Unravelling the secrets of Valmiki Ramayana

‘Shodasi - Secrets of the Ramayana’ is translation of Gunturu Seshendra Sharma’s work. He has been described by sections of the media as a “revolutionary poet prophet”, as his poetry celebrates the clarion call of resistance

Put together in a book form in Telugu, based out of a series of articles written in Andhra Prabha in 1965, this book has had multiple editions released including one released by Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams two years later. Currently his son, Satyaki, to whom the author dedicated his book for his “brilliant and active assistance” has gone digital with the later editions.

It is not surprising in a way that the translator, Gurajada Suryanarayana Murty, finds a lot of unexplored merit in the book. As he writes: “I felt thrilled because it reminded me of a subject known as Paleontology in Geology. It is a study of nature for knowing the past by observing the present. As I went through the book, I found that the sections had diverse headings with a continuous undercurrent of thought.”

Elsewhere, readers who have gone through the book explain the underlying theme of it as ‘an attempt on the author’s part to explain part of Valmiki Ramayana in terms of Kundalini Yoga.

The author’s erudite scholarship and keen sense of research are evident throughout the book. The book is an original attempt at a re-interpretation of Valmiki in a new light.