Who is the author of the Shiva Trilogy the third book of which “The Oath of the Vayuputras” was launched in February 2013?

The answer is A) Amish Tripathi. The Shiva Trilogy has three books: The Immortals of Meluha (2010), The Secret of the Nagas (2011) and The Oath of the Vayuputras (2013). The trilogy reimagines Lord Shiva as a human leader, a Tibetan migrant who becomes the Neelkanth, and it draws on Indus Valley-era geography and the Saraswati civilisation debate.

• B) Anand Neelkantan wrote Asura, a retelling of the Ramayana from Ravana's side, and Ajaya on the Mahabharata. He is not the author of this trilogy.
• C) Ashok Bankar is not the author of this series, so this option can be eliminated.
• D) Ashwin Sanghi writes historical thrillers such as Chanakya's Chant and The Rozabal Line. He is a different author.

For the syllabus, this sits in the Art and Culture and Current Affairs overlap: popular fiction and mythology-based writing are often asked as Current Affairs or Art and Culture items. A Mains angle could be how mythology is used in public discourse about history and identity.

Trap: Candidates confuse the authors of mythological retellings. Remember that Neelkantan writes from the perspective of the Asuras and Sanghi writes thrillers, while Tripathi owns the Shiva series.