Ashtavakra (epic)

Cover page of Ashtavakra (epic), first edition
Author	Jagadguru Rambhadracharya
Original title	Aṣṭāvakra (Epic Poem)
Language	Hindi
Genre	Epic Poetry
Publisher	Jagadguru Rambhadracharya Handicapped University
Publication date	14 January 2010
Publication place	India
Media type	Print (hardcover)
Pages	223 pp (first edition)

This article is part of a series on Rambhadracharya
Rambhadracharya Timeline Awards and honours Works Arundhati Ashtavakra Bhrngadutam Gitaramayanam Sribhargavaraghaviyam Srisitaramakelikaumudi Srisitaramasuprabhatam Shriraghavkripabhashyam Tulsi Peeth edition of the Ramcharitmanas Jagadguru Rambhadracharya Divyanga University Tulsi Peeth
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Aṣṭāvakra (2010) is a Hindi epic poem (Mahakavya) composed by Jagadguru Rambhadracharya (1950–) in the year 2009. It consists of 864 verses in 8 cantos (sargas) of 108 verses each. The poem presents the narrative of the Ṛṣi Aṣṭāvakra which is found in the Hindu scriptures of the Rāmāyaṇa and the Mahābhārata. A copy of the epic was published by the Jagadguru Rambhadracharya Handicapped University, Chitrakuta, Uttar Pradesh. The book was released on 14 January 2010, on the sixtieth birthday (Ṣaṣṭipūrti) of the poet.^[1]

The protagonist of the epic, Aṣṭāvakra, is physically disabled with eight deformities in his body. The epic presents his journey from adversity to success to final redemption. According to the poet, who is also disabled having lost his eyesight at the age of two months, the notions of aphoristic solutions for universal difficulties of the disabled are presented the epic, and the eight cantos are the analyses of the eight dispositions in the mind of the disabled.^[2]