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''The Oath of the Vayuputras'' is a 2013 novel by Indian author Amish Tripathi and the final book in his Shiva trilogy. The book was released on 27 February 2013, through Westland Press and completes the mythical story about an imaginary land Meluha and how its inhabitants were saved by a nomad named Shiva. Starting from where the previous installment left off, Shiva discovers that Somras is the true evil in ''The Oath of the Vayuputras''. Shiva then declares a holy war on those who seek to continue to use it, mainly the Emperors Daksha and Dilipa, who are being controlled by the sage Bhrigu. The battle rages on and Shiva travels to the land of Pariha to consult with Vayuputras, a legendary tribe. By the time he returns, the war has ended with Sati, his wife, being murdered. An enraged Shiva destroys the capital of Meluha and Somras is wiped out of history. The story concludes with Shiva and his associates being popularized as Gods for their deeds and accomplishments. Tripathi had confirmed in September 2011 that he was writing ''The Oath of the Vayuputras'', with Westland announcing the release date as 27 February 2013. The book was longer than the previous installments of the series and Tripathi clarified that all the loose ends left out in the previous book would be addressed, with the death of certain characters. Following the release of the cover art, it was announced that the publication rights of the books have been bought by both US and UK publisher houses. Like ''The Immortals of Meluha'' and ''The Secret of the Nagas'', the book contained innovative marketing techniques, including launching interactive apps, merchandise and a music album titled ''Vayuputras'', containing music inspired by different events in the series. After its release, The Oath of the Vayuputras received positive reviews for the story and characterisation with Business Standard calling Tripathi 'India's Tolkien'. However, his continued insistence on using modern, easy English gave way to a negative review by Mint. The book was a commercial success with 350,000 copies for pre-order, and an initial print-run of 500,000 copies. On the first day of the release itself, the book sold the initial print-run breaking the record for the fastest selling book in India. This prompted Westland to pay Tripathi an advance amount of for Tripathi's next book series. As of June 2015 over 2.5 million copies of the Shiva Trilogy have been sold with gross retail sales of over , making it the fastest selling book series in the history of Indian publishing. ==Plot synopsis== On meeting Brahaspati at the Naga capital of Panchavati, Shiva comes to know about the evil "Somras", and its ill effects on the people of India. Brahaspati explains that the large amounts of water required to manufacture Somras has resulted in the depletion of the Saraswati River’s water. The waste generated in the process of manufacturing the Somras was dumped in the Tsangpo river, which flows through Branga territory as Brahmaputra, and resulted in their disastrous plague. Also the birth of Naga babies was credited to Somras as it results in the multiplication of cells at a very high rate which lead to their deformation and outgrowths. Shiva travels to the hidden city of Ujjain along with his entourage to meet the chief of Vasudev pandits, Gopal. He explains how the Vayuputra council—an ancient tribe left by the previous ''Mahadev'' Lord Rudra, dwelling in remote land of Pariha in the West—train a member of their tribe as the Neelkanth when "evil" rises. Shiva comes to the conclusion that it was his uncle Manobhu, who turns out to be a former Vayuputra member, trained him as Neelkanth. Seeing that Meluha is the center of manufacturing the Somras, Shiva declares a holy war on the Kingdom and appeals the people to stop using the drink. Parvateshwar decides to join Meluha, since he thinks that it is his duty to defend his motherland; Anandamayi joins him. Shiva also realizes that Maharishi Bhrigu is the mastermind behind the attack on Panchavati, plotting against him along with the Swadweepan emperor Dilipa and Daksha. The preparation for the war mobilizes as Branga, Vaishali and Kashi come to Shiva's aid. He takes the Nagas, the Brangas and the Vasudev elephant corps to attack Meluha, while Kartik and Ganesh attack Ayodhya and successfully prevent them from aiding Meluha. Shiva captures the city of Mrittikavatti and makes the citizens imprison the Meluhan army led by Vidyunmali, who believes Shiva to be a fraud. He escapes and persuades Bhrigu and Parvateshwar to attack Sati's army by a thousand Meluhan troops, and defeat them. Following this defeat, Shiva abandons the plan of invading Meluha and leave for Pariha with Gopal; they wanted to procure the deadly Brahmastra weapon, to threaten the Meluhans for peace with them. There he meets the chief of Vayuputras, Mithra, who turns out to be his maternal uncle. Mithra convinces the Vayuputras that Shiva is the real Neelkanth and gives him the Pashupathiastra which acts on a specific target, rather than annihilating everything like the Brahmastra. Meanwhile, Parvateshwar uses decoy ships to give an impression to Kali that he was going to attack Panchavati. Alarmed, Kali takes the bait and leaves with the finest Naga soldiers in their pursuit. However, she realizes her folly and returns. Daksha plans to assassinate Shiva and sends Vidyunmali to get Egyptian assassins. He frames a peace treaty for Shiva but in his absence, Sati attends the peace conference and finds out the truth. She fights the assassins valiantly, but is killed. The war ends with Sati's death, but an enraged Shiva decides to use the Pashupatiastra to finish Devagiri forever. Parvateshwar, Anandmayi, Veerini decide to stay back in the city and die with it, but Kartik persuades Bhrigu to remain alive and share his vast knowledge with future generations. Shiva unleashes the astra and ends Devagiri's history, along with the Somras manufacturing units hidden beneath the city. In the epilogue, Shiva retires to Mount Kailash where he lives the rest of his days peacefully, though missing Sati every day. Ganesh, Kali and Kartik become renowned as Gods for their prowess, all over India. They take revenge for Sati's death by wiping out the whole clan of the Egyptian assassins. Bhrigu continues teaching and collates his knowledge in a book called ''Bhrigu Samhita''. Sati's death is not forgotten and she is later renowned as Goddess Shakti, and her ashes are spread throughout India, in places later known as Shakti Peethas (''Seat of Shakti''). It is revealed that in order to ensure that the Somras is not mass-manufactured again, the course of the Yamuna is turned towards the east, thus drying up the Saraswati River. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Oath of the Vayuputras」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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