Poems are a delight for many persons, who enjoy them a lot. Ancient poetry has its own charm. It comes in a variety of forms e.g. narrative, descriptive or verse. These are like pearls. There are several such collections of verses composed. Love and beauty has been occupying an important place in poetry in India. The above book is an English translation of Gatha Saptasati. Love is the major theme here, along with the natural village background. Of course during translations, there are changes, but they influence the reader adequately to enjoy the same. Gatha Saptasati is a Prakrit work pertaining to second century. This is said to have been compiled by the King named Hala, the seventeenth of the 30 Andhra rulers of South India’s Deccan tableland. The 700 gathas or verses have been written by several poets, with 44 written by the King himself, and have delicate suggestiveness. These depict love between man and woman in various aspects, like search, elation and despair etc. Along with this, these verses describe the scenes from villages, forests, fields, seasons, engagements in work, moments of happiness and grief etc.
One of the translated verses is reproduced as a sample:
From the scent of her, he knew she had bathed,
in the river with the help, of rose-apple branches.
This (translated) book contains a total of 188 verses, one on each page. The top half of the page is the original verse and the lower half of the page is its English translation or transcreation. Each of the verses has its own charm, and it must be read calmly to relish its beauty. The world of love is unparallel. Although out of 700 verses, approximately 400 verses were translated into English, a total of 188 were then selected there from, with the help of some other Professors, by Prof. Amrit jit Singh. Summing up, it is an interesting book, not only for the upcoming poets, but also for the common men and women, to enjoy the beauty of the verses.