Atheist to a Shiva bhakt

By day a control freak boss and by night a writer, he has faced many rejections by publishers in the last few years. Today, he is the best-selling author of The Shiva Trilogy.

I call him up at 9 pm, quite late by industry standards for calling up people for interviews. He picks up at the first ring sounding pretty excited. “I hope this is only for transcript not a podcast because I have just downed a glass of wine, we’re celebrating the success of The Secret Of The Nagas, it has only been a week and the book has gone into reprint.”

He warms up to the theme. “You know, I faced a lot of rejections from publishers who wanted me to change a bit of the story, asked me to drop philosophy as it seemed like a gyan session but I was adamant.”

The story reads like an adventure of the characters with an underlying philosophy. So did he find himself compelled to give his book a Dan Brown treatment?

“When I wrote the book, it read like a philosophy thesis, my friends and family suggested that I write it in the form of an adventure story as people will then at least give it a chance. This has been done a million times before, Ved Vyasa wrote Mahabharata to convey the philosophy of Vedas as they can become intense for most people. I didn’t do anything wrong. As a writer it’s important to stay true to your story without giving a hoot about publishers, critics and readers. You should do your karma as an author – the way you want to and rest is up to God.”

Full report here Hindustan Times 

A lesser known philosophical text

Uddhava was Krishna's cousin who resembled him in complexion and other features. He was the foremost devotee of the Lord. In fact, Krishna chose him as his emissary to convey his message of solace and courage to his parents and the Gopikas at Vraja, since they were feeling restless and despondent after he left for Mathura with Akrura.

The ‘Uddhava Gita' incorporates the teachings of Lord Krishna to Uddhava given on the eve of His departure to His heavenly abode and it forms part of the Bhagavata Purana. Quite befittingly christened Krishna's Other Song by Steven Rosen, it is a very popular philosophical text known to the orthodox Hindu tradition. It is, however, lesser known than the Bhagavad Gita, which contains the Lord's teachings to Arjuna on the Kurukshetra battlefield.

In the book under review Rosen, a votary of ‘Krishna Consciousness', gives a very lucid and simple translation of the 1,030-verse Sanskrit text, without “labouring to translate each word verbatim.” However, he does not provide the original text.

The ‘Uddhava Gita' picks up where the ‘Bhagavad Gita' leaves off. There are a few points common between the two; for instance, both lay stress on everyone doing one's duty without thinking of the results, and on the omnipresence of God.

Full report here Hindu

Ramayana, now from a feminist pen

Samhita Arni was all of 12 years when she illustrated and penned her very first book, a retelling of sorts of the Mahabharata for young readers.

Having grown up in an artistically diverse environment, she had begun exploring her creative faculties early on. And now, 15 years later, she's taken a bigger stride and embarked on a project that clearly shows how the young author has matured - not just as a writer, but as an individual, and above all, as a woman.

Her latest venture, a graphic novel called Sita's Ramayana, depicts the Indian epic from a completely feminine perspective. Samhita has joined forces with a Patua scroll artist named Moyna Chitrakar from West Bengal, to bring this work to life.

Full report here Times of India

Art of myth-ematics

Jaya; Devdutt Pattanaik
Penguin; Rs 499; pp. 349

Devdutt Pattanaik’s Jaya: An Illustrated Retelling of the Mahabharata has the words and image text feel of a Lonely Planet guide. It navigates the reader through an inexhaustible epic where, as the blurb says,
A son renounces sex so that his old father can remarry A daughter is a prize in an archery context A teacher demands half a kingdom as his tuition fee A student is turned away because of his caste A mother asks her sons to share a wife The complex stories of the Mahabharata and their bewildering cast of characters have been made accessible through the delightful format of the book. It has a 108 chapters with over 250 line drawings, executed in a sharp and informed patta-chitra inspired style by Devdutt himself. Boxes and brief notes provide context, information and insight, and guide the reader through the labyrinthine narrative and its social and cultural cues. As his source material, Pattanaik has employed the classical Sanskrit text interpolated with variations from folk and regional texts such as the Pandavani and Yakshagana. Pattanaik’s unconventional attitude to mythology treats it as a living, contemporary arena of ideology, motivation and popular attitude.

There is an urgency and immediacy in the way Pattanaik lays out these stories. He evades the temptation to render them in high-sounding pseudo-Sanskrit style. The intriguing boxed texts carry the most unexpected nuggets of information. For example, the Rules of War, and the Rule Breakers, take the reader through the battle ethics and transgressions of the Mahabharata in just half a page. Similarly, the warriors and their insignia, and other such details, with references to concurrent versions, are laid out to provide breaks in the narration whereby the reader can reflect on and absorb the text. However, there are instances when the research and validation of this ‘information’ is haphazard and not academically accurate.

full review here Deccan Chronicle 

Heaven is available till stocks last

Devdutt Pattanaik is fighting passionately to bring the clarity of Indian mythology to corporate decision-making, says Gaurav Jain

I believe I exist for a reason. I believe I have to write these things — which is my own private delusion, of course,” smiles Devdutt Pattanaik. In the ever-eccentric intellectual landscape, he cuts a mild but momentous figure. He’s a self-taught scholar of Indian mythology who reads only English, and has no intention of learning other languages. He’s a prolific writer and also an increasingly talked-about corporate coach with the enviable title of Chief Belief Officer at Future Group, the corporation behind Big Bazaar and Pantaloons.

He’s also fast reaching critical mass. He’s exhausted most Indian gods as themes for primers and maintained a steady torrent of articles in popular media. He was a speaker to the Jaipur Literature Festival this year and to TEDIndia last year. Now he’s published perhaps his most ambitious book yet — Jaya, a retelling of the entire Mahabharata in 350 lucid pages, where he blends several folk and regional variants of the epic into one linear narrative, alongside his line drawings. Each of the 108 short chapters begins with a mildly contrarian epigraph and ends with an engaging tippani (comment).

Full report here Tehelka

Literary merits of Panchtantra

Panchtantra is a literary work per excellence. It has the framework that encompasses fable narrative to prove its premise. It is an art of narrative fiction which leaves its mark even on the literary styles of contemporary writers as on Gautam Bhattia’s Panchtantra: A Twenty First Century Parable. The traces of story telling in the similar style are also found in Mahabharata, Ramayana. From the time of Rigveda, storytelling has emerged as a feasible form of knowledge diffusion. Panchtantra is a literary composition because it promotes Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha which is the merit of a literary composition. It is another truth that women are kept out of this circle of knowledge.

Literary works according to Indian poetics are known to produce an aesthetic whole. The vitalization of prose with verse as used in Jataka Kathas and Panhctantra also stamps its literary qualities by delighting readers with wonderful fusion of prose and verse in literary style.

Symbolism is an important element of a literary work. The Panchtantra, a collection of fables makes symbolic use of animals as characters in the language suitable to literary and instructive goals. A fable has been a favorable genre of literature. Walter De La Mare observes in Animal Stories that even Plato prefers raconteur to Homer and says that Plato excluded Homer from his Republic and gave Aesop a place of honor, hoping that the young would absorb fables along with their mother's milk ... since one cannot at too early an age acquire a love for wisdom and virtue.

Full report here Pakistan Christian Post 

Gita in Samba land

The Bhagawad Gita in Portuguese? Well, why not? Gloria Arieira, a Brazilian and an authority in Sanskrit has translated the Bhagawad Gita and parts of the Vedas to Portuguese, enabling her students across Brazil and Portugal to access the depths of this great philosophy. So if you are seeking spirituality in the holiday resort of Copacabana, Rio, then you will find it at Vidya Mandir, a school of Vedanta studies founded and run by Gloria.

Sanskrit scholar and Vedanta teacher Gloria Arieira

Gloria, who is visiting Kalady, with a group of 28 students, has been to Kerala before. A disciple of Swami Chinmayananda and of Swami Dayananda, Gloria's entry into the world of spirituality was after she heard Swami Chinmayananda's talk on Vedanta in Rio. That was in 1973. Gloria felt that her search for the greater meaning to lifewas answered. With her curiosity aroused she wished to delve deeper into the philosophy of the Vedas and found her way to an ashram in Mumbai (Powai). Here she studied the Vedas and lived the ashram way of life. “It was a simple life and I felt at ease,” recalls Gloria who began teaching the Vedas when she went back to Rio in 1979. It was five years later that she started Vidya Mandir on land donated by one of her students. From eight students to start with, the numbers kept increasing. Soon the school became a centre where people came seeking spirituality.

Full report here Hindu

Negotiate between Mahabharata, management and fiction

Mythlogy to leadership, the weekend bookshelf offers variety and adventure.

1. Book: 'Jaya: The Illustrated Retelling of Mahabharata'; Written by Devdutt Pattanaik; Published by Penguin Books India; Priced at Rs.499

In this enthralling retelling of India's greatest epic, the Mahabharata, originally known as 'Jaya', the writer seamlessly weaves into single narrative plots from the Sanskrit classic as well as its many folk and regional variants, inluding the Pandavani of Chhattisgarh, Gondhal of Maharashtra, Tenukuttu of Tamil Nadu and Yakshagana of Karnataka.

Richly illustrated with over 250 line drawings by the author, the 108 chapters abound with little known details such as the names of 100 Kauravas, the worship of Draupadi as a goddess in Tamil Nadu, the stories of Astika, Madhavi, Jaimini, Aravan and Barbareek.

Full report here Sify

The book includes the lore of Shakauntalam as narrated in the Mahabharata - to throw insight into the disturbing and complex human condition 3,000 years ago that contoured the course of human history.

Nallapillai's version of Mahabharata

Yet another instance of silent service to the Tamil language comes from Srinivasan, who has bravely undertaken the task of bringing out a standard edition of the Mahabharata (Tamil) written by Nallapillai in the 19th century. This proves once again that Indian culture is one and indivisible and any talk of an Aryan-Dravidian divide is disruptive. The second part of the work — the first appeared three years ago — covers Santhi, Anusasana, Asramavasa, Mausala, Mahaprasthanika and Swargarohana Parvas. Excellently produced, the book is a joy to handle for the lover of Tamil literature.

The detailed introduction gives us an idea of how Srinivasan has mastered the available Mahabharata literature in Tamil and his discovery of a Tamil version of Jaimini Bharatha by Muhammad Annavi, who is also the author of Bharata Ammanai. What is passed off briefly as the guardianship by Krishna, who came in his “subtle form as Dharma” to robe Draupadi, is embellished by Tamil writers like Villipputturar and Nallapillai to project the incarnational aspect of the Prince of Dwaraka. He has also made a reference to the work of Manalur Ramanujachariar, who spent his life and assets for bringing out the Tamil version of the Mahabharata.

Full report here Hindu

Nallapillai's version of Mahabharata

Yet another instance of silent service to the Tamil language comes from Srinivasan, who has bravely undertaken the task of bringing out a standard edition of the Mahabharata (Tamil) written by Nallapillai in the 19th century. This proves once again that Indian culture is one and indivisible and any talk of an Aryan-Dravidian divide is disruptive. The second part of the work — the first appeared three years ago — covers Santhi, Anusasana, Asramavasa, Mausala, Mahaprasthanika and Swargarohana Parvas. Excellently produced, the book is a joy to handle for the lover of Tamil literature.

The detailed introduction gives us an idea of how Srinivasan has mastered the available Mahabharata literature in Tamil and his discovery of a Tamil version of Jaimini Bharatha by Muhammad Annavi, who is also the author of Bharata Ammanai. What is passed off briefly as the guardianship by Krishna, who came in his “subtle form as Dharma” to robe Draupadi, is embellished by Tamil writers like Villipputturar and Nallapillai to project the incarnational aspect of the Prince of Dwaraka. He has also made a reference to the work of Manalur Ramanujachariar, who spent his life and assets for bringing out the Tamil version of the Mahabharata.

Full report here Hindu

Batman Comics Writer Renovates India's Ancient Epic

A Scottish comic books writer is telling one of the world's oldest stories as a new-age, sci-fi mythical narrative. The animated television series and video game, the creators say, will be like a "Psychedelic Lord of the Rings with Star Wars technology."

Unlike the Greek tragedies, the West is less acquainted with India's ancient epics. But this may soon change for at least one tale called "Mahabharata" -- a poem of nearly two million words about gods and kings, power-hungry relatives, and a climactic 18 day war.

Grant Morrison, author of comics like Fantastic Four, Batman and Superman, along with Indian artist Mukesh Singh, are putting a high-voltage spin on the Sanskrit saga dated somewhere between 5000 B.C. and 300 B.C.

Full report here Huffington Post

A grandma's tale

Everybody enjoys listening to grandmas' tales; tales of mystery, of romance, tales from the Ramayana, the Mahabharata …but most importantly often with a moral in the end. Well, Nandavanam is a grandma's tale, but one that was written by a grandma in her youth. The Malayalam novel, which has a fine blend of mystery, drama and romance, was written by 95-year-old Bharati Amma in her teenage years.

Says Bharati Amma with a smile: “I started writing the novel when I was 15 years old and completed it when I was 16. I wrote the story on scraps of paper. I didn't let anyone see the story when I was writing it as I was afraid their remarks may affect my thought process for the story and also my interest. When the novel was ready, I transferred it into ledgers a relative gave me.”

Full report here Hindu

For old times' sake!

The ‘old wine in a new bottle’ adage has found new takers. And interestingly, they are kids. There is a revival of interest among children in books, films and special DVDs from the old times.

A tour of the different bookstores in the city reveals that there has been huge demand for stuff from the olden days in the children’s section. For example, The Famous Five, The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew have been consistent bestsellers. And a few more have joined the list now. Amar Chitra Katha’s mythological series like the Ramayana and Mahabharata surprisingly are doing astounding business along with the ever-increasing interest in historical heroes.

Shivaraman Balakrishnan, deputy manager marketing of Crosswords, says, “The children’s section is very important for our stores as it constitutes 23% of our total sales. The classics like Mahabharata and Panchatantra along with all-time favourites like Enid Blyton creations are doing amazingly well.”

Full report here DNA

Creating a Classical Indian Canon

In the library sales from the crumbling houses of Calcutta, or Delhi, or the hill-station homes, the keen-eyed book-buyer would often come across sets of bound classics. These were usually in the printer’s binding — vellum, blue leather and gold — or occasionally bound in red with the owner’s initials stamped on the spine or on the frontispiece.

Over the decades, the contents of these classics changed. Everyman’s Library of classic works was a favourite, as was the Modern Library set; but depending on the owner’s tastes, you might have complete sets of histories, or the World’s Greatest Short Stories, or Masterpieces of World Literature, or a complete set of Greek mythology. You would very rarely find a similar set of Indian classics — individual books, almost always the Mahabharata, the Ramayana and perhaps the great poets or favourite Hindi, Gujarati and Bengali writers.

Full report here Business Standard 

A personal odyssey

Author and proto-historian Michael Danino talks about his quest for a lost river, the Sarasvati of the Rg Veda, and its connections with the Harappan civilisation.

Sarasvati was the most sung about ‘mythical' river in the Rg Veda: “the impeller of happy truths”, “best of mothers, best of rivers and best of goddesses”. She was the ‘sapthasindhava' whose “impetuous flow is unbroken from mountain to sea”.

The last battle of the Mahabharata between Bhima and Duryodhana was fought on the banks of the Sarasvati, yet the Mahabharata describes her as a “disappearing river” and the Puranas refer to the place where she vanished as “Vinashana”.

Full report here Hindu

'Rajneeti characters drawn from Mahabharata'

The cast of Rajneeti descended in Delhi to kick off promotions for the film at the Galaxy Hotel in Gurgaon on Saturday, April 3.

The presence of Katrina Kaif, Ranbir Kapoor, Manoj Bajpai, Arjun Rampal, Nana Patekar and Ronnie Screwwala made this promotion quite a star studded one.

Director Prakash Jha set the ball rolling by describing his film "as a family drama. It is a story about a family anywhere in India. The characters have been drawn from the epic Mahabharata."

He explains, "The story is the same kind of familial battle, except it is set in this day and age. The film talks about every possible kind of politics -- personal, social, state and national. Also, today, the word 'politics' has become derogatory, the film tries to understand that."

Full report here Rediff

Storytelling through puppet play

It was festive mood at Ranga Shankara. Colourful and bright rangolis were drawn at many places. Fresh flowers and garlands were put up at the entrance.

One could also smell yummy food from the nearby cafe. All this was part of the Ranga Ugadi, a feast of Kannada theatre, literature and traditional food, organised by Ranga Shankara.

The day kickstarted with a puppet play based on a funny episode from Mahabharata, for five year olds and above. The puppet play was known as Ashtavakra and was performed by the Bangalore based team Dhaatu. More than  forty children enjoyed the puppet play. They comfortably settled themselves on the stage and could not stop whispering and murmuring among themselves as they waited for everybody else to settle down before the play started.

The story of Ashatavakra, from the epic Mahabharata, was narrated in the form of a musical puppet play, which was amazing.

Full report here Deccan Herald

Tales of the mythical Sarasvati

It was an engaging session at the book release of Michel Danino’s The Lost River: On the trail of the Sarasvati, published by Penguin Books India, at the CP Ramaswami Aiyar Foundation.

Dr A K Gupta, former scientist, ISRO/Regional Remote Sensing Centre, Jodhpur, released the book and Nanditha Krishna, honorary director of the CP Ramaswami Aiyar Foundation, received the first copy. What followed the book launch was an illustrated presentation by the author taking a deeper look at the river Sarasvati. The author pointed out that the Rig Veda often mentions the Saptasindhava: the Indus, its five tributaries and the Sarasvati (the seventh tributary).

“Some 19 rivers are listed in the Rig Veda flowing from the East to the West. Interestingly, Ganga is the minor river in the Rig Veda,” said the author and explained that celebrated as ‘Sarasvat’ in the Rig Veda and the Mahabharata, this river was rediscovered in the early 19th century through topographic explorations by British officials. Drawing information from recent research in a wide range of disciplines, this book discusses different view points and proposes a harmonious synthesis — a fascinating tale of exploration that brings to life the vital role the lost river of the Indian desert played before its waters gurgled to a stop.

Full report here New Indian Express