Having penned two successful books in The Mahabharata Quest series, author Christopher C. Doyle has attempted something different this time. This is evident from his first book, Son Of Bhrigu, (Westland) in the new series titled The Pataala Prophecy. A fantasy based on Indian mythology, the page-turner is about a youngster called Arjun who is threatened by Shukracharya, the great rishi who is back after 5000 years of penance and how he counters it with the help of other children, including his best friend Maya.
Drawing inspiration from verses of the ancient texts, Doyle says, “There is so much depth in the verses ofancient texts, which I feel has not been explored enough by us authors, at least not in the genre of thrillers. So I decided to write a fantasy thriller with a difference.”
Excerpts:
On how “The Pataala Prophecy” series came into being
I have been writing thrillers for some time now, blending science, history and Indian mythology. Over the years, while interacting with readers of all age groups, I realised that there is a deep interest to know more about Indian mythology and our ancient texts, which many people have not read. So I thought that a new fantasy thriller series would be an ideal platform to share what I have learned through my research.
On drawing inspiration from verses in ancient texts
There is so much depth in the verses of the ancient texts, which I feel has not been explored enough by us authors, at least not in the genre of thrillers. I wanted to write a series that created its own space in Indian writing. So I decided to write a fantasy thriller with a difference. It is set in modern times but I have tried to make the fantasy believable and relatable to real life by drawing heavily on the Mahabharata, the Srimad Bhagavatam, the Bhagavad Gita, the Puranas and even texts like the Kathasaritsagar. I wanted the story to be contemporary — one that readers today can easily relate to — yet rooted deeply in our ancient texts, connecting the past and the present. As a result, you have an explanation for mantras that is based on facts from the Vedas; the classification of people into Rishis and Kshatriyas is not on the basis of birth, but on their abilities, just as it is described in the Mahabharata, the Gita and the Srimad Bhagavatam; the application of the law of Karma works exactly the way it is explained in the Gita; the concept of the atma which plays a key role in the book is also taken from the Gita and the Srimad Bhagavatam. Even some of the locations are based on the Ramayana; and some of the characters in the book are from the Mahabharata. And, as described in the Vedic texts, both men and women are Rishis and Kshatriyas – a very topical theme for our present times.
On challenges of weaving mythology and fiction
Ours is a living mythology, with many elements overlapping with religion. And I did not want to bring religion into the story because it would be at odds with the plot and the storyline. That was the first challenge. The second challenge was to make the fantasy look real. The concept of a secret society that we don’t know about, that there could be people among us who have powers that we would never suspect, would not seem credible without the deep linkages with the verses of the Bhagavad Gita, the Srimad Bhagavatam, the Puranas, the Vedas and the Mahabharata. It was never easy to link the concepts in these great texts with our lives in our modern world, and still provide an explanation that is logical and believable for the fantasy elements in the book. Finally, since I was linking deeply revered texts to modern day concepts and a fantasy world interwoven with our real world, I had to ensure that I stayed true to the meaning of the original verses and did not distort them in any way. All of this was never easy.
On using Shukracharya as the pivot of the story
I wanted a strong character from mythology to be the pivot of the story; a character whom readers would be familiar with and who would credibly fit into the role I had envisaged for him in the book. Shukra was a great Rishi – even Lord Krishna praised his intelligence and far-sightedness and he was the Guru of the Asuras, with the power of bringing the dead back to life. He was also a devotee of Lord Shiva but hated Lord Vishnu. He seemed to me to be the perfect fit for the role I had in mind. His back story also made a perfect foil for the events that unfold in the book and for what is yet to come in the rest of the series. In The Pataala Prophecy series, I have given his back story a twist, making it even more complex than what is narrated in the Mahabharata. My version of his back story will develop as the series progresses and attempts to explain much of what we read about Shukra in the Mahabharata.
On children countering Shukracharya’s threat
Every time I despair at the manifestation of Kalyuga around us, I try and recall my school interactions and am immediately filled with an optimism for the future of humanity. The energy, the vivaciousness, the earnestness to learn and do more is so strongly visible in the children that I have met, that it seemed logical to make them the saviours of humanity. And this series is a journey, an adventure, which every adult can relate to since we have had our own journeys, discovering our own powers (our strengths), making mistakes and learning from them, to reach where we are.
On the danger of readers taking mythology as history
There is a fine line between mythology and history. And, history is written by the victor – so the cliché goes. Does that mean that there is a danger in believing history? If history is false, that is a real danger. Yet, we blindly believe in history – how many of us question it? There is so much junk on the internet masquerading as fact – that is a bigger danger than any fiction based on mythology. Take for example, the fake shlokas from the Mahabharata which are often touted as proof of nuclear weapons in that epic. These shlokas have been assembled from different parts of the epic and presented as a complete verse from the Mahabharata, describing the aftermath of a nuclear explosion. Only someone who has actually read the Mahabharata would know that these are a bunch of shlokas which originally appear in three or four different books of the Mahabharata and not in a single chapter of the same book. This is where the danger lies.
On the research undertaken for the book
I needed to ensure that I understood the verses of the Bhagavad Gita and the Srimad Bhagavatam. So, while I read up English translations of all the texts that I have used as a basis for the book, I also relied on my friend and author, Shubha Vilas, who has studied and taught the Vedic texts for two decades. His deep knowledge of the texts and of Sanskrit was invaluable. I also read a lot of books on popular lore and folktales including ancient texts like the Kathasaritsagar, Rajatarangini, Kadambari, and a lot of reference books on the Puranas, the Vedas and Indian mythology in general.
On his next work
I have been researching since 2016 for Book 3 in The Mahabharata Quest series, which will release in 2019. But I suspect that, before that, I will be able to write Book 2 of The Pataala Prophecy and that will release first.
