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!
Word Skies 