The ominbus edition of all four books of Jaya!, a series of books reimagining the Indian Epic of Mahabharata with a brand new Collectors' Edition Cover.
Book One, Pradyutita was an SPFBO semi finalist in 2020 and and Indie Ink Awards Finalist in 2024.
When even the ties of blood become shackles, the only way to break free may cost everything.
Vasushena was marked for death from the moment he was born, for reasons he doesn't know. Being saved as a baby by a Suta couple who raised him as their own, he longed to be a warrior instead of a charioteer. But in the rigidly casteist society of Aryavarta, a Suta seeking to rise above his station was a challenge to orthodoxy that could never be tolerated.
When his path led him to the Kuru prince, Suyodhana, it only linked him more inextricably with the fate of the Kuru dynasty. Suyodhana, for all his open mindedness, has a feud against his cousins, a hatred that is fanned to a conflagration by actions on both sides.
Little does Vasushena know that by choosing to stand by his friend has set him firmly against his own blood and Krishna, whose fearsome intelligence is matched only by his ruthlessness.
With forces beyond his ken ranged against him, can Vasushena prove that courage can vanquish destiny or will he fail in staving off the sentence of death that had marked him from birth?
Jaya! is a low fantasy retelling of the Mahabharata, the Hindu Epic (More on it and the background can be found in The Background) with morally grey characters, political intrigue, generational trauma, hard choices, family and sibling bonds, found families, friendship, duty, and the consequences of actions.
This Project
Ever since I finished the series, I've wanted to bring out an omnibus edition of the full. It seemed like a natural progression, but I also wanted some value addition to those who would get the omnibus. I wanted maps, a cover that would suit a collector's editon, and full colour hard cover and paperback. But all these things are fairly expensive and as a struggling Indie, there was little I could do by myself.
For even 50 paperbacks or hard backs, I needed at least $1000
Then I saw the sign ups for The Book Bazaar and a light bulb went off in my head.
Crowdfunding was the obvious answer.
So here it is, my most precious baby, in new clothes and hopefully, new accessories as well, depending on how the campaign goes! If I'm to have paperback and hardcover editions, I need more funds than I have, and I hope y'all support me so this baby can be out in the wild!
Jaya! is set in a fictional iteration of North India called Aryavarta which comprised of several Kingdoms some of who were related by marriage to one another while others owed allegiance for protection. The two major kingdoms were Kuru with their capital at Hastinapura and Panchala with their capital at Kanyakubja. Later, both these nations were divided into two with Northern Panchala having its capital at Ahichchatra and Southern Panchala had its capital at Kampilya while the main Kuru line ruled from Hastinapura and Yudhishtira ruled from Indraprastha.
"What is here may be found elsewhere, what is not here won't be found anywhere"
Oft described as the greatest story ever told, the Indian epic of Mahabharata boldly declares the above line. At over 100,000 verses, it is arguably, among the largest epic poems in the world. More about the Mahabharata
The Mahabharata was one of the things that was a staple of my childhood, with listening to the stories at my grandmother's knee, or at my parents', this story was one of the earliest memories I have. As I grew older and discovered reading and especially, the world of the Amar Chitra Katha, which brought in rich and visual details the beloved stories adapted for children, my love of this epic and of the tragic character of Karna only grew.
On the surface, the story of Mahabharata is the story of the clan of the Bharatas, who were the ruling family of the Kuru dynasty, their relations with other kingdoms and their internal feuds that culminated in a great war that encompassed all of Northern India. But when you go deeper, it's a treatise on morality, ethics, duty, loyalty, friendship, and family and sibling bonds as well as the destructive aftermath of war, and consequences of decisions. So influential is the Mahabharata on the psyche of Indians that even now, India is referred to as Bharat after the Bharata clan and the King Bharata of the Kuru dynasty, even though these personages are fictional. There is not a village or province in India which does not have a legend or myth related to the characters from the Mahabharata.
As so universal a piece of literature, it's no surprise there has been several screen adaptations of Mahabharata and Karna in Indian languages and in English. As a child, I waited for the episodes of one such even as I criticised the overly done costumes and the very bad special effects. As an adult, I watched the Peter Brooke edition, read more, watched the even worse TV adaptation of 2013, and found a community of people who loved Karna and Mahabharata as much as I did.
The Genesis of Jaya!
It was during those days that the idea for this series came to me. I had at that time, already written a few books on Karna, which were what we would call canon compliant in fanfic lingo. But then, I read an interview by the scholar Bibek Debroy who translated the translated the Critical Edition of the Mahabharata into English.
(For those not familiar with it, the Critical Edition was a work that is considered the most authentic version of the Mahabharata, and its compilation took almost 5 decades. 48 years of research by various scholars and experts of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI) led to its making, and for the longest time, there were no translations available, making the work inaccessible to all but Sanskrit scholars. However, with Debroy’s translation, that changed.)
Debroy opined in the interview as well as in the preface to his translation that Arjuna was a later interpolation as were the twins, and that in his view, the original epic had only two Pandavas. And that, was the seed from which, this story was born.
I wrote Pradyutita way back in 2018, but then lost steam. Though I always knew I was going to finish it, I wasn't sure when.
Fast forward to 2020 when Pradyutita was entered into and made it to the semi finals of The Self Published Fantasy Blog Off or SPFBO, an annual competition of self published fantasy novels, where one book is chosen as winner from 300 entries.
The semi final spot and the readership it generated lit a fire under me to finish this series. It took a few more years, but I published Astamite, the last book of the series in November, 2024, thereby concluding the series.
What makes Jaya! special
While Jaya! is a retelling of the epic, it is also vastly different from most other retellings. It's not just the lack of Arjuna that makes it different. Mahabharata, at its core, is a story about humanity, and the various facets of human life. Jaya! has remained true to that core, depicting its characters as essentially human, as flawed and as real as you or me. The various versions of the epic has glorified these characters in a patina of divinity, has added gods and godly powers, and Jaya! strips off all that shine and reveals the imperfections therein.
It's a story of characters who are neither good or bad but are capable of acts, both horrendous and good, and all their deeds have consequences.
There's a common saying by characters in the Mahabharata: "Is it possible to avoid destiny through courage?"
The answer is a resounding NO in the epic, and the same holds true for Jaya! where perhaps destiny is unavoidable, but is also a result of actions, large and small.
This retelling was so impressive that the SPFBO judge offered to be its beta reader after reading Book 1 and even people who didn't know the original story loved it and started looking up The Mahabharata after reading it.
All backers will be named in the acknowledgements! All physical rewards will be dropshipped.
The Jaya! Digital Tier - $15
An ebook of all four novels in one Omnibus edition, with custom chapter headers and hopefully, character art depending on achievement of stretch goals
The Jaya! Paperback Tier - $25
The paperback edition for those who want to hold the physical copy but can't afford a hard cover. With custom chapter headers and breakers, map, and Family tree. Character art will depend on stretch goals.
Shipping costs will be in addition to the cost of the books. All physical rewards would be dropshipped.
The Jaya! Hard Cover Tier - $40
The hard cover version of Jaya! The Complete Series Omnibus for the True Collector. With custom chapter headers and breakers, map, and Family tree. Character art will depend on stretch goals.
Shipping costs will be in addition to the cost of the books. All physical rewards would be dropshipped.
In addition, there are several tiers you can check out in the Pledge Levels.
Special Tiers
There will be an early bird tier for a full colour paperback of Jaya! and a Collector's Tier for a full colour Hard Back. Both of these will be limited to 5 backers each and will be more expensive than the normal books.
Character art of Vasushena, Suyodhana, Yudhishtira, and Kunti, to be included in colour for ebooks and special editions and black and white for normal physical editions. They will also be included as colour prints along with physical tiers.
Stretch a bit more for $2000
In addition to the above, character art of Krishna, Vidura, Draupadi, and Bheeshma, to be included in colour for ebooks and special editions and black and white for normal physical editions. They will also be included as colour prints along with physical tiers.
The Big Stretch $5000
An audiobook of Book 1 narrated by a professional and human voice artist.
I prefer to have an Indian to narrate because many of the terms and names can be difficult for someone else to pronounce.
Heck, I'm Indian and I still stumble over names like Dhritarashtra and Drishtadyumna.
All the same, as long as they pronounce the names okay, I will go for any narrator
The Full Stretch $10000
An audiobook of the Full Omnibus narrated by a professional and human voice artist
Geetha Krishnan writes books derived from the rich and vast spectrum of Indian mythology. A practising Hindu, their books show their deep knowledge of the religion and customs of ancient India. Their books have won many accolades and have been universally praised for the twists they bring to their retellings.
Their books Ayana and Pradyutita have made it to the semi-finals of SPFBO 2019 and 2020 respectively, and their short story, The Forgotten Son has won an Honourable Mention in The Writers of the Future Contest.
Their book, Durga was a runner up in the Rev Pit 2020 contest.
They also write fantasy and Sci Fi under the pen name of Niranjan and all other genres under the pen name of Rari Rajesh.
When they're not writing or editing or reading, you can find them on their couch watching or re-watching their favourite CDramas, or feeding their cat, Pluto.
More about them may be found at https://authorniranjan.in/
As you all may be aware, Backerkit does not allow projects that use Generative AI partially or fully, and as someone whose only response to Generative AI is "Ew NO" this is the best platform for showcasing my book and all the human made art that comes with it.
The cover for Jaya! was done by John from Covers by John on Facebook, an extremely talented Philippine artist. He has done so many covers for me, and I adore his work and him to the moon and back!
You can find him on Facebook and Discord as coversbyjohn.
The character art for Vasushena was done by another gifted Philippine artist, Janjan Arts. He's on Facebook, Instagram, and Bluesky. I will be commissioning more art from him!
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Once again, I know Aimee from the community we all hang out in, and they're an awesome writer and an even better artist. This project is something I really look forward to so I can get this damn book. I want to read The Warm Machine, but I also want to have both books before I start that one. (Yes, I have my own copy, no, I haven't read it yet. Don't judge me, okay! My TBR is sky high at this point)
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Ngl, the moment I saw Sapphic romantasy, I was down for this. The sapphic community gets so little representation even in the queer fiction that tilts heavily towards achilean, so any book that adds to the treasure that the sapphic community is, is a book that gets my backing. It's the author's first project, I believe, which means it needs even more support to bring it to life so they can keep producing little gems for all of us to devour.
