We are delighted to present Gita as a Migratory Text an evening of Panel Discussion by award winning German author and philosopher Dr. Krisha Kops and a well-known scholar, poet and translator Dr. Mani Rao with Karthik Venkatesh.

Dr. Krisha Kops was born into a German Indian family. He is an author and philosopher with a proclivity for intercultural and global justice-related topics. He studied philosophy and journalism in London, before receiving his doctorate (Hildesheim University) with a thesis on the Bhagavad Gita. In addition to lecturing at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich and other institutions, he writes on philosophical and literary topics. With his debut novel ‘Das ewige Rauschen’ (The Eternal Rustling), a family epic in-between Germany and India, Kops won several prizes and scholarships. The novel is being translated into various languages. Krisha Kops lives in Munich and Madanapalle.

Dr. Mani Rao is a poet, translator and independent scholar. Her book translations include Saundarya Lahari, Kalidasa for the 21st Century Reader, and Bhagavad Gita, of which a new edition will be released in late 2023 by HarperCollins. Her research into mantra-sadhana is in “Living Mantra, Mantra, Deity and Visionary Experience today” (Cham Springer 2019). She is the author of twelve poetry books including “Love Me in A Hurry” (bilingual with translations Prathibha Nandakumar– “Bega Preethsu Nanna”). Mani has a PhD in Religious Studies from Duke University, USA.

Karthik Venkatesh is Executive Editor with Penguin Random House India where he commissions and edits non-fiction and fiction books. Besides editing, he is also a freelance writer and his articles have featured in several publications like The Hindu, Mint, FirstPost, Deccan Herald and several other publications.