10/13/201010/13/2010

10/13/201010/13/2010

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.

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