About The Author: Dr. Santa Chawla (Santa Acharya Chawla) was born in a Bengali town and grew up in a home bustling with Sanskrit and scriptures. She received her doctorate in Physics from Banaras Hindu University and worked as a scientist at the CSIR National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi. She has published over a hundred papers based on her research in diverse fields of Physics and has mentored many students for their theses. She is passionate about travelling and photography.
Her keenness to understand India’s spiritual heritage led her to read books about the Mahabharata as well as the original unabridged text of the epic. The vivid descriptions of the geographical locations, astronomical conjunctions, and great battle made her curious about the historicity of the epic. She decided to narrate the great story in all its authenticity, placing its happenings on a time scale derived from Archeoastronomy based solely on conjunctions as described in the epic.
Summary Of The Book: The book unfolds the authentic story of the epic based on an unabridged version of the Vyasa Mahabharata as Arjuna, the hero of the Mahabharata, grows up from childhood. The life and travails of the Pandavas intertwined with the Kauravas through the jealousy and actions of Duryodhana, fuelled by his best friend Karna, uncle Shakuni, and follower Duhsasana, and supported blindly by king Dhritarashtra, culminating in the all-destructive battle of eighteen days, are chronicled here. This book narrates the story of the Mahabharata with a time line of the events based on a scientific chronology derived from archaeoastronomy—a simulation of the ancient sky—to find out the year and date when all the planetary and stellar conjunctions as described in the epic for the date of the Mahabharata war happened.
1.Can you tell us a little about your book?
What is not there in the Mahabharata is nowhere else.
The unique and interesting feature of this book is the engrossing narration of the Mahabharata story in its authentic form with a timeline derived from astronomical evidence, which gives a historical and scientific basis for our greatest epic. “Warrior Heart.” gives the flavour of the epic with its genuine narrative, many original Sanskrit texts, intriguing characters, and their myriad hues of emotions, particularly of Arjuna as he grows into an invincible warrior with Karna as his arch rival, Duryodhana as the covetous enemy, and Krishna as his dearest friend. The heroic isolation of Arjuna, his perpetual quest for knowledge, his love for Draupadi and inner turmoil, his sacrifice for the family, his inhuman effort to earn various weapons and win the great battle, not getting the credit, fame, and appreciation that he deserved, and his final judgement from his eldest brother, whom he respected and followed as a Guru, considering him as Dharma incarnate, bring the great archer very close to the hearts of readers. This book is my labour of love. It took me several years to read, research, and write this book.
2. Is there a specific event that inspired this story or was this an out of the blue idea?
I visited the Kolkata Book Fair in 2016, and my sister suggested a book on the Mahabharata written by a Sanskrit scholar to me. I purchased the book and started reading it. My interest in the greatest epic was kindled. Thereafter, I read many books on the Mahabharata, including the original unabridged English translation of the Vyasa Mahabharata by Kisari Mohan Ganguly.
3. What got you writing in the first place?
The story was so fascinating, the characters were so intriguing, and the happenings were so incredible that I felt the urge to narrate the Pandava Kaurava saga in a continuous fashion without numerous intertwined substories of the epic. I have chosen Arjuna as the central character, as he is truly the hero of the epic, but I have also delved into the essence of various other characters who influenced the actions. While reading the unabridged text of the epic, the detailed descriptions of geography, astronomy, and the great battle made me curious, and I researched the historicity of the Mahabharata. I found there are various opinions about the time of the Mahabharata war based on various considerations and conjectures. But the most scientific date of the Kurukshetra war has been derived by a few Physicists who simulated the ancient sky with Planetarium software in the time interval of 3500 BCE to 500 CE to find out when all the astronomical conjunctions described in the Udyoga parva for the time of the war occurred. That was the most convincing date acceptable to me as a scientist, and I derived the timeline of all the events based on the scientific dating and epic-based evidence.
The other motivation was to bring the authentic Mahabharata story to the readers and remove misconceptions about the epic and its characters gathered through unauthentic portrayals in TV serials as well as fictionalised novels based on the epic.
4. What was your impression of your first draft when you read it?
I thought the first draft would need modifications, but when I read it, I found it was written as I wanted it to be, and not much change was made.
5. Which part of your story connects the most with you? Why?
Molestation and attempted disrobing of Draupadi following the dice game in the Hastinapura court The shameless silence of the authorities and the atrocity of the inflictors are heartbreaking, particularly for a woman.
6. What makes your book the one to read?
To know the authentic story of the Mahabharata, written in lucid language with gripping continuity and a precise scientific chronology of the events. To understand the various characters with their multifarious actions and the unfolding of their emotional nuances as the story progresses.
“Warrior Heart” is a must read for anyone interested in the Mahabharata and its historicity, as I have supported the narrative with details of source references and scientific evidence, as well as provided answers to many questions that arise in people’s minds about the epic.
7. What was the best advice you got while writing?
To provide a timeline of the events in all the chapters as the story progressed.
8. Who’s your all-time favourite author? Which book of his/hers made you fall in love with them?
Ayn Rand and Atlas Shrugged.
9. What is your evergreen tip to the writers out there?
Make your narrative interesting and authentic.
10. What was your hardest scene to write?
The description of the enormous battle spanning eighteen days with a blow-by-blow account of the gory fight written over a thousand pages in Bhishma, Drona, Karna, and Shalya parva extracts the main highlights of each day’s battle and narrates it in a few pages.
And of course, Draupadi’s ordeal in the Hastinapura court.
11. Do you have another plot brewing?
Yes. I want to write about the women of the Mahabharata—their lives, emotional turmoil, and survival as distinct personalities.
Amazon Link: https://www.amazon.in/dp/939102470X
