In Amish Tripathi's new book, Ram returns to his janmabhoomi and Sita has a wacky alternative to reservations

In Amish Tripathi's new book, Ram returns to his janmabhoomi and Sita has a wacky alternative to reservations. What is this mythological world that has sold 2.5 million books?

Amish Tripathi
Amish Tripathi

Amish Tripathi lounges on the veranda of the Mumbai Cricket Association club as the monsoon glides down the maidan. There is a kada on his hand that says Aum Nama Shivaya. He does a mahamrityunjaya puja every day and visits a Shiva temple every Monday. "I am religious and I am a liberal. I believe the more religious you are, the more liberal you are," says the 40-year-old, who quit his job as national head (marketing and product management) of IDBI Federal Life Insurance in 2011 to give all his time to writing books. His Shiva trilogy-The Immortals of Meluha (2010), The Secret of the Nagas (2011) and The Oath of the Vayuputras (2013)-have sold about 2.5 million copies. The first volume in the Ram Chandra Series, Scion of Ikshvaku, for which Westland Books paid an advance of $1 million, releases on June 22. Karan Johar's Dharma Productions bought the movie rights to The Immortals of Meluha and soon snapped up the rest of the books as well when they realised that unless they made a series of films on the trilogy, it would not make sense.

Who is this writer who is toasted on the social media by actor Amitabh Bachchan and filmmaker Shekhar Kapur? "I am a big fan of India's first literary pop star," Kapur tweeted this month when a chapter of Scion of Ikshvaku was released as a teaser on Kindle. The sales figures of Tripathi's books do not touch the stratospheric heights of Chetan Bhagat's, but his publishers are quick to point out that unlike Bhagat's titles, Tripathi's are not sold cheap, for Rs 95, but go for Rs 295-395, and therefore bring in sumptuous revenue. What is the mythological world of these books that has found millions of readers and made fans out of Kapur and Co?

That world looks easy. It is also deeply problematic.

Like Bhagat of IIM-Ahmedabad, Tripathi of IIM-Calcutta writes in simple language. But unlike Bhagat's books, Tripathi's are voluminous, often unnecessarily so. Unlike Bhagat who deals with call centres and colleges, Tripathi writes about Hindu gods. As Thomas Abraham, managing director, Hachette India, says, "They write in a style that touches a mass-market chord and have a language that is earthy and shorn of any literariness that might be a barrier. Ironically, they had been turned down by every major publishing house, and in hindsight that was probably good for them. Because the jury is out on whether the books would have worked the same way had they been rewritten or edited to fit an imprint."

Tripathi's Shiva smokes marijuana and exclaims "What the bloody hell!" and even "Shit!" He is a Tibetan immigrant who has come down from the shores of the Manasarovar to become the saviour of the Sapt Sindhu. Tripathi's Ram, in the new book, is a young boy who tries to win the affections of his father. Tripathi humanises Shiva and Ram before deifying them.

Tripathi, however, is also gung-ho about dates-and that is the first sign of trouble. His Ram Chandra series begins in 3400 BCE. His Shiva story unfolds, strangely, around 1900 BCE. That is when the Indus Valley Civilisation begins to decline. However, Tripathi does a Vedic-fication of the Indus Civilisation, superimposing on its geography Vedic gods, religion and caste system. Mohenjo-daro becomes Mohan Jo Daro where Shiva goes to Lord Mohan's Temple there! Tripathi unveils a strange hybrid mythical land where the glory of Harappan civilisation meets Vedic religion, American slang and even modern conveniences such as restaurants.

Tripathi says the Ram series will have five titles, and there will be more: "I want my books to be one continuous series, a big library. Together, they will be about the great civilisation that began when the last Ice Age ended 10,000 years ago." And which is this great civilisation that began such a long time ago? "Of the great race of the Vedic people," he says. "We are their unworthy descendants."

Even as Tripathi says his books are fiction and that he should have the liberty to tinker with facts, to pick and choose from Puranas, he is eventually swearing by what faux archaeologist George Hancock and Vedic astrologer David Frawley, who was incidentally given the Padma Bhushan by the Narendra Modi government, have been crowing from right-wing rooftops: that an unbroken Vedic/ Saraswati civilisation lasted more than 7,000 years. Tripathi says he is against the "extreme left-winger who says ancient Indians were barbarians" as well as "the extreme right-winger who says only India had a glorious past and everyone else were barbarians". Yet, his bestselling books-where Brihaspati and Brahma become scientists, where doctors perform cosmetic surgery and whose pages are marked with the symbols of Harappan seals-tie neatly with some kooky Hindutva theories. Tripathi is earnest but wrong when he talks about a monolithic "traditional Indian way" just as he is not convincing when he says that he is just "a witness to the world" he writes about, that he "just records" what he sees. For, his is a very selective vision-and that choice involves deliberation, not passivity.

When you retell a myth, you bring to it the fears and fantasies of your age. And that can be exciting for the connections it makes, the revelations it contains. Abraham of Hachette says, "Mytho-history is currently a hot genre. Krishna Udayasankar's Govinda sold over 25,000 copies. We've seen a slew of books in the genre, but very few break out." Tripathi's new series will be the proof of the brand having sustained itself.

On the cover of his books, the author's name is just Amish. "Tripathi is a caste name. I avoid that in my books. This is my personal statement against the caste system, a disgusting corruption of the ancient system," he says.

In his first book, he talked about Meluha-which stretches from Lothal to Harappa-as a society based on merit although it is divided into the four castes. The question that troubled many upper-caste youth during the Mandal agitations of the 1990s was this: how do we create meritocracy in this caste-based society? Isn't there an alternative to reservations? Guess who comes up with a solution-and a very wacky solution? Sita, in Scion of Ikshvaku, as she and Ram return to Ayodhya, the janmabhoomi. These pages mirror the anxieties of the 1990s Indian politics. Sita proposes that all children must be adopted by the state at the time of their birth. In Sita's socialism, the kingdom will educate the children. When they turn 15, they will sit for an exam-examination as the great decider of fate is an obsession in Tripathi's books, like a CAT hangover-that will test their aptitude. They will, accordingly, be allocated a caste and adopted by citizens of that caste. How shockingly ingenious! There is caste, but it allows people to follow their "svadharma"! Even Sita Ma can't think of anything better?

Vamsee Juluri, professor of media studies at the University of San Francisco and author of Rearming Hinduism, says Tripathi's popularity shows how young Indians are hankering for religion. "By reimagining the familiar tales of the gods in the form of a historic adventure story, Tripathi has triggered a cultural storm," says Juluri. "There is a new generation of young readers who are passionate about knowing who they are. It's also a generational change. The parents of today's young India grew up in a staunchly secular, socialist Nehru-Indira India. They were not very big on religion. This has created a void of sorts for the young today. So in a way, religion is coming back after being denied or undervalued by one whole generation."

Publisher of HarperCollins India, V.K. Karthika, says Indians have always read and reread mythology and it has been popular across categories: books, films and television. "Smart, sustained marketing was the key to the success of Tripathi's first book but marketing can only go that far. Word-of-mouth publicity was great. It made him the huge bestseller he is." She wonders if, as a society, we are drawn to the powerful, masculine, triumphalist ethos of much of this myth-making. "Does it make us feel good about our culture, our past, while holding forth the possibility of a superior future?" she asks.'

The cover images of Tripathi's books have rippling godly muscles carrying weapons. Why does he go for masculine, muscular heroes? "I also go for muscular heroines. Sita and Sati are both warriors," says Tripathi. "I have a fascination for people who fight because they change things."

As Tripathi intends to travel 10,000 years back to Manu, when the ice melts and the great floods begin, more copies could be sold, but more questions will also be asked. For, the past is always about how the present sees it.

Follow the writer on Twitter @charmyh

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