Early Life

In this age of technology, literature is disappearing slowly. But, a person from India took literature and Indian culture to the front of the world. And that person is none other than Amish Tripathi. Amish Tripathi is a best-selling author with more than 5.5 million books sold.

Amish Tripathi was born on 18^th October, 1974 in Mumbai, Maharashtra but he grew up near Rourkela, Odisha. He belongs from a family of rich culture. Amish insists on calling the city Kashi. And when we asked him if he would like to speak about the importance of Banaras in the life of Amish the writer, promptly replied, "I’d be most happy to!" Talking about his connect with the city, Amish tells us, "My family comes from Kashi. My grandfather taught Physics and Mathematics at the Banaras Hindu University. My father also studied there and did his engineering from IT-BHU. Our family was actually built on the charity of Madan Mohan Malaviyaji. He was known to help underprivileged but bright students, and my grandfather was one of those, so we’re all very grateful to him." Kashi, is a prominent feature in the Shiva Trilogy, with most part of the second and third book, The Secret of The Nagas and The Oath of the Vayuputras, being based on Shiva’s time spent in the city. With the ghats and temples of the city being described in great detail in the book, we can’t help but wonder if the images are so deeply etched in Amish’s memory that they found a way through his words? "In fact, parts of The Oath of Vayuputras were actually written in Banaras. I spent three weeks in the city writing the book. I would write during the day and in the evenings, take a walk down the ghats. There is an air of spirituality in the place, which only enhances my expression. Kashi is mentioned in my latest book, The Scion of Ikshvaku, too. It has a major role to play," says Amish, who is currently penning the second book of the Ramchandra series, and Kashi again would be an integral part of it too.