Jammu:
Four books authored by writers associated with the *Hindi Sahitya Mandal Jammu* were launched today at a ceremony organized by the Mandal. These books include two poetry collections—*Priyatam Madhushala* and *Priyatam Piyush*—authored by senior poet, former President of the Mandal, and former Principal of Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeeth, Dr. Priyatam Chand Shastri; a novella titled *Ek Thi Jeet* by senior writer-translator Manjit Singh Kamra; and a critical anthology titled *Tavi Ki Dhara - Anusheelan*, co-edited by Dr. Chanchal Dogra and Naresh Gulati.
The joint book launch ceremony, held on Friday evening at the Kala Kendra, was presided over by Dr. Nirmal Vinod—a senior Hindi-Dogri litterateur, radio broadcaster, former Head of the Hindi Department at Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, and a former President of the organizing entity the Hindi Sahitya Mandal. Veteran Hind-Kashmiri writer and critic Dr Ratan Lal Shant attended the programme as the Chief Guest.
Welcoming the guests—including the event's chairperson and chief guest Mandal President and co-editor of *Anusheelan*, Dr. Chanchal Dogra, explained the content and style of the book. She noted that, true to its title, *Anusheelan* is a compilation of critical papers presented during the launch of the Mandal's representative poetry anthologies—*Tavi Ki Dhara* and *Tavi Ki Dhara Dwitiya* (published last year)—along with comprehensive reviews written on social media and elsewhere following their publication.
Regarding the Mandal's activities, Dr. Dogra also informed about the publication of issues 31 and 32 of the Mandal's digital magazine, *Madhurima*, over the past three months. She further informed that issue 32 is dedicated to the senior Dogri writer and a fellow of the Central Sahtya Akadami, Shri Ved Rahi.
She stated that these three books in Tawi franchise, published under the Mandal's book publication series, provide a balanced and precise account of the contemporary poetry of Jammu's Hindi poets and the thematic traits reflected therein—a body of work that holds significant value today and will turn even more important in the future as a reference resource. She commended the reviewers who contributed to the book *Anusheelan*—namely Dr. Sapna Devi, Dr. Kshama Kaul, Shyam Juneja, Nina Andotra Pathania, Dr. Raj Kumar, Dr. Ratan Lal Shant, Rahul Rajesh, and Darshan Kumar Vasan—for their hard work. She noted that Nina had provided substantial core content for the book *Anusheelan* by writing separate reviews that offered a detailed analysis of the poetry of each of the 22 female poets whose poetry was showcased in the first book of the Tawi franchise; this greatly facilitated the process of shaping the entire critical study coming from Nina and others, into a formal book.
Dr. Dogra also congratulated Dr. Shastri and Shri Kamra for their continued creative endeavors.
After the formal release of the four books, the proceedings started with an introduction of Dr.Shastri by Madhvi Sharma, a Radio Presenter and an active member of the hindi Sahitya Mandal. Dr Pawan Khajuria then presented a formal paper offering a detailed analysis of two of Dr. Shastri's books, while highlighting the distinctive features of his poetry styles over a period of time.
The other author in focus Manjit Singh Kamra’s novella was discussed by writer and office-bearer of Sahitya Mandal, Shyam Juneja. Kamra then explained his creative process and thanked his family and Mandal for support and encouragement.
Dr Shastri while joining the discourse, traced back his five decade long association with Hindi Sahitya Mandal, thanked the paper reader Dr Khajuria and also elaborated upon the content of his two books under reference.
In his address Dr Shant mainly dwelt upon the fourth book of the day, namely Tawi Ki Dhara – Anushilan in the context of the relevance and desirability or otherwise of poetical identities in geographical regions and in the national mainstreams.
Dr. Nirmal Vinod complimented the veteran authors Dr Shastri and Manjeet Singh Kamra for their untiring creativity. He also complimented Dr Pawan Khajuria for a well written analytical paper about Dr Shastri two books. Speaking further about Mandal's senior-most writer, Dr Shastri’s poetry, Dr Vinod called it as immensely important entertaining satire and also akin to a blessing from the former, a veteran, wishing him good health and a long life in the wake of his recent surgery.
He described the publication work being undertaken under the Mandal’s publication series as significant in the context of the systematic and collective documentation of regional writing, and he commended the Mandal for this initiative.
At the beginning of the program, Deputy General Secretary of the Mandal, Shyam Juneja introduced Kamra, while an active member Madhavi Sharma introduced Dr. Shastri. Deputy General Secretary Rakesh Abrol presented the formal vote of thanks and conveyed the organizers’ sense of gratitude to the authors, the program chairperson, the paper presenters, and the attendee guests.
The overall coordination, execution, and stage management of the program were handled by the Mandal’s General Secretary, Manto Datta Sharma, and Literary Secretary, Uma Sharma. At the outset, Manto Datta Sharma announced that, following the launch of four books at today's event, the Mandal plans to launch three more books in the near future as part of its publication series and other literary projects.