About the Book: Kumarasambhavam: The Origin of the Young God
The greatest long poem in classical Sanskrit
Kumarasambhavam celebrates the love story of Siva and Parvati, whose passionate
union results in the birth of their son, the young god Kumara. Beginning with a
luminous description of the birth of Parvati, the poem proceeds in perfectly
pitched sensuous detail through her courtship with Siva until the night of their
wedding. It plays out their tale on the immense scale of supreme divinity,
wherein the gods are viewed both as lovers and as cosmic principles. Composed in
eight scintillating cantos, Kumarasambhavam continues to enchant readers
centuries after it was first