xxiv, 370 pages : 24 cm Same-Sex Love in India presents an 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.--From publisher description Includes bibliographical references and index Introduction: Ancient Indian materials -- Vyasa's Mahabharata: "Sikhandin's Sex Change" (Sanskrit) -- Manikantha Jataka (Pali) -- Vishnu Sharma's Panchatantra (Sanskrit) -- Vatsyayana's Kamasutra (Sanskrit) -- Introduction: Medieval materials in the Sanskritic tradition -- Bhagvata Purana: The embrace of Shiva and Vishnu (Sanskrit) -- Skanda Purana: Sumedha and Somavan (Sanskrit) -- Shiva Purana: The birth of Kartikeya (Sanskrit) -- Shiva Purana: The birth of Ganesha (Sanskrit) -- Somadeva Bhatta's Kathasaritsagara: Kalingasena and Somaprabha (Sanskrit) -- Padma Purana: Arjuni (Sanskrit) -- Ayyappa and Vavar: celibate friends -- Krittivasa Ramayana: The birth of Bhagiratha (Bengali) -- Jagannath Das (Oriya) -- Introduction: Medieval materials in the Perso-Urdu tradition -- Amir Khusro (Persian and Hindvi) -- Ziauddin Barani: The Khaljis in love (Persian) -- The mirror of secrets: "Akhi" Jamshed Rajgiri (Persian) -- Baburnama (Turkish) -- "Mutribi" Samarqandi: The fair and the dark boys (Persian) -- Haqiqat al-Fuqara: poetic biography of "Madho Lal" Hussayn (Persian), with Hussayn's poems (Punjabi) -- Sarmad (Persian) -- Muhammad Akram "Ghanimat" Kanjohi: Love's sorcery (Persian) -- Najmuddin Shah Mubarak "Abru": Advice to a beloved (Urdu) -- Siraj Aurangabadi: The garden of delusion (Urdu) -- Mir Abdul Hai "Taban": The lover who looked like a beloved (Urdu) -- Dargah Quli Khan: Portrait of a city (Persian) -- Mir Taqi "Mir": Autobiography and poems (Persian and Urdu) -- Introduction: Modern Indian materials -- Nazir Akbarabadi (Urdu) -- Rekhti poetry: Love between Women (Urdu) -- Shri Ramakrishna Paramahansa (Bengali) -- Bankim Chandra Chatterjee: Indira (Bengali) -- The Kamasutra in the twentieth century -- Gopabandhu Das: Poems Written in Prison (Oriya) -- The new homophobia: Ugra's Chocolate (Hindi) -- M.K. Gandhi: Reply to a query (English) -- Amrita Sher-Gil: Letters (English) -- Hakim Muhammad Yusuf Hasan: Do Shiza (Urdu) -- "Firaq" Gorakhpuri: Poet vs. "critic" (Urdu) -- Sharada: "Farewell" (Hindi) -- Suryakant Tripathi "Nirala": Kulli Bhaat (Hindi) -- Josh Malihabadi: "There will never be another like you" (Urdu) -- Ismat Chughtai: " Tehri Lakeer" (Urdu) -- Rajendra Yadav: "Waiting" (Hindi) -- Bhupen Khakhar: A story (Gujarati) -- Kishori Charan Das: "Sarama's romance" (Oriya) -- Crime of passion (English) -- Shobhana Siddique: "Full to the brim" (Hindi) -- V.T. Nandakumar: Two girls (Malayalam) -- Vijay Dan Detha: "A double life" (Rajasthani) -- Vikram Seth: Poems (English) -- Nirmala Deshpande: "Mary had a little lamb" (Marathi) -- Vijay Tendulkar: Mitra's story (Marathi) -- Sunil Gangopadhyay: Those days (Bengali) -- H.S. Shivaprakash: Shakespeare dreamship (Kannada) -- Inez Vere Dullas: Poems (English) -- Hoshang Merchant: Poems for Vivan (English) -- Ambai: "One Person and Another" (Tamil)