Same-Sex Love inIndia A Literary History

In 2009 the Delhi High Court's historic judgment overturning Section 377 as violative of the Indian Constitution referred to Same-Sex Love in India. So did the 2018 Supreme Court decision which upheld that judgment. All the petitions against this anti-sodomy law have cited this landmark book to prove that homosexuality is not a Western import.Same-Sex Love in India is the book that brought to light the long incontestable history of same-sex love and desire in the Indian subcontinent. Covering over 2000 years from the Mahabharata to the late twentieth century the book contains excerpts from stories poems letters biographies and histories in fifteen languages. The editors' introductions to each period and text trace the changing depictions of and debates around same-sex relations illuminating their social political and literary contexts. These essays have been called 'outstanding works of scholarship'. Including writings that range from romantic to analytical playful to thoughtful this classic work will help you see Indian culture and society with new eyes. About the Author Ruth Vanita taught at Delhi University for twenty years and is now professor at the University of Montana. She was founding co-editor ofManushi 1978-90. She is the author of several books includingLove's Rite Same-Sex Marriages in Modern India (2005)Gender Sex and the City Urdu Rekhti Poetry in India 1780-1870 (2012) andDancing with the Nation Courtesans in Bombay Cinema (2017). She is the co-editor ofSame-Sex Love in India A Literary History and has translated many works of fiction and poetry from Hindi and Urdu to English most notablyChocolate Stories on Male-Male Desire by Pandey Bechan Sharma 'Ugra' (2008). This is her first work of fiction. She divides her time between Missoula and Gurgaon.Saleem Kidwai is a historian and independent scholar who taught at Ramjas College Delhi University for twenty years. He has published several academic essays on medieval and modern India and translated several works includingSong Sung True A Memoir by Malka Pukhraj and a collection of Syed Rafiq Hussain's short storiesThe Mirror of Wonders. Apart from the author herself he is the only person to have translated the novels of Qurratulain HyderChandni Begum andShip of Sorrow.