Finished On: 5th of January,2015
Edition Details:
Format: Paperback
Page Count: 100
Publisher: Holycow
Writer : Shweta Taneja
Letters : Tahir Kapadia
The Skull Rosary is a graphic novel that collects five stories by Shweta Taneja. These stories are about a rosary created by the Lord Shiva and each bead in this rosary is a skull of a demon. How these demons heads came to this end forms the content of the stories.The stories in the collection are:
1)The Blind Spot
Pencils: Shushant Panda
Inks: Vivek Goel with assists from Tahir Kapadia
Artwork: 2.5/5
Story : 2/5
Andhaka was the crown prince of Patala. He was son of Hiranyaksha, the king of demons. After his father is defeated and killed by the Varaha, he is banished from the kingdom. He then begins his prayers to Lord Brahma. Will he succeed? What will he ask from him?
It was an okay story with okay art work.
2) Prahlad’s dream
Art Work: 3/5
Story: 3.5/5
Pencils: Gaurav Shrivastav with Vivek Goel(Page 12)
Everyone knows that Narsimha killed Hiranyakashyap. Prahlad sees his father being murdered by Lord Vishnu’s avatar. Narsimha is angry and his thirst for violence is not yet quenched. Everyone is terrified. What will happen next? Who’ll come to restrain the raging avatar. Read the story to find out.
The art work was lot less confusing than the previous story. I don’t know whether it follows the mythological lore in the ancient scriptures or not. But it was a new twist that i came to know about. The story was engaging and fun to read.
3)The other woman
Pencils and Inks: Ghanshyam Bochgeri
Art Work : 3/5
Story:3.5/5
Julandhar the demon king of Patla had everything that a king could desire: a peaceful and prosperous kingdom and a loving wife. He was satisfied with his life. But then Narad came to him. And for what happened next you’ll have to read the story.
It was also a new story that i came across. It was fun and interesting to read. Now i know the story behind how Tulsi became so sacred.
4)Brahma’s fifth head
Pencils and Inks: Tahir Kapadia
Art Work:2.5/5
Story:2/5
A fifth head crops up on Brahma when he sees his daughter Sandhya. Sandhya prays for a rescue and Shiva comes for her aid. He orders Bhairava to take care of the dead. Will Bhairava be able to do the task assigned to him? What will be the consequences of shedding Brahma’s blood and who will endure it?
It was an okay story. The artwork was confusing although one or two panels were great.
5)The King with a Goat’s head
Pencils: Ghanshyam Bochgeri
Inks: Ghanshyam Bochgeri,Vivek Goel(Daksh and Veerbhadra)
Art Work: 3/5
Story:2/5
The final story of the collection. It’s the most known story about Shiva. Daksha was king of kings who had reluctantly yielded to her daughter’s wishes and blessed their nuptials. But his disdain for Shiva never left him and he never hid it. He’s organizing a Mahayagya and has not invited Sati and his son-in-law there. When Sati comes to know of it she refuses to take this slight on her husband. She asks her father to invite him and when refused she does something that will unleash something dark. Will the mahayagya be completed? What’s going to happen to Daksha?
It was an okay story and the way it’s told Sati seems like a brat in it. If she was not invited she should have remained at her home. What right did she have to force her father in inviting her husband? She also knew that Shiva and Daksha didn’t just gel together. Maybe, since it’s in a comics form so its concise nature doesn’t does justice to the story. We only see Shiva disrespecting Daksha by sitting when everyone was standing in his respect. One would think after reading the story that he could have done that not for a king but because Daksha is his father-in-law. So in my opinion the concise nature of the story doesn’t does justice to this story. I feel this is one of the weakest story in the collection.
To sum up, the book has mostly good stories. All the stories have such subjects that each can have an 100 page story done for them so it feels that they have been ended too soon. A good effort by the writer and artists to bring mythology to the current youth.
PS: It’s a graphic novel intended for the adults or people above 16 years and is definitely not for kids.
If you like to read the graphic novel, you can order it from the following links:
Amazon.in
Flipkart
