Reimagining Myth, Modernity, and Moral Consciousness in Amish Tripathi’s Shiva Trilogy

Abstract

Amish Tripathi’s Shiva Trilogy retells Indian mythology in a modern context. The trilogy includes The Immortals of Meluha, The Secret of the Nagas, and The Oath of the Vayuputras. Tripathi does not portray Shiva as a distant God. He presents him as a human figure shaped by choice, doubt and responsibility. Shiva’s journey raises ethical questions. These questions relate to dharma, leadership, law, gender and social justice. This paper studies how myth is used as a moral framework. It focuses on governance, war, ecological damage, and scientific misuse. The novel explains supernatural events through social and rational causes. The concept of Somras is central to this discussion. It represents progress as well as destruction. Through close textual reading, this study shows how moral certainty leads to violence. It also shows how rigid systems create suffering. The paper argues that the trilogy rejects absolute ideas of good and evil. It supports ethical thinking based on context and compassion. By combining myth with social concerns, Tripathi makes mythology relevant to the present. The Shiva Trilogy therefore stands as an important text in contemporary Indian English fiction.