Description
“A young prince. An ancient plague. An immortal sage beyond the cursed forest.
Set in the verdant plains of Pratishtha along the river Saraswati, Agira is an immersive ancient India historical fiction novel that weaves together the timeless themes of dharma, kingship, forbidden love, and the quest for truth — in the tradition of The Palace of Illusions and Siddhartha.
On the eve of his twelfth birthday, Agira — prince, student, and seeker — begins his coming-of-age journey. Leaving the palace for an ashram deep in the Vedic countryside, he is trained under the enigmatic Ijana Acharya in the arts of wrestling, archery, scripture, and the law of reciprocation. He finds friendship in the towering Lathaba, and love in Medha — a brilliant fishmonger’s daughter who challenges his every belief. But when a mysterious affliction — the Malaise — begins to ravage his kingdom and reaches the palace itself, Agira is compelled to embark on the most dangerous quest of his life: to seek an immortal sage beyond the dreaded Dushkrta Vana, the Forest of Evil Deeds.
A story for readers of:
The Palace of Illusions (Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni) · Siddhartha (Hermann Hesse) · The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho) · Asura (Anand Neelakantan) · The Immortals of Meluha (Amish Tripathi) · Mrityunjaya (Shivaji Sawant) · The Name of the Wind (Patrick Rothfuss)
What makes Agira unforgettable:
A richly imagined Vedic world — the plains of Pratishtha, the sacred Saraswati, the ashram’s fig tree, the cursed depths of the Dushkrta Vana come alive in visceral, luminous detail
Dharma and moral complexity — from the king’s court to the wrestling akhara, every character navigates the law of reciprocation, duty, and the cost of truth
A classic hero’s quest — Agira’s arc — from sheltered prince to student to lover to seeker — mirrors the mythic pattern of Joseph Campbell’s hero’s journey, rooted in the soil of ancient India
Love that defies varna — the forbidden romance between a brahmacharya prince and a fishmonger’s daughter, built on knowledge, wit, and mutual respect
An epidemic with ancient resonance — the Malaise, a disease that robs people of colour, taste, emotion, and will, is one of fiction’s most haunting imaginings of civilisational threat
In the tradition of India’s greatest mythological fiction, Agira asks: What is the cost of glory? What is truth? And what does one owe to the world they were born to lead?
Begin the journey. The forest awaits.”
