This book is mainly a mythological fiction and is based on the good and evil of the various aspects. The character Shiva is very contradictory. And the book is not based on the real Lord Shiva instead the character Shiva is fictional.
The Immortals of Meluha is the first book of the author Amish Tripathi and also the first book of Shiva trilogy. The story is set in the land Meluha and starts with the arrival of the Shiva. The Meluhans generally believe that Shiva is their fabled savior and they think that his is their Neelkanth as told to them by their ancestors.
First of all Shiva is tricked to join Meluha so that the Meluhans can find their Neelkanth. Shiva lived in Mount Kailash, had to face the useless attacks by the Pakratis and his people were not safe so he decided to move to Meluha. When Shiva reaches Meluha with his tribe, they are requested to be quarantined for seven days for the protection. On their arrival they are asked have a medicine so as to check if they are diseased or not. Instead the medicine given to them was Somras which was a potion for eternal living. After the intake of Somras, everyone suffered from high fever and Shiva too was affected but his wounds healed from Somras. The Meluhans believed that whosoever would be Neelkanth will have his throat turn into blue color after the intake of Somras. This change in color of throat happened with Shiva. When they found that Shiva is their Neelkanth, they were amused and asked to go to the capital city of Meluha (Devagiri). Shiva did as they said but he didn't believe that he was Neelkanth. He said that he is an ordinary person just like everyone else. On reaching Devagiri, he was told about the truth that they believed that Neelkanth would help they destroy the evils (Chandravanshis). Shiva was surprised to listen to such things but he told them that he will help them as much as possible. But after several wars when they defeated the Chandravanshis he was told that the Chandravanshis also believed the same that the Neelkanth will and help them destroy the evils. He started questioning himself that did he take a wrong choice in starting the war an killing thousand of people. But he learns it from a Pandit whom he meets in the temple of Ayodhya that to improve the prevailing conditions in India he had to take such actions. And in this way everything could be improved.
But after visiting Ayodhya, the birth place of Lord Ram, he learns the working of government of Chandravanshis was not appropriate. Their people starved for food and shelters. He found people begging in the city and felt enraged.
In the end he learns that no one is an evil instead the evils have different ways of living than the other. They too are good people.
Best part about this book that amazed me was the true love among Shiva and Sati, that how they both stood for each other during the wars. The humanity in Lord Shiva, how he thought good of others and did good to everyone. Shiva fought against the unnecessary law of the VIKRAMAS and abolished the law. One learns about the bond of friendship as portrayed through Shiva and Brahaspati. One learns how to lead people, what qualities a leader must possess and way of the communication a leader must have. This is not just a novel but a teaching.
There are some misrepresented facts about our history but the story-line is good. Some of the facts are very well represented and are very interesting. Overall it is a very good read. I would recommend to read this book in context to fiction.
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