Arundhathi Subramaniam – Indian author best known as a pioneer of Bhakti poetry

Arundhathi Subramaniam is an Indian English author, critic, poet, curator, editor and journalist, best known as a pioneer of Bhakti poetry. Till now she has authored 12 books belonging to poetry, biography and essays, apart from publishing her poems in anthology works and journals and she has also edited many works, while serving as the Editor of the India domain of the Poetry International Web. She edited, ‘Eating God’, an anthology book of Bhakti poetry and sacred medieval poetry and also ‘Pilgrim’s India ‘, an anthology of sacred journeys. She is now based in Mumbai. As a curator she has served as the head of inter-arts forums such as ‘ Indian Dance’ and ‘Chauraha’.

Started her career as a lecturer and then switched to curator

Arundhathi Subramaniam was born and brought up in Mumbai. She is of Coimbatore origin. She was married to theatre director Vikram Kapadia, and now they are separated. She completed her education in Mumbai, and started her career as a lecturer at a college. Her journey as a curator started with NCPA in the mid-1990s, after a few years of teaching.

She joined National Centre for the Performing Arts in Mumbai in 1994 and was later given the responsibility to head the forum, Chauraha. She led the forum for next 15 years, which turned to be an important cultural hub of the metro city. In 2009 she took the responsibility as the Head of Indian Dance. She left NCPA in 2010 to focus on writing, and in 2013 she returned as a curator of an art festival. Yet she served as a member of their Dance Committee in between. As a curator for art festivals, most of her works belong to Bhakti poetry.

A near-death incident happened in 1997 brought her close to Bhakti world

Her bond with Bhakti and mystic world occurred after a near-death experience on a train journey to Mumbai after a vacation in Nepal in 1997. She turned from philosophy and literature to mysticism after that. She also started reading books related to it, written by famous authors, yet it couldn’t serve the purpose.

Later she became a disciple of Sadhguru in 2004, which changed the course of her life journey. Most of her poetry works belong to Bhakti genre. When God Is a Traveller, Love Without a Story, Where I Live and On Cleaning Bookshelves etc are her famous poetry works.

She published her first book in 2001

On Cleaning Bookshelves – an anthology of poems was her first published book, which she published in year 2001. It was followed by poetry works, When God Is a Traveller, Where I Live and Love Without a Story.

She met theatre director Vikram Kapadia for the first time in the early 1990s, when she interviewed him for a daily. They got married in 1994, and ended their relationship in 2009. Yet they are still in touch and are good friends. In May 2019 she tied knot with Raghu Sundaram, an economist and Finance lecturer at the prestigious Stern School of Business in New York. Now she shuttles between India and US, fully engaged with her literal journey.

Arundhathi Subramaniam –10+ interesting and less-known facts

1. She became a disciple of Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev in 2004, and also authored a biography based on his life.

2. She is the winner of the debut Kushwant Singh memorial prize.

3. She won Khushwant Singh Memorial Prize for Poetry in 2015 and Mystic Kalinga Literary Award in 2017 for her literary works.

4. She started writing rhymes at the age of around 6, and by 16, her poems became the medium of self-expression.

5. At the age of 17, she got Arun Kolatkar’s Jejuri from the Xavier’s library, which influenced her a lot as a writer.

6. In her childhood fantasies, she wanted to join army.

7. Her poem was included in the anthology book, The Dance of the Peacock.

8. Her biography work, Sadhguru: More Than A Life (2010) was a best seller. She also authored the popular book – The Book of Buddha (2005).

9. Her book – God is a Traveller (2014) was shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize.

10. She authored a total of 12 books, which include 10 poetry anthologies and two prose works.

11. As a freelancer she has written columns for several Indian and international journals and other forms of publications. Most of them are related to culture and literature.