Book Launch and Conversation – Aryaa – Indica Mysuru

In the great tradition of remarkable women of the Wadiyar dynasty, Her Highness Smt.Pramoda Devi Wadiyar has played a pivotal role in upholding the traditions and culture of the erstwhile Mysore kingdom. As successor and legal heir of His Highness Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar she took it upon herself to preserve and protect the architectural, cultural, and heritage of the Yadu dynasty to which the Wadiyars of Mysore belong. She is a multi-faceted personality who has keen interest in promotion of heritage, culture, and education. As patron of Sri Jayachamaraja Ursu Education Trust she was instrumental in developing and transforming it as a successful educational institution, catering to the students from rural background and economically weaker sections of the society. She is also closely associated with Wadiyar Center for Architecture at Mysore and Chairperson of Sri Jayachamarajendra Art Gallery.

Shivakumar GV is an IT professional in the domain of Learning and Development, with a deep interest in Bharateeya Samskriti. He is part of the Indica fraternity as a Scholar-in-Residence at Indica, Consulting Editor for Indica Today and contributes to Indica Conferences. He is researching on Puranas to create frameworks for application in contemporary times and contributes to Indica Conferences. At IndicA Today he writes on Civilizational narratives, Mahabharata and anchors Kannada content. He is also one of the authors of ''Unsung Valour: Forgotten Wars of Kurukshetra'' - curated by SaiSwaroopa Iyer for Indica. Mahabharata, Rigveda, Bharatiya Itihasa-Purana and Civilizational Conflicts are his areas of interest. He is a BTech graduate from National Institute of Technology, Surat and an MTech from IIT Mumbai. He lives in Bangalore with his parents, wife and daughter. He is greatly inspired by the Rivers of India – Saraswatee in particular.

Nithin Sridhar is a practicing Hindu, author, and a public speaker. He has authored six books on a variety of subjects including much acclaimed books such as Menstruation Across Cultures: A Historical Perspective, Isopanishad: An English Commentary, and Samanya Dharma. His upcoming book is a commentary on Manusmriti. He regularly contributes articles and essays on subjects such as religion, spirituality, social issues, development, politics, and ecology. He is the Chief Curator of Indica Moksha dedicated to the dissemination of Advaita Vedanta. Earlier, he served as the Editor of IndiaFacts- a portal on Indian history and culture. He is based in Mysuru, Karnataka.

Manjula Tekal loves to make sense of stories separated by place, time, and context. This muse has driven her to transition into writing after working in the corporate sector for several years. She is the author of ‘Devayani’, a novel based on a story in Mahabharata, set in pre-Rigvedic times, published by Garuda Prakashana. She is currently working on a novel based on a Puranic story. Her translated works include Dr Babu Krishnamurthy’s ‘Azad, the Invincible’ (English) and Jagmohan’s ‘My Frozen Turbulence in Kashmir’ (Kannada). Several other works are in the anvil, including Savarkar’s ‘Gomantak’ (English) and Sankrant Sanu’s ‘My English Medium Myth’ (Kannada). Several of her articles have appeared in Indica Today. 

Manjula holds Master’s degrees in management from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIM-B), and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. On social media, she is on Twitter (@Akumallaji), Instagram (@mtvji) and Facebook (Manjula Tekal). She lives in Champaign, Illinois.

Prasad Kulkarni is a Data Scientist by profession. He enjoys crunching massive datasets, building mathematical models and telling stories around them. While analysing historical data by the day, he enjoys contemplating on historical events in his own time. He is an avid reader of and listener to history, geopolitics and strategic affairs. However, nothing has caught his imagination like Mahabharata.

All this reading and thinking finds an outlet on his blog (https://histonerd.com/). Alongside, he enjoys writing on Data Science, Machine Learning and AI, on his blog named data4v. He has also written for Analytics India Magazine. For recreation, he enjoys trekking, singing and long walks. You can follow him on twitter (@pmka1991).

Rajani grew up in the garden city of Bengaluru and trained to be a software engineer. She discovered her creative side a few years into motherhood while reading books to her own children and began writing bilingual stories for them in English and Kannada. A couple of stories have been published on Pratham books' Storyweaver site. She particularly enjoys writing stories rife with humour. The rich narratives from the Puranas inspire her to recreate their stories for adults and children alike.

Padmavathi S Bhat is an accomplished Computer Science Engineer turned entrepreneur, who has successfully run multiple businesses in the service and manufacturing sectors. She is the founder of Kreative Pool, Prithvi Biznez, Myhome homestay, and Udupi Kitchen. Apart from her entrepreneurial pursuits, she is also a teacher and student of Astrology and Vaastu, and has a keen interest in Indian history and philosophy. She is a thinker, seeker and an activist. Her achievements in both entrepreneurship and jyotishya have earned her several awards and recognitions, including Jyotisha Nishnata, Jyotisha Kovida, Jyotisha Vyachaspati, and the "Successful Entrepreneur Award" by CEDOK given by Chief Minister of Karnataka in 2021. Padmavathi S Bhat is also actively involved in various organizations and holds positions in them. She is the Charter President of BBB-Diwan Poornaiah Chapter, Past Vice President-MDPA, Past Secretary-ICAS-Mysore Chapter, Indic Academy-Convenor-Mysore Chapter, Core Committee Member-Laghu Udyog Bharati-Mysore Chapter, and a member of MCCI, WISE, PRCI, FKCCI, TIE, IEI and ABWCI.