Kumarasambhavam

The greatest long poem in classical Sanskrit, by the greatest poet of the language She with her beautiful face at once was in the power of Siva and of drunkenness, taking her shyness away, both eagerly drawing her toward the bed and both now turned into kindled desire. The greatest long poem in classical Sanskrit, Kumarasambhavam celebrates the love story of Siva and Parvati, whose passionate union results in the birth of their son, the young god Kumara. Beginning with a luminous description of the birth of Parvati, the poem proceeds in perfectly pitched sensuous detail through her courtship with Siva until the night of their wedding. This poem plays out their tale on the immense scale of supreme divinity, wherein the gods are viewed both as lovers and as cosmic principles. Composed in eight cantos by the greatest Sanskrit poet of all time, the verses of Kumarasambhavam continue to enchant readers centuries after they were first written. Hank Heifetz’s sparkling translation brings to life the heady eroticism and sumptuous imagery of the original.