Kumarasambhavam

Kumarasambhavam celebrates the love story of Siva and Parvati whose passionate union results in the birth of their son the young god Kumara. Beginning with a luminous description of the birth of Parvati the poem proceeds in perfectly pitched sensuous detail through her courtship with Siva until the night of their wedding. It plays out their tale on the immense scale of supreme divinity wherein the gods are viewed both as lovers and as cosmic principles. Composed in eight scintillating cantos Kumarasambhavam continues to enchant readers centuries after it was first written. Hank Heifetz's sparkling translation brings to life the heady eroticism and sumptuous imagery of the original. Review '[Heifetz's] translation is magisterial showing a vast knowledge of the poetics of the work itself and speaking with manifest authority. . . . Heifetz finds an English register that suits the exalted tone of the original Sanskrit but remains free of archaic phrasing and bombast'Mint'[Heifetz's translation] is vastly superior . . . [a] stupendous and impressive effort'Indian Express'[A] superb translation'Outlook'This translation should serve as a model for anyone who aspires to translate poetry from the Sanskrit into English. Not only is it accurate which is the easier part of translating but it is also poetically sound by far the more difficult part'Journal of the American Oriental Society About the Author Kalidasa perhaps the most extraordinary of India's classical poets composed seven major works three plays two epic poems and two lyric poems. According to legend he lived at the end of the fourth century and was one the 'nine jewels' in the court of the Gupta king Chandragupta II. Although very little is known about his life Kalidasa's popularity has endured for centuries.