Humanly Gods or Godly Humans: Representation and Anthropomorphism of Mythical Characters in Amish Tripathi’s Shiva Trilogy

Abstract

This paper attempts to analyse the representation of mythical characters in the three novels by Amish Tripathi, namely The immortals of Meluha, The secret of the Nagas and The oath of the Vayuputras. The protagonist is a human being, Shiva, whose bildungsroman through the trilogy transforms him into a God, but without actually changing any of his physical attributes. Thus, at the level of anthropomorphism, this method of representation sheds light on the humane aspect of the divinity. From a perspective of feminist understanding of disability, the character of Kali would be studied, as an initial outcast to an important character in the last two books. Thus, this paper would conclude that Tripathi attempts at a vision of inclusivity, by his clever techniques of the representation of the disabled and the divine alike.