 The story was based on Meluha — the probable ancient name for the Indus Valley Civilisation , according to modern historians . Tripathi also included the Indian Royal lineage of the Sun and the Moon Dynasties , calling them Suryavanshis and Chandravanshi . Tripathi had been an avid reader of history from a long time , and his other inspirations for The Immortals of Meluha ranged from writers like Graham Hancock and Gregory Possehl to the Amar Chitra Katha series of Indian comics . For the mythological parts in the novel , Tripathi relied on the stories and fables that he had heard in his childhood from his family . Tripathi 's grandfather was a pundit and his parents are avid readers of Indian mythology , hence he found it easy to trust what he had heard from his parents and grandparents , and relied on them for the stories in the novel . Tripathi utilized Microsoft Excel to divide his writings into different parts , including characters , the plot , sub @-@ plots and deadlines for events . However , it did not work out correctly as he was losing track of events , and he gave up the strategy . Around this time , Tripathi 's wife suggested an alternative . She asked him not to control the fate of his characters beforehand , but let the plot develop on its own . Tripathi applied these suggestions and the result was a smoother outflow . " Things came in bits and pieces , not in a sequence but were put into perspective later . " 
