Narendra Kohli is the founding canon builder and most read Hindi storyteller of the Indian epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, and national hero Swami Vivekananda. His best- selling works include Mahasamar (9 volumes), Abhyudaya (2 volumes), Na Bhooto Na Bhavishyati, Matsyagandha, Hidimba, Kunti, Sairandhri and Sharanam.

The Epic-1: Bondage-Story of Bhishma is the English translation of first volume of Mahasamar: Bandhan, first published in 1988. The story begins with the sorrow of Shantanu, the king of Hastinapur who is born as a mortal in this birth to espouse Ganga after being cursed by Brahma in his previous birth where he was a powerful king of the Ikshvaku dynasty. As the reason behind his sorrow unveils, so does the character of his eighth born and only surviving son from Ganga-Devavrata, the greatest warrior of all times. From being the most unusually born to becoming the protector of the Kuru throne, from being the revered son of Ganga to being the pacifier of his father's passion for Satyavati, from being Devavrata to becoming Bhishma- this volume is the story of family ties, rage, passion, loyalty and abstention told with deep profundity and detailed description of the era and its people.

Narendra Kohli was born on January 6, 1940 in Sialkot, Punjab. He completed his undergraduate degree in Bachelor of Arts with honours in Hindi literature in 1961 from Jamshedpur Co-operative College, Ranchi University, did post graduation in Hindi in 1963 at Ramjas College, University of Delhi and in 1970, received his Ph.D. from the University of Delhi. He lives in New Delhi, India with his wife, son, daughter-in-law and grandsons. He has been honoured with the prestigious Vyas Samman in 2012 for Na Bhooto Na Bhavishyati.