THE FOREST OF STORIES
In the haunted jungle Naimisha-van, at the ashram of Kulapati Shaunaka, a dusty traveler arrives with sad tidings: Maharishi Krishna-Dweipayana Vyasa has passed on. Yet the great collator of the Vedas has left behind a fabulous legacy, the epic narrative poem called Maha Bharata. At the urging of the ashramites, the traveler Suta begins to recite the great composition, starting with the incredible creation myths and tales of gods and giants, snake-mothers and gargantuan eagles. And as the night wears on and the tale grows darker, he senses the presence of countless ghostly beings in the shadows beyond the flickering oil-lamps, the restless souls of the many millions butchered in the climactic war that ended the great tale itself, gathering now to hear the epic saga that led eventually to their destruction and the decimation of the Kuru Bharata race.