Pramoda Devi Wadiyar releases G.V. Shivakumar’s Aryaa

Mysore/Mysuru: Observing that women characters  have made their own mark in Indian poetry (Mahakavya), member of erstwhile Mysuru Royal family Pramoda Devi Wadiyar said that there are many women characters in the Mahakavya which notably include Gargi, Satyavathi, Shakuntala and Menake.

She was speaking after releasing the book ‘Aryaa – The Anthology of Vedic Women,’ a collection of stories by G.V. Shivakumar, an IT professional at a programme organised by Indic Academy (IndicA), Mysuru, at the Institution of Engineers-India (IEI) on JLB Road here recently.

Pointing out that all women characters in the Mahakavya have their own influence on the society, Pramoda Devi said that such an influential bearing has increased the significance of the Mahakavya. Noting that the trauma of Sati Savitri and the dance of Gargi, Satyavathi and Shankuntala have made their own impression in Vaidika Literature, she said that writer Shivakumar has clearly and lucidly explained the narratives of devotion, determination, philosophy etc.

Shivakumar, who too spoke, said that he was very much impressed by Ramayana and Mahabharata epics in his childhood days itself. Pointing out that he was very much influenced by the role of Sati Savitri, he said that his work emphasises on the sacrifice and selflessness of Sati Savitri even in her most trying and testing times when her husband Satyavana dies just a year after marriage. He further said that his Mahakavya English work features a total of ten women characters and contains a write up by ten noted writers.

Padmavathi S. Bhat of IndicA and Nitish Sridhar were present.