One Year After the Way of the Warrior

it’s been a year since the publication of Arya, the Anthology of Vedic women. My story, the Way of the Warrior was one of the ten stories about strong women from ancient India. In case you are wondering there are enough strong women in the epics to keep me busy for a lifetime. You might have heard a load of rubbish – that ancient India exploited women and they were helpless victims. It only shows ignorance – that whoever says that has not read the original texts. There has been too much misrepresation from secondary texts.

It’s been an interesting journey and I loved meeting the other authors and exchanging experiences. A writer’s life tends to be too isolated so meeting other authors is always such a pleasure.

Indica did some interviews recently and here is mine, where I talk of my story and my character, Chitrangada, a warrior princess from the Mahabharat.

You can read the interview below.

Chitrangada – Woman Who Spoke Her Mind

I really enjoyed writing the story. Finished a novel as well for which I am seeking a publisher. Its been quite a journey. I took time off this blog so that I could finish my book. Now that it’s done I am going to write a series on what I learned from writing a novel and all the interesting details I found in my extensive research.

A writer’s perspective is different. When I research I am looking for little details which might seem irrelevant to others. Those small pieces build up the story. I will be writing more about that now that I am back to blogging.

Aryaa, the anthology published by Indica, is available on Amazon.

Exploring Seasons Online

Cafe Haiku is doing an online session tomorrow evening, exploring seasons and season words in the field of haiku.

8 expert speakers, including me, many interesting aspects covered, an evening full of nature and poetry.

For more on this interesting session or anything haiku check the Cafe Haiku website.

WHR Spring 2023 Issue is up

The World Haiku Review’s Spring issue is up and it a big one. Haiku, haibun and also the announcement of the winner of the RH Blyth Award.

WHR Spring 2023 issue

This issue has been a long time coming, mostly because its been a tough year for both of the editors. Personal issues led to some amount of confusion and lack of clarity, and a couple of glitches kept us on our toes.

But that is all past now. The issue is up at last and you can look at it here, at the World Haiku Review.

Enjoy.

Check out my Interview

Aryaa, the anthology of 10 stories about strong Indian women is going places. Urban Pandits is interviewing all 10 authors and mine is today.

Do check it out. The interview will be available on the you tube channel.

Aryaa is now available as an ebook as well as print.

Here is the Indian link –

Aryaa, an Anthology of Vedic Women

If not in India, copy this code into the Amazon of your country – B0BSHYLRVV

Book launch and an Interview

Aryaa, the stories of ten strong women was launched in Bangalore last month in a quiet launch with the editor, Shivkumar G V and all ten authirs who travelled there for the day. The setting was lovely, far from town amid the banana orchards and fields as far as the eye could see.

The book is now available on Amazon. To buy it from Amazon India, click HERE

For the Amazon of any other country copy this code into your Amazon page – B0BSHYLRVV

When I submitted a story, back in January 2021, I had no idea it would be such an intensive and interactive journey. I have been writing stories for many years but I don’t often get the chance to submit my Indian epic tales. I have several ideas in my diaries so when I read this submission call, I polished up the Way of the Warrior and sent it in. Here it is now.

If you want to hear about how I wrote it, here is an interview – Gaurav Tiwari chats with me on his YouTube channel, mysutradhar, HERE

Do take a look and tell me what you think.

The Book Launch is here

Aryaa

Stories of Strong Women of India

The book will be launched on the 18th in Bengaluru, in an all day event at the Rithambara Retreat. I will put up the link to the published book as soon as I get it.

Here is a list of the 10 authors and the names of the 10 women whose stories they have written.

One of the women in the book is the sultry Naga princess Ulupi who also appears in my story, the Way of the Warrior. Here is what the author, Rajani Murlidhar, has to say about her character and how she wrote her story.

Ulupi, Naga Princess

The Mahabharata is replete with stories of women who not only supported but also shaped the lives of their men – husband, brother, son and sometimes even their father. Except for famous women like Draupadi, most women make fleeting appearances in various parts of the actual account of the Mahabharata.

This book unravels the lives of ten lesser-known strong-willed women from our ancient epic through an anthology of ten short stories. It seeks to depict their tremendous impact on the entire narrative.

For the story I submitted to the anthology, my choice was always Ulupi, the snake-princess. Many interpretations depict her as the temptress who kidnapped Arjuna, thus casting aspersions on her character only to redeem it much later when she saves the life of her husband. However, the strength of Ulupi’s character can be seen in full fervour only through the story that happens in-between. How she navigates through life without falling prey to common human failings of jealousy, anger and hatred that even great women of those times couldn’t escape, how her personality blooms in the face of adversity, and how she always has the greater good in her mind – these I have attempted to showcase through my work.

My earliest memories of story-telling go back to my childhood when I attended “Harikathe” performances with my grandmother and cousins. Harikathe is a composite art form, popular in South India, that uses a mixture of music, poetry, dance and drama to narrate a story from an Indian epic in an entertaining way. Drawing inspiration from this art form, I have used prose interspersed with poetry in my story to celebrate the life of Ulupi.

Read and Enjoy!

The Way of the Warrior

The Way of the Warrior is my story based on a character from the Mahabharata about Princess Chitrangada, only child of the king and queen of Manipur, who refused to behave a like fairy tale princess, waiting for a prince. She choose to be a warrior instead and took charge of the army of her country. When the Prince did come along, it was a completely different story.

The book, Aryaa, will be out on the 18th after a book launch in Bangalore. Ten authors have picked ten strong women from the pages of the Sanskrit texts and retold their stories for a contemporary audience. These are queens and warriors, sages and mothers and each story is very different from the last.

This anthology has been a long time in the making with very thorough edits and each story workshopped as well. We each commented and discussed each others stories. A very big thank you goes to Prof Otis Haschemeyer for reading every one and giving us his valuable feedback.

The book is brought out by Indica Academy and ably curated Shivakumar GV who patiently organised the long process of polishing the selected stories until they shone.

I will put up more posts about the other stories. Below is the anthology poster and a list of the ten authors.

The Coming of Ten Strong Women

Here is something unusual which we have been working upon for quite a while. An anthology of short stories about ten strong minded women from the pages of ancient India. Ten writers reimagined their stories and here they are in Aryaa for your reading pleasure.

A long time ago while reading the Mahabharata, I discovered a surprising thing. The women were not at all the helpless victims which the popular imagination makes them out to be. They were often the ones who saved the family, the ones upon whom the future of the race depended. Such as Satyavati, Empress of Hastinapur, who rescued the Kuru race from certain extinction and whose story is also in the anthology. It is thanks to her that we have the Mahabharata, just as it is thanks to Sita and her exile in Sage Valmiki’s ashram which led to the composing of the Ramayana.

When I was writing my story, I was torn between two women who have possibly been the most misinterpreted of all. Savitri and Chitrangada. Savitri has become the Sati Savitri, the one who sacrifices herself while the Mahabharata, in the short section about her, shows her as a bit of a rebel, a strong minded princess who does exactly what she wants, who even has the courage to bargain with death. How she became a victim in many stories is something I do not understand. I am working on that story too but this post is about another woman.

The story I submitted for the anthology was about the warrior princess of Manipur, Chitrangada. The story in the actual text of the Mahabharata is brief but she has figured in several retellings. The Mahabharata describes how she met a young warrior Arjuna, who was on his way to become the greatest of his age. She was a warrior herself and they had a son together. How did they meet? Did sparks fly? Did they even like each other?

There are many interpretations. In some she is so in love with Arjuna that she throws away her warrior arts and becomes a love lorn woman. In another she has a sex change. Let me tell you that, after spending about two decades doing the martial arts, I know that you can’t take the warrior out of a woman as easily as writing a paragraph.

None of those retellings satisfied me. The ancients had no problem portraying strong warrior women. It seems that our contemporary age is not so broad minded, needing her to change her sex or at least shun her warrior ways. What if she did neither? What if it was the meeting of equals, both warriors, both adults, each confident in themselves?

That is where my story comes in – into an age when a strong woman and a strong man, both in their prime, could meet as equals, neither needing to diminish the other, in the rich cultural setting of a vibrant ancient India. Which was will it go, this meeting?

More about this story tomorrow.

I will be doing more posts in here, before the book launch, about all the marvellous women of ancient India whose wisdom, strength and courage has been all but forgotten, so do come back, or subscribe and read them all.

Submissions Call for World Haiku Review

World Haiku Review will be doing a Spring issue and is open for submissions now. Also the R H Blyth Award will be awarded to the best haiku.

Here is the submission call:

Dear Kuyu,

The tide of time advances whatever our current predicament is, be it a pandemic, runaway inflation or war. So we look forward to the time beyond winter. To celebrate the forthcoming spring, the next issue will feature the R. H. Blyth Award

The R. H. Blyth Award

HAIKU POEMS IN ENGLISH OR IN ENGLISH TRANSLATION: THREE haiku poems which are inspiring, refreshing and exciting, and which have not been published or are not considered for publication elsewhere.

AWARD: 300GBP (British pound sterling) minus money transfer charges.

DEADLINE: Tuesday 31 January 2023.

SUGGESTED THEMES: “War” and/or any Seasonal Subjects at your northern or southern hemisphere location during spring (autumn) months (These themes are not obligatory but shown here only as a suggestion. It could be the war in Ukraine or wars in general). The only criterion for selection is quality.

OTHER WORKS RELATING TO HAIKU: Haibun, articles, essays, haiga or book reviews on haiku etc. Just send in whatever you think would deserve publication in WHR. Once again, quality is the only criterion for judgement.

Read the full guidelines on the Submissions Page

We wish to endeavour to present a unique haiku magazine which, while deeply rooted in tradition, is full of new ideas, innovative features or critical views. It will continue to aim at the highest standards and top quality.

Kengin to all,

Susumu Takiguchi
Managing Editor and Editor-in-Chief, World Haiku Review
Chairman, The World Haiku Club

Send us your very best.

Wish you a very happy New Year and look forward to your work.