Immortals of Meluha: the Indonesian translation by Mizan

I received very good news last Tuesday when Bebe, one of my best friends in Bali, told me that The Immortals of Meluha (Book One of the Shiva Trilogy) has been translated to Indonesian by Mizan. Better, the book has been read by her friends who in return became big fans of the Trilogy, or at least its first book. Intrigued, I searched for the book at the local Gramedia at Kuta last Wednesday and was happy to find that it was prominently displayed there. I usually avoid reading the translation because we tend to miss the nuance in the translation, not to mention cases of really bad translations that left me with no choice but sourcing the English versions online. 

I’m glad to report that this is not the case with The Immortals of Meluha. I dare say translator Nur Aini was doing a very good job at this, such that I recommended the book back to Bebe (who had only seen it without purchasing/reading it). I also went to the Denpasar Gramedia today just buy two extra copies. Turns out, they have only four copies left, and I couldn’t find them in the store. The store assistant said that this book is a bestseller, so it runs out quickly. Well, there you go.

So anyway, I thought I’d better give a review of the Indonesian translation of Meluha. Because I’d like my fellow Indonesians who don’t usually read English find this post, from here on I will switch to Indonesian language. But just to give my impression of the book in an English nutshell, I think Mizan (the publisher/translator/distributor) did a good job at translation and re-designing the cover (tho I still think the original cover is very powerful). I’m surprised that we didn’t detect this version earlier tho, for it was first published in April this year. Better late than never, I guess.

Immortals of Meluha: impresi saya

Jadi ceritanya, selama hampir 1.5 tahun saya dan Bebe telah jatuh cinta dengan Shiva Trilogy. Bermula dari bulan Juli 2012 saat saya menemukan buku tersebut online dalam bahasa Inggris, saat sedang keluyuran di dunia maya mencari komik apa saja tentang Shiva. Sebenarnya yang saya pertama temukan adalah YouTube-nya, yang saya muat di sini. Sejak saat itu, saya dan Bebe membaca ketiga buku dalam rentang hampir setahun (paling susah menunggu keluarnya The Oath of the Vayuputra, buku ketiga). Susah juga carinya, karena Amish, walo jagoan marketing, ternyata karena satu dan lain hal tidak menjual bukunya secara luas di luar negeri. Jadinya saya harus mengontak teman saya di India untuk membelikan buku-buku tersebut untuk kami. Untungnya harga buku di India murah banget, jadi kami bisa beli beberapa sekaligus (ada teman kami yang lain yang juga suka).

Vayuputra review and fanfiction: Difficulties in letting go and moving on

Neelkanth visualised by Amish et al (I have to say that those lips are adorable...)

I have difficulties in letting go, at times. Or moving on, at times. One of the recent examples is Amish’ The Oath of the Vayuputra. Case in the point: I received the book from my dear friend in India in late April, finish it in three days (non-continuous reading due to my schedule), and yet have never been able to sit down and write the review. Until now. Because I am still in denial (yes, it’s not only a river in Egypt… which I will mention again at the end of this review).

Several things made it difficult for me to let go. The ending, for one – and I’m sure I’m not alone in this matter. I read online that a girl still hadn’t been able to let go after two weeks of finishing Vayuputra. Well, I’m into six months after finishing it, and I still cannot let go. There are some nitpicks of course, which made me wish that Amish had somewhat wrote the book rather differently. But the most important thing is the ending. 

So, to make it shorter-ish, I will divide the review into what I love, what I like, and what I dislike (and I wish I could change). Heavy spoilers for those who haven’t read the book yet. 

Music video of The Oath of the Vayuputra

Fans of The Shiva Trilogy who are not yet aware that the third and final book is to be released in two days, you better be aware now!

Yes, on 27 Feb, bookstores in India are releasing The Oath of the Vayuputra. My darling friend and I have ordered it from a friend of a friend in India. Cannot wait to read it!

Meanwhile, please enjoy the music video The Oath of the Vayuputra by Sonu Nigam and Taufiq Qureshi in high definition. It's supercrazily superb!!!



Who's that dude playing Lord Shiva? He might be a good candidate for the action movie, if Hrithik Roshan isn't available. But I hope Roshan is going to play Lord Shiva, with Aishwarya Rai as Lady Sati. I cannot think of another screen couple fair enough to play the Ultimate Couple!

The Secret of the Nagas

Cover to the Secret of the Nagas

Last July, I wrote this post and this post about my fascination to Amish Tripathi’s first book of the Shiva Trilogy: Immortals of Meluha. I was so impressed by it that i showed the book to one of my best friends (before reading the whole lot, actually), and I got another Amish fan. We decided to purchase the second instalment, The Secret of the Naga off eBay or Amazon. Unfortunately, the only available copies are in India, and they don’t ship overseas. Why oh why, that is the big question here.

Anyway, after bugging and begging my Indian friend, she sent me two packs of Immortals of Meluha and The Secret of the Nagas from Flipkart.com. Two Nagas for myself, one Meluha for my friend, another one for her friend who wants to read it too. The books arrived last Monday. I delivered my friend’s share immediately that evening, and started reading that night. I finished the whole book in three nights, on Wednesday night (actually, half an hour after midnight of Thursday). 

Below is my review and spoilers for ‘The Secret of the Nagas’. It contains heavy spoilers, so you better stop reading if you plan to read the book without spoilers. By the way, Naga here refers to people with deformities, hence outcast by both the Suryavanshi (Meluha) and Chandravanshi (Swadweep). Naga here doesn’t mean ‘the dragon’, as is in the Indonesian language.

More reasons to love ‘Immortals of Meluha’

‘There is no “your god” or “my god”. All godliness comes from the same source. It’s just the manifestations that are different.’ ~ the Pandit of the Brahma temple.

Shiva stared at [Sati] like a parched piece of earth mesmerised by a passing rain cloud.

Sati      : Thank you for your help, foreigner. I owe you my life and you will not find me ungrateful. If you ever need my help, do call on me.

Shiva   : Can I call on you even if I don’t need your help?

(Sati: !!!

me: Laugh out loud!!!)

The Immortals of Meluha: totally recommended!

For quite some time now, I been searching for and collecting books on Shiva. I have Kramsrisch's 'The Presence of Shiva', Suzanne Fisher Staples' 'Shiva's Fire', Mohapatra's 'The Book of Shiva'... I like those books, tho Mohapatra's depiction of Shiva was the closest one to my liking. But something was lacking in that book of Shiva in the comic format. Shiva wasn't really smiling. Too serious. He was romantic alright, just the way I pictured Him to be. But he wasn't so cheerful. At least, please give him a bit smile. Shiva isn't Krishna, but at least some smiles would not hurt.

The Immortals of Meluha, the first book of The Shiva Trilogy by Amish Tripathi, gave me the Shiva I identified with the most. He did swear too much to my taste (tho I don't mind a bit of swearing, I think it’s natural for a tribal chief), but since the premise was human-turned-to-god anyway, it's not a big deal for me. Other than the swearing, I really like this Shiva. He was so humane and approachable. He made mistakes and learned from them. He became humble because of them, and rose above them. He seriously defended humanity, but he still enjoyed life and made jokes around as well, while he could. He had his demons in the past... and I hope he eventually made peace with them.

The Shiva Trilogy: Immortals of Meluha

I browsed YouTube last Saturday and found this beautiful trailer of a novel about Lord Shiva.



The book is titled The Immortals of Meluha by Amish Tripathi and was a big hit in India last year. I have ordered it yesterday, pronto, and the book is being shipped to me now. Yay! I have pre-ordered thesecond book (The Secret of the Nagas), but it won't be shipped until early August! Bummer, grumble, brumble... Oh well, at least I will receive the first book soon enough. Will make a post about it when I have finished reading it.

By the way, The Immortals of Meluha will be made into a movie, I guess this year (?) by Director Karan Johar. Lord Shiva will be played by Hritik Roshan, and Lady Sati by Vidya Balan. I am excited! See the trailers above (which is for the book, actually, not the movie) and decide for yourself!