Shardik

Shardik is a 1974 fantasy novel by Richard Adams. Shardik is his second novel (after Watership Down 1972, followed by Nature Through the Seasons 1975), and first of two novels set in the fictional Beklan Empire. The events revolve around the discovery, capture and military and symbolic uses made of an incredibly large bear, called "Lord Shardik" by those who subscribe to a set of religious beliefs in the novel.