Love between women, love between men : readings in Indian literature

This text presents an array of writings on same-sex love from 2000 years of Indian literature.

Translated from over a dozen languages and drawn from Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, and modern secular traditions, these writings testify to the flourishing of same-sex love in various forms since ancient times, without overt persecution.

This collection defies both stereotypes of Indian culture and Foucault's definition of homosexuality as a 19th-century invention, uncovering instead complex discourses of Indian homosexuality, rich metaphorical traditions to represent it, and the use of names, terms, and codes used as early as medieval times to distinguish homoerotic from heterosexual love.

A group of scholars have translated these writings or re-translated well-known texts to correct underplayed homoerotic content.

Selections include religious books, legal treatises, story cycles, medieval histories and biographies, modern novels, short stories, letters, memoirs, plays and poems.