The Skull Rosary

by Shweta Taneja, Vivek Goel (Artist), Gaurav Shrivastav (Artist)

The god, the demon, the king, the avatar and the son. Shiva took five heads for his rosary of skulls. We tell you why.

The Skull Rosary is a retelling of five ancient myths of Rudra, the name Shiva wielded before civilisation. These are not the stories you heard when you were a child. They are stories of dark emotions, of lust, of jealousy, of hatred, of passion, of incest and of power. In these tales a god gives in to the greed that might begets, a king sacrifices his daughter to flames of jealousy, a god lusts after his daughter, a son craves his mother’s body and a bloodthirsty being lusts for revenge. These are tales from before man made laws for himself.

This 100-page graphic novel will take you through five different worlds of demi-gods, avatars, demons, monsters and beings that cannot be named, much less understood. Enter at your own peril.

Check out author Shweta Taneja's page for more.
www.facebook.com/shwetawrites

100 pages, Paperback

First published December 22, 2013

About the author

Shweta Taneja is a fantasy author, comic writer and journalist based in India. She's written seven books and two hundred articles in a career spanning fourteen years. She's a Charles Wallace India Writing Fellow and was shortlisted for Best Writer Award in ComicCon India for The Skull Rosary.

Her graphic novel Krishna Defender of Dharma is part of CBSE and Kendriya Vidyalaya Recommended Lists. Her novels include Ghost Hunters of Kurseong, the bestselling Cult of Chaos an Anantya Tantrist Mystery, and How to Steal a Ghost @ Manipal.
Website: www.shwetawrites.com

Reviews

[Anurag · Rating 5 out of 5]

"It's the oyster that is the miracle, not the pearl."

One of the finest graphic novels, this book exhibits five stories all referenced from Linga Purana. Each tale revolves around some unconventional and unexplored myths and traits of Lord Shiva.

Despite being loosely connected, all stories retain their individual flavour due to a distinct style of writing and illustration. The matte pages purposedly used in the book intensify and deepen the black-and-white art style.

[Shweta · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a writer you write a book but then get surprised because it turns out to be something else all together. This book was like that for me. When I wrote it, I thought I will be writing just another tantric story of Shiva, but it became something else. The book is about transgression, about taboo topics, about the importance to talk about things that the society hides behind it's pretty face. It's raw in its violence, its treatment and its truth. And the awesome black and white art work looks beautiful. Which is why I like it so much. But then, i wrote it and you might find me biased :) But please do give it a chance if you find it around you.

[Rachit Nimavat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Contains retelling of 5 stories inspired by Shiv Purana: Andhak's life, Narsimha vs Sharabha, Earlier life of Tulsi as Vrunda, Cutting of Brahma's fifth head, and Daksha's yagna. I liked the story Brahma's fifth head the most.

[विकास 'अंजान' · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good collection of stories. All the stories here are about Shiva. Some stories were new to me and some which i knew had a twist that i didn't knew about. A good effort. Read my whole review here:The Skull Rosary

[Krishnakumar Mohanasundaram · Rating 3 out of 5]

This graphic anthology is both lame and impressive at the same time. It cntains five different stories that surrounds Lord Shiva and his entourage. And in each of these stories Shiva adds a skull to his collection, giving the namesake of the book.

The Blind Spot
Prahalad's dream
The other woman
Brahma's fifth head
The king with a goat's head

While each story is quite good with amazing artwork, the reader soon finds himself into the author's lame attempt into making rhyming verses in the dialogues of various entities in the stories. And such dialogues appear forced. They would have done very well without it, but no, either the author was trying to prove their vocabulary or they wanted to mimic the way western mythology is done, so, they went for it and ended up with nothing but unnecessary blabbering.

They forced rhyming verses and in the process have used completely irrelevant words at irrelevant places that doesn't even fit in with the character that is uttering them or the setting where it takes place.

Especially the story, Brahma's fifth head - despite a very great artwork and story concept - is filled with jargon of such dialogues that is forced in and lamely done. Bhairava, an entourage of Shiva says this : "is that you, my darling bee? Ho-ho, he-he, will you join me for some tea?" as he slits the fifth head of Brahma. Such a modernity in that dialogue, made just for the sake of making it rhyme, appears totally out of context / setting of the story / character.

If only the writer , would have avoided such unnecessary blabbering, this would have been a better read.

Three stars for the story concepts and great artwork!!

[Laxmikant Borde · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book artwork is in black and white but looks good. storytelling is okay. I like third story 'the other woman' most.

[Sagnik Chakraborty · Rating 4 out of 5]

I never review books here, but am writing this since it looks like there are none, other than one by the author herself.

5 stories exploring pretty dark aspects of human nature through the exploits of Shiva in various forms, destroyer to creator, pure to perverted. The black and white art is beautiful and quite gory. The stories themselves are well written and presented in dark and twisted glory without any apology. The stories don't intend to preach or moralize, but ofcourse being derived from Purana means they do have a clear message. However that message isn't always the comfortable sweet tale modern Hindu theologists like to present. They explore the darker Hindu mythologies which are seldom taught. A very entertaining read without a doubt.