Prema, Sanskrit style

As we leaf through How to Love in Sanskrit edited and translated by Anusha Rao and Suhas Mahesh we smile blush experience awe and feel melancholicmdashall at the same time The book a compilation of Sanskrit and Prakrit a group of Middle IndoAryan languages spoken between 500 BC and 500 AD poetry about love is divided into delightful sections How to flirt How to make love How to break uphellip The verses are romantic full of yearning and still relevanthellip but then doesnrsquot love feel the same all over the world time after timeAnusha Rao and Suhas MaheshWe picked six of our favourite versespoems and the translators excavated their depth for usTrip down memory laneRam Sita and Lakshman PicsWikimediaIt became her stake in our bedroom dice gamesa leash around my neck while making loveour fan when we were all sweaty afterher bedspread when we fought and slept apartthis very shawl that she worewhich fate has now returned to meldquoThis poem is from Dhiranagarsquos acclaimed Sanskrit play Kundamala Jasmine Garland It is one of the earliest explorations of the theme of eternal discontent in Indian literaturemdashRam banishing Sita Dhiranagarsquos writing stands out for strong character development something quite unusual in old Indian literaturerdquoDimplesPrincess Damayanti with NalaAfter creating herGod must havegazed at his work admiringlyholding her face in his handsthumb on each cheekThatrsquos how she gother two perfect dimplesldquoThis is from the pen of Shriharsha 12th century poet and was probably composed in Kannauj now in Uttar Pradesh It is one of dozens of his Sanskrit poems on Damayantirsquos beauty the princess of Vidarbha in his epic poem on the romance of Nala and Damayanti Shriharsharsquos poetry bears the stamp of deep scholarshipmdashcomplex imagery syntax and vocabulary He was only a poet but a formidable philosopher For 800 years it was regarded a mark of scholarship to be able to read and interpret himrdquoHappily never afterHersquos handsome they all sayBut franklyI donrsquot care much for himbecause hersquos my husbandWould you enjoy ambrosiaif you had to drink it every dayon the doctorrsquos instructionsldquoYou have probably heard the famous Ashtapadis of Jayadevarsquos Gita Govinda This poem is by Jayadevarsquos friend Govardhana 12th century who was unmatched in Bengal for love poetry Govardhanarsquos Arya Saptashati has seven hundred little vignettes on lovemdashsome musings of his own some told through the voices of women and rarely men Many of these poems are daring and salacious and stand out as especially bold even within Sanskrit which does not shy away fromsuch themesrdquoInferiority ComplexSeeing the lovely redof your lips darlingcherries hang themselvesfrom a tree in despairldquoThis verse from the Kumarapalapratibodha is in Prakrit Maharashtri Prakrit with its sweet and tender syllables was once considered the ideal language for love While the verse is romantic the text authored by Somaprabha Suri is a series of teachings by Jain teacher Hemachandra to Chalukyan king Kumarapala The teachings are so influential that Kumarapala converts to Jainism Who knew that love poetry could go so well together with religious teachingsrdquoWhat gave it awayWhen he came homeI didnrsquot look at himI didnrsquot speak to himI didnrsquot offer him anythingThatrsquos how they guessedldquoWe canrsquot be sure but it seems like the scene for this poem is likely set in a small village in the Deccan possibly on the banks of the Godavari Who wrote this poem We donrsquot know but a Jain monk Jineshvara Suri compiled all his favorite poems into a book in 11th century in Gujarat which is how this one survives This exquisite still untranslated collectionmdashthe Gaharayanakoso Treasury of Gahasmdashcontains hundreds of verses gahas on all manner of topics including love nature and the seasons Jineshvara Suri is still venerated by the Jain community though his contributions to poetry are not usually in the spotlightrdquoMorning afterHow glorious is a womanrsquos faceat the start of the nighthair done upmakeup chosen with the greatest careAnd how much more gorgeous ndashmakeup smudged hair tousledthe morning afterldquoThis is from the novel Lilavai considered a crowning glory of the Prakrit language It was composed by Kouhala 9th century The novel is set in coastal Andhra Pradesh and has three young women at the centre of the plotmdashLilavai princess of Sinhala now Sri Lanka and her two companions It follows the adventures of King Hala in the underworld as he tries to win Lilavairsquos hand This poem is from a scene of lovemaking and is flanked by many other lovely poems Lilavai has been recently translated into English by the Murty Classical Library of Indiardquo