Nine Men. One Secret. Countless Deaths.
Announcing The Lost Ashoka Cipher by Aneeta Sharma
What If Ashoka’s Greatest Secret Was Never Lost?
When freelance journalist Dravin receives a cryptic message from a source asking him to retrieve a confidential file, he assumes it’s just another strange lead.
Hours later, the source is dead.
Before Dravin can make sense of what happened, he finds himself in possession of documents tied to a historical cover-up—one involving a sealed chamber, a university destroyed under mysterious circumstances, and records that were never meant to survive.
Then the killings begin.
One by one, people connected to the file start turning up dead. Researchers disappear. Witnesses are silenced. And every clue Dravin uncovers points toward a secret that stretches far beyond modern politics and into ancient Indian history.
At the centre of it all lies a chilling question:
What if Ashoka the Great didn’t merely renounce violence after the Kalinga War?
What if he also hid knowledge so dangerous that it could alter the future of civilisation itself?
This idea draws from one of history’s most enduring legends—the myth of the Nine Unknown Men.
According to folklore, after witnessing the devastation of war, Ashoka allegedly formed a secret society of nine brilliant individuals and entrusted each of them with a book containing dangerous knowledge. These books supposedly held secrets related to science, warfare, communication, medicine, psychology, and technologies far ahead of their time.
The purpose?
To ensure that such knowledge would never fall into the wrong hands.
For centuries, the legend has remained exactly that—a story whispered through history with no concrete proof.
As Dravin’s investigation deepens, the boundaries between ancient myth and modern conspiracy begin to dissolve.
Ancient inscriptions start aligning with contemporary intelligence records in ways that defy coincidence. Hidden manuscripts surface, pointing toward a secret network that may have guarded these texts across generations. And a forgotten institution—reduced to ash under circumstances that were never properly explained—appears connected to experiments that should not have existed.
Dravin is no longer chasing a story. He's running for his life.
Guided by a cryptic astrologer and pursued by forces he cannot name or predict, he traces a trail through coded archives, forgotten ruins, and revelations that collapse the line between mythology and reality. Every answer he finds costs someone their life.
Because if the Nine Unknown Men were real, and if the knowledge they protected survived—it wasn't destroyed.
It was hidden.
And someone, right now, wants it back.
Blending investigative journalism, ancient Indian history, secret societies, and high-stakes conspiracy thriller elements, Aneeta Sharma’s The Lost Ashoka Cipher asks:
What happens when the world’s oldest secret resurfaces in modern times?
And who survives when history fights back?
Coming soon on Readomania!
About the Author
Aneeta Sharma is an award-winning author of multiple books and an educator who has worked in Institutions pan-India. She is a member of the council for Global Education, WICCI and SheoftheWorld, an organisation committed to supporting women. She hails from a family steeped in military tradition and has her roots in Himachal Pradesh.
Website: https://sites.google.com/view/warps-and-wefts-with-words
Facebook: @aneetasharma27
YouTube: @ aneetasharma27
Instagram: @aneetasharma27
Comments