The ''Amaruśataka'' or ''Amarukaśataka'' (अमरुशतक, "the hundred stanzas of Amaru"), authored by Amaru (also Amaruka), is a collection of poems dated to about the 7th
[Introduction in The ''Amaruśataka'' was als]
as part of the volum
''Love Lyrics''
in the Clay Sanskrit Library
The Clay Sanskrit Library is a series of books published by New York University Press and the JJC Foundation. Each work features the text in its original language (transliterated Sanskrit) on the left-hand page, with its English translation on the ...
or 8th century.
[
The ''Amaruśataka'' ranks as one of the finest ]lyrical poetry
Modern lyric poetry is a formal type of poetry which expresses personal emotions or feelings, typically spoken in the first person.
The term for both modern lyric poetry and modern song lyrics derives from a form of Ancient Greek literature, ...
in the annals of Sanskrit literature
Sanskrit literature is a broad term for all literature composed in Sanskrit. This includes texts composed in the earliest attested descendant of the Proto-Indo-Aryan language known as Vedic Sanskrit, texts in Classical Sanskrit as well as some ...
, ranking with Kalidasa
Kālidāsa (, "Servant of Kali"; 4th–5th century CE) was a Classical Sanskrit author who is often considered ancient India's greatest poet and playwright. His plays and poetry are primarily based on Hindu Puranas and philosophy. His surviv ...
and 's '. The ninth-century literary critic Anandavardhana declared in his ''Dhvanyaloka'' that "a single stanza of the poet Amaru ... may provide the taste of love equal to what's found in whole volumes." Its verses have been used by poets and critics as examples and standards to judge other poems by. Andrew Schelling describes it as "love poetry original and vivid as that produced anywhere on the planet".[Introduction i]
''Erotic Love Poems from India''
A Translation of the ''Amarushataka'' translated by Andrew Schelling, Shambala Library, 2004.
Its subject is mostly Sringara
Sringara (, ) is one of the nine rasas, usually translated as erotic love, romantic love, or as attraction or beauty. ''Rasa'' means "flavour", and the theory of rasa is the primary concept behind classical Indian arts including theatre, music, ...
(erotic love, romantic love) including aspects such as love, passion, estrangement, longing, rapprochement, joy and sorrow, etc. Greg Bailey notes that it is "as much about the social aspects of courting, betrayal, feminine indignance and masculine self-pity as it is about sensuality".[ Similarly, Schelling notes: "All the flavours or nuances of love are said to lie within the book, though you'll notice that the emphasis falls more on the bitter taste of separation or betrayal than on the sweetness of consummation.".][ Three recensions were made - The Southern represented by Verma, the Bengali or the Eastern by Ravichandra and the Western by Arjuna . Out of 127 stanzas that r found only 72 are considered to be genuine by Dr. S.K. De and the rest have a doubtful authorship.
As examples, here are some verses:]She had suffered in separation, was weary, pale and gaunt, with her hair all dull and dry.
But, her radiance was restored the moment I returned from travel.
Then, at our game of love, delightful, she so proud and lovely looked, that I did then sip the lips of that slender-bodied woman, in ways that I can never describe.
— translation by A.N.D. Haksar
The pressure of the palm of thy hand, that covers the cheek, has wiped the ornamental paintings off it; thy sighs have lapped up the nectar-sweet moisture of thy lips; the tears which continually choke thy throat. Cause the bosom to heave: thus, Oh inexorable one, thy anger has become thy beloved, but not I!
— translation by Chintaman Ramchandra Devadhar
Authorship
Not much is known about the life of Amaru. Traditional accounts attribute the work to King Amaru of Kashmir. The collection in its present form may well represent the work of more than one author—the poems that form part of the collection differ quite significantly across its different regional recensions.
There are also a number of legends associating the collection with the philosopher Adi Shankara
Adi Shankara (8th c. CE), also called Adi Shankaracharya (, ), was an Indian Vedanga, Vedic scholar, Hindu philosophy, philosopher and teacher (''acharya'') of Advaita Vedanta. Reliable information on Shankara's actual life is scant, and h ...
. One version occurs in his 14th century biography written by a follower, the ''Shankara-digvijaya''. According to this version, during his debate with Maṇḍana Miśra
Mandana Mishra (; c. ) was a Hindu philosopher who wrote on the Mīmāṃsā and Advaita systems of thought. He was a follower of the Karma Mimamsa school of philosophy and a staunch defender of the holistic sphota doctrine of language. He w ...
, he was asked philosophical questions phrased in metaphors of love by the latter's wife, Ubhaya Bharati. Being celibate and therefore ignorant of the ''kama shastras'', Shankara requested an adjournment. He then entered the recently dead body of Amaru and spent a hundred days mastering the art of erotic love, before returning to defeat his opponent. He wrote the Amarushataka to memorialise his learning.[
Another version, given in Ravichandra's commentary on the Amarushataka, states that Shankara composed these poems to impart spiritual insight to the epicurean king Amaru, in metaphors he might understand. When this was misunderstood and mocked by the advisers at the court, Shankara entered the body of Amaru and provided a spiritual exegesis of the poems.][
Accordingly, several manuscripts add colophons naming Shankara as the true author of the work, and Ravichandra, a mediaeval commentator on the Bengal recension of the Amarusataka, read metaphysical meanings into the verses.] Other legends also state that Amaru was the 101st reincarnation of a soul that had previously occupied 100 women.
English translations
''Erotic Love Poems from India''
A Translation of the ''Amarushataka'' translated by Andrew Schelling, Shambala Library, 2004.
*The ''Amaruśataka'' was als
as part of the volum
''Love Lyrics''
in the Clay Sanskrit Library
The Clay Sanskrit Library is a series of books published by New York University Press and the JJC Foundation. Each work features the text in its original language (transliterated Sanskrit) on the left-hand page, with its English translation on the ...
.
* ''Amarusatakam (A centum of Ancient Love Lyrics of Amaruka)''; edited by C. R. Devadhar A literal translation of the complete text Motilal Banarsidass: first published Poona, 1959; Reprint: Delhi, 1984
* ''The Norton Anthology of World Literature'' features a translation by Martha Ann Selby.
* ''My Shameless Heart'' Love Lyrics of Amaru Shatakam translated by A.N.D Haksar, Penguin Classics, 2021
References
Sources
*
*Arthur Anthony Macdonell
Arthur Anthony Macdonell, FBA (11 May 1854 – 28 December 1930) was an Indian-born British linguist and Sanskrit scholar.
Biography
Macdonell was born at Muzaffarpur in the Tirhut region of the state of Bihar in British India, the son o ...
(1900), ''A History of Sanskrit Literature'', Chapter 12
*
External links
Some verses
from Schelling's translation
at GRETIL
{{Authority control
Early medieval literature
Indian poetry collections
Sanskrit poetry
Sanskrit poets