REVIEW

Of love and turning seasons

love-turning-seasons Cover of 'Love and Turning Seasons'

Spirituality, it is said, is not for the faint-hearted. Nor is poetry. Reading a book that combines both—for the ordinary reader—requires an act of courage. Love and the Turning Seasons-India’s Poetry of Spiritual and Erotic Longing—its title is a mouthful, the content enormous and daunting, yet exhilarating.

For most people grappling with spirituality and religion, the poems are a window into a world where devotion isn’t just rituals or prayer, it is the high of love. As Antal says: “From early childhood/ I yearned for/ the Lord of Dvarka/adored him alone, dedicated to him/my budding breasts/Kamadeva, unite me to him soon."

Filled with myriad shades of love, there is the madness of Mirabai: “He has stained me, the color of raven he’s stained me"; the searing intensity of Manikkavacakar: “Love pierced me/ like a nail/driven into a green tree’’. The poems provide the readers a ringside view of the simplicity and the power of faith. Irreverent and sensuous, these poems are as beautiful as they are heartfelt. 

Bringing alive voices of Kabir and Lal Ded—born in the 1300s, whose vakhs are proudly bandied about by Kashmiris even today—to the Upanishads, the book is a testimony to the diversity and depth of bhakti. Punjabi songs find a place in the book, as does Jayadeva (Gita Govinda) and Rabindranath Tagore. 

The book is for those who yearn to find words for their devotion, those who may not be devout, but are seekers, and especially for those who believe that love or even devotion cannot be confined to just one idea.

Love and the turning seasons—India's poetry of spiritual and erotic longing, edited by Andrew Schelling

Publisher: Aleph

Price: Rs 399