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Lord of Light
by Roger Zelazny
Sam, the Buddha, allies with Demons to oppose the Gods in Heaven and to advance the religion of Buddhism against Hinduism.
Sam, the political revolutionary attempts to free the people from a corrupt government and a stratified society under brutal technological repression.
Kali once loved Sam, but then married Sam's enemy Yama, who she then betrayed. Yama and Sam join forces to defeat Kali, but may yet unite all three against a common enemy.
Do those all sound like different books? Different genres even? They're not.
The soap opera plays out between members of the ruling caste of a society that's been deliberately structured around Hinduism to elevate the elite ruling class of a colony world. The society works because of body transfer technology which allows people to be reborn in different bodies and different castes. The promise is that if you're a good citizen in your caste then your next body transfer will be into a higher caste until you are eventually a God. Only Gods get access to technology, which makes them ... well ... godlike :) This also is well done with futuristic battles and science fictional elements like the discorporeal natives who once fought with the Gods.
There's a political battle going on within the ranks of the Gods though because some favor giving technology to all, "accelerationism", but the conservative forces have control over the halls of Karma and all the accelerationists don't get reborn as Gods. Enter Sam, also the Buddha, also Siddartha, also Kalkin and lots of other names besides.
It's also cleverly structured with seven chapters that are more like individual stories that weave together the whole novel and are all over the place in terms of the timeline.
This book is masterfully layered, with philosophical discussions between Hindu gods and about Buddhism, but mostly it doesn't forget that it's a mask over the political and science fictional plot. It's at it's best though when the implication is that these are actually the Gods that they pretend to be. You're left wondering if Sam actually is the Buddha.
Sam, the political revolutionary attempts to free the people from a corrupt government and a stratified society under brutal technological repression.
Kali once loved Sam, but then married Sam's enemy Yama, who she then betrayed. Yama and Sam join forces to defeat Kali, but may yet unite all three against a common enemy.
Do those all sound like different books? Different genres even? They're not.
The soap opera plays out between members of the ruling caste of a society that's been deliberately structured around Hinduism to elevate the elite ruling class of a colony world. The society works because of body transfer technology which allows people to be reborn in different bodies and different castes. The promise is that if you're a good citizen in your caste then your next body transfer will be into a higher caste until you are eventually a God. Only Gods get access to technology, which makes them ... well ... godlike :) This also is well done with futuristic battles and science fictional elements like the discorporeal natives who once fought with the Gods.
There's a political battle going on within the ranks of the Gods though because some favor giving technology to all, "accelerationism", but the conservative forces have control over the halls of Karma and all the accelerationists don't get reborn as Gods. Enter Sam, also the Buddha, also Siddartha, also Kalkin and lots of other names besides.
It's also cleverly structured with seven chapters that are more like individual stories that weave together the whole novel and are all over the place in terms of the timeline.
This book is masterfully layered, with philosophical discussions between Hindu gods and about Buddhism, but mostly it doesn't forget that it's a mask over the political and science fictional plot. It's at it's best though when the implication is that these are actually the Gods that they pretend to be. You're left wondering if Sam actually is the Buddha.