Warwick Writing Programme and Mahābhāratam Diaries
i have officially completed my first year of the Warwick Writing Programme! 🥰! it has been absolutely delightful. 🤍 my gratitude to my professors for guiding me on working on my first collection of bhakti poetry, in researching devotional literature & in translating from sanskrit, as well as from my mother-tongue. 🤍 it was so much fun to venture into freelance writing & to work with my colleagues on different projects - a highlight of this year has been a collaborative audio-translation of my beloved Draupadī's imposing speech from the Mahābhārata created with Sumithreyi Sivapalan! it is always a joy to work on anything Mbh-related, but it truly is an honour to collaborate with someone equally enamoured with itihāsa! 🙏
indeed, what i adore about academia is the opportunity to meet and connect with people with similar (or identic!) research interests! it truly is so enriching to discuss your research with someone as equally passionate about it as as you, and these discussions unmistakably propel each of you towards greater growth and understanding. in my case, it has been one of the greatest gifts to meet someone as madly infatuated with the Mahābhārata as me!
it wasn’t until meeting my colleague Sumithreyi that i realised how much i had longed to dissect the Mbh with a fellow lover of this magnificent epic, and i can wholeheartedly say that the insights we shared together refined my understanding of the intricacies of its narrative – a narrative so grand that it undoubtedly humbles anyone who dares to venture in it. thank you, dear sakhī! here’s to continuously learning and to emptying our cup of the arrogance of knowing.
pics: all smiles after 7 hours of editing work for the Warwick Anthology 2022!
you can read a sneak peek of our collaborative audio-translation of our beloved Draupadī’s imposing speech from the Mahābhārata here:
https://teanicolae.com/2022/06/18/draupadis-speech-vastraharaṇa-a-collaborative-and-experimental-audio-translation/ you can read a sneak peek here: https://teanicolae.com/2022/06/18/draupadis-speech-vastraharaṇa-a-collaborative-and-experimental-audio-translation/ "Touch me not, Queen Mother Kuntī. I will get besmirched. I am no longer the bride of the Kuru dynasty. I am the fire that burns in the furnace. I am purity (itself), yet I feed on what is impure. Today, in this sabhā, I have cried the tears of the women who walked this Earth."