Amish Tripathi has just released one chapter of his forthcoming book Scion of Ikshvaku. The author tells Shrabasti Mallik that he has a bank of mythology-based ideas that can help him survive in the market for the next two decades
When Amish Tripathi started writing, he never expected his passion to do two things — bring back his faith in religion, especially lord Shiva, and make him one of India’s most loved and read authors. Tripathi is a dream of an author for his admirers. He is humble, jovial and always ready to talk to people. The Shiva trilogy has propelled him to stardom but he does not shy away from blatantly confessing that he was an atheist when he began writing The Immortals of Meluha. He told us, “There was a time when I turned into an atheist but when I started writing I was drawn back to faith. The book brought me back and I believe it’s all because lord Shiva wanted it.” And he has never looked back.
In his forthcoming series, he will narrate the story of Rama Chandra. One chapter from the first of the five series book, Scion of Ikshvaku, was recently unveiled by him. Both the chapter and the book, which will be released on June 22, will be exclusively available on Kindle and Amazon. like the Shiva trilogy, no event or happenings in the Rama Chandra series will be conjured by him. “It is my interpretation of how I have seen the episodes. It will be a narration of the many facts that happened before Rama was born, what happened in Ayodhya when Rama was exiled and more,” he said. Explaining the title of the book, he said Ikshvaku was the founder of the Suryavanshi kingdom and Rama was a descendant. He explained, “Scion means a noble descendant. Rama is the central character of the story and he was a descendant of the Suryavanshi kingdom, therefore the title.”
The chapter that he launched narrates the story of Kaushalya being in labour and the simultaneous battle that was fought between king Dasharatha and Ravana at a far away place. The story then moves to the battlefield where Dasharatha is being defeated when his queen, Kayekeyi comes and rescues him. “Dasharatha then gives her promise of a lifetime. She exercised that boon by asking Dasharatha to banish Rama from Ayodhya. Many do not know this story and therefore, Kayekeyi was never portrayed in a positive light,” he said.
According to Tripathi, Indian ancient scriptures and texts are open for interpretations. The stories have been narrated and it is up to the people to analyse them, he pointed out. “Earlier, stories were just told, nothing was implied. It taught one to look at the right and the wrong without being biased. That is how epics are supposed to be approached,” he said.
With stories of Shiva and Rama, one would expect him to be a master in research and studying old texts. Fortunately, Tripathi was born and brought up in a religious family, which, he said, has helped him a lot. “My grandfather was a pujari and my parents were religiously inclined. So I grew up listening to many versions of epics and their episodes and that have helped a lot. I am also a voracious reader. I read a lot of history books and pay attention to battle scenes. So I pick up information on the way. I do not have to research separately,” he said. When we asked him if he would ever diverge from mythology, “No,” came the pat reply. “I have enough mythological story ideas to last me the next two decades,” he added.
He calls himself an instinctive writer, who goes with the flow. He does not follow any proper routine for writing either. “There are days I write for hours and there are days where words don’t come. Those days I read or think of ways to market my books,” he said. The 40-year-old author is also a part time marketing person and sells his books though unique ideas. For The Immortals of Meluha, he made copies of the first chapter and gave it away to people at bookstores and for The Secret of the Nagas, he made a video trailer and screened it in movie theatres. “Years of working in a life insurance firm have taught me the nuances of marketing and I take full advantage of it,” he pointed out. He has already come up with a high definition video trailer for Scion of Ikshvaku and hopes that it will generate the required buzz.
He said, “When I write, I just write and do not think about ways to sell it. Nor do I think of critics, publishers or anybody else. And when I plan ways to generate buzz for my books, I work like a professional.” Apart from books, he is inspired by music. It plays an integral part in the writing process, he said. Interestingly, he associates the song Kaise mujhe tum mil gayi with intense anger and heavy metal music with battle scenes. “These songs play in loop when I write those particular scenes. They strangely help me stay calm and I can’t work without them,” he said. “Also I cannot write without having cream biscuits. Any kind of cream biscuit works for me — even the most unhealthy ones,” he signed off.