Anuja Chandramouli is a bestselling author and new age Indian classicist widely regarded as one of the finest writers in mythology, historical fiction and fantasy. She followed up her highly acclaimed debut novel, Arjuna: Saga of a Pandava Warrior-Prince, which was named as one of the top 5 sellers in the Indian writing category for the year 2012 by Amazon India with Kamadeva: The God of Desire, Shakti: The Divine Feminine, Yama’s Lieutenant and its sequel, Yama’s Lieutenant and the Stone Witch. Her articles, short stories and book reviews appear in various publications like The New Indian Express, The Hindu, Scroll.in and Femina. Some of her other books are Kartikeya: The Destroyer’s Son, Prithviraj Chauhan: The Emperor of Hearts, Padmavati: The Burning Queen, Ganga: The Constant Goddess and Muhammad Bin Tughlaq: Tale of a Tyrant. Mohini: The Enchantress is her latest work of mythological fiction and winner of the prestigious Popular Choice AutHer award. Her books are also available as audiobooks and
ave been translated into Hindi.An accomplished TEDx speaker and storyteller, Anuja Chandramouli, regularly conducts workshops on creative writing, mythology and empowerment in schools and colleges across the country. Her Mahabharata and Ramayana with Anuja storytelling series is now available on YouTube. She is a trained Bharatanatyam dancer. This mother of two little girls lives in Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu.
“Many times mythology was used to foster very damaging narratives. Any mythology has so much potential to do good, inspirational and empowering. I find it hard when it is used to spread the narrative of hate, intolerance and inequality. I think our mythology is very empowering for women. I hate when mythological references are given that women in those days were so pure, women sit at only home and do household chores. Special comment on women dressing particularly comes from mythology. We worshipped Kali but were told to cover from top to toe. Women were topless in those days. The bra is an imported concept, and Indian women of the past didn't wear a bra. Nobody bothers to read ancient Purans because it is complicated to research, so people only do cherry-picks, which they find suitable. It is important to remove misconceptions about our mythology. Those aspects mentioned in Purana were good intentions, but those can't be applicable now. Women in mythology were not only housewives but warriors, philosophers too. A popular example is Kaikeyi, we have anguish against her that she sent Rama in exile, but she was heroic. She fought in battles and saved injured Dashratha. Women were never relegated to one role.”