Menka Shivdasani:  Love is a theme that many writers and anthologists have explored over the decades. There was Meena Alexander’s Indian Love Poems, for example, in 2005, which featured work from across more than two- and- a- half millennia, from classical languages such as Sanskrit and Tamil, and later languages like Hindi, Urdu, Malayalam, Bengali and English – from the 12th century to contemporary times. In fact, in your Editors’ Note, you name many of these works. When you decided to edit an anthology of Great Indian Love Poems, what were you hoping to do that would be different, and what made you think the time was right for such a collection?

Abhay K.: The idea to edit an anthology of Indian Love Poems came while I was editing The Bloomsbury Anthology of Great Indian Poems covering 28 Indian poems spanning over 3000 years of Indian poetry as many of these great Indian poems were love poems. Love is an emotion that each one of us feels and experiences. Love is fundamental to human existence. Therefore, I decided to put together an anthology of Indian love poems during the pandemic last year while everyone was busy writing poems on COVID-19 pandemic or editing anthologies related to it. 

While reading Meena Alexander’s Indian Love Poems and other anthologies on Indian love poetry published earlier, I felt that love poems from more Indian languages needed to be included. I also felt that fresh translations of many well-known Indian love poems were needed, as well the new voices from the younger generation of Indian poets needed to be given space. The COVID-19 Pandemic made us even more aware of the need to express love for our near and dear ones and spend time with them. Therefore, there could not have been a more appropriate time to publish this anthology. 

 

Menka Shivdasani: In your Editor’s Note, you speak of six varieties of love, as described in ancient Greek philosophy. What were these different forms of love, and do you think the poems you received did justice to them all? Would you say any of these varieties particularly informs or influences poems by Indian writers? What makes Indian love poems unique from those written in other civilisations?

Abhay K.:  Six varieties of love described in ancient Greek philosophy are: eros (sexual passion), phila (platonic love), ludus (playful affection), pragma (mature love), agape (selfless love) and philautia (self-love). I think poems included in this anthology express all these varieties of love, although some varieties are more represented than the others. Many of the early love poems written in Sanskrit and Prakrit express mostly eros and ludus, while the more recent Indian love poems express phila, pragma, agape and philautia. 

The coming together of devotional and sensual love is one of the key dimensions of Indian love poetry, where they become inseparable from each other. Look at these lines –

You’re one with me, apart too

How to describe you

You’re beloved, God too

How to describe you 

— Sachal Sarmast

I am on fire

with heartfelt desires.

Lord,

cut through the greed in my heart,

show your way

out

Lord, white as jasmine.

— Akka Mahadevi

The indispensability of nature in Indian love poetry also makes it unique. Even flowers, plants, animal, seasons, rain, rainbow, wind, sun, moon, stars, stones, rivers, mountains among other things animate and inanimate have their own sensual personas and feature prominently in Indian love poetry. Kalidasa’s Meghaduta mentions 26 different kinds of plants and flowers such as Mango, Ashoka, Rodhra, various species of Jasmine, Kakubha, Kurbaka, Mandara, among others. 


Menka Shivdasani: From Sumerian cuneiform tablets to ancient Arab and Persian poetry, and Maya and Inca civilisations and elsewhere – love is a universal theme that spans all cultures. As you explored the rich traditions of Indian poetry from 28 languages over 3000 years, what elements did you find most striking? What were the themes that came across most forcefully to you?

Abhay K.: I think it is the constant struggle between sensuality and spirituality in Indian poetry and philosophy that strikes me the most. Here is a poem by poet-monk Dharmakirti, who taught at Nalanda University, that sums this unending tug of war –

Making love to her lasts only moments

like a dream, illusion, ending in regret

I reflect upon this truth a hundred times

Yet my heart can’t forget the gazelle-eyed girl.

 

               — Dharmakirti

In Indian philosophy, pursuit of Kama (enjoyment) is an essential step along with Dharma (right conduct) and Artha (economic prosperity) in obtaining Moksha (ultimate liberation / self-actualisation). 

Vatsayayana’s Kamasutra defines Kama as follows – “Kama is the enjoyment of appropriate objects by the five senses of hearing, feeling, seeing, tasting, and smelling, assisted by the mind together with the soul. The ingredient in this is a peculiar contact between the organ of sense and its object, and the consciousness of pleasure which arises from that contact is called Kama.” Those who pursue Artha, Kama and Dharma, in balance, understand the art of life, and automatically attain Moksha.

 

Menka Shivdasani:    You speak of the rich traditions of Sringara Rasa in Indian poetry which describes the various facets of love. Could you tell us a little more about this and give us some examples from the book?

Abhay K.: Sringara (love) rasa is the most prominent among the nine basic rasas, viz, Sringara (love), Hasya (laughter), Raudra (anger), Kaarunya (kindness), Bibhatsa (horror), Bhayaanaka (scare), Vira (valour), Adbhuta (surprise) and Shaanta (calm), which together capture the universe of human emotions. Sringara rasa itself is further divided into three broad types – Ayoga Sringara (unequal love filled with longing), Vipra Lamba Sringara (love in separation) and Sambhoga Sringara (love in sexual union). Here are examples of each of these three kinds of Sringara rasa—

If I could spend just one night with her –

the girl with a soft body, broad shoulders,

lush alluring hair, who has stolen my heart –

I swear I wouldn’t want to live another day.

— Nakkirar

 

Seized by love’s rage I paint you red on the rock

And wish to paint myself prostrating at your feet,

But my eyesight gets blurred by gushing tears,

Even here, cruel fate would not allow us to meet.

 

— Kalidasa

 

Have patience, my love

don’t take off my clothes yet,

though parrot is asleep

mynah is still awake…

— Keshavdas


Menka Shivdasani:     You have also included Dalit, tribal and LGBTQ poems in this book. While selecting the poems, what were the key criteria that you had in mind? What did it take for a poem to make it into this book?

Abhay K.: I selected the poems which made a deep first impression on me and then retained their magic during subsequent readings. I also wanted to create a mood of love through this anthology and therefore the poems had to add in some way in creating this mood.

 

I give her the rose with unfurled petals.

She smiles

and crosses her legs.

I give her the shell with the swollen lip. 

She laughs. I bite

and nuzzle her breasts.

— Suniti Namjoshi


Menka Shivdasani:  Tell us about the structure of this collection and how and why you organised it in the way that you did.

Abhay K.: The focus of this anthology is on the poems instead of poets, and therefore, the anthology has been organised alphabetically with the titles of the poems. It has also been done to highlight the timeless nature of great Indian love poetry. 

 

Menka Shivdasani: One of your stated aims in this book is to make ‘gems of Indian poetry accessible to the younger generations who are starting to explore the world of love and sexuality'. Many young people today, are in fact, writing poetry, and love is a favourite topic, and one that is very easy to stumble over. In your view, now that you have explored the subject over such as wide canvas, what makes for a successful love poem?

Abhay K.: I think a successful love poem should have genuine experience of love as its ingredient and should be able to evoke the feeling of love in others, should not be too obvious, rather it should hint .


Menka Shivdasani: Working on this book spurred you on to do translations of masterpieces of Indian love poetry. Tell us about this work and what new projects we can expect from you.

Abhay K.: While selecting poems for this anthology I read love poems from various centuries, languages and anthologies and came out with several gems. The quest of finding great Indian love poems also put me on the path of translating Kalidasa’s Meghaduta and Ritusamhara, the two exquisite masterpieces of Indian love poetry. I also translated a selection of verses from Sanskrit classics such as Kamasutra, Amarushataka and a number of love poems from Braj Bhasa. 

My translations of Meghaduta and Ritusamhara will be published by Bloomsbury India this year.

Inspired by Meghaduta, I have written a long love poem titled Monsoon which originated near Madagascar and travels all the way up to the Himalayas and back, carrying the smells, sights and sounds of the islands of the Indian ocean. 

Abhay K. is author of nine poetry collections, most recently of The Alphabets of Latin America, and the editor of The Bloomsbury Book of Great Indian Love Poems, CAPITALS, The Bloomsbury Anthology of Great Indian Poems and New Brazilian Poems. His poems have been published in several literary journals including Poetry Salzburg Review and Asian Literary Review. His 'Earth Anthem' has been translated into over 50 languages. He received SAARC Literary Award 2013 and was invited to record his poems at the Library of Congress, Washington DC in 2018. 

Menka Shivdasani has four poetry collections, including Frazil (1980 – 2017). She has edited two anthologies of contemporary Indian poetry for the American ezine www.bigbridge.org and an anthology of women’s writing for SPARROW. Menka has also co-translated Freedom and Fissures (Sahitya Akademi), an anthology of Sindhi Partition poetry. In 2019, she received a Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize Certificate for ‘excellent contribution to literature’ and the Ethos Literary Award. In 2020, Menka received the inaugural WE Eunice de Souza Award. She co-founded Poetry Circle in 1986. Her work as a journalist includes 18 books as co-author/ editor, three of which were released by then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.