 Upali, an embittered survivor of Ashoka's infamous conquest of Kalinga, attempts to recover from the horror of war and destruction by writing the "deglorified and factual" story of the Buddha's life and teachings.This turns out to be a difficult, even dangerous exercise, for Upali is swimming against the tide, at a time when the Buddha's Sangha is poised to rise to immense imperial patronage and splendour under Emperor Ashoka.This is a patronage that will sustain Buddhism for over a millennium and help it reach out to half the world's populace.