,
IDBI Fortis Life Insurance (now IDBI, Federal Life Insurance) now a million dollar
writer. During his childhood, he has no inclination towards becoming a writer. He
was an intelligent student, opted for science in his graduation, and then went to
do his MBA from IIM Kolkata. During his job he used to travel in car to office for
two three hours he thought of utilizing his time and started writing. It was not an
easy job to start with, first he wrote character sketches, and then prepared
summaries of each chapter. getting frustrated he stopped writing ,later on his
wife boasted him up and finally he come up with his novels , THE SHIVA
TRILOGY. Amish live in Mumbai with his wife and son Neel .During his visit at
the Jaipur literature festival he quotes from the Hindu scripture Rig Veda,
“Truth is one but wise men know it as many; God is one but we can
approach him in many ways. He says that he lives this philosophy ; in his
pooja room at home, besides idols of lord Shiva and other Hindu gods , he
also regularly worships pictures of the Muslim Kabba, mother Mary,
Gautama Buddha, besides symbols of many other religions. Chennai –
based publisher Westland Ltd, has written that the trilogy has become the
fastest selling book series in the history of Indian publishing industry, with
1.5 million copies in print and over Rs.forty crore in sales. Forbes India
magazine estimated Tripathi’s earnings at Rs.ten crore”.

1.3 INDIAN WRITINGS IN ENGLISH

Now, the topic is what about Indian writings in English? We can say that yes it is
Indian literature, but Indian literature comprises many literatures such as Tamil,
Punjabi, Hindi, Gujarati, Bengali etc. Indian writing in English is greatly influenced
by writings in England (UK), but in turn, it has also contributed a lot to English
literature so we can find that Indian literature appeals not only to Indians but to
English people also. We have a feeling that Anglo Indian literature is not as
good as Bengali or Tamil literature. The fact is that a person has full command
on his mother tongue as compared to the second language. According to Sri
Aurobindo this is not true, he says that many writers has written in French and
English although it was not their native language. He gives the example of Pandit
Jawaharlal Nehru has written excellently in English. His book An Autobiography
was a great success. As far as Englishmen are concerned, they think that an
Indian English literature is not equivalent to the English literature, but the fact is
that they think same about other literatures as American, Canadian, Australian
and African literatures also. Their such thinking can be seen clearly when Gordon
Bottomley described indo-Anglian poetry as , ‘Matthew Arnold in a sari.’ We
must not forget that our literature has a bright future ahead and it one day
achieve a level of global comprehension. So it should not be judged inferior to
others.
English education in India actually starts from the year
1857-1900 it took speed
1900-1920 spread further
1920-1947 Gandhian Era
After 1947 English went through reconstruction.
After independence and even some years before many schools and colleges
were opened for English education , but the rate of growth of English language
was slow as compared to that of Hindi language .If we look to the statistic of
newspaper in India of two languages we find that the number of newspapers in
English were more than in Hindi. There were more quarterly journals in English
as almost all other languages put together. The same was with Universities, in
libraries the number of English books were more as compared to other
languages. Still Hindi language was ahead of English, but slowly English also got
respect in India with so many publications. English in India will surely grow with
time.
In this competitive world, we have to respect to this language. English is like a
canal, which joins two cultures of east and west. Our classic literature now is
finding place in west, from Vedic to modern literature. Thinkers like Rammohan
Roy, Ranade, Tilak, Aurobindo, Gokhale, Tilak,and Gandhi were not only poets
but were makers of modern India, so their literature is like literature our nation.
Position of Indian literature is now improving day by day. In big cities the
condition is different the publishers are busy in their business they are busy in
publishing text- books which gives them more profit. The writers have to search
for some private publishers or so. A journalist once commented on such writers,
‘the Indo-Anglian leads a precarious life in magazines
and dies in the book.’
There is no doubt that our Indian literature has improved a lot after 1920.
However, it was not encouraged much but it has produced many prominent
literary figures that are famous on world scenario. Among them some important
names are:
Late pandit Jawaharlal Nehru
Former President Dr.Radhakrishnan
C.Rajagopalachari (Bilingual Writer).
As far as Indian criticism is concerned, it is not deep-rooted in comparison with
Indian literature. English critics like Aristotle, T.S Eliot, and Wordsworth are very
famous critics. In Indian critical tradition with emphasis on rasa and dhwani, the
bhava and the alankar we have authors like Bharata, Bhavabhuti, Bhatta nayaka,
Mammata, Abhinavagupta. In modern era, we have Shri Aurobindo. Indian
criticism now has yet to find its steps and stand boldly.
No other genre of literature enjoys such a position, as Novel in the World
literature today.
Novel as the “Third World Novel” refers to representations of colonialism,
nationhood; post-colonial novel has a very wide following. This is mainly because
novels contain stories, which are full of curiosity of humankind about itself. They
show us how writers see men and woman in their societies, and they often
shows the relationship of men and woman with society in the process of growing
up, of learning , of making crucial judgments, of taking decisions, either carrying
out actions themselves or reacting to the thoughts, the emotions, and the
behavior of others. In this process of creation, there is realism of the infinities of
imagination, or we can say there is, almost inevitably, the human desire to tell a
story about people.
Henry James notes in The Art of the Novel, “…the novel remains still, under
the right persuasion, the most independent, most elastic, most prodigious
of literacy forms.” 1
Henry, James. Theory of Fiction, Ed James E.Miller.Nebraska: University
of Nebraska press, 1971.p186.
The European novel, the English novel, the American novel, and the Indian
English novel have difference. However, they all have created a fictional World
where fact and fancy intermingle, a World in which we find the living characters
the novelists have created: Novelists continually add to the richness of our
human experience; they bring before us new stories, new characters, and new
attitudes.
The story of Indian English novel is a one-and-a-half centuries of fascinating
history. It reveals the dialectics of imperialism in its journey from the periphery to
the center and echoes a deep core of neo-colonialism based on power politics.
Again, the Indian English novels, the novel also attempts to universalize
humanistic gesture, for human nature and social relationships are as important
as the interplay of power and national relationships. The first English novel in
English is Bankim Chandra Chatterjee’s Rajmohan’s wife Mulk Raj Anand writing
in English Raja Rao in France; Anita Desai in wartime England ; Rushdie ,
Vikram Seth and Amitav Ghosh also in countries other than their own. V.S.
Naipaul has been described as a “writer without a country. R.K. Narayan did not
leave the shores of India until he was fifty but he had moved, early in life, from
Madras –now Chennai- to Mysore, and spent his formative years there and was
domiciled there. Perhaps the confident prose of Narayan’s award winning novel
The Guide owes something further to the novelist’s sojourn in the U.S.A. where
he was actually paid to write his book. Exile appears to do good even to writers in
Indian languages, Anantha Murthy wrote his Kannada novel Samskara in
England.
In the early 1930s the Indian English novel underwent a great change-it went
abroad and become international. Anand, Raja Rao. In addition, R.K. narayan
wrote on authentic Indian themes and wrote like Indians and for their
compatriots, but they also achieved a double audience. Anand and Narayan and
saved him from a crippling despair. Their self-faith made novelists of the 1930s to
stand the test of time. K.R. Srinivasa lyengar observes, “What makes Indo-
Anglican literature an Indian literature and not just a ramshackle outhouse of
English literature is the quality of its ‘Indianess’ in the choice of its subject, in the
texture of thought, and play of sentiment, in the organization of materials and in
the creative use of language.”
Meenakshi Mukharjee termed the Indian English novel the “twice born fiction”
because of its dual parentage. She says, “By designating indo-Anglican novel
as ‘twice born ‘ I have not tried to a super caste. I find it the product of two
parent traditions, and suggest that recognition of this fact is the first step
towards granting the indo-Anglican novel it’s proper in modern Indian
literature.” 2 Mukherjee, Meenakshi,
When there is question as to what should be the language of the novel, English
seems to be very appropriate, as it is understood by most of the readers,
whatever be their mother tongue. In addition, English can no more be considered
a foreign language. It has how become part of our cultural scenario. The Indian
English writer is in an advantageous position, as he can draw materials from the
perennial sources of Indian literatures.Thus the novel in English has become part
of Indian literature. The “Big three”-Mulk Raj Anand, Raja Rao, and R.K. Narayan
were distinguished writes, their writings are very close to the heart of Indians.
They were followed by the writers like Manohar Malgonkar, Khushwant Singh,
Bhabhani Bhattacharya, Balachandra Rajan, etc. Thus the aims of the 1930 were
full of favorite writings, the next decades were fruitful that followed. Especially,
novelists like Manohar Malgonkar brought professionalism to the literary form.
The post -1930 periods produced some classics.
In Indian writings women writers were able to establish a position respect much
later. Kamala Markandaya’s novel Nectar in a Sieve brought much glory to the
woman novelist. Novelists like Ruth Prawer Jhabwala, Nayantara Sehgal and
Anita Desai made their distinguished position. They added a new colour and
dimension to Indian English fiction with their extraordinary look of feminism. In
the first half of the twentieth, majority or novels in India have been written in
response to historical movement or events such as the Gandhian movement,
British Rule, partition of the country, and the emergence of new India. Our
struggles to throw away the foreign rule were an epic struggle covering the first
half of the twentieth century. The nation was in a state of tumult; a massive
movement for liberation from the foreign rule was in the country. The British, who
were exploiting India, were in no mood to withdraw. The struggle was long, tiring
and threatening. The freedom struggle caught the attention of the Indian English
writes. No significant write could escape the impact of the mighty movement
spreading around the country. The novels written in 1930’s and 1940’s reflect the
vitality of a people elevated to a cause. This is much reflected in the novels of the
period
i. Raja Rao’s Kanthapura, Anand’s coolie,
ii. D.F. karke’s we never die,
iii. In addition, C.N. Zutshi’s Motherland.
The novel dealing with the freedom struggle give vivid pictures of the exploitation
and anger of the foreign rulers, as the portrayal of an awakened people
struggling for their birthright. The novels written before this were limited to
religious faith. Now the focus shifted to contemporary socio-political concern .The
Indian English novelists always hold for the people a lens through which they can
see the threatening pictures, which makes them aware of the future .The
novelists have been most responsive to the call of freedom, equality and human
rights and they wrote on it. Many novels were written on the atrocities of British
rule in India. A number of novels were written on the theme of partition, the
destruction, violence and the movement of the population. Some novels written
on this theme and that depict horror and sufferings are,
Khushwant Singh’s Train to Pakistan
Chaman Nahal’s Azadi
Shiva k. Kumar’s River with Three Banks
Balachandra Rajan’s The Dark Dancer
K. A Abbas’s Inquilab
K.S Srinivas Iyengar views,“The leaders had sowed the wind of communal
suspicion, and partition was the result; like a whirlwind, the mad act of
partition was uprooting masses of humanity, mangling them, throwing
them across border in heap after heap.” 3 Iyenger,K.R Srinivasa .
Now what about Indians writing in English yes, it is Indian literature but Indian
literature comprises many literatures such as Tamil, Punjabi, Hindi, Guajarati,
Bengali etc. Indian writing in English is greatly influenced by writing in England
(U.K), but in turn, it has also contributed a lot to English literature, so we can find
that Indian literature appeals not only to Indians but to Englishman also. We have
a feeling that Indo-Anglican literature is not as good as Bengali or Tamil literature
the fact is that the on one’s mother tongue one has full command compared to
second language. According to Sri Aurobindo, this is not true he says that many
writers who written French and English although it was not their native Language.
He also given an example of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru who was Indian and has
written excellent books is English his Auto biography as far as Englishman is
concerned he thinks that Anglo Indian literature is not equivalent to English
literature but the fact that we thinks same about American, Australian and African
literature also. Their thinking can be clearly seen when Gorden Bottomley
described Indo- Anglican poetry” Mathew Arnold in a sari”. However, we should
never forget that this literature has a bright future ahead, and in will achieve a
level of global literature so our literature cannot be indulged inferior to others.
English education in India a actually. starts
from 1857 - 1900 - It took speed.
1900 - 1920 - Spread further
1920 - 1947 - Gandhian Era
After 1947 - English is going trough reconstruction.
After independence and even some year before many schools and collage were
opened for English education, but the rate of growth of English was slow as
compared to that of Hindi language. It we look to the station of newspaper in
India of two language we find that the number of newspapers in English were
more than in Hindi; There were seven times more quarterly journals in English
as almost all the other language put together. The same was with universities in
Libraries number of English books were far more than that of other languages.
Still Hindi language was a head but by time English has also got respect in India
with so many publications. English is India well surely to give respect to this
language. English is like a canal, which joins, enters two states or culture
between east and west. Our classic literature now is finding place in west from
modern literature. Thinkers from Raja Rammohan Roy to Gandhi, Radhakrishan
have made their position in west with people realizing them and appreciating
them. Thinkers like Rammohan Roy, Ranade, Tilak, Aurobindo, Gokhale Tagore
and Gandhi were not only poets but were maters of modern India, so their
literature is like literature of our nation, Position of Indian literature is now
improving slowly and slowly. In big cities the publisher are busy in their business
with school textbooks. So there writers search for their private Publisher or so
some journalist once commented on these writers as the Indo – Anglian leads a
precarious life in magazines and in a book.
There is no doubt that our Indian Literature has improved a lot after 1920.
However, it was not encouraged much but it has produced many literary
prominent figures that are famous on world scenario .Indian English novel has
won praises in scholarly and literary circles all over the world, although it’s a late
development. With the publication of Kylash chander Dutt’s A Journal of Forty
Hours’ in the year 1945was the beginning of Indian English novels. However, the
novel reached the technical excellence in works of Mulk Raj Anand, R.K Narayan
and Raja Rao. It has now become a racial repression on listening to this word the
Anglo Indian writers do not feel comfortable they themselves are not ready to
retain this name. They want to remain with a single title of either Indian or
American. Into although all the works of English speaking countries wrote
literature, but as American, Canadian or Australian literature, many writers like
Kipling, pearl Buck etc. Ralph Fox points out that, “The novel is the most
 important gift of bourgeois or capitalist civilization to the world’s imaginative
culture. The novel is its great adventure, its discovery of man.” Writings in all
fields run parallel to industrial development. The growth and development of
novel also followed the same, and with the growth of modern bourgeois society in
Europe it also grew. In India too, the novel developed during the British rule,
which was the era of industrial growth. Novel as an art form came to India with
the British. In various Indian languages novel became a popular literary form,
and many novels were written in different languages. Bhudeva Chandra
Mukherjee’s Anguriya Binimoy(1890),Bankim Chandra’s RajSingha (1881),
Kapalkundla(1885) and Durgeshnandini(1890),Tagore’sGhare Baire(1916)
In the whole history of the Indian fiction in English that extends from Bankim
Chandra Chatterjee’s Rajmohan’s Wife in 1864 to Arundhati Roy’s the god of
small things in 1997, only two major landmarks are visible. The first landmark is
the coming of the famous ‘trio’, and more particularly with the appearance of Raja
Rao’s The Serpent and the Rope. In addition, the second landmark is the rise of
Salman Rushdie, particularly with his second novel Midnight’s Children. It should
not be mistaken that the writers between these two phases are insignificant. The
beginning of the Indian fiction in English may broadly be divided into four phases.
1. The first phase is from 1864-1930. The works of writers like Bankim Chandra
Chatterjee and Toru Datt etc belong to this period. The works were by and large ,
the imitations of the nineteenth century English novels.
2. The second phase from 1930-1960 . The works of the Trio belong to this era .
The trio includes Mulk Raj Anand , Raja Rao and R. K. Narayan . There works
were concerned with national, political and social problems.
3. The third phase from 1960 – 1980. The writers that belong to this era , are
Kamla Markandaya , Manohar Malgonkar, Anita Desai , Khushwant Singh ,
Bhabhani Bhattacharya and Chaman Nahal and others belong to this era . The
theme of their writing is individuals’ quest for personal meaning and his
problems, and social relationships.
4. The fourth phase form 1980 to present time. The writers like Salman Rushdie,
Vikram Seth , Arundhati Roy , Amitav Ghosh , Shashi Tharur and others. Their
works revise the old themes like history, politics, gender and self-identity in a new
technique.
All the writers are not good writers; in fact, all are good writers in their own ways.
As for as the sensibility of the major trio is concerned they follow the traditions.
Mulk Raj Anand is writing in a different line from Raja Rao and R. K. Narayan.
They both are band to words Brahminical writings, but not Anand. Anand mainly
writes for the untouchables. His attitude to words traditions is pleasing Makarand
Paranjape in his book Towards a Poetics of Indian English Novel observes in this
regards. When we first study him, he seems to be very anti-traditional, an
advocate of social reform. In the final analysis, he accepts the continuity of Indian
traditions and their relevance to our times. Anand’s cultural politics seems to be
disputable but is actually compromising.
One (Makarand Paranjape, Towards a Poetics of the Indian English novel,
Shimla: IIAS, 2000) 115.
Even the writers of the next generation have not shown departure from their
previous writers in terms of their literary sensibility, but have gone a step for the
in their choice of themes. It means that they wrote for social and psychological
realism mixed with tradition. It may be said that the Indian fiction in English has
remained in its earlyhood for a long time, because there was no change in terms
of both themes and forms. Rushdie’s midnight children is based on the theme of
history and politics, he do not follow tradition. That is to say that all the Rushdie’s
novels is characterize by the negation of the tradition and added the elements of
self , truth, god and history . Those who have firm support for the traditional and
received notion of realism are regarded as modernist , where as those who
negated such notion of reality are called post-modernist . Followers of Rushdie
like Amitav Ghosh , Shashi Thrur and Arundhati Roy are called post-modernist
novel . As for as the critical analysis of the works of the writers chatterjee to Anita
Desai is done a consensus is seen among, Indian literary critics but opinions
divided when it comes to label a work as the post-modernist. Some differences
prevails among critics like Paranjape, Avadhesh Kumar Singh and others.
Paranjape’s disregard for post-modernism is very clear, and it may be seen in his
strong remarks on Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children.
Others like Shyamala A. Narayan, who is also known critic in Indian fiction in
English, makes a contrary observation about the novel, he remarked the novel as
an extra ordinary work. This difference is because we do not know form, which
prospective they are looking at the novel. Paranjape has looked at the novel from
the traditional prospective. He is disappointed in not finding any qualities of the
Mahabharat in Midnight’s Children, as was found in the serpent and the rope. On
the other hand, Shyamala has looked at the novel from the contemporary point of
view and appreciated it. The beginning of the Indian fiction in English was not in
the full colors. India was a colony, so Indian writers use colonizers language as a
medium so they were struggling in the beginning. It was not only struggling at the
childhood, but also late in taking birth. That is to say that Indian fiction in English
has taken many years to arrive on the Indian English literary scene. In the early
period the creative works were like tales or short stories. Even Bankim Chatterje ,
Raj Mohan’s Wife was circulated in the serial form in the Calcutta Weekly , ‘the
Indian field in 1806 , appeared the book form later. It was published as a novel in
1935. That is why it said that the foundation is in Indian novel in English was laid
by Raj Mohan’s Wife about which Mulk Raj Anand writes as follows .The Indian
Novel in English was born with the emergence of Bankim Chatterjee as a
novelist. It was the impact of an English novel, namely, Wilkie Collins’ The
Women in White that influenced Bankim, the first graduate of Calcutta University
and father of Bengali fiction, to write his first novel, Rajmohan’s Wife (1864) in
English. Till then, there had been no novel but for the great recitals, The
Ramayana and the Mahabharata.”
M. K. Naik , A History of Indian English Literature (delhi: Sahitya Akademi, 1997).
Now I come to the beginning of Indian writing in English. We know that literature
influenced by nation, race and test. In our literature, we find the influence of west,
and west constitute so many nations British, French, Dutch and German etc. In
India one by one these people came and ruled us, missionaries came but these
people fought each other that is to say they were self divided. Then many rulers
Mughal, Marathas came and ruled. So we can say that our culture is mixture of
so many people and races. Before this in short I want to discuss how the
transition from the old to new India took place.
1757 – Battle of plassey (Clive declined Diwani)
1772 – East India company took it over. Company was interested in
political domination in India.
1781 – Hastings established Calcutta Madras
1784 – Asiatic Society by Thomas Munro. Munro liked Indian culture.
1813 - commercial monopoly of east India company ended.
1780 – Bengal Gazette came.
East India company was a business corporation and missionaries were
coming to India with new education. They spread English education and
opened many schools.
1717 – School opened at Coimbatore in Madras
1718 – School opened at Bombay
1720 – School opened at Calcutta
1855 – Madras School was converted into Presidency College
So we find the slowly and slowly English education in India was spreading.
Now came Ram Mohan Roy on Indian scenario or we can say that rebirth in
modern Indian literature begins. He was an educationist and learned in many
languages like sanskrit, Persian, Arabian, and Hindustani. He was a deeply
religious man and a Brahmin who raised the Brahma Samaj in 1928 . He was
called as the first of the masters of English prose. He started the tradition of
writing autobiographies of Indian leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawahar Lal
Nehru, Rajendra Prasad etc. He was the master in English. English education is
related mainly to pre-Macaulay period then came Madhusudan Dutt followed by
Henry Louis Vivian Derozio (1809-1851)
Kashi Prasad Ghose (1809-1873)
Michael Madhusudan Dutt (1827-1873)
Raja Ram Mohan when started Braham Samaj in 1928 it was the beginning of
the Renaissance in India. He himself was attracted to west and so did not fully
support some Hindu practices and beliefs like caste and sati system. He was
mainly interested in the rights of women, freedom of press to English education,
the revenue and judicial systems in India, religious tolerance and condition of
Indian farmers. He wanted to make our country modern and Indians to become
modern. He himself could speak and write English language. His Brahman
Samaj was working well in India, but in 1857 when Devendra Nath and Keshav
Chunder Sen met with each other, they created a split in Brahamo Samaj. Then
Brahamo Samaj started to work in different wings as Adi Brahamo Samaj and
Sadharan Brahamo Samaj. However, the parts,that Ram Mohan has shown, was
not stopped but lead into different directions.
Next was Ishwar Chandra Vidhyasagar who like Ram Mohan was a strong social
reformer followed by Keshav Chunder Sen, who felt that Christianity and
Hinduism do not match each other? He was the founder of the Adi Brahamo
Samaj . Another the social worker of the renaissance period was Dayanand
Sarswati (1824-1883). He founded the Arya Samaj (1875). These movements
were later preserved by different social workers such as Eknath, Namadev ,
Tukaram and Ramdas . Kashinath Telang read deeply English and Sanskrit and
translated The Gita . Then came Ranade , Gopal Krishan Gokhle and Dadabhai
Naoroji etc . The interesting thing to note is that none of these movements
helped the challenged which was put before by the west , of English education.
The effect of English education in our society was not taking place. The feeling of
the Hinduism and Patriotism was there. Still, people like English.
Then there came the emergence of Toru Dutt . She was a poet who belongs to a
rich and respectable family. Her father Govind Chunder Dutt was a literary figure
of Bengal. Her family was attracted by Christian, so some of the members of her
family were converted into Christians. Her family moved to Europe and there she
many poems . Then we found Indian poets like Ravindra Nath Tagore, Aurobindo
and Sarojani Naidu.
Then there is an era of national awakening (1900-1918) in India. During this
period the genre of novel took some speed. Novel is a medium of the expression
of the spirit and taste of the age. It can never grow and develop alone. Indian
English novel form its very beginning has shown deep involvement with the
changing scenario of national awakening of India. It was in the middle of the 20th
Century. The promises made in the Queen’s proclamation of 1858 were not fulfill.
Indians were treated very badly, there were discriminations based on religion
color and race, and they were even denied of fundamental rights and freedom.
The English educated Indians who were influence by British liberal thoughts and
democratic tradition condemned the attitude of British towards Indians. So they
formed the Indian National Congress which played an imported role in the
freedom struggle of our country. The partition of Bengal sowed the seeds of
Hindu-Muslim divide. And slowly the result was that the Muslim League was
formed.
Economic backward of millions of Indians, feudalism, social differences and
exploitations of women attracted the attention of writers and novelist which gave
rise to many Indian novelist and novels . Seeing the popularity of fiction in the
nineteenth century Harish Raizada says,
“As the appeal for improving the condition of Indian people and
relationship between India and England was to be made to English rulers,
many of the Indian writers chose to write in English, and as the novel was a
literary genre most suited to the proper representation of life and its
problems , they took to fiction for expressing their views.” 4
Harish Raizada: The lotus and the rose: Indian fiction in English.
There was an influence of Victorian novelist on Indian English novels. The Indian
were imitating their technique and pattern but the subjects were many like social
historical and romantic, and there vision was Indian. There works are somewhat
immature.
R C Dutt, transcribed The Ramayana and the Mahabharat into English. He
translated his two novels in English – Sanchar and Madhvi Kankan under the
titles of The lake of Palms (1902), is based on the theme of social reformation
and talks the cause of Widow remarriage. And the other is The slave girl of Agra
(1909), is a historic romance set in the Mughal period.
 Sir Jogendra Singh , who is known for Guru Nanak’s biography , Sikh
Ceremonies , became a famous novel other novels he wrote are Nur Jahan
(1909) , Nasrian (1915) , Kamla (1925) and Kamini(1931) . Nur Jahan is a
historical novel, which tells the famous romance between The Mughal prince
Salim and Mihar-Ul-Nisa, The beautiful daughter of Ghias Beg. The novelist has
written about the splendor of Mughal Empire. He could not enter into the spirit of
the age. The first two novels gives the knowledge of the life of Muslims in India
and the other two gives the knowledge to the life of the Hindu’s in India.
Then there are minor novelist like Bal Krishan , S K Ghose , S M Mitra , S
B Banerjee , T. Ramakrishana Pillai . Among women novelist cornelia sorabji
who made distinguished contribution to the development of Indian English novel
in that period . Her novel love and life behind the purdah , portrays in different
types the sad predicament of women of different sects and classes in India . In
India women are considered a play thing for men . She is subjected to all types of
cruelties which she face without raising her voice . Her next novel Sun Babies ,
contains its story of child life in India .
The Gandhian Era (1920-1947), awakened the whole country and people
started opposing the British rule. There was the self awareness in society which
is long suppressed under the British rule. This era provided variety of themes to
the novelist and forced them to think in new manner. The major themes adopted
by the novelist were – freedom struggle, East-west relationship, quest of identity,
search for justice and fair play etc. The Indian independence movement was
influenced by Gandhi and Ideology and it became not only the philosophy of life
but a way of life also. No discussion Indian English novel would be complete
without the assessment of all the influence of the Gandhi. Meenakshi Mukherjee
writes:
“The most potent force behind the whole movement, the Mahatma is
a recurring presence in these novels, and he is used in different ways to
suit the design of each writer. He has been treated variously as an idea , a
myth, a symbol, a tangible reality, and a benevolent human being. In a few
novels he appears in person, in most others his is an invisible presence.” 5
Meenakshi Mukherjee: The twice born fiction (New Delhi, Heinemann, 1971)
Mahatma Gandhi’s influence on Indian literature of this period has been
twofold. First , the writers wrote in clear and simple style . Secondly there themes
was also influenced. In Raja Rao’s Kanthapura and The cow and the Barricades
the Mahatma never appears in person but his presence is felt everywhere . In R
K Narayana’s Waiting for the Mahatma The Mahatma appears as a human being
. In Anand’s untouchables, Mahatma Gandhi appears as a crusader of the evil of
the untouchability. So it is clearly seen that Gandhi in person and in ideas is
influencing the Indian writings in English. Not only is this but in post-Gandhian
era there an influence of Gandhiji and his thoughts. The novelist like Bhabani
Bhattacharya, Nayantara Sehagal wrote novels having Gandhi’s influence.
Commenting on the treatment of the Mahatma in Indian English novel Meenakshi
Mukherjee writes :
“Whether Gandhi would be treated as an idea or as a human
being, as a symbol or tangible reality, is ultimately determined by the point
of view of the novelist, and Gandhi’s presence in the novel is justified only
if it fits into the internal pattern of events. In lesser novels … the Mahatma
is used merely as a device to fit the novel in a particular time of history.” 6
Meenakshi Mukherjee : The twice born fiction (new delhi, Heincemann, 1971)
The various events that were witnessed were the Rowlett Act , Jalainwala Bagh ,
Khilafat movement , Civil disobedience movement The Dandi March , The quite
India movement and many other movements of the Gandhian Era are vividly
described in the novels written during this period . The spirit on romanticism was
turned to realism. Now the novelist started writing on the realist themes like
poverty, exploitation, hunger and disease. They also wrote on social evils like
women suppression. In this period the technique also made and advancement.
New techniques were generated to suit the new themes and the purpose of the
novelist. Anand’s the sword and the sickle, and untouchable adopted a new
technique in novel. R K Narayan and Raja Rao adopted some new techniques.
These three novelists begin writing during this period and won great distinction.
Humayun Kabir , Khawaja Ahmed Abbas , D. F. Karaka , Dhangopal Mukherjee
also appeared on the scene during this period.
The Indian English novel of this period has a different milieu. Indian
society was changing from the old to new, the old values were vanishing and the
new values were taking place. Indian English novel is about India, it present an
Indian point of view and culture. As we have seen that the writers of this age are
deeply rooted in the Indian culture. There is rise in realism and humanism. There
is development of rural novels also. Under the Gandhi influence, the novelist
focused his attention on Indian villagers. The main examples are Venkatramani’s
Murugan, the Tiller, Nagarjan’s Cold Rice and various novels of Anand and Raja
Rao. The revolutionary change brought about by western influences in Indian
society is also seen in this novel of this period. The most distinguished feature of
this period is that there came the regional novels. The novelist who come from
various regions and states brought regionalism and local color in their novels.
Shankar Ram , Raja Rao and R K Narayan are the pioneers of this novel .
The novels of 1930s and 1940s played an important part in the changing
vision of anti-colonial nationalism. Mulk Raj Anand, Bhabani Bhattacharya, Raja
Rao and G V Desani spent their lives in Europe and their writing is influence by
their life. This period is marked by the victory of anti-colonial nationalism and the
event of Indian independence in 1947. The earlier two era is so many
movements in India which change of the mood of Indians. Many events pave the
way into numerous Mahatma Novels of this period. Not only in English but in
many Indian languages novels were published. Premchand’s Permashram
(1921) and Rangabhumi (1925) in Hindi, Ramanlal Vasantlal Desai’s Gram
Lakshmi (1940) in Gujarati, G. T. Madkholkar’s Muktatma (1933) in Marathi, and
Satinath Bhaduri’s Jagari (1946) in Bengali, offer some significant narrations of
the Gandhian theme.
Many south Indian writers also dominated seen of Gandhian fiction.
Bhabani Bhattacharya wrote his first novel so many hungers (1947) needs to be
mentioned here. This is published a few months after independence and the
background of novel is Bengal famine and quite India movement. He has taken
his ideas from Gandhian education. In the novel Kajoli, a village girl is portrayed
as a new woman. Rahul, Cambridge educated boy is portrayed as modern boy
and Devata is a Gandhian figure. So we find that Bhabani was much influence by
Gandhi’s ideas. Not only Gandhi’s influence but this period also sees the
influence of Nehru. It was between 1933 and 1936 that Nehru entered the most
effective political carrier. Here there is seen a conflict between Gandhi’s and
Nehru’s ideas. Most of the novelists were confused, because they have to follow
only one idea. Still some novelist attempt synthesis of both views. Slowly the
scene changed and with the attempt of both India progress towards its
independence. There was some conflict of ideas between Hindus and Muslim
also. Several nationalist novels by Muslim writers deal almost entirely with Hindu
characters for example Amir Ali’s Conflict (1947) contains mostly Hindu
character. The hero Shankar,a village boy whose journey to Bombay throws into
the involvement in the quite India movement. K.A. Abbas Tomorrow is ours : A
novel of the India of today (1943) also contains the Hindu characters. The main
character Parvati explores the issues of nationalism and untouchability. On the
other hand some Hindu writers used Muslim characters in their novels, even the
work of major writers like Mulk Raj Anand and Raja Rao portrayed this.
During this period Nehruji was in prison for many years and he during this
period he wrote his two major novels Glimpses of World History(1934) and
Discovery of India(1946). In this period two important journals were published by
Gandhi Young India(1919-1932) and Harijan(1933-1948) resulted in a great
influence of writers of this age. For example Bharati Sarabhai’s play The Well of
the people(1943) was published and its story was taken from Harijan. Rao’s
writing reflects the influence of Gandhi’s autobiography, many contemporary
novelist also were influence by it.
 1.4 ABOUT THE SHIVA TRILOGY
The field of work is on three novels by Amish Tripathi these are:
1. The Immortals of Meluha.
2. The Secret of the Nagas.
3. The Oath of the Vayuputras.
The Shiva’s Trilogy consists of the above-mentioned three novels by Amish
Tripathi. The first novel introduces the readers to all the main characters, about
Somras, history and about the ancient culture. The second novel talks on large
about good and evil, Shiva comes to know what the Evil is. The third novel
contains some philosophical concepts from the Gita and the Upanishads like
Karma and rebirth.
The Immortals of Meluha is the first book of the Shiva Trilogy published into 2011
and it became the best seller in India. Many people and agencies praised this
book.
‘Shiva rocks. Just how much Shiva rocks the imagination is made
grandiosely obvious in The Immortals of Meluha [….] Shiva’s journey from cool
dude [….] to Mahadev […] is a reader’s delight. [….] What really engages is the
author’s carting of Shiva, with almost boy-worship joy’
- The Times of India
‘The story [in The Immortals of Meluha] is gripping and well-paced. An essentially
mythological story written in a modern style, the novel creates anticipation in the
reader’s mind and compels one to read with great curiosity till the end.’
- Business World
…The Immortals of Meluha is a political commentary with messages for our
world and a hope that since they flow from the Mahadev himself, they find
greater acceptance. Be it the interpretation of Shiva’s battle cry – Har Har
Mahadev as Every man a Mahadev or the valour of Sati who fights her own
battles – every passage is rich in meaning, and yet, open to interpretation.
Therein lays the strength of this book.’
- Indiareads.com
 The novel is the story of the man, whom legend turns into a God. The story
begins at mansarovar in 1900 B.C. Nandi, a captain in Meluhan empire come to
invite Shiva the man to Meluha. Meluha, the empire of Suryavanshi’s created by
Lord Ram is a very peaceful kingdom. For few months, they are under trouble by
the Chandravanshi, whose combined force with Nagas is regularly attacking
them. To get rid of Chandravanshi’s Shiva is invited. Shiva is the chief of Gunas
tribe. Gunas and Prakratis are also fighting with each other for a long time. So
this invitation is accepted by Shiva because he wants to leave this place. The
journey to Meluha starts and Shiva and his men reaches Srinagar, ‘the respected
city’. They are warmly welcomed in this beautiful city, with nearly twenty
thousand urban living populations. They are provided well-furnished rooms in a
camp to stay. Shiva for the first time see cotton bed-sheets, he is unable to sleep
on the beds so he slept on the floor. In the morning when they wake up they all
except Shiva are suffering from fever and are sweating. Under Ayurvati
guidance, they are treated and given Somras to drink. Ayurvati, the chief of
medicines is an intelligent woman. She asked Shiva to take bath after which
Shiva’s throat turns blue. When Ayurvati sees this she starts shouting that
Neelkanth has come. After this, the Meluhans declared Shiva as the Neelkanth ,
their fabled savior. The next journey is to Devgiri, the capital of Kashmir and
Meluhan capital also. Here Shiva meets king Daksha. When Shiva was at Meru,
he visits Brahma temple, it was a beautiful temple and here for the first time he
sees Sati who came with her friend Krittika. Later on Shiva comes to know that
Sati is a daughter of King Daksha. Sati is a Vikarma , an untouchable in this life
due to the sins committed in her previous life. Shiva is totally opposed to the
concept of Vikarma. There is a lot of discussion between Shiva and Sati on the
topic of Vikarma and Shiva is not ready to accept the concept of sins of the
previous birth. He comes to know the cause of Sati’s becoming Vikarma. Slowly
they meet with each other and he starts loving her and proposes her. Sati also
loves him but rejects the proposal for she was an untouchable ultimately Shiva is
able to win her heart and they decided to get married. King Daksha is happy to
hear this and allows their marriage. In a grand seven days ceremony Shiva and
Sati gets married, along with them Veerabhadra and Krittika are also married.
This is the beginning of the story, that is very interesting and the readers are
introduced with some major characters of the novel. It is a great quality of the
novelist to introduce the major characters in the first half on the novel. By the end
of this novel the novelist comes to know almost all the characters of the story,
thus making the background of this story is very strong.
By now in this story the happy days of Shiva and Sati is shown. Shiva stayed in
Devagiri for many days and comes to know about like symbol of OM, devised by
Lord Bharat. He comes to know about Somras when he meets Brahaspati.
Brahaspati is the chief scientist of Meluha. He tells in detail about the
manufacturing process of Somras to Shiva. Very early in the novel Amish has
discussed Somras, which proves to be an evil by the end of the second novel.
Brahaspati tells him that it is due to Somras that Meluhans lives such a long life.
He tells him all about Nagas also. In Devagiri there caravan is attacked by the
Nagas and Sati’s also attacked. Now we proceeded to Koonj where the battle of
Koonj takes place between Sati and Nagas. Sati’s attacked by Nagas and is
seriously injured by Agni Baan. This makes Shiva angry towards Nagas. Mount
Mandar is a placed in the story where Somras is manufactured. One day when
Brahaspati was in Mount Mandar and is busy in his work, the Nagas attacked
Mount Mandar. With loud noises, Mount Mandar is very devastated. When Shiva
and his troops there they find that, a large part has been destroyed killing many
inventers. Even the chief scientist Brahaspati is missing. In the ruins of the
mountain, Shiva finds a bracelet. This bracelet belongs to Naga. It is a symbol of
OM which is a made of images of three snakes. Now Shiva is sure that Nagas is
involved in this attack. He is in such anger that he took a vow to bring upon the
Naga a death that would scare him for his next seven births.
Shiva is in great anger by this attack that he declares war on the
Chandravanshis. In this way, the story of the novel turns towards the war. Shiva
is exploring the Evil but he does not know what the Evil is? Therefore, the
preparations for the war begin. Suryavanshi’s are less in number but they have a
strategy. Their plan is to attack in a bow shape, with infantry and cavalry making
bow shape in between is tortoise formation. In the last behind the bow, shape
army there is an archery, which is hidden. Shiva is leading the army along with
general Parvateshwar, Vraka, Nandi and Veerabhadra. On the opposite side is
Chandravanshi army which is planning to attack in parallel lines of fifty squads ,
each have five thousand soldiers to move from back to side under the leadership
of Dilipa. This war is named by Amish as Dharmayudha, the Holy war. May be
here Amish is trying to depict the war of Mahabharat through this
Dharamayudha. The holy war starts in the fierce battle from both sides
Suryavanshi’s win the battle. In addition, after the battle Dilipa surrenders with his
son Bhagirath and comes to Daksha. Daksha is so happy with this victory and
with the role of Parvateshwar that he declares the Parvateshwar as viceroy of
Swadeepan Empire. Here Dilipa sees Shiva who is now Neelkanth and is very
much upset. The Chandravanshi’s princess Anandmayi explains that she has
heard about a legend according to which Neelkanth will come forward to save
their land and destroyed evil of their kind. She further tells that Neelkanth will not
be from the Sapt-sindhu, neither Suryavanshi nor a Chandravanshi but when he
comes, he will come on their side. Hearing this Shiva is speechless and becomes
upset.
In concluding last two chapters Shiva and his men reaches Ayodhya, the
capital of Swadeepan’s. City out walls are built in a strong manner to protect the
city from the enemies. On the main gate Chandravanshi motto is written,
‘Shringar , Saundrya, Swatantra’. There is a hot discussion between Anandmayi
and Parvateshwar about Chandravanshi’s and Suryanvanshi’s and on lord Ram.
In Ayodhya Shiva comes to know that these people are not evil. Here he reaches
Ram Janma Bhoomi temple, in the temple he meets a priest from whom he
comes to know about his Karma, fate and his choices his life which would guide
in future. The priest asks Shiva to find what the evil is. He even tells him about
the tribe of Vayuputras. When Shiva comes out of the temple he find Sati waiting
for him , but suddenly he notices a Nagas standing near the trees and attacks
Sati with his knife but misses the attack. The book ends here with Shiva drawing
his sword and jumping towards Sati to save her.
The story begins at Mansarovar 1900 B.C; Nandi a captain in Meluhan Empire
comes to invite Shiva the man to Meluha. Meluha, the empire of the Suryavanshi.
Suryavanshi is created by Lord Ram is a very peaceful kingdom but now they are
under trouble by the Chandravanshis, who with combined forces of the Nagas is
regularly attacking them. Therefore, Shiva was invited. They are in continuous
fight with the Prakarties. Shiva agrees and decides to leave for Meluha. The
journey starts and they reached Srinagar the respected city. They are warmly
welcomed in that beautiful city with me only twenty thousand urban living
population. They are provided with well-furnished rooms in at camp to stay. Shiva
for the first time saw cotton. In the morning when they wake up they, except the
Shiva were suffering from fever and were sweating. Ayurvati, the doctor is called,
under her guidance they were treated and given Somras to drink. The chief of
medicines is an intelligent woman is first two see Shiva’s throat turning blue. She
is so excited and calls him by the name NEELKANTH their saviour.
Next journey is towards Swadeep, the capital of Kashmir. Shiva meets king
Daksha at Meluha Shiva visits Brahma temple here for the first time, he saw is
the beautiful women Sati and krittika. Later on Shiva comes to know Sati, the
daughter of Daksha is a Vikarma, an untouchable in this life due to sins
committed in the previous life. Shiva is totally against the concept of Vikrama. He
started loving her. They meet many times and one day Shiva proposes her,
although Sati also loves him but rejects his proposal for she was an untouchable.
She agrees and they decide to get married. Daksha was so happy to hear this
and allow their marriage. In seven days grand ceremony they get married and
with them Veerabhadra and Krittika also gets married. Shiva stayed here for few
days. he comes to know about many things like society, devised by lord Bharat,
he also learns about Somras, when he there meets Brahaspati, who took his
family to Mount Mandar and tell him in detail about the process how this portion
is made. It is due to Somaras that Meluhans lives for such long. He is told here
all about Nagas. Naga even attack caravan but here it was concluded that attack
on Sati was to kidnap her. Then during the battle of Koonj Sati is again attacked
by Naga and seriously injured by Agnibaan. This makes Shiva sure that behind
the attack is Nagas. This makes Shiva even angrier towards Nagas. One evening
someone attacked Mount Mandar, loud noises were heard, it was very
devastated. When Shiva and his troops reach there, they find that, a large part
has been destroyed killing many inventors. Even the chief Scientist Brahaspati is
missing. In ruins, Shiva finds Nagas bracelet and symbol of OM making sure
involvement of Naga in this attack.
Shiva is so shocked by the attack that he declares war on the
Chandravanshi Kingdom. Preparations for war begin. Suryavanshi army plans to
attack in a bow shape with Shiva leading the army along with Parvateshwar, and
Nandi. On the other hand, Chandravanshi is plans to attack in parallel line of fifty
square yards each having five thousand soldiers to move from back to side under
the leadership of Dilipa. In Dharmayudha, the holy war, start the fierce battle from
sides, the Suryavanshi win and Dilipa surrendered with and comes to Daksha.
Daksha declares Parvateshwar as viceroy of Swadeep. Shiva reaches the
kingdom, when Dileep sees Neelkanth he was much upset. The Chandravanshi
princess Anandamayi explains that they too had a similar legend that the
Neelkanth will come forward to save their land and destroy the evil. There is
legend that the tells that Neelkanth will not be from the Sapta Sindhu, neither are
Suryavanshi, now at Chandravansi but when he comes, he will come on their
side, hearing this he was speechless and becomes upset.
In concluding to chapter, Shiva and his team reaches Devgiri, which is the capital
of Swadeepan. In this chapter, there is a discussion about the Suryavanshi, the
Chandravanshi lord Ram. Shiva comes to know that Nagas are not evil. now
Shiva reaches ram janam bhoomi temple in the temple he needs a priest from
whom he comes to know about his karma, fate, and his choices in life which
would guide him in future. The priest ask receiver to find out the evil and tell him
about the tribe of Vayuputras. When Shiva come out of the temple he finds sati
waiting for him, he suddenly notices the Naga standing near the tree sati is
attacked but was safe. The book ends with Shiva fighting with the Naga to save
sati.
Second book, ‘The Secret of the Nagas’ begins with this fighting Shiva saved
sati. While running Nagas throws two gold coins bag. Later on, it was discovered
that these coins belongs to Branga dynasty. Now Shiva passed an official order
declaring Daksha as an emperor of India, and Dilipa as an emperor of Swadeep
kingdom. Shiva and sati travels to Magadha Shiva visited Narsimha temple and
meets Vasudev. Now they travel to Kashi, where they goes to meet a community
of Branga to get some information about the Nagas. in this journey they had with
them Parvateshwar, Nandi, veerbhadra, ayurvati, Bhagirathi etc. at Kashi there is
a battle between Branga community in which Parvateshwar was injured and he
was treated by the Ayurvati by applying herbal paste which was available only in
naga capital. Divodas tells him that Branga and Nagas are allies. Branga suffers
from a mortal plague. Now Shiva decides to go to Branga but that was only
possible by travelling by special ships, which was to be made, and it will take six
months.
Here Sati gives birth to Karthik. Shiva and others leaves for Branga, sati remains
at Kashi for the growth of karthik that should give her some rest but sati did not
like. On the other hand, Shiva and others on reaching Branga, they are not
allowed to enter later on Divodas allowed to enter Shiva. Shiva is surprised to
see the technology used by Brangas’ in making ships gates barriers. Divodas
tells Shiva that there is only one person who knows about this medicine his name
is Parshurama. He lives in the jungle and kills anyone who comes near him. In
the battle of madhumati which was fought between Shivas’ men and
Parshurama. Parshurama lost the battle was seriously injured and died. Shiva is
surprised to know that Parshurama is Vasudev and Parashuram is surprised to
know that Shiva is Neelkanth. Parshurama gives the recipe of the medicine to the
people of Branga and leave for Kashi with Shiva and promises to tell Shiva about
the Nagas place. He tells Shiva that Branga they are the best people. They both
discuss in detail all things. Now the question arises what is Evil?
Sati reaches Icchawar and suddenly three prides of lion attacked sati but she
was saved by the naga and the queen. Now she comes to know that the queen
was Kali and how was her son Ganesh. call you tell Sandeep that she was
denounced by their father because she was born with different keys, Ganesh
home sati believed to be dead was also born with the formalities so that she has
also dinner with him, on hearing this sati gets angry with her father. She now
drinks both to Kashi and they were accepted there, although they were Nagas.
When Shiva returns everything she also accepts them, but when he sees
Ganesh he recognizes him as the naga who has killed Brahaspati because of the
broken locket of Ganesh Shiva now gets angry obliquity and went to palace.
One-day Ganesh bus sitting in the circuit mochan temple and karthik was playing
with kratika in the nearby park and were acted by three loins, Ganesh protect
them but himself was seriously injured and is unconscious for sixty days. Later
on virbhadra tells Shiva that Ganesh who protected his son twice. He Shiva is
amaze on hearing this.
Daksha comes to Kashi but sati was so angry with her father telling her
the truth enrage father Daksha gets angry with Shiva sati asks his father to leave
the place and that she went away.
Comments on the book,
“Few books on history and mythology have an element that makes you think
beyond the printed word. The secret of the Nagas Amish Tripathi second book of
Shiva Trilogy, the secret of the Nagas, does that.”- Herald Goa
“the moment you start reading the secret of the Nagas you are stuck into
adrenaline pumping ride through the enigmatic landscape populated host of
characters.-”Alive
The second book begins with the end of the battle of Sati and Shiva with Naga.
The second book begins with the end of the battle of Sati and Shiva with Naga
the story takes place in an imaginary land of Meluha and tells how the people of
that land are saved from there wars by Shiva. It begins from where the first book
left off Shiva trying to save Sati from Naga. Naga threw gold coin bag while
escaping. later on it was discovered that those were Branga coins which belong
to King chandraketu as half moon was engraved on it. Now Shiva passed an
official order declaring Daksha as an emperor of India and Dileep as an emperor
of Swadeep. Shiva and Sati travel to Magadha Shiva visited Narsimha temple
and meets Vasudev. Now they further travels to Kashi for the want to meet the
community of brangas to get some information about the Nagas. In this journey,
they have with them general Parvateshwar, Nandi, Virbhadra, Ayurvati, Bhagirath
and Anandmayi. At Kashi, there is a battle between Branga community in which
Parvateshwar was injured and was treated by Divodas by applying an herbal
paste, which is only available at Panchvati the naga capital. Divodas tells him
that Branga and Nagas are allies as Branga suffer from mortal plague. Now
Shiva decides to go to Branga but that was only possible by travelling by special
ships, which were to be made, and it will take six months.
Here sati gives birth to Karthik Shiva and his friends leaves for branga. Sati
remained at Kashi for the growth of Karthik. Daksha give him somras with Shiva
did not like. Shiva and others on reaching Branga were not given permission by
Uma to enter but when she comes to know about Neelkanth, she was delighted.
Shiva was delighted .He was surprised to see the technology used by Branga in
making ships, Gates and barriers at rivers. Divodas tells Shiva that the only
person who knows about the medicine is a Bandit. His name is Parashuram. He
lives all alone in the jungle and kills anyone who comes near him. In the battle of
Madhumati, which is fought between Shiva and Parshurama, Parshurama lost
the battle. Drapaku was severely injured and died. Later on when Shiva comes to
know that person is Vasudev he was surprised. On the other hand, when
Parshurama comes to know that Shiva is Neelkanth he was also surprised. Later
Parshurama decided to work with Shiva. So he gives them recipe of the medicine
to the people of Branga and leave for Kashmir with Shiva. Parshurama promises
to tell Shiva about the Nagas living place he said about Naga that they are the
best people amongst us all. They both discuss on evil and for Shiva now a
question arises what the evil is?
On the other hand Sati reaches lcchawar and suddenly three prides of lion
attack Sati. However, the Naga and the Queen saved her. Now she now comes
to know that the queen was her twin sister and Naga was her son Ganesh. On
hearing this Sati becomes very sad, she brought both of them to Kashi. Atithigiva
accepts them.
 On the other Shiva when comes to know about Kali and Ganesh, he did
not accept them. When he sees Ganesh, he recognizes him as the Naga who
had killed Brahaspati because the broken locket of Ganesh was with him. He
immediately went with Karthik to palace. Ganesh were sitting in Sankat Mochan
Temple. Karthik was playing with Kritika in the nearby park three lions attack
them. Ganesh protected them but was himself severely injured. He was
unconscious for sixty days. Virbhadra tells Shiva that it was Ganesh, who
protected his son twice. He even arranged for Naga medicines, which saved
Karthik life during his birth, even, arrange for Naga medicines that saved Karthik
life. Shiva then forgives them. Daksha came to Kashi Sati was angry with her
father for not telling her the truth. Sati also tells him to leave the place that she
goes back to Meluha.
The last novel of the series, The Oath of the Vayuputras completes the
mythical story. Brahaspati tells Shiva about the ill effects of Somras. It is due to
the manufacturing of Somras that the Saraswati rivers water is depleting, the
waste that is dumped in the Tsango river results in the disaster plaque and in the
birth of deformed Naga babies. In the city of Ujjain Shiva meets chief of
Vasudeva pandit’s, Gopal. Gopal tells him about his ancient tribe of lord Rudra.
Shiva here concludes that his uncle Manobhu trained him from the child hood to
become a Neelkanth. In this book, Shiva declares a holy war and asks the
people to stop the use of Somras. Shiva divides his army into two under his and
Sati’s leadership. In the battle of Devagiri between Sati and meluhans, Sati is
defeated and badly injured. Here in the battle of Mrittikavati Shiva wins. Daksha
makes a plan to kill Shiva through some Egyptians warriors. He frames a peace
treaty for Shiva but in his absence, Sati went to attend the peace conference
where she was attacked. She fights bravelybut is killed. The war ends with the
death of Sati. Shiva in his anger unleashes the Pashupatiastra and ends
Devagiris history. The Somras manufacturing units that are hidden beneath the
city are destroyed.
In the epilogue Shiva returns to mount Kailash and spends his remaining days
peacefully. Ganesh and Kartik now worshiped as Gods all over India. They
attacked and finished the whole clan of Egyptians attackers. Sati is reckoned as
goddess Shakti and her ashes are spread throughout India, in places later known
as Shaktipeethas.
The Shiva Trilogy is about journey of Shiva in search of evil. This is clear
from the map given below.

Map showing journey of Shiva; source: Secret of the Nagas

1.5 Problem on hand

Problem does not mean only with the mention of the research topic. The
topic of the research gives only the subject and the particular area of that
research. The introductory chapter plays an important role and tries to keep the
eye on the aim.
The topic should not be very small or very large. The present researcher
has chosen the mentioned topic for Research “MYTH MODERNITY AND
PHILOSOPHY IN THE NOVELS OF AMISH TRIPATHI”
1.6 Research Objectives are

1. To study in detail The Shiva Trilogy.

2. To search ancient Indian Myths in the novels.
3 .To find the modernity in the novels.
4. To find the Philosophical theories in the novels.
5. To find, social, religious and historical aspects in the novels.
1.7 SCOPE OF RESEARCH WORK

1. To find the basis of myths discussed by Amish.

2. Origin of social systems.
3. To get a better understanding of various schools of philosophy.
4. To study about various sects in religions.
5. To study of Meluhan civilization.