'Jai Shri Ram’ greets Scion of Ikshvaku

The much-anticipated book of the year Scion of Ikshvaku - the first installment of the Lord Ram series from bestselling author Amish Tripathi, the author of Shiva Trilogy - was launched on Monday at lifestyle bookstore Crossword in Mumbai.

Author Amish Tripathi (in blue jeans) and columnist Anil Dharker hold a cutout of the Scion of Ikshvaku, at the book launch Photo credit: Crossword Bookstore

Enthusiastic fans braved inclement Mumbai monsoons in an over a kilometre-long queue, waiting patiently for the bookstore to open amidst chants of Jai Shri Ram.

The launch event itself commenced with a drum circle, which had the audience participating to set the tone for the evening.

Amish, as the author is popularly called, came centre stage to thank all those associated with the release of his book.

Renowned columnist and writer Anil Dharker complimented Amish for having revived the interest of  young readers in mythology.

Gautam Padmanabhan, CEO, Westland publishing, disclosed that Amish's Shiva had crossed the 2.5-million sales milestone and expressed his confidence that the Lord Ram series would follow suite. (See: "I didn't even expect Shiva Trilogy to be published": Amish Tripathi)

The launch itself was organised in an off-beat manner where instead of a celebrity launching the book, the author decided that the readers should be the centre of the book launch - three lucky winners were chosen in a nationwide contest of Amish fans to release the book.

Amish went on to an interactive session with the audience where he spoke about the idea that went behind this book and the concept Scion of Ikshvaku as its title: ''It's my fictional and respectful interpretation of the Ramayan," he said, and explained in conclusion, "It speaks of the struggles that Lord Ram went through as he fought to establish the perfect empire.''

The evening concluded with Amish staying back to autograph the books.