>Ser Amantio di Nicolao at 16:44, 22 June 2021

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{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}}
'''Bhavakadevi''' ([[IAST]]: Bhāvaka-devī; [[floruit|fl.]] 12th century or earlier), also known as '''Bhavadevi''', was a [[Sanskrit]] poet from present-day India. Her verses are included in early medieval Sanskrit anthologies, including [[Vidyakara]]'s ''Subhashita-ratna-kosha'',{{sfn|Daniel H. H. Ingalls|1965|p=13}} ''Sadukti-karnamrita'', and ''Kavindra-vachana-samuchchaya ''.{{sfn|Raj Pruthi et al|1999|p=168}}

== Example verses ==
In the following verse, Bhavakadevi praises a woman's breasts using a political and military image (translation appears in [[Octavio Paz]]'s ''In Light of India''):{{sfn|Octavio Paz|1998|p=151}}

{{poemquote
|text=Her breasts are two brother kings, equal in nobility,
looking out from the same heights, side by side,
sovereigns of the vast provinces they have won
in frontier battles, with a defiant hardness.
|sign=Bhavakadevi
}}

Alternative translation by [[Daniel H. H. Ingalls Sr.|Daniel H. H. Ingalls]]:{{sfn|Daniel H. H. Ingalls|1965|p=172}}

{{poemquote
|text=Her breasts are brother kings, equal in nobility,
reared together till they have reached the same altitude of fame;
and from their border warfare these monarchs of vast provinces
have gained a cursed hardness.
|sign=Bhavakadevi
}}

Another verse expresses the feelings of a woman who becomes disillusioned with her lover after marrying him (translation by Daniel H. H. Ingalls):{{sfn|Eunice De Souza|1997|p=2}}{{sfn|Daniel H. H. Ingalls|1965|p=13,219}}

{{poemquote
|text=At first our bodies knew a perfect oneness,
but then grew two:
the lover, you,
and I, unhappy I, the loved

Now you are husband, I the wife.
What else should come of this my life,
a tree too hard to break,
if not such bitter fruit?
|sign=Bhavakadevi
}}

Alternative translation by [[R. Parthasarathy]]:{{sfn|TRS Sharma|2000|p=492}}

{{poemquote
|text=How our bodies were one before!
Then they grew apart: you the lover,
And I, wretched one, the loved.

Now, you are the husband, I the wife.
A broken pledge is all that I'm left with -
A bitter fruit hard to swallow.
|sign=Bhavakadevi
}}

== References ==
{{reflist|30em}}

=== Bibliography ===
{{ref begin}}
* {{cite book |editor=Daniel H. H. Ingalls |editor-link=Daniel H. H. Ingalls Sr. |title=An anthology of Sanskrit court poetry: Vidyākara's Subhāṣiaratnakoṣa |series=Harvard Oriental Series |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=auJjAAAAMAAJ |year=1965 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=9780674039506 }}
* {{cite book |author=Eunice De Souza |title=Nine Indian Women Poets: An Anthology |url=https://archive.org/details/nineindianwomenp00euni |url-access=registration |year=1997 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-564077-9 }}
* {{cite book |author=Octavio Paz |title=In Light of India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G76_m_22zo8C&pg=PA151 |year=1998 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |isbn=0-15-600578-6 }}
* {{cite book |editor1=Raj Pruthi |editor2=Rameshwari Devi |editor3=Romila Pruthi |title=Encyclopaedia of Status and Empowerment of Women in India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aES3AAAAIAAJ |year=1999 |publisher=Mangal Deep |isbn=978-81-7594-040-6 |ref={{harvid|Raj Pruthi et al|1900}}}}
* {{cite book |editor=TRS Sharma |title=Ancient Indian Literature: An Anthology |volume=2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IRp1PKX0BXoC&pg=PA492 |year=2000 |publisher=Sahitya Akademi |isbn=978-81-260-0794-3 }}
{{ref end}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Sanskrit-language women poets]]
[[Category:Sanskrit poets]]
[[Category:Indian women poets]]
[[Category:12th-century Indian women]]
[[Category:12th-century Indian people]]
{{India-poet-stub}}

Bhavakadevi - Revision history

>Ser Amantio di Nicolao at 16:44, 22 June 2021