The Birth of Kumara (Clay Sanskrit Library) Book

The Clay Sanskrit Library will consist of 100 major works of classical literature.

Each book in the Clay Sanskrit Library is published in the original Sanskrit, in Roman script, on the left-hand page, and in English translation on the right. Twenty-seven leading scholars from eight countries are cooperating to produce fresh new translations that combine readability and accuracy.

The projected list of Clay Sanskrit Library volumes will include all books of the two Indian epics: the Ramáyana and the Maha?bhárata, as well as a rich selection of classical Indian literature (Kavya). Each book will be published in a jacketed hardcover edition, in a compact 4.5" x 6.5" format, designed to bring the great literature of India to the general public, scholars, and students.

Richard F. Gombrich is the Boden Professor of Sanskrit at Oxford University and the author of On Being Sanskritic and The Perfect Generosity of Prince Vessantara.

Love Lyrics Ámaru, Bhartri?hari, and Bílhana Edited and translated by Greg Bailey and Richard F. Gombrich

The short lyric poem appears with great frequency in Sanskrit collections and displays a wide range of themes. Bhartrihari is the most famous composer. Amaru and Bilhana also offer excellent examples.

This anthology of the Love Lyrics of three Indian poets conjures up an atmosphere of love both sensual and social, ever in tension with love?s rejection or repression. The flavor of all these poems? Ámaru?s seventh-century CE "Hundred Poems," Bhartri?hari?s anthology "Love, Politics, Disenchantment," from the fourth century, and Bílhana?s eleventh-century "Fifty Stanzas of a Thief"?is the universalized aesthetic experience of love.