Rhyme, Rhythm and Imagery: Fixed-Form Verses for Advanced Learners of Formal Verse

Mydavolu Venkata Sesha Satyanarayana who writes with the penname 'mahathi' was born on 12th June 1958 in Nellore, Andhra Pradesh, India. He is a post-graduate in law and once a practising lawyer in Nellore and later an officer in Central Industries Ministry. He headed the Law section and won all cases for his Department. His poetic language and command over English language brought him many commendations from his bosses. He retired from Government service in 2014 as Superintendent of Salt in Gazetted rank.

His earlier poetry, mostly free verse, veered around Leftist ideology. His earlier works viz. Golden Lotus, Plastic Faces, Wheels, and Just Human were mostly on burning social issues and human psychology. He translated Mr Perugu Ramakrishna's poems as Rosette.

But, later he turned more towards spiritual poetry and started writing great epic poetry. As his first attempt towards spirituality, he translated Bhaja Govindam of Sri Sri Sri Audi Sankaracharya, which became a part of his book I Chant, Chant and Chant, along with other spiritual poems. His first biggest attempt was re-creating Sri Sundara Kanda, the fifth Canto of Srimad Ramayanam, with the title Finding the Mother.

This book was well received and praises were showered. Then, he continued his spiritual journey by writing Hare Krishna (which was published again as a second edition with the title The Ballad of Little Krishna. The book is selling very well ever since it hit the market. His next attempt was a translation of Saagara Ghosha by great Telugu poet Sri Garikipati Narasimha Rao with the title Ocean Blues.

In 2018 he again hit the spiritual track by writing The Ganges and Other Poems, the story of the descent of the divine river Ganga from heavens to earth. This book was considered an all-time classic by experts. All these books were written in metrical verses of various forms. In all these books the author not only narrates the stories beautifully but also tries to explore the deep inherent and holy philosophical aspects of the great epics.