R. Parthasarathy is professor emeritus of English at Skidmore College. He is the editor and translator of The Tale of an Anklet: An Epic of South India (Columbia, 1993).

The book succeeds very well at giving the reader a firm sense of the literary sensibility that informs Sanskrit erotic verse. It has both a breadth of reference and a cosmopolitan spirit. -- Whitney Cox, University of Chicago

• AcknowledgmentsIntroductionAbhinanda That’s How I Saw HerAmaruWho Needs the Gods?In a Hundred PlacesA Taste of AmbrosiaPincersThe BrideAnonLovers’ QuarrelThe PledgeA Lover’s WelcomeRegretStoneheartedFeigning SleepRemorseWalking the Street by Her HouseThe SheetsA Woman WrongedAubadeLike the Wheels of a ChariotThe WordAn InvitationThe TravelerThe Devoted WifeThe Kingdom’s HappinessHairWild NightsThank OfferingAt the Cremation GroundOn a Rainy DayWhen Winter ComesJewelsThe Creaking BedShe Protests Too MuchShe Doesn’t Let Go of Her PrideThe Ways of LoveA Lover’s WordThe HawkA NeedleTime WastedThe Scholar’s LifeFoolish HeartSupreme BlissBāṇaIn a Corner of the Village ShrineBhartṛhariWise MenPoets’ ExcessesThe Love GameHipsFear of DeathDesire AloneAdoration of WomanThe Poet Speaks to the KingContentmentMan’s LifeOld AgeWhite FlagBhāskara IIElementary ArithmeticBhavabhūtiThe Critic ScornedBhāvakadevīBitter HarvestBhojaScrambling Out of the WaterBilhaṇaBite MarksIn Life After LifeAll for LoveDevaguptaDrumbeatsDharmakīrtiThe WayJagannātha PaṇḍitarājaIndra’s HeavenJaghanacapalāWifeKālidāsaFlight of the DeerSuch Innocent MovesBlessed SleepKarṇotpalaThe LampKeśaṭaThe CamelKṣemendraAll Eyes on the DoorKṣitīśaThe Red SealKumāradāsaAlbaKuṭalāFurtive LovemakingMāgha The Art of PoetryScentMahodadhiStop Being WillfulMorikāDon’t GoMurāriHidden Fingernail MarksAn Actor in a FarceRājaputra ParpaṭiBlow Out the LampRājaśekharaHer FaceRudraṭa What the Young Wife Said to the TravelerŚaraṇaGirl Drawing Water from a WellSiddhokaThe Empty RoadŚīlābhaṭṭārikāThen and NowSonnokaDriven by PassionŚrīharṣaThe Smart GirlIn Her DirectionVallaṇaSea of ShameOn the GrassThe Essence of PoetryVarāhaPoring Over a BookVidyāHollow PleasuresComplaintThe RiverbankVikaṭanitambā The BedA Word of AdviceYogeśvaraFar from HomeWhen the Rains ComeNotesSources of PoemsBibliographyCreditsIndex of Titles and First LinesIndex

R. Parthasarathy is professor emeritus of English at Skidmore College. He is the editor and translator of The Tale of an Anklet: An Epic of South India (Columbia, 1993).

The book succeeds very well at giving the reader a firm sense of the literary sensibility that informs Sanskrit erotic verse. It has both a breadth of reference and a cosmopolitan spirit. -- Whitney Cox, University of Chicago

• AcknowledgmentsIntroductionAbhinanda That’s How I Saw HerAmaruWho Needs the Gods?In a Hundred PlacesA Taste of AmbrosiaPincersThe BrideAnonLovers’ QuarrelThe PledgeA Lover’s WelcomeRegretStoneheartedFeigning SleepRemorseWalking the Street by Her HouseThe SheetsA Woman WrongedAubadeLike the Wheels of a ChariotThe WordAn InvitationThe TravelerThe Devoted WifeThe Kingdom’s HappinessHairWild NightsThank OfferingAt the Cremation GroundOn a Rainy DayWhen Winter ComesJewelsThe Creaking BedShe Protests Too MuchShe Doesn’t Let Go of Her PrideThe Ways of LoveA Lover’s WordThe HawkA NeedleTime WastedThe Scholar’s LifeFoolish HeartSupreme BlissBāṇaIn a Corner of the Village ShrineBhartṛhariWise MenPoets’ ExcessesThe Love GameHipsFear of DeathDesire AloneAdoration of WomanThe Poet Speaks to the KingContentmentMan’s LifeOld AgeWhite FlagBhāskara IIElementary ArithmeticBhavabhūtiThe Critic ScornedBhāvakadevīBitter HarvestBhojaScrambling Out of the WaterBilhaṇaBite MarksIn Life After LifeAll for LoveDevaguptaDrumbeatsDharmakīrtiThe WayJagannātha PaṇḍitarājaIndra’s HeavenJaghanacapalāWifeKālidāsaFlight of the DeerSuch Innocent MovesBlessed SleepKarṇotpalaThe LampKeśaṭaThe CamelKṣemendraAll Eyes on the DoorKṣitīśaThe Red SealKumāradāsaAlbaKuṭalāFurtive LovemakingMāgha The Art of PoetryScentMahodadhiStop Being WillfulMorikāDon’t GoMurāriHidden Fingernail MarksAn Actor in a FarceRājaputra ParpaṭiBlow Out the LampRājaśekharaHer FaceRudraṭa What the Young Wife Said to the TravelerŚaraṇaGirl Drawing Water from a WellSiddhokaThe Empty RoadŚīlābhaṭṭārikāThen and NowSonnokaDriven by PassionŚrīharṣaThe Smart GirlIn Her DirectionVallaṇaSea of ShameOn the GrassThe Essence of PoetryVarāhaPoring Over a BookVidyāHollow PleasuresComplaintThe RiverbankVikaṭanitambā The BedA Word of AdviceYogeśvaraFar from HomeWhen the Rains ComeNotesSources of PoemsBibliographyCreditsIndex of Titles and First LinesIndex

R. Parthasarathy is professor emeritus of English at Skidmore College. He is the editor and translator of The Tale of an Anklet: An Epic of South India (Columbia, 1993).

The book succeeds very well at giving the reader a firm sense of the literary sensibility that informs Sanskrit erotic verse. It has both a breadth of reference and a cosmopolitan spirit. -- Whitney Cox, University of Chicago

• AcknowledgmentsIntroductionAbhinanda That’s How I Saw HerAmaruWho Needs the Gods?In a Hundred PlacesA Taste of AmbrosiaPincersThe BrideAnonLovers’ QuarrelThe PledgeA Lover’s WelcomeRegretStoneheartedFeigning SleepRemorseWalking the Street by Her HouseThe SheetsA Woman WrongedAubadeLike the Wheels of a ChariotThe WordAn InvitationThe TravelerThe Devoted WifeThe Kingdom’s HappinessHairWild NightsThank OfferingAt the Cremation GroundOn a Rainy DayWhen Winter ComesJewelsThe Creaking BedShe Protests Too MuchShe Doesn’t Let Go of Her PrideThe Ways of LoveA Lover’s WordThe HawkA NeedleTime WastedThe Scholar’s LifeFoolish HeartSupreme BlissBāṇaIn a Corner of the Village ShrineBhartṛhariWise MenPoets’ ExcessesThe Love GameHipsFear of DeathDesire AloneAdoration of WomanThe Poet Speaks to the KingContentmentMan’s LifeOld AgeWhite FlagBhāskara IIElementary ArithmeticBhavabhūtiThe Critic ScornedBhāvakadevīBitter HarvestBhojaScrambling Out of the WaterBilhaṇaBite MarksIn Life After LifeAll for LoveDevaguptaDrumbeatsDharmakīrtiThe WayJagannātha PaṇḍitarājaIndra’s HeavenJaghanacapalāWifeKālidāsaFlight of the DeerSuch Innocent MovesBlessed SleepKarṇotpalaThe LampKeśaṭaThe CamelKṣemendraAll Eyes on the DoorKṣitīśaThe Red SealKumāradāsaAlbaKuṭalāFurtive LovemakingMāgha The Art of PoetryScentMahodadhiStop Being WillfulMorikāDon’t GoMurāriHidden Fingernail MarksAn Actor in a FarceRājaputra ParpaṭiBlow Out the LampRājaśekharaHer FaceRudraṭa What the Young Wife Said to the TravelerŚaraṇaGirl Drawing Water from a WellSiddhokaThe Empty RoadŚīlābhaṭṭārikāThen and NowSonnokaDriven by PassionŚrīharṣaThe Smart GirlIn Her DirectionVallaṇaSea of ShameOn the GrassThe Essence of PoetryVarāhaPoring Over a BookVidyāHollow PleasuresComplaintThe RiverbankVikaṭanitambā The BedA Word of AdviceYogeśvaraFar from HomeWhen the Rains ComeNotesSources of PoemsBibliographyCreditsIndex of Titles and First LinesIndex