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"Same-sex Love in India", presents a stunning array of writings on
same-sex love from over 2,000 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.
An eminent group of scholars have translated writings for the first time and
have retranslated 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, to
modern novels, short stories, letters, memoirs, plays and poems.
From the Rig Veda to Vikram Seth, this anthology will become a staple in
courses on gender and queer studies, Asian studies and world literature.
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"Ruth Vanita and Saleem Kidwai have offered readers a vast and sumptuous feast.
This rich collection, accompanied by the authors' informative commentary, is a
powerful corrective to the often expressed opinion that the Indian tradition is
either unaware of or openly hostile to same-sex love. This volume will be
welcomed by scholarly and general audiences alike."
- ROBERT GOLDMAN
Sarah Kailath Professor of Indian Studies
University of California at Berkeley
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"Vanita and Kidwai's introductory essays to each section are works of
outstanding scholarship. This book will be considered the definitive book of
documents on same-sex love in India."
- LILLIAN FADEMAN
author of To Believe in Women
What Lesbians Have Done for America - A History
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"This path-breaking volume presents the English-reading public with an
imposing array of texts relating to an important but little-studied aspect
of Indian life and literature."
- SUMIT GUHA
Professor of History, Brown University
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"This enchanting collection is a tribute to an ancient civilization which
has always cherished love that defies conventional ideas of sanity and
normality."
- ASHIS NANDY
author, The Intimate Enemy,
director, Center for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi
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This book is very well-written and researched. Anyone interested in the
subject of same-sex love, especially regarding relationships, should read
this book. It thoroughly documents and studies many instances of loving
relationships between members of the "same sex" in India from ancient times
up to the present, and between both humans, demigods and the Supreme Lord
Himself.
One shortcoming about the book, however, is that it is entirely oriented
in terms of "male and female," and seldom mentions or discusses
homosexuality as a third sex or nature. Despite this, it is filled with
valuable historical references and accounts of same-sex love that I believe
most if not all of our members will find extremely interesting.
GALVA Resources, Gay and Lesbian Vaishnava Association
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Contents:
Preface.
I. Introduction: ancient Indian materials : 1. Vyasa’s Mahabharata:
"Sikhandin’s sex change" (Sanskrit). 2. Manikantha Jataka (Pali). 3.
Vishnu Sharma’s Panchatantra (Sanskrit). 4. Vatsyayana’s Kamasutra
(Sanskrit).
II. Introduction: medieval materials in the Sanskritic tradition : 1.
Bhagvata Purana: the embrace of Shiva and Vishnu (Sanskrit). 2.
Skanda Purana: Sumedha and Somavan (Sanskrit). 3. Shiva Purana:
the birth of Kartikeya (Sanskrit). 4. Shiva Purana: the birth of
Ganesha (Sanskrit). 5. Somadeva Bhatta’s Kathasaritsagara:
Kalingasena and Somaprabha (Sanskrit). 6. Padma Purana: Arjuni
(Sanskrit). 7. Ayyappa and Vavar: celibate friends. 8. Krittivasa
Ramayana: the birth of Bhagiratha (Bangali). 9. Jagannath Das (Oriya).
III. Introduction: medieval materials in the Perso-Urdu tradition : 1.
Amir Khusro (Persian and Hindvi). 2. Ziauddin Barani: the Khaljis in love
(Persian). 3. The mirror of secrets: "Akhi" Jamshed Rajgiri
(Persian). 4. Baburnama (Turkish). 5. "Mutribi" Samarqandi: the fair
and the dark boys (Persian). 6. Haqiqat al-Fuqara: poetic biography
of "Madho Lal" Hussayn (Persian), with Hussayn’s poems (Punjabi). 7. Sarmad
(Persian). 8. Muhammad Akram "Ghanimat" Kanjohi: love’s sorcery (Persian).
9. Najmuddin Shah Mubarak "Abru": advice to a beloved (Urdu). 10.
Siraj Aurangabadi: the garden of delusion (Urdu). 11. Mir Abdul Hai "Taban":
the lover who looked like a beloved (Urdu). 12. Dargah Quli Khan:
portrait of a city (Persian). 13. Mir Taqi "Mir": autobiography and
poems (Persian and Urdu).
IV. Introduction: modern Indian materials : 1. Nazir Akbarabadi (Urdu).
2. Rekhti poetry: love between women (Urdu). 3. Shri Ramakrishna Paramahansa
(Bengali). 4. Bankim Chandra Chatterjee: Indira (Bengali). 5. The
Kamasutra in the twentieth century. 6. Gopabandhu Das: poems written in
prison (Oriya). 7. The new homophobia: Ugra’s chocolate (Hindi). 8.
M.K. Gandhi: reply to a query (English). 9. Amrita Sher-Gil: letters
(English). 10. Hakim Muhammad Yusuf Hasan: Do Shiza (Urdu). 11. "Firaq"
Gorakhpuri: poet vs. "critic" (Urdu). 12. Sharada: "Farewell" (Hindi). 13.
Suryakant Tripathi "Nirala": Kulli Bhaat (Hindi). 14. Josh Malihabadi:
"There will never be another like you" (Urdu). 15. Ismat Chughtai: "Tehri
Lakeer" (Urdu). 16. Rajendra Yadav: "waiting" (Hindi). 17. Bupen Khakhar:
a story (Gujarati). 18. Kishori Charan Das: "Sarama’s romance" (Oriya). 19.
Crime of passion (English). 20. Shobhana Siddique: "Full to the brim"
(Hindi). 21. V.T. Nandakumar: two girls (Malayalam). 22. Vijay Dan
Detha: "a double life" (Rajasthani). 23. Vikram Seth: poems (English). 24.
Nirmala Deshpande: "Mary had a little lamb" (Marathi). 25. Vijay Tendulkar:
Mitra’s story (Marathi). 26. Sunil Gangopadhyay: those days
(Bengali). 27. H.S. Shivaprakash: Shakespeare Dreamship (Kannada).
28. Inez Vere Dullas: poems (English). 29. Hoshang Merchant: poems for Vivan
(English). 30. Ambai: "one person and another" (Tamil). Glossary. Index.
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Review by Meeta
Chaitanya for Hindustan Times Website
Interview with Ruth Vanita - Gay Today
http://gaytoday.badpuppy.com/garchive/interview/030501in.htm
Interview with Saleem Kidwai - Gay Today
http://www.gaytoday.com/interview/080102in.asp
Other related
links
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RUTH VANITA, formerly Reader, Delhi University,
is Associate Professor at the University of Montana. Has edited another
anthology - Queering India
SALEEM KIDWAI taught medieval history at Delhi
University for twenty years.
Readers are
welcome to write to them at -
Ruth Vanita : rvanita@selway.umt.edu
Saleem Kidwai
: saleemk@vsnl.com
Macmillan India Ltd.
Pages 370.
Paperback
edition priced at Rs.295/-.
(discounted
price at Strand Book Stall, Mumbai - Rs.236/-)
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