Two things came together around the same time, inspiring New York-based actor-filmmaker-writer Jugal Hansraj’s new children’s fantasy book, The Coward and The Sword (HarperCollins India). “My son was just born [in 2018], so I was spending more time helping my wife take care of him. I had also for many years been studying the Buddhist philosophy, Nichiren Buddhism, and there was this quote by 13th century Japanese reformer Nichiren Daishonin, that stayed with me. He said: A sword is useless in the hands of a coward. It was profound and layered, and spoke about how you should find courage within you. I had read that quote many times before. But, probably this time, because of fatherhood, it struck a completely different chord.”

A map of the Kingdoms of Kofu and Molonga. Illustration/Ruchi Shah