The Dharma Forest

As the Mahabharata war wages on, it shows no mercy and takes no prisoners. Death and destruction abound. In the midst of a world rendered unrecognizable by the lust for power, malice, and the machinations of war stand Bhishma, contemplating the immeasurable death he sees around himself as a man who cannot die; Draupadi, above and beyond the chaos and yet at the very center of it, trying to protect her husbands at any cost, wondering whom to trust; and Arjuna, beloved, conflicted, and melancholic in equal measure, uncertain of the ultimate cost of the war he is intent on winning. The Dharma Forest is a magnificent first novel in a trilogy filled with complex characters, conflicted loyalties, and erotic jealousies from India's most beloved epic. Review: The Dharma Forest , lit by sun-filtered sincerity and fed by both writerly ambition and imagination, is dense with words and ideas whose lush and fertile undergrowth reaches deep into an ancient text to find truth and some kind of transcendental meaning for the 21st-century individual. ―Open Investment banker Keerthik Sasidharan narrates the final days of the Kurukshetra war in his debut book, The Dharma Forest . ―The Indian Express This Kurukshetra war novel explores conflicted loyalties and erotic jealousies of complex characters. ―Scroll The Dharma Forest tells about Bhishma's wondrous immortal life, Draupadi's loves amid erotic jealousies, and Arjuna's war-weary courage. ―Hindustan Times In The Dharma Forest , Keerthik Sasidharan tells a luminous narrative of the final days of the Kurukshetra War. Brilliantly evoked in fluid and elegant prose, the familiar story of the Mahabharata here reads like a great war novel filled with magical stories suffused with the qualms and complexities of human beings alongside the divine wisdom of the gods. Powerful and bewitching, beautifully written and profoundly steeped in the lore of the ancients, The Dharma Forest moved me deeply. -- Shashi Tharoor, Indian politician, writer, and former international diplomat In densely wooded prose, this novel leads us into the thickets of an ancient human story of love and catastrophe, where moral ambiguity, psychological complexity, and soul-darkness spin on the edge of sudden illumination. A remarkable debut that combines imaginative heft with luminous insight. -- Arundhathi Subramaniam, poet and writer The Mahabharata itself is Dharmaranya, as individuals wander around in a mysterious forest searching for their meaning of dharma. In the first book of a trilogy, with a conversation between Jara and Krishna as the mooring, Keerthik Sasidharan weaves a fascinating tapestry with Bhishma, Draupadi, and Arjuna as warp and woof. -- Bibek Debroy, writer, economist, and chairman, Economic Advisory Council to the PM I was charmed by this sparkling imaginative feast of a mythological novel set in the last days of the great war in the Mahabharata. An inspired debut! -- Gurcharan Das, author and commentator About the Author: Keerthik Sasidharan was born in Palakkad, Kerala, and was trained as an economist. His writings have appeared in various publications, including as a columnist for The Hindu and Open magazine. He lives in New York City.