The Flight of Love
A Messenger Poem of Medieval South India by Vedantedesika
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Product details:
- Publisher OUP USA
- Date of Publication 19 May 2016
- ISBN 9780190495183
- Binding Hardback
- No. of pages304 pages
- Size 211x145x27 mm
- Weight 440 g
- Language English 0
Categories
Short description:
Steven P. Hopkins provides a translation--with introduction, textual notes, and thematic commentary--of the Hamsasandesa, a "messenger poem" by saint-poet and philosopher Vedantedesika (c.1268-1369).
MoreLong description:
After a sleepless night spent longing for his absent wife Sita, Rama, god-prince and future king, surveyed his army camps on a clear autumn morning and spied a white goose playing in a pond of lotus flowers. Seeing this radiant creature who so resembled his lost beloved, he began to plead with the bird to send her a message of love and fierce revenge.
This is the setting of the Hamsasandesa ("A Message for the Goose"), a sandesa or "messenger poem" by the medieval saint-poet and philosopher Vedantedesika, a seminal figure for the Srivaisnava religious community of Tamil Nadu, South India, and a master poet in Sanskrit and Tamil. In The Flight of Love, Steven P. Hopkins situates Vedantedesika's Sanskrit sandesa within the wider comparative context of South Indian and Sri Lankan literatures. He traces the significance of messenger poetry in the construction of sacred landscapes in pre-modern South Asia and explores the ways the piece re-envisions the pan-Indian story of Rama and Sita, rooting his protagonists in a turbulent emotional world where separation, overwhelming desire, and anticipated bliss, are written into the living particularized bodies of lover and beloved, in the "messenger" goose and in the landscapes surrounding them.
Hopkins's translation of the Hamsasandesa into fluid American English verse is framed by a comparative introduction, including an extended essay on translation, detailed linguistic notes, and an expanded thematic commentary that weaves together traditional religious interpretations of the poem with themes of contemporary literary relevance. Equally the work of a scholar and a poet, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of South Asian studies, comparative religion, and Indian literatures.
The Flight of Love, with its exploration of South Indian messenger poems, is a solid effort to show the significance of Sanskrit and Indian literature and the role it plays in the cultures, religions, and sacred spaces found amongst one of the largest and oldest human populations. Hopkins's book shows that simple messenger poems hold larger meaning by his connections of verses to the landscape of Tamil Nadu with powerful imagery and emotion.
Table of Contents:
Preface
Pronunciation of Sanskrit and Tamil Words
Chapter 1. Introduction. Lovers, Messengers and Beloved Landscapes
Chapter 2. The Flight of Love. The Hamsasandesa
Chapter 3. "To See What the Heart Hears:" The Magic Lantern of Venkatesa
Epilogue: The Rain Messenger and the Wild Goose
Glossary of Names and Terms
Bibliography
Notes
Index
