{"product_id":"an-ornament-for-jewels-love-poems-for-the-lord-of-gods-by-vedantadesika-paperback","title":"An Ornament for Jewels: Love Poems for the Lord of Gods, by Vedantadesika - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eSteven P. Hopkins\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn this companion volume to \u003cem\u003eSinging the Body of God\u003c\/em\u003e (Oxford 2002), Steven P. Hopkins has translated into contemporary American English verse poems written by the South Indian Srivaisnava philosopher and saint-poet Venkatesa (c. 1268-1369). These poems, in three different languages - Sanskrit, Tamil, and Maharastri Prakrit -- composed for one particular Hindu god, Vishnu Devanayaka, the \"Lord of Gods\" at Tiruvahindrapuram, form a microcosm of the saint-poet's work. They encompass major themes of Venkatesa's devotional poetics, from the play of divine absence and presence in the world of religious emotions; the \"telescoping\" of time past and future in the eternal \"present\" of the poem; love, human vulnerability and the impassible perfected body of god; to the devotional experience of a \"beauty that saves\" and to what Hopkins terms the paradoxical coexistence of asymmetry and intimacy of lover and beloved at the heart of the divine-human encounter. Moreover, these poems form not only a thematic microcosm, but a linguistic one embracing all three of the poet's working languages. Like the remembered world of Proust's Combray in the taste of madeleine dipped in tea, or Blake's World in a Grain of Sand, we taste and see, in this one particular place, and in this one particular form of Vishnu, various protean forms and powers of the divine, and trace a veritable summa of theological, philosophical, and literary designs. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Each translated poem forms a chapter in itself, has its own individual short Afterword, along with detailed linguistic and thematic notes and commentary. The volume concludes, for comparative reasons, with a translation of Tirumankaiyalvar's luminous cycle of verses for Devanayaka from the \u003cem\u003ePeriyatirumoli.\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e As much an argument as an anthology, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of South Asian studies, comparative religion, and Indian literatures.\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 200\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.5 x 9 x 6 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e October 18, 2007\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52731257225523,"sku":"9780195326406","price":58.28,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0300\/5595\/6612\/files\/rvfCmdRyqA9780195326406.webp?v=1763852215","url":"https:\/\/www.vysn.com\/products\/an-ornament-for-jewels-love-poems-for-the-lord-of-gods-by-vedantadesika-paperback","provider":"VYSN","version":"1.0","type":"link"}