SSC
Who is the author of 'The Immortals of Meluha', the first book of the Shiva Trilogy?
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Answer: Option A — Amish Tripathi
Detailed Solution
"The Immortals of Meluha" is the first book of the "Shiva Trilogy" by Amish Tripathi, published in 2010.
About the Shiva Trilogy:
It reimagines Lord Shiva as a Tibetan tribal leader who lived around 1900 BCE and was later remembered as a god because of his deeds.
In "The Immortals of Meluha", Shiva and his tribe are invited to Meluha, a near-perfect empire (inspired by the Indus Valley Civilisation) ruled by the Suryavanshis. Shiva's throat turns blue after drinking a potion called "Somras", and the Meluhans believe he is the "Neelkanth", their prophesied saviour.
The other books are "The Secret of the Nagas" (2011) and "The Oath of the Vayuputras" (2013).
The trilogy became one of the fastest-selling book series in Indian publishing history.
About Amish Tripathi:
He was born in 1974 in Mumbai and studied at IIM Calcutta. He worked as a banker before becoming a full-time writer.
His "Ram Chandra" series includes "Scion of Ikshvaku" (2015), "Sita: Warrior of Mithila" (2017), "Raavan: Enemy of Aryavarta" (2019) and "War of Lanka" (2022).
He also wrote "Legend of Suheldev: The King Who Saved India" (2020) and non-fiction books such as "Immortal India" and "Dharma".
From 2019 to 2022, he served as Director of the Nehru Centre in London, a cultural wing of the Indian High Commission.
Other popular Indian writers:
- Ashwin Sanghi: "Chanakya's Chant", "The Rozabal Line", "The Krishna Key".
- Devdutt Pattanaik: "Jaya", "Sita", "Myth = Mithya".
- Chetan Bhagat: "Five Point Someone", "2 States", "Half Girlfriend".
- Anand Neelakantan: "Asura" and "Ajaya".
Why not the other options?
- ✗Ashwin Sanghi wrote "Chanakya's Chant" and "The Krishna Key".
- ✗Devdutt Pattanaik wrote "Jaya" and "Myth = Mithya".
- ✗Chetan Bhagat wrote "Five Point Someone".
Quick tip
Remember: Amish Tripathi = Shiva Trilogy ("The Immortals of Meluha" 2010, "The Secret of the Nagas", "The Oath of the Vayuputras") and Ram Chandra series ("Scion of Ikshvaku"); "Chanakya's Chant" = Ashwin Sanghi.
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Books & Authors — Preparation
This question tests your understanding of Books & Authors, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.
This topic covers famous books and their authors, including ancient Indian texts, works of the freedom struggle, classic and modern literature, autobiographies of famous people, and recently published books by well-known personalities. Questions usually name a book and ask for its author, or the other way round. Ancient and historical books, such as Arthashastra (Kautilya), Indica (Megasthenes) and Gitanjali (Rabindranath Tagore), are tested most often. Autobiographies are another favourite, so learn titles such as 'My Experiments with Truth' (Mahatma Gandhi) and 'Wings of Fire' (A. P. J. Abdul Kalam). Practise the books and authors questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.