A royal’s rendezvous with verses

Showing her works, all neatly arranged on a table in a room in Kowdiar Palace in the city, Aswathy Thirunal Gouri Lakshmi Bayi says she herself finds it difficult to believe that she has actually authored all the books — poetry, works on spirituality, temples, heritage and culture. The top seller is her definitive book on the Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple, Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple, which has gone into multiple editions in English, with several editions of its Malayalam translation also getting sold out. The best-selling author has nine books to her credit and the tenth, An Amateur’s Attempt at Poetry, a book of poems on various subjects, was released on June 1.

“They cool us like a summer rain in these prosaic times of drought and dereliction, like say, the densely radiant sonnets of Shakespeare or the lyrical recollections of Wordsworth,” writes poet K. Sachidanandan in the foreword to the book.

Dressed in a white mundu with a black kara and neriyathu, she is a picture of simplicity as she sits down in the ornate living room to talk about her books and writing.

“It is a collection of poems that has been written over a period of time. When Konark Publications offered to publish it, I gave them the collection of poems that covers a wide range of themes ranging from spirituality and devotion to nature and love and even a little poem for my granddaughters, Prabha Varma and Gouri Varma,” she says with a smile.

In love with writing

The poet has been in conversation with the muse since she was a child. With self-depreciating humour, she says that she has a notebook of poems, “all writing in my horrible handwriting when I was 11 or 12.”

“My writing is therapeutic and compulsive. However, nowadays, my creative writing has decreased and most of my writing and reading are centred on matters dealing with the litigation involving Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple,” says Gouri Lakshmi Bayi.

Aswathy Thirunal Gouri Lakshmi Bayi with the books she has written   | Photo Credit: S.Gopakumar

Attributing all her writing to a divine power, she says she began writing her first book of poems the year her uncle Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma, the last king of erstwhile Travancore, fell ill. “All the poems are on my uncle save the first one, which is dedicated to the Lord of Padmanabhaswamy Temple. In fact, one of the poems was written when Ponammavan (uncle) was very ill and we were waiting outside the Intensive Care Unit. It was a prayer to the Gods to help him recover at the earliest. However, after his passing away, I experienced a void and I found it difficult to cope with the loss. That is when I wrote a set of poems, Thirumulkazcha. It was my first publication and I published it myself,” she says. Then on, each of her books has been snapped up by publishers and even compilations of her column in a Malayalam daily, published as two books, have found readers.

Challenging work

“My toughest task was my book on the Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple. Since the temple has been an integral part of our lives since the day we were born, I assumed it would not be too difficult a task. However, it turned out be a Herculean effort that required a lot of reading, travelling and research. I would sit on the floor surrounded by piles of paper and worked long hours to finish it. All my books are written the old fashioned way — with pen on paper,” she recalls.

Her books on heritage and culture are backed by research and so her work, especially on the temples of Travancore and the ones on culture, have found a permanent space on the bookshelves of discerning readers. She says that Glimpses of Kerala Culture also required her to do a great deal of reading as it covered various facets of Kerala’s rich culture. The research continues for the author. The new edition of Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple, for instance, has been refreshed with chapters on the litigation and Supreme Court directives and orders on the temple. “The reading and writing go on…”

And what about her favourite authors? “Oh, I enjoy P.G. Wodehouse and Tennyson and still read Enid Blyton!”

Write mode

“I have never written a diary or journal. My mother [the late Karthika Thirunal Lakshmi Bayi] had advised me not to ever write a diary. After we are gone, someone might read it and draw the wrong inferences and we would not be there to correct it or defend ourselves. So neither my siblings nor I have written one. My father [the late Goda Varma Raja], however, used to keep a diary,” she says.

Her works

Thirumulkazhcha, The Dawn, Kerala Temple Architecture: Some Notable Features, Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple, Thulsi Garland, The Mighty Indian Experience, Budhadarsanam, Glimpses of Kerala Culture, Rudrakshamala