The ‘Shiva Trilogy’, written by Amish Tripathi, is a set of three novels depicting the rise of Shiva, from a normal tribal chieftain, to Shiva being the Neelkanth, the destroyer of evil. Due to the fact that most of the characters in the novels are embedded in Indian mythology, the genre of the set of books is categorized as mythology-inspired fiction. Although that may be the case, Tripathi has attempted to demythologize many key aspects of the myth in order to make it more realistic. In this essay, we will be exploring some of the instances where the author has attempted to relate the myth of Shiva in a realistic context, in relation to the ‘Secret of the Nagas’, which is the second installment of the Shiva Trilogy.

The first instance in this essay where Tripathi has attempted to portray the myth in a realistic context is the representation of Sati’s and Shiva’s son Ganesh. In the book, Ganesh is shown to be a ‘Naga’, a race of people who are physically deformed. The description is given by Sati when she saw his face for the first time was-

  His nose was abnormally long, stretching out like the trunk of an elephant. Two buck teeth struck out of the mouth, one of them broken. The legacy of an old injury, perhaps. The ears were floppy and large, shaking of their own accord. It almost seemed like the head of an elephant had been placed on the body of this unfortunate soul. ( Tripathi 2011, p. 119)

From the above quotation, we can see how the term ‘elephant’ has been used to describe the face of Ganesh.  In the actual myth, Shiva cuts of the head of Ganesh after he is refused to by him to enter the room where his mother is taking a bath. After realizing his mistake, he places the head of a baby elephant in place of the already severed human head. Thus, Ganesh is always portrayed in Indian mythology as a god with an elephant head. Amish Tripathi has attempted to demythologize this myth by assessing the cause of this phenomenon as a physical deformity as compared to it being the result of a godly action, in order to make it more realistic. Thus the last sentence in the quotation is, in fact, a clever way of denoting this transition. Also, the history of the Nagas as being abandoned by their parents due to their physical deformities is in some way an allegorical representation of the current society, where many parents seemingly choose to abandon their babies who had developed a physical disability.

One feature that is predominant throughout the book is the usage of colloquial language . What sets this book apart from other mythology-inspired books is some of the phrases that were used in the book could be regarded as anachronistic. For example, the phrase ‘Holy lake’ or ‘by the holy lake,’ is used throughout the novel. This phrase has been used by Shiva right before a thrilling encounter or event, such as-

By the Holy Lake, I finally have him ( Tripathi 2011, p. 15)

In the contemporary world, the word ‘holy’ is used as a prefix for mostly a curse word, which is commonly used by people, especially the youth. Shiva also uses phrases such as ‘bloody hell’. This could have been an attempt by Tripathi to make the book more appealing to the younger generations.

Another instance where a relatively modern colloquial phrase has been used is when Kali addresses Sati-

‘Stop playing innocent, you daddy’s spoilt little girl!’ shrieked a strong feminine voice from behind ( Tripathi 2011, p.119)

Here, the phrase in question is ‘daddy’s spoilt little girl’. The inclusion of the word ‘daddy’ in itself is quite perplexing. That is because that word is also relatively modern and is more importantly of western origin. And so, the inclusion of such a word definitely throws away the reader's perception of the book being about mythology and more related to contemporary society.

Even though the inclusion of such phrases may invite some criticism, there are many instances where Tripathi has cleverly accommodated certain words, in order to describe an event or a dialogue better-

‘I asked you to do just one simple thing,’ hissed the Queen. ( Tripathi 2011, p. 37)

The above quotation is spoken by the Naga queen, Kali. Naga in English translates to a snake. Snakes are also generally identified by their ‘hissing’ sound. Thus, Tripathi has cleverly used the word ‘hissed’ to associate this speech act with the Naga queen, or the Snake Queen.

Another way in which this book was made to be more suited to a more realistic society was the inclusion of scientific terms and technology that was far ahead of their years-

‘It’s a very simple science really. The science of radio waves. ( Tripathi 2011, p. 61)

‘It’s a machine,’ said Shiva. ‘Divodas had told me about some accumulator machines, which store the energy of various animals over hours and then release them in seconds.’ ( Tripathi 2011, p. 87)

Through the above quotations, it is visible that some scientific terms such as ‘radio waves’ clearly don’t belong to this period. It should also be noted that in medieval societies, especially in Indian societies, more emphasis was given on gods and thus science wasn't given much credibility. Also, the description is given by Shiva of ‘accumulator machines’, describes most of the machines in the modern world, which would not be available in the medieval or even the mythological world.

Through the above instances, it is visible that Amish Tripathi, in his book, ‘The secret of the Nagas’, has chosen to demythologize certain myths in order for the book to be considered in a more realistic setting. He has also chosen to dehumanize certain characters so that they would no longer appear to be gods and thus would be more relatable to common people.

REFERENCES-

Amish, Tripathi. 2011. The Secret of the Nagas. Westland: New Delhi