The Secret of the Nagas – Amish Tripathi

My Rating – 3.5/5

Summary –

In the second book of the Shiva Trilogy, Shiva continues his dangerous quest to the eastern and southern India, deep inside the land of Nagas in search of the evil. He also confronts the elusive Naga who has been stalking his wife Sati.

Review –

I liked this book for two reasons, Amish’s perspective of Good v/s Evil and his fresh outlook towards mythology. I could easily relate to Amish’s stand that Good and Evil are the two sides of the same coin may be because I have similar philosophical bend of mind. Amish describes this ably by superimposing the turmoil that we see today on the past.  He demonstrates that Chandravanshis, though polar opposite of the ideal Meluha are not evil, they are just different with a different way of life. This is classic example of clash of civilizations where the Victor portrays his victory as the triumph of good over evil. After all, history is always written by victors. Suryavanshis and Chandravanshis represent two separate ideologies – one, that has strict laws, code of conduct and therefore highly efficient in the hands of conscientious rulers. But the same laws can become deadly fatal when followed blindly and can take the society on the downhill very fast especially if the rulers turn into dictators. (Think National Socialism, Taliban, Communism). The other one represents a more Laissez Faire way of life that provides for expression of opinion and freedom for everyone. But this again without good governance leads to utter chaos. (Did someone say Indian democracy?)

The mystery….umm…. is bit on the weaker side. You can guess The Secret of the Nagas and the identity of the hooded antagonist fairly well in advance. If you are a probing reader of mysteries then you will have probably figured it out in the first book itself. But the real guessing game was in conjecturing how Amish will shape the lore of Parshuram and Ganesh in human form. As in The Immortals of Meluha, Amish has done an excellent job of illustrating the legends in as humanly manner as possible.

Certainly an entertaining book. If you have read and liked The Immortals of Meluha, then go for it.

Thank you for reading. I appreciate your time.

The book is available cheapest in India at –

1. Kbazaar 2. Maansu 3. Infibeam 4. Landmark