Abhiraja Dr. Rajendra Mishra, Ex vice Chancellor of Sampoornanand Sanskrit University, Visiting Professor to Udayan University, Denpasar, Bali and winner of prestigious awards like Sahitya Akademi Award, Vacaspati Sanman and President's Certificate of Honour is one of the greatest creative writers of modern era who has contributed to almost all genres of poetry like Mahakavyas, Khanda Kävyäs, Doota Kävyās, Suataka Kävyās, Prasuastikavyas, Champu Kavyas, and so on. His poetic works reveal patriotism, nationalism, ways of the word, description of nature and so on. He has also invented new metres like 'Syandika' and others which proves that sanskrit is a living language in all its variety.

His present book makes a systematic and comprenhensive survey of his poetic works which are qualitatively and quantitatively of a very high order.

Abhiraja Dr. Rajendra Mishra, Ex vice Chancellor of Sampoornanand Sanskrit University, Varanasi, Visiting Professor to Udayan University, Denpasar, Bali and winner of prestigious awards like Sahitya Akademi Award, Vacaspati Sanman and President's Certificate of Honour is one of the greatest creative writers of the modern era who has contributed to almost all forms of Dramas like Bhana, Prahasana and so on. He was written Plays pertaining of Philosophy, Symbolism, History, Religion, One Act Plays, Longer Plays and so on, Thus based on a wide range of plays which are more than 50 in number.

His present book makes a comprehensive and systematic study of his Dramas which are qualitatively and quantitative of a very high order.

Abhiraja Dr. Rajendra Mishra, Ex vice Chancellor of Sampoornanand Sanskrit University, Varanasi, Visiting Professor to Udayan University, Denpasar, Bali and winner of prestigious awards like Sahitya Akademi Award, Vacaspati Sanman and President's Certificate of Honour is one of the greatest creative writers of the century who has contributed to every form of creative writing.

His fiction consists of 2 collections. of stories via:- 'Ikshugandha' and 'Rongada'. 'Ikshugandha' got him the Central Sahitya Academi Award and it has eight stories pertaining to different themes which were written at different points of time.

His second collection 'Rongada' consists of nine stories and most of these stories pertain to Bali Islands when the author was a Visiting Professor to Bali.

The present book makes a systematic and comprehensive survey of his fiction.

Sri. S. Ranganath secured First Class, First Rank in M.A. Sanskrit from Bangalore University. He is the recipient of Hiriyanna Gold Medal and Hebbar Srivaishnava Sabha Gold Medal. The title VEDA- BHOOSHANA was Conferred On him by Veda Dharma Paripalana Sabha. American Biographical Institute, U.S.A., has honoured him with the title THE MAN OF THE YEAR 1996. He has a Vidwan Degree in Advaitha Vedanta from Sri Chamarajendra Sanskrit College. He has studied Rig-Veda traditionally for Eight years. His Ph.D. dissertation was contribution of Vacaspati Misra to Indian Philosophy. He has Twenty five books and Seventy research papers to his credit. His Kannada translation of Prof. Satya Vrat Shastri's 'Ramakirti Maha kavyam' was published in Bangkok (Thailand). He is Professor and Head of the Department of Sanskrit, N.M.K.R.V. College for Women (Autonomous College) Bangalore. He was awarded D.Litt., from Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla in 2005 for his Post-doctoral publications on Post Independence Sanskrit Literature.

Abhiraja Dr. Rajendra Mishra is one of the very few prolific contemporary creative writers in Sanskrit writing today. What first attracted me to his work was the shear versatility of his interests and treatment of various very different types of writing ranging from the most objective of the literary forms the Epic, to the most personal and musical genre of the Lyric. While his Janakijivanam recipient of Vacaspati Samman-1993 in twenty one cantos deals with the life of Sita wherein he has invented some new metres like Maithili and Syandika the lyrical output impressive as it is both qualitatively and quantitatively ranges from the treatment of themes like Patriotism, National Consciousness, Natural Description of the Society, Nature Description, Ways of the world and the difficulties the poet had to encounter in his life. This personal element is also seen in his Matru Shatakam which is devoted entirely to his mother Abhiraji Devi.

Out of the total output of fifteen works commented on here, about half the number are Shatakas and even a casual perusal of the titles reveals the wide range of subjects warranting a variety of literary approaches to the same genre. Thus we have two Shatakas dealing with Prof Mishra's visit to Bali and other parts of Indonesia, illustrating that not only can this subject matter be dealt with in a Doota Kavya but it can also be represented in miniature as Shatakas. Both Vimanayatra Shatakam and Bali Pratyabhijnana Shatakam provide ample evidence for this achievement. However, Mriganka Dootam deals extensively with his visit to Bali. This is in two parts, the first part of it deals with the descriptions of Indonesia and the second part in the true tradition of the genre of Doota Kavya contains the messages to be delivered to various scholars, critics and literary luminaries residing in various parts of India. Special mention must be made on Navyabharatha Shatakam which is totally representative of contemporary consciousness in Indian writing in Sanskrit. Thus it is fully representative of Modern Indian Sensibility revealed in the most ancient of the Indian Languages proving beyond a shadow of doubt that the Sanskrit Language has always been and can always be a vehicle for expressing any complex theme or themes in a variety of metres used in this shatakam. No less an achievement are the two Shatakas Samskrita Shatakam and Devavanihumkara Shatakam wherein one can perceive patriotism of the poet and his love for the Sanskrit Language. However, what is perhaps most unique among all the Shatakas is Subhasitoddhara Shatakam wherein the first line or the second line is invariably a Subhashita and the next line a parody of the same in the modern contemporary ontext. However, Parody itself has been elevated to the level of brilliant satire in the Chaturthee Shatakam where the entire range of earlier famous works are parodied in parts. This is an excellent example of how entertaining modern variations on recognized earlier classics can be.

**Contents and Sample Pages**