Yajnaseni Das

Recently, I had read the famous and latest as well as the last book of the Shiva Trilogy written by Amish Tripathi. The first two book of this Shiva Trilogy was - The Immortals of Meluha and The Secret of The Nagas, and the last book The Oath of the Vayuputras, about which I am writing this review. It starts with the secrets of Brahaspati's passing and why he planned his own demise. Before he decides the path which led to war, he wants to understand every aspect of Somras and how it becomes evil. When Shiva gets his answer, he prepared his army for war. Many trusts their lord Neelkanth and destroys Meluha whereas, most of them choose Dharma over their living God. Different allies come in times of need to lay down strategical plans perfectly. But Bhrigu (Rajguru of Meluha), had announced Shiva, King Daksha and Dilipa to be a fraud. Shiva was not chosen by the Vayuputras tribe. Many of them went against Shiva which made his work more tough and challenging. Few things particularly derailed my reading experience. Two chapters after, Vidyunmali was captured, he was set free without giving proper explanation of this escape. Although, the book is named Vayuputras but their role is not justified. It is niether significant nor the author gave much needed time and space to categorize their existence in the plot. The poor grammar and loop holes are a failure of editing more than writing. The scope of imagination is so vast and ambitious, and the sense of joy in storytelling is so evident, that I really wanted to like this book. But the laziness in editing and rewriting is evident and unforgivable. And this is a shame because there is a lot going on in this book that could've made it wonderful and more exploring. What Tripathi has done with 'The Oath of the Vayuputras' is to retell the Shiva mythos as an ecological allegory, with Somras standing in for, nuclear power, fossil fuels or perhaps industrialization in general. Tripathi's, other change, perhaps the first time this has ever been done in English fiction at this scale, is to reclaim Hinduism as a doctrine of equality and egalitarianism. Tripathi's Ram speaks out against hereditary castes, and Tripathi fills his story with prominent female characters. Tripathi only wants to challenge the idea of hereditary castes, and not of caste itself. And for all the female characters, The Oath of the Vayuputras stops just short of passing the Bechdel Test. Sati has a long conversation with her doctor Ayurvati about cosmetic surgery for her battle scars, and the responsibility she feels for her defeat in battle, but the conversation does sidetrack into how Shiva sees Sati's scars. This sort of outlook is welcome for its intent, and for being practically unique in the landscape of English popular fiction. Much like Tripathi's writing, it is the practical implementation where it fails.