Grigor Ter-Hovhannisian, better known by the pen name Muratsan, was born in the city of Shusha in the region of Karabakh on 1 December 1854 (Old Style).

[3] In 1878 he moved to Tiflis (modern-day Tbilisi, Georgia), where he worked as an accountant and remained for the rest of his life.

The novel's titular protagonist is a patriotic military leader who places national interests above his personal desires.

[4] He stood out as one of the few notable authors of his time that maintained strictly conservative views and rejected the progressive and reformist ideas that were becoming popular among Armenian intellectuals in the late nineteenth century.

Faced with the choice of conversion or death, she refuses to betray her countrymen and her religion and as a consequence is executed.