We need to understand how liberal and kick-ass our ancestors were: Amish

I genuinely believe that I do not create stories. Stories are a blessing, and I am just a channel. The world when I teleport when I write is more real to me than this one, right here.

Amish Tripathi

When you are keen to tell a story, you remember one you heard from your ancestors. A story packed with fantasy, thrill, loving and leaving behind, of loss, fight for justice, fight beyond justice, of divinity and dharma. You then write, like it’s an honor to write. You let the stories of war, of courts, of betrayals, of truth, and fighting for the truth, consume you. You let your pen bless you as it glides through the paper, and you lose yourself to the story.

That is what Amish, the author of Shiva Trilogy, had to say when asked how he writes what he writes. He was speaking at the JLF2023 in Jaipur on Saturday. “I write my stories as they come to me. I genuinely believe that I do not create stories. Stories are a blessing, and I am just a channel. The world when I teleport when I write is more real to me than this one, right here.”

Sita, a prolific warrior in Amishverse 

We do not have to adapt to modernization from other countries. We need to understand how liberal and kick-ass our ancestors were!

Amish Tripathi

If Ramayana was written by a woman, things would have been different? Would she just sit under a tree, caged in Lanka with fear and agony, or would she fight? Well, Amish breaks many stereotypes like this one in his work.

According to Amish, he is not the first person to see Sita as the ultimate warrior. Poet Valmiki had down it before him. 

You see, we are thinking it all wrong. We do not have to adapt to modernization from other countries. We need to understand how liberal and kick-ass our ancestors were! They talked about equality, they followed its principle. All kinds of communities, people, like LGBTQ community were eternally respected in the old days by our ancestors. We just need a revision.”

Amish – The Contemporary touch to mythology and folklore 

Humans are pretty adaptive. We develop our own narratives to keep the system running, then keep the dialogue on. Adapting, reviving, and fitting stories as per new narratives and examples, but not altering. 

Amish has been bringing a touch of ‘now’ to his stories. Relating his stories to Management lessons, and philosophies, he lets you raise some important questions as you read his book. What is an ideal society and leader? Do you keep on following the law even if justice is not served? Or, do you break the law so that justice could prevail? 

“More important than the story itself is the philosophy you want to convey through the story. We have been contemporising stories from generation to generation. We are obsessed with our takes of Ramayana and Mahabharat but we do shape it in a way to address the problem of now,” says Amish. 

There is a reason why Amish is described as the “Indian Tolkien” and for all good reasons, we must find ways to learn about the culture, our ancestors. Because staying grounded in your roots is a way to grow.