Relying on pop culture to bridge India’s mythological divide: Amish

Born in Mumbai and having lived in Rourkela in Odisha and Udagamandalam in Tamil Nadu during his childhood, renowned author Amish Tripathi says he hails from a ‘‘deeply religious family”. He recalls not only being keen on learning the Hindu religious texts, but also questioning them as a young boy. In a conversation with DT Next, he talks about his recent book, Raavan: Enemy of Aryavarta, the third in his Ram Chandra series, a work of mythological fiction which delves into the life of Raavan. Amish says that while he is ‘’respectful and proud” of such epics, he is willing to analyse and offer alternative interpretations of them. 

“I got introduced to many of our texts right from a very young age, thanks to my family. And living across India, I was exposed to many interpretations of the same texts. I also started understanding the concept of multiple truths from a very young age. My family encouraged inquiry, as it wasn’t just our right, but a duty to query. This moulded my approach to our texts and has been the core philosophy throughout my books,” recounts the 44-year-old writer. 

As the author of best-selling novels like The Immortals of Meluha (2010), The Secret of the Nagas (2011) and The Oath of the Vayuputras (2013) (of the Shiva Trilogy), Amish now has a total of seven books to his credit, including a work of non-fiction, Immortal India. His titles have sold over five million copies, making him one of the few Indian authors to do so. 

“Today, we see writers attempting far more ‘Indianised’ subjects — which is good. One of the problems we have as a country is that our education system has been so colonialised, that we know so little about our own culture. We are desperate to westernise our children. We need a critical reformation of our education system and reconnect with our roots. If education isn’t doing it, at least popular culture should do it and that is what is happening with our books, which till about 15 years ago were highly anglicised. The west might have an alluring narrative, but we need to learn about ours first. We are in danger of being exiled from our roots, and we should fight this,” urges Amish. 

After exploring the stories of Ram and Sita through the first two books of the Ram Chandra series — Scion of Ikshvaku (2015) and Sita: Warrior of Mithila (2017) — the author focuses on Raavan through his latest title, presenting his life right from childhood. “Interestingly, many versions of the Ramayana, including the ancient ones, do not delve deep into Raavan. As the very word Ramayana means the journey of Ram, they speak about his journey. But one can trace the life of Raavan right from his childhood through puranas and folk traditions, which are as strong as the shastras,” he adds. 

Amish’s fictional interpretation of Raavan depicts him as a man who was “fascinated by the sight of slow death”. “That perspective came together because if you look at Raavan, the relatively newer versions of Ramayana portray him purely as a villain. The older versions of Ramayana, like that of Valmiki, showcased Raavan’s strengths and weaknesses. He was scholarly, a great administrator, but struggled with vanity and rage.” “It occurred to me that if a scholarly man turns to violence, there might be a certain order to his chaos. When he hurts someone, he observes the outcome of his assault and the manner in which death creeps up on the hapless soul,” he elaborates. 

When Amish isn’t penning his next book, he says he is usually busy reading and learning from religious and historic texts, visiting temples and meeting pundits, or travelling the world. “I do not take part in television panel discussions or comment on politics and I stay away from social media as well. I see myself as someone proud about Indian culture and wants to speak on it. One can end up wasting so much time on speeches and debates, which do not serve my purpose. I would rather read up and write more as I am always hungry for knowledge. How it all comes together in a book is up to Shiva,” admits Amish. 

The IIM Calcutta graduate, who worked with top financial firms before turning an author, regrets the death of book stores in the country. “The silver lining in the publishing industry today is that book sales have shot up tremendously. A few years ago, bestsellers sold just 5,000 copies, but we now sell millions. Decline of bookstores, however, is not good for the industry. While online stores have helped deepen distribution, middle-rung and newer authors get affected as they are discovered mainly through physical book stores,” stresses Amish, who is a big fan of Amitav Ghosh. 

The author hopes his Shiva trilogy and Ram Chandra series make their way into a web series or a film soon, and adds that he has a few contracts in place to work on. Apart from two more titles that he will be bringing out as part of the Ram Chandra series, he is also keen to write a book set in the modern day India.

Title: Raavan: Enemy of Aryavarta 

Author: Amish Tripathi 

Publisher: Westland 

Price: Rs 399