Mani Rao is the the author of twelve books and chapbooks of poetry including Love Me In A Hurry (Atta Galatta 2022), Sing to Me (Recent Work 2019), New & Selected Poems (Poetrywala 2015) and Echolocation (Math Paper Press); and three books in translation including Bhagavad Gita : God’s Song (HarperCollins 2023), Saundarya Lahari: Wave of Beauty (HarperCollins 2022), and Kalidasa for the 21st Century Reader (Aleph Books 2014). Researching mantra experience in tantric communities, she discovered continuing revelations and new mantras in circulation on-ground for Living Mantra: Mantra, Deities and Visionary Experience (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019). 

After studying literature in the early 80’s Madras, she worked as an advertising and television professional for two decades in Mumbai, New Zealand and Hong Kong. A resetting of life-goals led her back to the world of learning– she then did an MFA from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USA, and a PhD in Religious Studies from Duke University, USA. Returning to India by 2017, she began to live in Puttaparthi and Bangalore.

”My Life.” Interview by Mark Footer.
(Sunday Morning Post, 30 May 2010) → 

“Ancient Wisdom in Modern Times.” PTI, 24 Feb 2019 → 

Kitaab interview by Zafar Anjum →