The Cane Groves of Narmada River: Erotic Poems from Old India

by Andrew Schelling (Editor)

Of the world’s ancient poetry, that of classical India was the most vividly erotic—uninhibited, tender, sad, and joyous by turns. The poems sound as if they might have been written yesterday, although the period covered ranges from roughly 200 CE until about the eleventh century. “ The Cane Groves is a brilliant selection of refined, provocative, shivery-lovely poems. It has a generous bibliography and an astute introduction that illuminates both poetics and scholarship with its insights into wealth of nature imagery, the implicit watershed consciousness, and a sense of the Wild as Tryst. What a gem of a book! It’s the best gathering of Indian short poems yet.”—Gary Snyder "A teacher of Sanskrit at the Naropa Institute in Colorado, Schelling judiciously selects from a wealth of secular and courtly poems on sex and provides translations (no originals) he assures us are literal. The first section draws from the vernacular erotic poems in the Sattasai (or 'Seven Hundred Poems') collected by King Hala in the second century, and are full of rural imagery of sex by rivers and in fields, with attention to positions. The second section of poems from the Sanskrit includes more women's voices, and a more sophisticated sensibility, but follows the same self-contained lyric style, with candid phrases (itchy wombs and 'tits sagging'). Though few of these outdoorsy romances come with names of poets attached, Schelling provides an appendix on what we do know about some of them, and also adds a most useful annotated bibliography."— Kirkus Review Andrew Schelling (born January 14, 1953 in Washington D.C.), is an American poet and translator. At Naropa he teaches poetry, Sanskrit, and wilderness writing. He has published seventeen books, which include poetry, translation (from the ancient languages of India), and essays.

Genres: Poetry, India, Literature, Erotica, Fiction

90 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1998

About the author

Andrew Schelling is a poet, essayist, and translator of the poetry of India. He has taught at Naropa University for twenty years and from 1993–96 served as chair of the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics founded by Alan Ginsburg and Anne Waldman. His publications include Tea Shack Interior and The Wisdom Anthology of North American Buddhist Poetry. He lives in Boulder, Colorado.

Reviews

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

By turns profane, exalted, loving, angry, leisured, urgent and much more. Our ancestors were better at writing about love and lust than we seem to be. Some of these, a very few, seemed not erotic but more general personal reminiscence? Definitely one to read several times or dip into again over time.

[Ashok Krishna]

These poems are the remnants of a time when India was everything it is touted to be.

Will share the complete review soon.

[Aparna Kumar]

Such beautiful and engaging poems - some made me think, some made me sad while others made me laugh - but one thing constant throughout the book was a smile at the sheer depth and versatility in the poems from our old india.

[Prabhat Gusain]

Night after night in the
rainy season
I'd push my way
through village mud to your door
the mud is no different today
but how
cold you have grown
how ungrateful

Anonymous
Sattasai 5.45

[Joelle.P.S]

Gift from Elisa. :)