 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."
