An exceptional selection of erotic poetry from ancient India, The Cane Groves of Narmada River features poems composed from the second century CE to the sixteenth century. Starting with several poems from the Prakrit anthology attributed to King Hala, the Sattasai, the book then takes in its sweep some of the most famous and enduring erotic poems composed in Sanskrit (and related vernacular traditions) by poets like Amaru, Bhavabhuti, Bhartrihari, Hemachandra and Vidya among others. Uninhibited, poignant and filled with tenderness and longing, these poems are a glorious celebration of love, sex and beauty.
~
Through the whole night we slowly made love,
body pressed against body,
cheek against cheek.
We spoke every thought that came into mind.
Lost in each other’s arms
lost in words, we never noticed
dawn had come
the night flown.
~
Andrew Schelling is a North American poet and translator. He has published seven books of classical Sanskrit and Prakrit poetry, including Dropping the Bow: Poems from Ancient India, which received the 1992 Academy of American Poets award for translation, the first time that association recognized work from an Asian language. Schelling’s poetry and essays have been published widely in the United States, and are recognized for their close attention to the orders of the natural world. His latest book, a folkloric account of California writing and ethnography, is Tracks Along the Left Coast: Jaime de Angulo and Pacific Coast Culture. He teaches poetry and Sanskrit at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado.
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