This is a comprehensive anthology of Sanskrit poetry in the best English translations available. The first ever of its kind, it brings together excerpts from a full range of original works, translated by over forty distinguished writers including poets and scholars, savants and seers, and two winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Sanskrit, with an unbroken literary tradition of at least three thousand years, is a major component of India's cultural heritage. In present popular perception it is mostly known as the language of religion and philosophy. Here this perspective is broadened with a rich sampling from the treasure trove of Sanskrit verse, access to which has so far remained restricted for the general reader.

Drawing from sacred as well as classic and folk literature, this collection features a wide variety of poetry in translation. It includes nature hymns and mystic utterances; epic narratives and love lyrics; songs and reflections on the human condition; verses devotional and philosophic, heroic and tragic, erotic and satiric; courtly epigrams and inscriptions, and simple poems from the countryside.

English translations from Sanskrit have a history of over two centuries. The finest of these renderings have been compiled in this volume by a well-known Sanskritist to present the ancient language's poetic splendour, not through learned discourse, but by letting the poetry speak for itself.

A.N.D. Haksar is a long time student of Sanskrit literature, some works of which he has translated into English prose as well as verse. A career diplomat for many years, he served as Indian High Commissioner to Kenya and the Seychelles, Ambassador to Portugal and Yugoslavia, Dean of the Foreign Service Institute and President of the Governing Council of the UN Environment Program. His translations from the Sanskrit include Hitopadeśa and Simhāsana Dvātrimśikā, both published as Penguin Classics, and Shuka Saptati recently reprinted by HarperCollins. He also edited Glimpses of Sanskrit Literature, and is currently preparing a new rendition of the Buddhist Jätakamālā which is due to appear shortly.

With a continuing tradition of at least three millennia, the vast literature of Sanskrit forms an important part of India's cultural heritage. Translations from Sanskrit classics like Shakuntala have figured among the earliest publications of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations.

The compiler and the publisher gratefully acknowledge permission from the following to reprint excerpts from works in copyright: Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi for excerpts from Chandra Rajan, The Complete Works of Kalidasa, Vol. I, and V. Raghavan "Kalividambana", Indian Literature, June 1970; Bennet Coleman Co. Ltd., New Delhi and Prof. P. Lal, Kolkata, for P. Lal, "The Messenger", Femina, Bombay issue, 8-12 January 1985; Bennet Coleman & Co. Ltd., for excerpts from Pritish Nandy, "Amazing Amaru", 4 October 1990 and "Beguiling Bilhana", 14 November 1990, reproduced by arrangement with The Illustrated Weekly of India, Advaita Ashrama, Kolkata, for excerpts from Swami Vivekananda, In Search of God and Other Poems, 1977; Mr. J.M. Masson for excerpts from Sanskrit Love Poetry, 1977, Columbia University Press, New York copyright by W.S. Merwin and J.M. Masson; Motilal Banarasidass Publishers, Delhi for excerpts of translations by Barbara Stoler Miller and David Gitomer in Barbara Stoler Miller ed. Theatre of Memory: The Plays of Kalidasa, 1999 reprint, first published 1984 by Columbia University Press; Vedanta Press, Hollywood, California, for excerpts from "The Shattering of Illusion", in Shankara's Crest-Jewel of Discrimination by Swami Prabhavananda and Christopher Isherwood, 1947; Y.K. Publishers, Agra, for verses from The Indian Poetic Tradition by S.H. Vatsyayan, V.N. Misra and Leonard Nathan, 1993; Cassel & Co., London for verses from "Pushan" by Romesh Dutt and "Black Marigolds" by E. Powys Mathers in An Anthology of World Poetry, ed.