Sincere Praise of Honest Sweat: Translation and Reflections on the life of a South Indian Queen

This book, based on translations, is literary and frankly experimental; it is about natural experiences told in natural language. Often translations from centuries ago seem stilted, dry and archaic, literally correct and academically adequate, but lacking such touchstones of basic humanity’s life as inner feelings and visceral intuitive sensations. I am exercising a hope of offering a fresh telling, and a chance to provide some imaginative reflections on this topic I have chosen. The theme is sweat—and other natural human responses. I’ve been struck by how the experience of sweat meant something different centuries ago in India, in comparison with what it means to many people today. As reflected in Sanskrit literature, sweat had associations with desirable feelings—thrills, soulful exertions, arousal, passionate intensity. It’s distinctive, and I seek to know what it might tell us about life, both to Hindus and non-Hindus. It offers a chance to contemplatively play around with beauty, too. It’s an aesthetic exploration of an alluring human mood, of loving joy.