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Theft of a Tree
A Tale by the Court Poet of the Vijayanagara Empire
Series: Murty Classical Library of India
Brief Description
The first English translation of 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 Pārijātāpaharaṇamu, to help the wife...
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See moreNandi Timmana’s Theft of a Tree recounts how Krishna stole the wish-granting pārijāta tree from the garden of Indra, king of the gods, to appease his wife Satyabhama. This is the first English translation of the poem, which prefigures the modern Telugu novel with its unprecedented narrative unity.
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Description
The first English translation of 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 Pārijātāpaharaṇamu, to help the wife of Krishnadevaraya, king of the south Indian Vijayanagara Empire, win back her husband's affections. Timmana based his work on a popular millennium-old Krishna tale.
Theft of a Tree recounts how Krishna stole the wish-granting pārijāta tree from the garden of Indra, king of the gods. Krishna takes the tree to please his favourite wife, Satyabhama, who is upset when he gifts his chief queen a single divine flower. After battling Indra, he plants the pārijāta for Satyabhama—but she must perform a rite temporarily relinquishing it and her husband to enjoy endless happiness.
This is the first English translation of the poem, which prefigures the modern Telugu novel with its unprecedented narrative unity.
Series: Murty Classical Library of India
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Theft of a Tree
The first English translation of 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 Pārijātāpaharaṇamu, to help the wife of Krishnadevaraya, king of the south Indian Vijayanagara Empire, win back her husband's affections....Paperback$4099Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
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Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9780674295919
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 13 February 2024
Country: United States
Imprint: Harvard University Press
Contributors:
- Translated by Harshita Mruthinti Kamath
- Translated by Harshita Mruthinti Kamath
- Translated by Velcheru Narayana Rao
Audience: Professional and scholarly
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 14.0mm
Width: 133.0mm
Height: 203.0mm
Weight: 197g
Pages: 224
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.
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