28th January 2025, National: Westland Books proudly announces the launch of Ajita: A Novel, written by acclaimed author K. Sridhar. The book weaves together the life of Ajita, a pioneer philosopher of the Carvaka school of Indian materialism, and Moksh Malhar, a modern-day academic exploring Ajita’s philosophy while grappling with his personal struggles.
The novel not only tells a compelling story but also pushes the boundaries of storytelling by employing a unique lipogramatic structure, where each chapter intentionally excludes a specific letter of the alphabet.
The novel experiments with ideas, form, and style and presents a unique form of story narration.
The book will be released on 30th January 2025 and will be available in all major bookstores and online platforms across India.
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About the Book
As a child living in 5th-century India, Ajita is endlessly fascinated with ants. How do they know where to seek food and how do they move in such an orderly fashion to collect it? Do they communicate amongst each other? Do they have laws that govern them? Ajita’s curiosity is endless. This spirit of enquiry accompanies him as he goes to the gurukula to study, and then later in life when he becomes a philosopher of the Carvaka school. But what is Ajita’s story and will it ever be known what led him to the diehard materialism that he embraced?
Moksh Malhar is a brilliant academic, loved by his students and friends, but grappling with inner demons. After a series of blows in his personal life, Moksh turns to a world he finds more familiar and comforting-one of books, ideas and philosophy. As he studies Carvaka philosophy and pieces together the life of its foremost thinker, Ajita, Moksh finds the boundaries of space and time getting blurred.
As Ajita and Moksh’s worlds interact, readers are invited inside a vortex of form, philosophy, ideas and language.
About the Author
A theoretical particle physicist, K. Sridhar has lived and worked in Bombay for most of his life before moving to Bangalore. He has published a book on physics and one on science education, besides many research papers on physics as well as philosophy. He also reviews art shows.
His first book, Twice Written, was published in 2011. Ajita is his second novel.
About Westland Books
Westland Books is an award-winning Indian publisher with a diverse and exciting range of books from popular and literary fiction to business, politics, biography, spirituality, popular science, health, and self-help. Its key publishing imprints include Context, which publishes award-winning literary fiction and non-fiction; Eka, which publishes the best of contemporary writing in Indian languages and in translation; Tranquebar, home to the best new fiction from the Indian subcontinent; the eponymous Westland Sport, Westland Business and Westland Non-Fiction, and Red Panda, which publishes a range of books for children of different ages.
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