राघवयादवीयम्

Rāghavayādavīyam

The Rāghavayādavīyam, composed by the seventeenth-century poet Veṅkaṭādhvarī, is one of the marvels of Sanskrit citrakāvya. Each of its thirty verses, read forward (anuloma), tells part of the story of Rāma; read syllable by syllable backward (viloma), the same verse becomes a new one about Kṛṣṇa. Together they form sixty verses honouring both avatāras. This course unravels how the poet achieved this, explores the meaning of each pair, and introduces the wider art of Sanskrit wordplay.

What you will learn

• How anuloma-viloma palindromic verse works in Sanskrit
• The Rāma and Kṛṣṇa stories told in the poem
• The tradition of citrakāvya and Sanskrit wordplay

Lessons

1. 1Orientation: Veṅkaṭādhvarī and citrakāvya🔒 Unlocks after enrolment
2. 2How a Sanskrit palindrome is built🔒 Unlocks after enrolment
3. 3Anuloma: the Rāma story🔒 Unlocks after enrolment
4. 4Viloma: the Kṛṣṇa story🔒 Unlocks after enrolment
5. 5Reading verse pairs side by side🔒 Unlocks after enrolment
6. 6The legacy of Sanskrit poetic wordplay🔒 Unlocks after enrolment