Same-Sex Love in India Readings from Literature and History

Edited by Ruth Vanita and Saleem Kidwai

MACMILLAN Contents

Acknowledgments xi Preface xiii

Parti Introduction: Ancient Indian Materials 1

Vyasa's Mahabharata: "Sikhandin's Sex Change" (Sanskrit) 31 Manikantha Jataka (Pali) 37 Vishnu Sharma's Panchatantra (Sanskrit) 40 Vatsyayana's Kamasutra (Sanskrit) 46

Part II Introduction: Medieval Materials in the Sanskritic Tradition 55

Bhagvata Purana: The Embrace of Shiva and Vishnu (Sanskrit) 69 Skanda Purana: Sumedha and Somavan (Sanskrit) 72 Shiva Purana: The Birth of Kartikeya (Sanskrit) 77 Shiva Purana: The Birth of Ganesha (Sanskrit) 81 Somadeva Bhatta's Kathasaritsagara: ICalingasena and Somaprabha (Sanskrit) . 85 Padma Purana: Arjuni (Sanskrit) \ 90 Ayyappa and Vavar: Celibate Friends 94 Krittivasa Ramayana: The Birth of Bhagiratha (Bengali) 100 Jagannath Das (Oriya) 103

Part m Introduction: Medieval Materials in the Perso-Urdu Tradition 107

Amir Khusro (Persian and Hindvi) 126 Ziauddin Barani: The Khaljis in Love (Persian) 131 The Mirror of Secrets: "Akhi" Jamshed Rajgiri (Persian) 136 Baburnama (Turkish) 140 "Mutribi" Samarqandi: The Fair and the Dark Boys (Persian) 143 Haqiqat al-Fuqara: Poetic Biography of "Madho Lai" Hussayn (Persian), with Hussayn's poems (Punjabi) 145 Sarmad (Persian) 157 Muhammad Akram "Ghanimat" Kanjohi: Love's Sorcery (Persian) 159 "Abru": Advice to a Beloved (Urdu) 161 Siraj Aurangabadi: The Garden of Delusion (Urdu) 169 Mir Abdul Hai "Taban": The Lover Who Looked like a Beloved (Urdu) 173 Dargah Quli Khan: Portrait of a City (Persian) 175 Mir Taqi "Mir": Autobiography and Poems (Persian and Urdu) 184

Part IV Introduction: Modern Indian Materials 191

Nazir Akbarabadi (Urdu) 218 Rekhti Poetry: Love between Women (Urdu) 220 Shri Ramakrishna Paramahansa (Bengali) 229 Bankim Chandra Chatterjee: Indira (Bengali) 233 The Kamasutra in the Twentieth Century 236 Gopabandhu Das: Poems Written in Prison (Oriya) 241 The New Homophobia: Ugra's Chocolate (Hindi) 246 M. K. Gandhi: Reply to a Query (English) 253 Amrita Sher-Gil: Letters (English) 257 Hakim Muhammad Yusuf Hasan: Do Shiza (Urdu) 260 "Firaq" Gorakhpuri: Poet vs. "Critic" (Urdu) 264 Sharada: "Farewell" (Hindi) 267 Suryakant Tripathi "Nirala": Kulli Bhaat (Hindi) 270 Josh Malihabadi: "There Will Never Be Another Like You" (Urdu) 274 Ismat Chughtai: " Tehri Lakeer" (Urdu) 283 Rajendra Yadav: "Waiting" (Hindi) 289 Bhupen Khakhar: A Story (Gujarati) 294 Kishori Charan Das: "Sarama's Romance" (Oriya) 298 Kewal Sood: The Hen Coop (Hindi) 301 Shobhana Siddique: "Full to the Brim" (Hindi) 304 V. T. Nandakumar: Two Girls (Malayalam) . 311 Vijay Dan Detha: "A Double Life" (Rajasthani) 318 Vikram Seth: Poems (English) 325 Nirmala Deshpande: "Mary Had a Little Lamb" (Marathi) 327 Vijay Tendulkar: Mitra's Story (Marathi) 332 Sunil Garigopadhyay: Those Days (Bengali) • 336 H. S. Shivaprakash: Shakespeare Dreamship (Kannada) 342 Inez Vere Dullas: Poems (English) 347 Hoshang Merchant: Poems for Vivan (English) 349 Ambai: "One Person and Another" (Tamil) 352

Glossary 357 Translators and Contributors 363 Index 365