The classical tradition in Telugu, the mellifluous language of Andhra Pradesh in southern India, is one of the richest yet least explored of all South Asian literatures. In this volume, Velcheru Narayana Rao and David Shulman have brought together mythological, religious, and secular texts by twenty major poets who wrote between the eleventh and nineteenth centuries, providing an authoritative volume overview of one of the world's most creative poetic traditions. An informative, engaging introduction fleshes out the history of Telugu literature, situating its poets in relation to significant literary themes and historical developments and discussing the relationship between Telugu and the classical literature and poetry of Sanskrit. "An amazing book. There is nothing remotely like it anywhere in the world. I am in awe at the skill with which the many different voices in this collection have been kept alive. It is a terrific and stunningly interesting read."—Wendy Doniger, author of The Bedtrick: Tales of Sex and Masquerade "This is a superb collection, which presents to the English reading public for the first time a literature of great beauty and importance. There is no similar or comparable anthology for any Indian language let alone Telugu. All of the translations of the poems are exquisite and learned. The introduction is both a much needed history of Telugu poetry and also a guide to the aesthetics of Telugu poetry and the art of reading it."—Phyllis Granoff, translator of The Journey: Stories by K.C. Das Velcheru Narayana Rao is Professor Emeritus at Emory University, where he was the first person to hold the Visweswara Rao and Sita Koppaka Professorship in Telugu Culture, Literature, and History. David Shulman is Renee Lang Professor of Humanistic Studies at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem....

Where does a poem exist? What gives it life? Who is its author? How does it convey meaning? Ask these universal questions about poetry in South India, and the answers will be illuminat- ing. A Poem at the Right Moment collects and preserves poems called cāṭus—that have circulated orally for centuries in South India. The poems are remarkable for their wit and precisi01m their lyrical insight into the commonplace, their fascination with sensual experience, and their exploration of the connection between language and desire. Taken together the cāṭus offer a penetrating critical vision and an understanding of the classical traditions of Telugu, Tamil, and Sanskrit. Each poem is presented in its contemporary English translation along with the Indian-language original. An introduction and a concluding essay explore in detail the stories and texts that comprise the cāṭu system, Poetry lovers will be taken by this novel and charming form of literatures and scholars of South Asia will find that the cāṭus enrich their understanding of the culture. VELCHERU NARAYANA RAO is Professor of South Asian Studies at the University ofVVisconsin. Madison....