One Destroyer's Dharma

One Destroyer's Dharma

Ancient duty. Future war.

A subtle futuristic backdrop with stars and a faint mandala-like pattern, blending tech and ancient art – conveying “techno-vedic” atmosphere without clutter.

Upcoming: Book 1 of the Trimurti Horizon

Image by EM Godrej

The Novel's Inspiration

One Destroyer's Dharma remixes the Mahabharata into a future based on the arc of today's society, bright with potential, hollow with grievances.

Three thousand years before the events of the novel, in what is now India, the Mahabharata was written. The epic chronicled a war between dynasties that broke an age. It was a telling ten times the length of the Iliad and Odyssey put together. In this work of Indian mythology, everyone—be they hero or villain—walks toward glory or ruin under the same bright light of dharma.

What Vivek Writes

GENRE: GROUNDED SCIENCE FICTION

The moral crises of Indian myth,
and problems of today,
brought into the cold vacuum
of a realistic near-future.

CHARACTERS IN CONFLICT

Stories about warring bloodlines,
inter-generational trauma,
found family, and
the burden of dharma (duty).

WHAT DOES THE WORLD FEEL LIKE?

When power and wealth unchecked
engineers new caste systems,
new "gods" emerge, and
humanity's survival demands its soul.

FOR READERS WHO ENJOY:

The sharp-tongued voice of Some Desperate Glory (Tesh),
the unforgiving, lived-in void of The Expanse (Corey),
the algorithmic beings in A Memory Called Empire (Martine).

Stay in Touch

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About the Author

The son of Indian ambassadors, Vivek was raised on four continents, eavesdropping on power chatting with power at dinner parties. In his late teens, he emigrated to the United States. He spent two decades helping people heal their bodies and minds, co-founding a successful wearable company (linkedin). A million people have read his science writing.

He writes science fiction because he's interested in—and concerned about—which path our future selves will choose.

He lives in New England with his family spending as much time outdoors as possible to combat endless screen time.

Agents and Editors

The novel is complete and available for representation and publication inquiries.

Vivek's Blog

Welcome to the Flow:
To Flow is to travel the Worldrivers,
the setting of One Destroyer's Dharma.

FAQ

What is the plot of the novel One Destroyer's Dharma?

What books are similar to One Destroyer's Dharma?

The novel combines the gritty, near-future realism of James S.A. Corey’s The Expanse with the sharp-tongued protagonist of Emily Tesh’s Some Desperate Glory and the intricacy of Arkady Martine’s A Memory Called Empire.

Is One Destroyer's Dharma a retelling of the Mahabharata?

Is One Destroyer's Dharma part of a series?

While the novel stands alone, it is also the first in what will be the Trimurti trilogy.

Vivek's debut novel is set in a near-future Solar System. It follows sharp-tongued Ishara Kiriti, the secret daughter of a powerful oligarch and "Great Man", who discovers she was engineered for a destiny far from her backwater Earth ranch. Hunted across the Worldrivers (chains of space habitats garlanding the orbits of Venus, Earth and Mars), she must choose to fight in her father’s war, or against the society that created her.

No. The novel is a techno-Vedic fusion of the characters, themes and philosophies into a modern, sci-fi setting full of neural augments, artificial intelligence, orbitals, and starships in place of chariots. It explores themes of dynastic power, transhumanism, and the cost of duty.