Indian mythological-fiction books one must read

cynic

Mythological Fiction is our group reads genre of the month. Times of India has a list of Indian mythological-fiction books one must read (from October 2017). Check it out at the link below.

Indian mythological-fiction books one must read.

Do you agree with the list? What would you add/remove? Or better still, what would your must read list be? Do share.

soothsayer

7 secrets of Shiva by Devadutta Pattanaik, Karna's wife-Kavita Kane, Yayati-V S Khandekar may be considered for addition.

divey

I dont completely agree with the list. Fist it contains in some way or the other Ramayana and Mahabharata stories or their characters. I would like to add Vikramaditya trilogy, Three by Krishan Udayshankar, Thundergod (indra trilogy), secret of Immortal code (Rudra Trilogy), The Avatari by Raghu Srinivasan, Immortal by Krishna Udyashankar

cynic

divey 6-8-2018 05:08 PM
I dont completely agree with the list. Fist it contains in some way or the other Ramayana and Mahabh ...

I agree. Mythology is much more that the Ramayan and Mahabarat. You've got some excellent suggestions there .

viksorion

Exactly, somehow now a days mytho-fiction has become synonymous with mahabharat or ramayan nowadays. And from point of view of different characters.
Indian mytho is much more and beyond this....

I would like to read those. Pls suggest.

cynic

Divey has posted some suggestions. Do check them out. You should also check out the nominations in the myth-fic group read nomination thread.

Meself

Lanka's Princess is very mediorme. Kavita Kane's only likeable book till date remains to be is Menka's Choice. With Lanka's Princess she tries to make Shoorpnakha a likeable charavcha but it has some really twisted facts and scenes which simply puts you off if you are a fan of the canon.




Palace of Illusions makes use of lyrical language but lacks content. It talks about the non-existent live live a of Draupadi and Karna and has Draupadi as a helpless, pitiable woman which made me mad. If you are looking for good writing and not content you can go for this. Although it will frustrate you.






Devdutt's books are petty. The man has hardly researched Indian mythology and adds his own narrative just to sound and feel cool. Instead one should go for Dr. Rajiv Malhotra's books. He is an renound indologist and can help you have a different perspective.




And about Neelkantan and his monstrosity that is Asura. Well in one sentence it f-ing boiled my blood. He can give lectures on how to destroy Ramayan!!

soothsayer

I do not mind Ramayana or Mahabharatha in the background. According to me the book can be about any character  who does not get a lot of coverage in the epics and so the tale weave could well be all part of the writer's creativity.  But what one finds now  is author after author portraying each well known character with his/her own perspective to make them more appealing either way. It becomes difficult to connect

divey

viksorion 6-8-2018 06:27 PM
Exactly, somehow now a days mytho-fiction has become synonymous with mahabharat or ramayan nowadays. ...

The problem I belive is that our Ramayan and Mahabharat are more read and accepted across the country. These little or no literature available on early vedic gods or even indegineous gods before vedic culture took roots in India. That can be really interesting to read and would be much more refreshing. You can read Seal of Surya and one other book based on Battle of ten kings  in early vedic period (Cant remember the name though @cynic- please help me with the name i am just not able to find it, though i believe the book is available in forum ). These are new stories not very well written though...but yes they are good for a change.

One reason Shiva trilogy is such a success is that it tells story of Lord Shiva which predates Ramayana and Mahabharata. I was hoping Amish would come out with story of Lord Rudr next but he also chose Ramayana as his next venture

divey

Meself 6-8-2018 08:20 PM
Lanka's Princess is very mediorme. Kavita Kane's only likeable book till date remains to be is Menka ...

You seem to be very angry with a lot of writers which people find really good..... I agree with you on some of your comments about mediocre nature of lot of authors but the issue is that these are what is available, i guess we dont have much choice or rather are not aware of other good work which is probably not marketed well