#RTWrites :: Looking Through Indian Fantasy Fiction - @RT_Writes

Recently, I had the fantastic opportunity to participate in India’s first online lit fest, organized by my literary agent – The Book Bakers. It’s a massive, immersive, week-long experience full of knowledge and information and sheer fun that make life in times of Covid-19 a little more bearable.

The lit fest allowed me to flex my tech muscles because, as a moderator, I had to learn how to use ZOOM! (Yep, can everyone hear me? Am I audible?) And we experienced a *lot* of technical difficulties!

While that was an unforgettable moment, since we inaugurated the fest, what I enjoyed most was the frank and enlightening conversation between extremely talented fantasy fiction authors in India. Yes, you heard that right. INDIAN FANTASY FICTION – that has nothing to do with the ten incarnations of Vishnu or our epicest of epics Ramayana and Mahabharata.

These writers have come up with entirely *amazing* worlds that have, of course, generously borrowed from extremely desi belief systems – like all writers do, but the story, the plot, the characters are all from their own fertile, febrile imaginations! And, as a not-so-avid reader of epic and high fantasy, I am mind-blown from the amount of homegrown talent we have.

Indian Fantasy Fiction: Origin Story

It can be argued that Indian storytelling has always had a rich and layered fantasy layer to it – right from the epics to the retellings of the Dashaavatars or the many, many times Shiva came this close to destroying the world.

Fantasy fiction usually deals with good versus evil – the great moral question that plagues us all. The villains are more villainous than your average bomber terrorist like The Woodpecker from Warrior Knight aka Kingdom Come. And the heroes are very righteous, upright, with moral rectitude and no shades of grey in them.

VERY unlike my mercenary Knights of Justice Brandon Michael Rice and Krivi Karthik Iyer.
And, of course, we have demons and monsters and minions that need slaying with generous dollops of magic.

As Ajay Ram, author of Rendezvous with God said, “Apart from having clearly etched characters, a moving plot; a fantasy book is only as good as the world it inhabits. Especially the magic and fantasy rules.” Using his point, it can be easy to see why Hanuman’s ANTMAN act or Karna’s Kavaccha Kundal can be interpreted as amazingly good but high fantasy.

Isn’t it?

Of course, the first true Indian Fantasy fiction was Samit Basu’s Simoquin Prophecies. I confess, as a not-so-fan of high fantasy I DNF’d this extremely popular book because I just couldn’t get it! (Sorry, Samit.) I did plow through Ashok Banker’s Prince of Ayodhya series which is, dare I say, almost a written a LITRPG version of the Ramayana and makes for compelling read!

Faith and Religion as The Cornerstone of Fantasy Fiction

Cassie Clare’s Shadowhunters are lifted straight up from the Bible – the part where fallen angels come to earth and ‘mingle’ with humans, creating half-breeds called Nephilim. Hell, Dracula’s origin story has been interpreted as that of Lucifer falling to earth and needing to drink blood in order to survive here on earth!

One of my most favorite fantasy writers, Rick Riordan, has entire series which use Greek Gods, Norse Gods and Egyptian Gods and put them in our world.

So, the tradition of using mythology and religion to enhance and explain fantasy stories is a rich and time-honored one.

Ajay Rajput’s Leothe in the Kingdom of Azrar has definite connotations of both the Garden of Eden and the Garden of Hesperides – with an apple playing a prominent part in the story. But as Ajay puts it, “I had a dream about being chased by monsters for taking an apple…and the dream followed me into waking up.”

Dreams are a subconscious conduit to our internal belief systems which comprises faith, doesn’t it?
In Adhaata Asaao’s Liege, writer Afroz Alam’s Hajud-Majud are twin demons who terrorize the hero Adhaata and the land they are set in. They are loosely based on Afroz’s interpretation of Hajlis-Majlis from the Holy Quran. And as he shared with me, “I initially started writing this book because I had an urge to explore these twin demons who created havoc in a world full of magic and monsters.”

Kiran-Nirvan’s Nasteya has a talking guard eagle which, on reading, was extremely reminiscent of Jatayu and Garudan and displayed much of the same characteristics. It was helpful, had information the MCs needed to move on to the next part of their quest and was an ace warrior.

The Harry Potter Effect

Let’s face it. Most of us only fell in love with magic and wizards after we first read Harry Potter. Sure, we have the die-hard Tolkienites (I am partial to both DO NOT ASK ME TO CHOOSE) and even a few GRRMites (the 1994 lovers that is)! But, for most of us Indian readers, who grew up seeing and hearing Ramayana and Mahabharata, Magic is Might.

And it is this precise aspect of fantasy fiction that Saurabh Thakkar, author of the Aham Trilogy addressed when we talked about slotting fantasy in children’s fiction. He said, “Some of the themes addressed in high fantasy can be broken down and understood by kids via fantasy. And each of the young adults undertake both an external and internal journey with swords and wands and their own hearts and minds, which teaches growth to children.”

Saurabh is right. I grew up with Harry when he saw Cedric die and faced Voldemort in the Little Reading graveyard. I felt impatient with Cho’s crying and wanted him to move on already.
And straight up I can admit, my lady bits woke up and begged for attention when I first saw Aragorn, son of Arathorn say, “If by my life or death I can protect you, I will. You have my sword.”

Maybe, someday, I will write a quote as iconic as that.

Until then, I’ll leave you guys with this iconic quote from a dynamic debut author Nashit Ahmed, author of Rainmen (yes, it sounds a LOT LIKE WATCHMEN IN THE BEST WAYS POSSIBLE). “A story is a story. Tell the best story possible first and then figure out if it is fantasy or not. The story is what matters and magic is just the bonus you give your readers.”