When God is a Customer: Telugu Courtesan Songs by Ksetrayya and Others - Softcover

Ramanujan, A. K. K.; Rao, Velcheru Narayana; Shulman, David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0520080696 ISBN 13: 9780520080690

Publisher: University of California Press, 1994

Synopsis

How is it that this woman's breasts glimmer so clearly through her saree? Can't you guess, my friends? What are they but rays from the crescents left by the nails of her lover pressing her in his passion, rays now luminous as the moonlight of a summer night?

These South Indian devotional poems show the dramatic use of erotic language to express a religious vision. Written by men during the fifteenth to eighteenth century, the poems adopt a female voice, the voice of a courtesan addressing her customer. That customer, it turns out, is the deity, whom the courtesan teases for his infidelities and cajoles into paying her more money. Brazen, autonomous, fully at home in her body, she merges her worldly knowledge with the deity's transcendent power in the act of making love.

This volume is the first substantial collection in English of these Telugu writings, which are still part of the standard repertoire of songs used by classical South Indian dancers. A foreword provides context for the poems, investigating their religious, cultural, and historical significance. Explored, too, are the attempts to contain their explicit eroticism by various apologetic and rationalizing devices.

The translators, who are poets as well as highly respected scholars, render the poems with intelligence and tenderness. Unusual for their combination of overt eroticism and devotion to God, these poems are a delight to read.

About this title

About the Author:

A. K. Ramanujan, recently deceased, was a poet published in English and Kannada, and served as William E. Colvin Professor of South Asian Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago. Velcheru Narayana Rao is a poet and critic in Telugu, and Professor of South Asian Literature at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. David Shulman is a poet in Hebrew, and Professor of South Asian Studies and Comparative Religion at The Hebrew University, Jerusalem.

Review:

Eight On Janardana Of Kandukuru by Kandukuri Rudrakavi
The Courtesan Speaks To Her Lover by Kshetrayya
A Courtesan To A Messenger by Kshetrayya
A Courtesan To A Messenger by Kshetrayya
A Courtesan To A Young Customer by Kshetrayya
A Courtesan To Her Friend by Kshetrayya
A Courtesan To Her Friend by Kshetrayya
A Courtesan To Her Girlfriend by Kshetrayya
A Courtesan To Her Lover by Kshetrayya
A Courtesan To Her Lover by Kshetrayya
A Courtesan To Her Lover by Kshetrayya
A Courtesan To Her Lover by Kshetrayya
A Courtesan To Her Messenger by Kshetrayya
A Courtesan To The Messenger by Kshetrayya
A Girlfriend To The Woman by Kshetrayya
The Madam To A Courtesan by Kshetrayya
A Man Speaks Of His Love by Kshetrayya
A Married Woman Speaks To Her Lover by Kshetrayya
A Married Woman To Her Lover by Kshetrayya
A Married Woman To Her Lover by Kshetrayya
A Married Woman To Her Lover by Kshetrayya
An Older Woman To A Younger by Kshetrayya
A Senior Courtesan To A Younger One by Kshetrayya
A Wife To A Friend by Kshetrayya
A Woman To Her Friend by Kshetrayya
A Woman To Her Friend by Kshetrayya
A Woman To Her Friend by Kshetrayya
A Woman To Her Friend by Kshetrayya
A Woman To Her Friend by Kshetrayya
A Woman To Her Friend by Kshetrayya
A Woman To Her Friend by Kshetrayya
A Woman To Her Girlfriends by Kshetrayya
A Woman To Her Lover by Kshetrayya
A Woman To Her Lover by Kshetrayya
A Woman To Her Lover by Kshetrayya
A Woman To Her Messenger by Kshetrayya
A Woman To Her Reluctant Lover by Kshetrayya
A Young Woman To A Friend by Kshetrayya
Canto General by Naftali Ricardo Reyes Basuato
A Customer To A Courtesan by Sarangapani
The Madam To A Courtesan by Sarangapani
The Madam To A Young Courtesan by Sarangapani
A Married Woman's Complaint by Sarangapani
To An Older Woman by Sarangapani
A Wife's Complaint by Sarangapani
Her Friends Tease The Woman In Love by Tallapaka Annamacarya
The Other Woman To Venkatesa by Tallapaka Annamacarya
A Woman Talking To Herself by Tallapaka Annamacarya
A Woman To Her Lover by Tallapaka Annamacarya
A Woman To Her Lover by Tallapaka Annamacarya
Poem To Lord Konkanesvara. A Courtesan To Her Lover by Anonymous
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder®

About this edition

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0520080696
• ISBN 13: 9780520080690
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 168