The author of the wildly successful Shiva trilogy and the Ram Chandra series, Amish Tripathi is out with his next Idols: Unearthing the Power of Murti Puja which he has co-written with his elder sister Bhavna Roy.
A former diplomat and a popular television host, he’s sold over seven million copies and his books have been translated into 20 languages, making him one of the fastest-selling writers in the history of Indian publishing.
An out-and-proud devout Hindu, his latest book tackles questions about idolatry, the bigotry and violence around it, and whether it can help one find true purpose in life. I got a chance to speak with him after his talk at the recently concluded 17th edition of the Jaipur Literature Festival. I’m not overly religious and therefore, entered his session sceptical. But in the current socio-political era of hyper-propaganda, Amish spoke of tolerance and mutual respect. Believer or not, it’s difficult to argue with that.
Here are excerpts from an exclusive interview in which he discusses how he reached where he is today, his deep love for Indian mythology, his need to impress his son, two infallible marketing lessons, and whether he’d foray into politics anytime soon.
First a banker, then a diplomat, now an author. Did you always know that you wanted to write?
I didn’t. I wasn’t going to be a writer. I come from a humble family. So I did all the practical things—BSc Mathematics, MBA from IIM Calcutta, I was a banker for 14 years. I started writing with my banking job. I wrote my first two books along with my job. Much to my surprise, the books took off and by my second book, my royalty cheque had become more than my salary. So I resigned only at that time. It was a practical, pragmatic decision.
I was offered the diplomatic job when I was already a full-time writer. So, I was a diplomat in London for some four-and-a-half years—Minister of Culture and Education at the Indian High Commission and Director of the Nehru Center. That’s been my journey. I also host documentaries now.
Why the genre of Indian mythology?
Well, you tend to write books in areas that you know. I just happened to know this area. I guess more because of my family background and the kind of stuff I read. My family is very religious, traditional, and liberal as well, which in traditional India, is not a contradiction, it’s natural. So I grew up in that atmosphere, I knew this space, so I guess books just emerged in this area.
But now that you’re so popular, do you plan to explore other genres?
I have a story idea in mind, which is different, which struck me in London. So I'll probably take that up in a few years. It is set in the modern day and has gaming and time travel in it. I'm trying to impress my son, Neel. I'm not his favourite author. I'm his very close number two, as he keeps saying.
Who is number one on his list?
I will name him when I beat the guy. I don't care about anyone else but for my son, I should be number one. And he keeps saying, 'Dad, you don't have fantasy in your books, it's all plausible.' I'm trying to impress him.
You’re among the first few popular Indian authors who are building their own universe in literature. It’s now become popular in movies. But you’ve said that you did not plan any of this. However, is there a strategy going forward now?
I'm very clear that while writing, even now, I just follow my heart. I only write what appeals to me. The pragmatic heart and the pragmatic mind come in only during the marketing or business aspects. If you start doing creative stuff also like that, then what's the point of being creative? Then it's a business. Then I might as well do banking.
Writing or anything creative is a right brain activity, it’s an instinctive activity and it’s for you to make your soul happy. One should always approach it with that perspective, that’s what I believe. The ancients used to say that creativity comes from the goddess. The right brain is supposed to be the seat of the goddess. If you don’t honour and respect the goddess, then the blessing stops. That's the way you should approach it. It’s a blessing and do it with your heart.
But you are a marketing genius, you have sold 7 million copies!
Like I said, at that time you should use your mind.
What are the two marketing lessons that you swear by?
No matter how good a product is, nothing sells by itself, that’s the first thing. But good marketing will kill a bad product even quicker. So make sure you have a product which you feel in your heart is damn good.
Then you need to market it properly. Particularly, even more in today’s time when there is so much noise and so many distractions. I don’t think we authors are competing for a share of the reader’s wallet. Books aren’t that expensive. My books are slightly more, but Rs. 500-600 is not that much. You spend that much in a coffee shop. What we are fighting for is a share of the reader’s time.
Our competitors are not other authors. Our competitors are a visit to the mall or cinema, Netflix, and your Instagram feed. The most precious thing you can give as a reader to an author is your time. This means the books have to be of that quality that it doesn’t just compete with other books, it competes with every other place that you spend your time at.
You talk about idols being an important symbol/channel to connect with god. What about the religions that don’t believe in idols?
In the Indian way, we’ve had schools of philosophy that don’t believe in idols or even in a creator or god. Samkhya, Mimamsa, and Charvaka are all Hindu schools but they don’t believe in a creator or god. There is no problem with that.
You can be an atheist, a believer, a nirgun nirakar worshipper, an idolater, or whatever else. The key philosophical foundations that you have to agree with to be part of the dharmic group of religions—Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, and I would include Indian Islam and Indian Christianity also in it—is belief in the concept of karma dharma, the law of cause and effect, the belief in reincarnation. These are the fundamental things.
And a very important part of this belief system is mutual respect. I am an idol worshipper, you may be an idol rejecter. I have no right to force my way on you, you have no right to force your way on me. If you want to reject idols, it’s fine. But if you say that if I worship an idol, then you will burn my temple down and behead me, that’s not okay. Then I'll fight back.
If you don’t want to worship, it’s not a problem. Our ancient Indian way is very similar to a phrase that Gen Z uses often—you do you, I do me. You don't force your way on me, I won’t force my way on you. That’s what the dharmic way is. If anyone says that if you don't worship their male god, then you will burn in hell for eternity, that’s childish. You worship your god, I'll worship my god or I'll be an atheist, that’s completely my choice. That’s the Indian way.
What about when idols are used as symbols of destruction and violence?
As in? When people attack idols?
Yes, when people attack idols to establish power.
It has happened. Idol-worshipping cultures were spread throughout the world. India is among the few cultures that have survived. We are the only pre-Bronze Age culture that’s still alive. And Japan to an extent. China has lost a lot.
But every other idol-worshipping culture is dead. And they didn’t die, most of them were killed. That's the point I was making. That idol-rejecting culture went around the world massacring millions just because people were worshipping idols. That’s extremism.
What about when you remove one idol to put another? Or mutilate and destroy idols of one faith to put forth another?
That has never happened at a mass scale. On a mass scale, it’s actually about the mass murder of idol-worshipping cultures. Ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, pharaonic Egyptians, Mesopotamia, central Americans, ancient Celts, ancient Vikings. All dead. All those cultures are dead. You go to the broken temples of Athena and Greece. And you'll find the idols of Athena with her nose and hands cut off. It happened to all idol-worshipping cultures.
Konark temple in Puri is another example closer to home.
Yes, this was the tide of history over the last 2,000 years. Idol-worshipping cultures across the world were wiped out.
Why do you think it happened and continues to happen? Because of insecurity?
Because idol-rejecters believe that idol-worshipping is evil. And that they have to be killed for their own good. Which is extremism. You will find almost no case studies of idol-worshipping cultures going around the world, massacring people, saying if you don’t worship idols, we’ll kill you. Why did that not happen?
There’s talk that you might enter politics.
I have great respect for Indian politicians. Indian politics is one of the toughest jobs in the world. It’s a 24x7 job. India is not an easy country to run. And I have respect for Indian politicians all across. It's too difficult a job. I'm not going to do it.
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