Namaste: An ancient Indian greeting. Spoken along with the hand gesture of open palms of both the hands joined together. Conjoin of three words. ‘Namah’, ‘Astu’ and ‘Te’ – meaning ‘I bow to the godhood in you’. Namaste can be used as both ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye’

  Nirvana: Enlightenment; freedom from the cycle of rebirths

  Oxygen/anti-oxidants theory: Modern research backs this theory. Interested readers can read the article ‘Radical Proposal’ by Kathryn Brown in the Scientific American

  Panchavati: The land of the five banyan trees

  Pandit: Priest

  Paradaeza: An ancient Persian word which means ‘the walled place of harmony’; the root of the English word, Paradise

  Pariha: The land of fairies. Refers to modern Persia/Iran. I believe Lord Rudra came from this land

  Parmatma: The ultimate soul or the sum of all souls

  Parsee immigration to India: Groups of Zoroastrian refugees immigrated to India perhaps between the 8th and 10th century AD to escape religious persecution. They landed in Gujarat, and the local ruler Jadav Rana gave them refuge

  Pashupatiastra: Literally, the weapon of the Lord of the Animals. The descriptions of the effects of the Pashupatiastra in Hindu scriptures are quite similar to that of nuclear weapons. In modern nuclear technology, weapons have been built primarily on the concept of nuclear fission. While fusion-boosted fission weapons have been invented, pure fusion weapons have not been invented as yet. Scientists hold that a pure nuclear fusion weapon has far less radioactive fallout and can theoretically serve as a more targeted weapon. In this trilogy, I have assumed that the Pashupatiastra is one such weapon

  Patallok: The underworld

  Pawan Dev: God of the winds

  Pitratulya: The term for a man who is ‘like a father’

  Prahar: Four slots of six hours each into which the day was divided by the ancient Hindus; the first prahar began at twelve midnight

  Prithvi: Earth

  Prakrati: Nature

  Puja: Prayer

  Puja thali: Prayer tray

  Raj dharma: Literally, the royal duties of a king or ruler. In ancient India, this term embodied pious and just administration of the king’s royal duties

  Raj guru: Royal sage

  Rajat: Silver

  Rajya Sabha: The royal council

  Rakshabandhan: Raksha = Protection; Bandhan = thread/tie. An ancient Indian festival in which a sister ties a sacred thread on her brother’s wrist, seeking his protection

  Ram Chandra: Ram = Face; Chandra = Moon. Hence Ram Chandra is ‘the face of the moon’

  Ram Rajya: The rule of Ram

  Rangbhoomi: Literally, the ground of colour. Stadia in ancient times where sports, performances and public functions would be staged

  Rangoli: Traditional colourful and geometric designs made with coloured powders or flowers as a sign of welcome

  Rishi: Man of knowledge

  Sankat Mochan: Literally, reliever from troubles. One of the names of Lord Hanuman

  Sangam: A confluence of two rivers

  Sanyasi: A person who renounces all his worldly possessions and desires to retreat to remote locations and devote his time to the pursuit of god and spirituality. In ancient India, it was common for people to take sanyas at an old age, once they had completed all their life’s duties

  Sapt Sindhu: Land of the seven rivers – Indus, Saraswati, Yamuna, Ganga, Sarayu, Brahmaputra and Narmada. This was the ancient name of North India

  Saptrishi: One of the ‘Group of seven Rishis’

  Saptrishi Uttradhikari: Successors of the Saptrishis

  Shakti Devi: Mother Goddess; also Goddess of power and energy

  Shamiana: Canopy

  Shloka: Couplet

  Shudhikaran: The purification ceremony

  Sindhu: The first river

  Somras: Drink of the gods

  Sundarban: Sundar = beautiful; ban = forest. Hence, Sundarban means beautiful forest

  Svarna: Gold

  Swadweep: The Island of the individual. This is the land ruled by the Chandravanshi kings

  Swadweepans: People of Swadweep

  Swaha: Legend has it that Lord Agni’s wife is named Swaha. Hence it pleases Lord Agni, the God of Fire, if a disciple takes his wife’s name while worshipping the sacred fire. Another interpretation of Swaha is that it means offering of self

  Tamra: Bronze

  Thali: Plate

  Varjish graha: The exercise hall

  Varun: God of the water and the seas

  Vijayibhav: May you be victorious

  Vikarma: Carrier of bad fate

  Vishnu: The protector of the world and propagator of good. I believe that it is an ancient Hindu title for the greatest of leaders who would be remembered as the mightiest of gods

  Vishwanath: Literally, the Lord of the World. Usually refers to Lord Shiva, also known as Lord Rudra in his angry avatar. I believe Lord Rudra was a different individual from Lord Shiva. In this trilogy, I have used the term Vishwanath to refer to Lord Rudra

  Yagna: Sacrificial fire ceremony

  Amish is a 1974-born, IIM (Kolkata)-educated, boring banker turned happy author. The success of his debut book, The Immortals of Meluha (Book 1 of the Shiva Trilogy), encouraged him to give up a fourteen-year-old career in financial services to focus on writing. He is passionate about history, mythology and philosophy, finding beauty and meaning in all world religions.

  Amish lives in Mumbai with his wife Preeti and son Neel.

  www.authoramish.com

  www.facebook.com/authoramish

  www.twitter.com/amisht

  Table of Contents

  Praise for the Shiva Trilogy

  Title page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Contents

  The Shiva Trilogy

  Acknowledgements

  Chapter 1: The Return of a Friend

  Chapter 2: What is Evil?

  Chapter 3: The Kings Have Chosen

  Chapter 4: A Frog Homily

  Chapter 5: The Shorter Route

  Chapter 6: The City that Conquers Pride

  Chapter 7: An Eternal Partnership

  Chapter 8: Who is Shiva?

  Chapter 9: The Love-struck Barbarian

  Chapter 10: His Name Alone Strikes Fear

  Chapter 11: The Branga Alliance

  Chapter 12: Troubled Waters

  Chapter 13: Escape of the Gunas

  Chapter 14: The Reader of Minds

  Chapter 15: The Magadhan Issue

  Chapter 16: Secrets Revealed

  Chapter 17: Honour Imprisoned

  Chapter 18: Honour or Victory?

  Chapter 19: Proclamation of the Blue Lord

  Chapter 20: The Fire Song

  Chapter 21: Siege of Ayodhya

  Chapter 22: Magadh Mobilises

  Chapter 23: Battle of Bal-Atibal Kund

  Chapter 24: The Age of Violence

  Chapter 25: God or Country?

  Chapter 26: Battle of Mrittikavati

  Chapter 27: The Neelkanth Speaks

  Chapter 28: Meluha Stunned

  Chapter 29: Every Army Has a Traitor

  Chapter 30: Battle of Devagiri

  Chapter 31: Stalemate

  Chapter 32: The Last Resort

  Chapter 33: The Conspiracy Deepens

  Chapter 34: With the Help of Umbergaon

  Chapter 35: Journey to Pariha

  Chapter 36: The Land of Fairies

  Chapter 37: Unexpected Help

  Chapter 38: The Friend of God

  Chapter 39: He is One of Us

  Chapter 40: Ambush on the Narmada

  Chapter 41: An Invitation for Peace

  Chapter 42: Kanakhala’s Choice

  Chapter 43: A Civil Revolt

  Chapter 44: A Princess Returns

  Chapter 45: The Final Kill

  Chapter 46: Lament of the Blue Lord

  Chapter 47: A Mother’s Message

  Chapter 48:
The Great Debate

  Chapter 49: Debt to the Neelkanth

  Chapter 50: Saving a Legacy

  Chapter 51: Live On, Do Your Karma

  Chapter 52: The Banyan Tree

  Chapter 53: The Destroyer of Evil

  Chapter 54: By the Holy Lake

  Glossary

 


 

  Amish Tripathi, The Oath of the Vayuputras

 


 

 
Thank you for reading books on BookFrom.Net

Share this book with friends