Between History And Mythology: Amish Tripathi

After six mythological works & one non fiction, Director of the Nehru Centre in London and a columnist, and author, Amish Tripathi is back with his book "The Legend of Suheldev: The King Who Saved India".How this journey unfolded for him, Amish tells us in an exclusive interview.

- Pria

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I've always preferred mythology to history. History is truth that becomes an illusion. Mythology is an illusion that becomes reality, French artist Jean Cocteau wrote. This is something that has been on the mind of Amish when he chose to write on a king this time: The Legend of Suheldev: The King Who Saved India.

He heard the story first time from his scholar friends Abhinav Prakash and Sajeev Sanyal during a conference in Goa. It was that time when he got inspired and decided to write his next book on the great king. I think King Suheldev is the most consequential hero in Indian history that most modern Indians haven’t heard of. He defeated the invading Turkic army who were the military superpowers of the world from the 11th to the 17th century. And he inflicted such a devastating defeat on the Ghaznavid Turks that no Turkic army, from any of the various Turkic tribes, dare to come back to India for nearly 150-160 years. Such a hero needs to be talked about & celebrated!

Mythology: A Baggage?

We all know that mythology genre has picked up pace during the recent times and many untold stories have been told by our eminent authors. This makes an enticing read that picking up a king from our own history as the protagonist who had saved India that time! This word mythology is from the English language and comes with its own baggage. The Westerners believe that History is “truth” and Mythology is “untruth”. Which is silly.