When a god dies (and this happens frequently, often at the Buddha’s hand) a replacement must be promoted, and is free to decide their gender. Brahma now presents as male, but gender fluidity is a routine matter when undergoing reincarnation. The Buddha reveals that Brahma, the chief god, was originally a human named Madeleine, for example. The oldest and most important gods have been reincarnated twenty times or more, and their identities as humans have faded but never entirely disappear. Reincarnation is also accomplished by technological means. The human conquerors, referred to as the First, assumed the identities of Indian gods, instituted a caste-bound society for new generations of humans, and created technology to mimic supernatural powers.

Zelazny’s gods began as humans who traveled from Earth in a spaceship called the Star of India and subjugated an unnamed planet, naming its inhabitants-flamelike entities capable of possessing humans- rakshasas, or demons. With this title Zelazny is likely thinking of Amitabha, whose name is often translated as “Infinite Light,” rather than Maitreya, whose name is related to “ maitri,” or metta, meaning lovingkindness or friendliness.

The book’s title refers to Maitreya, as several characters refer to the Buddha throughout, though he refers to himself most often as Sam, short for Mahasamatman. Also in the fight are spaceships and giant lizards known as slizzards that are “much faster than horses.” The fight is not metaphorical, it’s a real battle in which the Buddha leads an army of zombies and demons in an effort to destroy “Heaven,” the Olympus-like home of the gods. The book depicts the newly awakened Buddha on an alien world fighting against gods named Vishnu, Mara, Brahma, and Kali. The action of Roger Zelazny’s Hugo Award-winning 1967 novel Lord of Light may be familiar to Buddhist readers-the rise of Buddhism in a Vedic or Hindu context-but the setting certainly is not.

Lord of light by roger zelazny