The Wisdom of Poets Studies in Tamil, Telugu, and Sanskrit

by Shulman, David

• ISBN13: 9780195652376
• ISBN10: 0195652371
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-11-29
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

The classical literatures of Sanskrit, Tamil, and Telugu are among the richest in the world. These essays explore major issues and themes in the poetry and poetics of these three literatures, focusing on the role of the poet as making present an experience of the divine, and addressing the problem of the self and its processes of disintegration, disguise, and recomposition.

Author Biography

David Shulman is Professor of Indian Studies and Comparative Religion at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem.

Table of Contents

Introduction	1	(18)
I. AUTHORITY, STRUCTURE, VOICE	19	(110)
Toward a Historical Poetics of the Sanskrit Epics	21	(19)
The Yaksa's Questions	40	(23)
Poets and Patrons in Tamil Literature and Literary Legend	63	(40)
From Author to Non-Author in Tamil Literary Legend	103	(26)
II. SELVES, MEMBERED AND REMEMBERED	129	(124)
On Being Human in the Sanskrit Epic: The Riddle of Nala	131	(28)
Embracing the Subject: Harsa's Play within a Play	159	(24)
The Prospects of Memory	183	(30)
Dreaming the Self in South India	213	(40)
III. METAPHYSICS OF PRESENCE	253	(98)
Bhavabhuti on Cruelty and Compassion	255	(38)
Fire and Flood: The Testing of Sita in Kampan's Iramavataram	293	(30)
First Man, Forest Mother: Telugu Humanism in the Age of Krsnadevaraya	323	(28)
Does God Have Moods?	351