Description
A thousand-year-old story of Krishna and his wife Satyabhama retold by the most famous court poet of the Vijayanagara Empire.
Legend has it that the sixteenth-century Telugu poet Nandi Timmana composed Theft of a Tree, or Parijatapaharanamu, which he based on a popular millennium-old tale, to help the wife of Krishnadevaraya, king of the south Indian Vijayanagara Empire, win back her husband's affections.
Theft of a Tree recounts how Krishna stole the parijata, a wish-granting tree, from the garden of Indra, king of the gods. Krishna does so to please his favorite wife, Satyabhama, who is upset when he gifts his chief queen a single divine flower. After battling Indra, Krishna plants the tree for Satyabhama-but she must perform a rite temporarily relinquishing it and her husband to enjoy endless happiness. The poem's narrative unity, which was unprecedented in the literary tradition, prefigures the modern Telugu novel.
Theft of a Tree is presented here in the Telugu script alongside the first English translation.
About the Author
Harshita Mruthinti Kamath is the Visweswara Rao and Sita Koppaka Associate Professor in Telugu Culture, Literatures and History at Emory University. Velcheru Narayana Rao is the Krishnadevaraya Emeritus Professor of Languages and Cultures of Asia at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Reviews
Theft of a Tree is wonderful piece, but it's not what you're used to-unless you were born five hundred years ago, in a galaxy far, far away...I had a helluva time, rethinking everything, thanks to this book. -- Anthony Madrid * RHINO *
Book Information
ISBN 9780674245891
Author Nandi Timmana
Format Hardback
Page Count 544
Imprint Harvard University Press
Publisher Harvard University Press
Weight(grams) 399g
