Same-Sex Love in India: A Literary History

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Same-Sex Love in India offers an eloquent range of writings spanning more than two thousand years of Indian literature. Drawn from Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist and contemporary fictional sources these writings convincingly demonstrate that same-sex love has flourished, evolved and been embraced in various forms since ancient times. From the Mahabharata to modern writers and artists such as Ismat Chughtai and Bhupen Khakhar, the eclectic and expressive selections in this anthology include excerpts from devotional books, legal and erotic treatises, story cycles, medieval histories and biographies to modern novels, short stories, letters, memoirs, plays and poems. This pioneering book is invaluable for gender studies, for Indian history, and for all readers interested in the fascinating development of homoerotic traditions and writings. About The Author Ruth Vanita is Professor of Liberal Studies at the University of Montana, and former Reader of English at Delhi University. She was a founder of Manushi and co-edited it from 1978-90. She is the author of Sappho and the Virgin Mary: Same-Sex Love and the English Literary Imagination, and co-author of Same-Sex Love in India: Readings from Literature and History; forthcoming publications include a collection of essays on gender and sexuality and her translation of some Hindi fiction by Ugra. 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, including Song Sung True: A Memoir by Malka.