The Penguin book of classical Indian love stories and lyrics - Ruskin Bond

A
compilation of love stories and poems from the classical literature and
folklore of India Set in regions of great natural beauty where Kamadeva, the
god of love, picks his victims with consummate ease, these stories and lyrics
celebrate the myriad aspects of love. In addition to relatively well-known
works like Kalidasa's Meghadutam and Prince Ilango Adigal's Shilappadikaram,
the collection features lesser-known writers of ancient India like
Damodaragupta (eighth century AD), whose 'Loves of Haralata and Dundarasena'
is about a high-born man's doomed affair with a courtesan; Janna (twelfth
century), whose Tale of the Glory-Bearer is extracted here for the story of a
queen who betrays her handsome husband for a mahout, reputed to be the
ugliest man in the kingdom; and the Sanskrit poets Amaru and Mayaru (seventh
century), whose lyrics display an astonishing perspective on the tenderness,
the fierce passion and the playful savagery of physical love. Also featured
are charming stories of Hindu gods and goddesses in love, and
nineteenth-century retellings of folk tales from different regions of the
country like Kashmir, Punjab, Maharashtra and Rajasthan. Both passionate and
sensuous in its content, this book is sure to appeal to the romantic in all
of us.