HarperCollins is proud to announce Saundarya Laharī, Wave of Beauty,Translated from the Sanskrit by Mani Rao

jaseya.fazili@harpercollins.co.in | 2 September 2022

Saundarya Laharī is a popular Sanskrit hymn celebrating the power and beauty of Śakti, the primordial goddess. In one hundred verses, it underlines the centrality of the feminine principle in Indian thought.

Attributed to Ādi Śaṅkarācāryā, Saundarya Laharī is a valuable source for understanding tantric ideas. Every verse is associated with yantras and encoded mantras for tantric rituals, and specific verses in the hymn are considered potent for acquiring good health, lovers, and even poetic skills.

Mani Rao’s Saundarya Laharī is an inspired, lyrical translation that renders the esoteric immediate and the distant near.

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‘Mani Rao’s translations have a hard-won simplicity and ripeness. This joyful rendition of an iconic text will offer its share of literary delight, as well as a key to a deeper alchemy. These translations with their ease and lightness of touch will resonate with lovers of poetry as well as travellers on the path of the Divine Feminine.

—Arundhathi Subramaniam, author of When God Is a Traveller

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Translator, Mani Rao, says: ‘I am so pleased that HarperCollins has published my translation of Saundarya Lahari. There are many treasures in old Indian texts, many more than Gita and Panchatantra, Ramayana and Mahabharata. Saundarya Lahari is a treasure of our heritage – a poem of sheer beauty – and describes Shakti, feminine power, as the absolute power of the universe. I am thrilled that this book will make it widely available to readers.’

Rahul Soni, Executive Editor – Literary, says: ‘I have long been an admirer of Mani Rao’s extraordinary translations from the Sanskrit, and have been looking for the opportunity to publish her ever since I’ve joined Harper. So it’s an immense pleasure that we’re bringing out this rendering of Saundarya Lahari by her – a rendering that brings to the fore the literary qualities of a well known and loved text. And not only this – we will also be reissuing her phenomenal translation of the Bhagavad Gita next year. These are works that will be the highlights of our literary and translation lists.’

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About the Translator:

 Mani Rao is the author of ten poetry books, including Sing to Me, New & Selected Poems, Ghostmasters and Echolocation. Her books in translation from Sanskrit include Bhagavad Gita and Kalidasa for the 21st Century Reader. She did immersive fieldwork among tantric communities in Andhra–Telangana for Living Mantra: Mantra, Deity and Visionary Experience Today. Mani has an MFA in Creative Writing and a PhD in Religious Studies.

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About HarperCollins Publishers India:

HarperCollins India publishes some of the finest writers from the Indian Subcontinent and around the world, publishing approximately 200 new books every year, with a print and digital catalogue of more than 2,000 titles across 10 imprints. Its authors have won almost every major literary award including the Man Booker Prize, JCB Prize, DSC Prize, New India Foundation Award, Atta Galatta Prize, Shakti Bhatt Prize, Gourmand Cookbook Award, Publishing Next Award, Tata Literature Live! Award, Gaja Capital Business Book Prize, BICW Award, Sushila Devi Award, Sahitya Akademi Award and Crossword Book Award. HarperCollins India also represents some of the finest publishers in the world including Harvard University Press, Gallup Press, Oneworld, Bonnier Zaffre, Usborne, Dover and Lonely Planet. HarperCollins India is now the recipient of five Publisher of the Year Awards – in 2021 and 2015 at the Publishing Next Industry Awards, and in 2021, 2018 and 2016 at Tata Literature Live. HarperCollins India is a subsidiary of HarperCollins Publishers.