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Scion of Ikshvaku is an upcoming fantasy book by Indian author Amish Tripathi, based on Rama, the legendary Indian king regarded as an incarnation of Vishnu. The title was revealed by the author at the Jaipur Literature Festival, with a tentative release date of October 2015.

Characters

• Lord Ram

Development

"I would like to look at him holistically and completely. Practically all Indians love and respect him for what is known as 'Rama Rajya', but I wonder how many people would have actually thought through what 'Rama Rajya' is. That is the thing I want to write about and how he built that society... Through Lord Ram, we might learn that it is cool to follow rules. And that is something I think modern Indians might need to learn."

From 2010 to 2013, author Amish Tripathi released the three books in his fictional Shiva trilogy—The Immortals of Meluha, The Secret of the Nagas and The Oath of the Vayuputras—inspired by the Hindu God Shiva. The releases became a critical and commercial success, with reviewers crediting Tripathi for his innovative marketing strategy in promotion of the books, which included video trailers associated with high-profile film releases, retail chain distributions as well as a music album inspired by the series, called Vayuputras. As of January 2015 over 2.2 million copies of the Shiva Trilogy have been sold with gross retail sales of over ₹60 crore (US$6.9 million), making it the fastest selling book series in the history of Indian publishing. The third book in the series, The Oath of the Vayuputras, sold-out the initial print-run breaking the record for the fastest selling book in India. This prompted the publisher, Westland Press, to pay Tripathi an advance amount of ₹5 crore (US$580,000) for the next series that he would pen, even though Tripathi confessed that he did not have any idea regarding the subject that he would pursue for his next endeavor. Gautam Padmanabhan, CEO of Westland Publishers, clarified that the advance included the book, audio and e-publishing rights for the author's next series, and was only for the South-Asian region and "It's the largest advance we've ever paid, and the largest Indian deal". Anuj Bahri, who was the first publisher for The Immortals of Meluha, said that the deal could go up to US$4 million once they acquire the film, foreign and translation rights for the books.

In January 2015, Tripathi revealed at the Jaipur Literature Festival that his next series would be based on Rama, the legendary Indian king regarded as an incarnation of Vishnu. He explained that at a previous location of the festival, a reader had asked him why people use the moniker "Lord" while naming Rama, which led to Tripathi thinking about developing a series. He became curious as to how the battle between Rama and Ravana, explained in the Ramayana, unfolded and analyzed on Rama's treatment of his wife Sita. "The question deeply upset me... I agree how he treated Sita was unfair, but that was one aspect of his personality," added Tripathi. He also wanted to highlight on the negative impression of Rama, and the term "Maryada Purush" associated with the king. "People erroneously translate this as 'the perfect man' when it actually means 'the perfect follower of rules'. brilliant for society, but not for their personal lives. If we can look at Gautama Buddha and Mahatma Gandhi in their entirety, why not Lord Ram?", he concluded. Although unsure as to whether there will be four or five books in the series, Tripathi declared that the first book was named as Scion of Ikshvaku, with a tentative release date of October 2015. Ikshvaku was the founder of the Suryavanshi dynasty, to which Rama belonged, and the book deals with how Rama tried to establish his "Rama Rajya " in the middle of a corrupt Indian society. Westland had ran a social media contest prior to the revealing of the name, with hashtags like #WhatNextAmish" and #MysteryBoxes, containing clues to the subject of the book. A railer was released on YouTube for the book, which also included a Sanskrit hymn for "Rama Rajya".

References

1. Raina, Shilpa (27 January 2015). "Our society behaves horrendously with women: Author Amish Tripathi". Business Standard. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
2. Bhawani, Namrata (5 December 2011). "Myth and match: Talk with Amish Tripathi". The Times of India. The Times Group. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
3. "Romancing the market". The Telegraph. Calcutta: ABP Group. 28 August 2011. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
4. "Shiva trilogy music released ". The Times Of India. The Times Group. 16 February 2013. Retrieved 5 March 2013.
5. "After Shiva Trilogy, Lord Ram's Story Next on Tripathi's Plan". Outlook. 23 January 2015. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
6. Lopex, Rachel (26 April 2013). "How Amish Tripathi changed Indian publishing". Hindustan Times. HT Media Ltd. Retrieved 29 April 2013.
7. Austen Soofi, Mayank (11 March 2013). "Amish Tripathi, The Sound of Money". Mint. HT Media Ltd. Retrieved 9 April 2013.
8. Umachandran, Shalini (3 March 2013). "Westland gives Amish Tripathi Rs 5cr advance for his next series". The Economic Times. Retrieved 4 March 2013.
9. ^ Sebastian, Meryl (23 January 2015). "ZeeJLF: Amish Tripathi next book series on Lord Ram". Daily News and Analysis. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
10. "Lord Ram Subject Of Amish Tripathi's Next Book 'The Scion of Ishkwaku'". The Huffington Post. 24 January 2015. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
11. Jha, Natasha (29 January 2015). "Title of Amish's upcoming book revealed". The Times of India. The Times Group. Retrieved 15 February 2015.

External links

• Official website of Amish Tripathi
• Scion of Ikshvaku (Book trailer) on YouTube

• 2015 novels
• Indian novels
• Written fiction presented as fact