The Garden of Kama and Other Love Lyrics from India

Kama, the Indian God of Love, has given wings to the fantasy of many writers and poets over the ages. The son of Vishnu and Lakshmi, he has been regarded at places as the God of Desire, of good in general. He is, however, also the God of Sexual Love, like Eros of the Greeks, and Cupid of the Latins. In the latter aspect he is thus addressed: May Kama, having well directed the arrow, which is winged with pain, barbed with longing, and has desire for its shaft, pierce thee in the heart. The real magnanimity of His appeal, however, can be felt in the poetry of Laurence Hope, a British poetess of the 20th century, who captured in her lyrics the beauty, pain, urgency and piety of love in its many forms. Close to being wrongly termed as erotic, it evokes an understanding of the desire and passion felt by a longing lover for his/ her beloved. The Garden of Kama is a collection of such love poetry that is marked by the abundance of the feeling of sheer love and excellence in its portrayal and expression.