10/13/201010/13/2010

10/13/201010/13/2010

Translations based on: Ettuttokai; Pattuppattu; and Tolkappiyam."

Folktales from India is an enchanting collection of one hundred and ten tales translated from twenty-two different languages, by turns harrowing and comic, sardonic and allegorical, mysterious and romantic. Gods disguised as beggars and beasts; animals enacting Machiavellian intrigues: sagacious jesters and magical storytellers; wise counselors and foolish kings -- all of these inhabit a fabular world, yet one firmly grounded in everyday life. Augmented by A. K. Ramanujan's definitive introduction and notes, this is an indispensable guide to India's ageless folklore tradition.

How is it that this woman's breasts glimmer so clearly through her saree? Can't you guess, my friends? What are they but rays from the crescents left by the nails of her lover pressing her in his passion, rays now luminous as the moonlight of a summer night?
These South Indian devotional poems show the dramatic use of erotic language to express a religious vision. Written by men during the fifteenth to eighteenth century, the poems adopt a female voice, the voice of a courtesan addressing her customer. That customer, it turns out, is the deity, whom the courtesan teases for his infidelities and cajoles into paying her more money. Brazen, autonomous, fully at home in her body, she merges her worldly knowledge with the deity's transcendent power in the act of making love.
This volume is the first substantial collection in English of these Telugu writings, which are still part of the standard repertoire of songs used by classical South Indian dancers. A foreword provides context for the poems, investigating their religious, cultural, and historical significance. Explored, too, are the attempts to contain their explicit eroticism by various apologetic and rationalizing devices.
The translators, who are poets as well as highly respected scholars, render the poems with intelligence and tenderness. Unusual for their combination of overt eroticism and devotion to God, these poems are a delight to read.

The Oxford Anthology of Modern Indian Poetry is the first significant work of its kind, containing some of the finest Indian poetry written in the twentieth century. Collected here are one hundred and twenty-five poets in English and English translation from fourteen Indian languages. This volume covers several generations of writers and provides an overview of the many different schools, styles, figures, forms and movements in Indian poetry in the last hundred years.
While capturing some of the finest Indian poets, including Rabindranath Tagore, Subramania Bharati, Nirala, G. Shankara Kurup, and Kaifi Azmi, The Oxford Anthology of Modern Indian Poetry also represents the best work of nearly seventy translators from various countries. The poems, many translated into English for the first time, are grouped thematically to reveal patterns and movements in Indian poetry. The editors provide an illuminating Introduction and informative critical essay on the literary, historical, and social contents of modern Indian poetry, as well as biographical notes on contributors, and suggestions for further reading.
As a work of craftsmanship and learning, The Oxford Anthology of Modern Indian Poetry is a source of discovery and delight for first-time readers and scholars alike.