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Book-Summary - How To Love In Sanskrit

How to Love In Sanskrit was a surprise read. I did not expect much from the book when I picked it up. The title was also very intriguing in that I could not categorize it into a particular type of book. It lists Sanskrit poem translations related to love. The twist is, these translations are not word-to-word translations. Rather, these are translated to convey the same meaning but in a modern context. That brings out the liveliness of the poems and makes it easy to connect with them. Here are a few examples:

She calls me hard-hearted. She should know. 
The moment I set eyes on her, she stole my heart and took it home with her.

I was you
and you were me.

What transpired
that now we see

you as you
and me as me?

She has no need for words:
her eyes
do a fine job already

I am he, you are she
You are verse, I am song.
I am heaven, you are earth
Let us live as one
and bring children into this world.

It made me realize the feelings about love, about separation, about flirting are the same across ages. The language of expression changes but that feeling remains the same then, now, and in the future.

An interesting feature of this collection is that each poem is accompanied by its source. A few of the texts, such as the Ramayana, Mahabharata, and Atharvaveda, were familiar to me, but most were not. Reading these poems also created a desire to read those Sanskrit, Prakrit, and other classical language books. I would also like to read those books not as word-to-word translations, but as modern contextual ones, which are far more enjoyable and relatable. Yes, word-to-word translation is interesting for understanding the language, but I want to feel those thoughts in these books. The brief descriptions of the source texts were another highlight. One example that stayed with me was Bawd’s Counsel by Damodaragupta, dated to around 800 CE, which is described as a work centered on ordinary people in an urban city. I had often assumed older texts would focus mostly on gods, kings, and queens, so this was a surprise. That made me curious to read more of such works and see what has changed, and what has remained familiar, across the centuries.

I strongly recommend this book and it is also a very nice book to give as a gift to your spouse, a newlywed, or anyone in love.

  • I have used LLM agents to review the draft. I have also taken help with rewording and rephrasing the sentences.