Bibliographic Information

Same-sex love in India : readings from literature and history

edited by Ruth Vanita and Saleem Kidwai

Palgrave, 2001

1st Palgrave ed

Available at  / 4 libraries

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Note

Includes bibliographical references and index

First published in hardcover in 2000 by St. Martin's Press

"Lambda literary award finalist" -- On cover

Description and Table of Contents

Description

Same-Sex Love in India presents a stunning array of writings on same-sex love from over 2000 years of Indian literature. Translated from more than a dozen languages and drawn from Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, and modern fictional traditions, these writings testify to the presence of same-sex love in various forms since ancient times, without overt persecution. This collection defies both stereotypes of Indian culture and Foucault's definition of homosexuality as a nineteenth-century invention, uncovering instead complex discourses of Indian homosexuality, rich metaphorical traditions to represent it, and the use of names and terms as early as medieval times to distinguish same-sex from cross-sex love. An eminent group of scholars have translated these writings for the first time or have re-translated well-known texts to correctly make evident previously underplayed homoerotic content. Selections range from religious books, legal and erotic treatises, story cycles, medieval histories and biographies, modern novels, short stories, letters, memoirs, plays and poems. From the Rigveda to Vikram Seth, this anthology will become a staple in courses on gender and queer studies, Asian studies, and world literature.

Table of Contents

PART I: INTRODUCTION: ANCIENT INDIAN MATERIALS Vyasa's Mahabharata : Sikhandin's Sex Change (Sanskrit) Manikantha Jataka (Pali) Vishnu Sharma's Panchatantra (Sanskrit) Vatsyayana's Kamasutra (Sanskrit) PART II: INTRODUCTION: MEDIEVAL MATERIALS IN THE SANSKRATIC TRADITION Bhagvata Purana : The Embrace of Shiva and Vishnu (Sanskrit) Skanda Purana : Sumedha and Somavan (Sanskrit) Shiva Purana : The Birth of Kartikeya (Sanskrit) Shiva Purana : The Birth of Ganesha (Sanskrit) Somadeva Bhatta's Kathasaritsagara : Kalingasena and Somaprabha (Sanskrit) Padma Purana : Arjuni (Sanskrit) Ayyappa and Vavar: Celibate Friends Krittivasa Ramayana : The Birth of Bhagiratha (Bengali) Jagannath Das (Oriya) PART III: INTRODUCTION: MEDIEVAL MATERIALS IN THE PERSO-URDU TRADITION Amir Khusro (Persian and Hindvi) Ziauddin Barani: The Khaljis in Love (Persian) The Mirror of Secrets : 'Akhi' Jamshed Rajgiri (Persian) Baburnama (Turkish) 'Mutribi' Samarqandi: The Fair and the Dark Boys (Persian) Haqiqat al-Fuqara : Poetic Biography of "Madho Lal" Hussayn (Persian), with Hussayn's poems (Punjabi) Sarmad (Persian) Muhammad Akram 'Ghanimat' Kanjohi: Love's Sorcery (Persian) 'Abru': Advice to a Beloved (Urdu) Siraj Aurangabadi: The Garden of Delusion (Urdu) Mir Abdul Hai'Taban': The Lover Who Looked like a Beloved (Urdu) Dargah Quli Khan: Portrait of a City (Persian) Mir Taqi 'Mir': Autobiography and Poems (Persian and Urdu) PART IV: INTRODUCTION: MODERN INDIAN MATERIALS Nazir Akbaraadi (Urdu) Rekhti Poetry: Love Between Women (Urdu) Shri Ramakrishna Paramahansa (Bengali) Bankim Chandra Chatterjee: Indira (Bengali) The Kamasutra in the Twentieth Century Gopabandhu Das: Poems Written in Prison (Oriya) The New Homophobia: Ugra's Chocolate (Hindi) M. K. Gandhi: Reply to a Query (English) Amrita Sher-Gil: Letters (English) Hakim Muhammad Yusuf Hasan: Do Shiza (Urdu) 'Firaq' Gorakhpuri: Poet vs. 'Critic' (Urdu) Sharada: 'Farewell' (Hindi) Suryakant Tripathi 'Nirala': Kulli Bhaat (Hindi) Josh Malihabadi: 'There Will Never Be Another Like You' (Urdu) Ismat Chughatai: 'Tehri Lakeer' (Urdu) Rajendra Yadav: 'Waiting' (Hindi) Bhupen Khakhar: A Story (Gujarati) Kishori Charan Das: 'Sarama's Romjance' (Oriya) Kewal Sood: The Hen Coop (Hindi) Shobhana Siddique: 'Full to the Brim' (Hindi) V.T. Nandakumar: Two Girls (Malayalam) Vijay Dan Detha: 'A Double Life' (Jajasthani) Vikram Seth: Poems (English) Nirmala Deshpande: 'Mary Had a Little Lamb' (Marathi) Vijay Tendulkar: Mitra's Story (Marathi) Sunil Gangopadhyay: Those Days (Bengali) H.S. Shivaprakash: Shakespeare Dreamship (Kannada) Inez Vere Dullas: Poems (English) Hoshang Merchant: Poems for Vivan (English) Ambia: 'One Person and Another' (Tamil)

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