Arundhati

Arundhatī (1994) is a Hindi epic poem (Mahakavya) composed by Jagadguru Rambhadracharya (1950–) in the year 1994. It consists of 1279 verses in 15 cantos (sargas). The poem presents the narrative of the couple Arundhatī and Vasiṣṭha which is found in various Hindu scriptures. As per the poet, the narration of the epic is directly related to the psychological evolution of humans. A copy of the epic was published in 1994 by the Shri Raghav Sahitya Prakashan Nidhi, Haridwar, Uttar Pradesh. The book was released by the then President of India, Shankar Dayal Sharma on July 7, 1994. Composition In the prologue of the work, the poet mentions why he chose Arundhatī as the subject of his first ever epic poem composed in Khadi Boli, the standard dialect of Hindi. He mentions that his reverence for Arundhatī is natural as he was born in a family of Vaśiṣṭha Gotra. He found the character of Arundhatī – “which has invaluable elements of the Indian culture, society, righteousness, nation and Vedic philosophy” – to be unblemished, inspiring and worthy of imitation. He further says that the practice of Agnihotra was substantially promoted and furthered by Arundhatī and Vasiṣṭha only, and that along with the seven sages (the Saptarṣi), only the wife of Vasiṣṭha is worshipped, and no other seer's wife is accorded this honour. Narrative