Literature

Vanitākavitotsavaḥ: Watching Women at Play – 1

Vanitākavitotsavaḥ is a unique Sanskrit play written by Śatāvadhānī Dr. R Ganesh, an eminent contemporary poet. As the title indicates, it is a celebration of poetry composed by women. This work was first written around thirty years ago and was then published in Saṃskṛta-pratibhā, a quarterly journal brought out by Sahitya Akademi. It was recently revised and published as a book.[1]

Kṣemendra, Bilhaṇa

Kṣemendra

Kṣemendra was a man of many talents who straddled the realms of śāstra and kāvya. Although he composed several works in both these genres, his attainments as a poet outshine his scholarly contribution. Kṣemendra’s thoughts on literary aesthetics embedded in poetic works, though not pathbreaking, have an intrinsic value as the utterances of a prolific author. Let us examine some.

The poet communicates his aesthetic intent at the beginning of the satirical work Deśopadeśa:

Alaṅkāra-sudhānidhi – Manuscripts, Editorial Apparatus

[We take great pleasure in commencing a series on Alaṅkāra-sudhānidhi, a Sanskrit treatise on Poetics authored by Sāyaṇācārya. The text is critically edited for the first time by Śatāvadhānī Dr. R Ganesh and Shashi Kiran B N, and will be published by the Oriental Research Institute, Mysuru. This series constitutes a major portion of the editors’ introduction to Alaṅkāra-sudhānidhi. We thank Dr. D P Madhusudan Acharya, the Director of Oriental Research Institute, for permitting us to publish the introduction. —Ed.]