 Another friend of Tripathi , Rashmi Pusalkar , designed the book cover according to his specifications , which were to keep a balance between reality and fantasy . Hence Pusalkar chose to just portray the back profile of Shiva , standing in front of a huge lake . Since Pusalkar had never designed any book covers before , she felt that the task was more daunting for her , and explained " Shiva is a human of flesh and blood , he is not a God . The challenge was to show him as vulnerable . I portrayed him from the back , because Indian Gods are never seen from the back . He has battle scars and a sculpted physique . " Tripathi wanted the cover to have a symbolic meaning . The scenery behind Shiva 's image is taken from Mount Kailash and Mansarovar Lake . He also created a clay model of the broken Pashupati seal , which was later photographed and used in the book inlay . The increasing brightness of the book covers , from the dull colors of The Immortals of Meluha to the bright hue of The Oath of the Vayuputras , signified the triumph of good over evil , according to Tripathi . 
