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 vi...

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 l...