Aubrey holds a Ph.D. in English and has published many articles on twentieth-century literature. In this essay, Aubrey shows that while "Dharma" has many elements that are traditional ghost story fare, it also contains innovations that make it an unusual and original contribution to the genre.

In a 1998 interview with Kevin Mahoney for the online literary magazine Genre, Chandra said that the origin of his book Love and Longing in Bombay lay in his love of ghost stories, especially listening to ghost stories told about empty houses in Bombay: "I thought I'd try and do a ghost story, to feel out the contours of that very ancient and venerable form, and to push at its edges, and interrogate it." The result was "Dharma."

In choosing to write a ghost story, Chandra was, as he points out, using a genre that has ancient roots. Ghost stories are...