Indian Poetry

Hi!

I'd like to start a personal study of Indian poetry, but I'm a little unsure where I should start. Could anybody recommend any anthologies, or any particular poets? I'm interested in Indian poetry from all eras.

Thanks.

The only poem I know is the Bhagavad Gita and that through translation. I assume it is a poem.

Bhakti poetry has been a rich and diverse tradition of Poetry in India. Kabir, Rahim, Tulsi, Namdeo, Tukaram have been major proponents. Urdu and Persian poetry from seventeenth century onward is also widely read. Major proponents have been Ghalib, Mir, Zauq and later Allama Iqbal and Faiz Ahmed Faiz. There are more than 15 official languages in the country and about 300 vernaculars. So you need to be more specific about your expectations and interest. The Oxford Indian Anthology of twelve Modern Indian Poets edited by Arvind Krishna Mehrotra is an anthology of Indian poetry in the English language. Translations of Indian poetry in English are good too.

I've got three Bengali friends, and they're all obsessed with Rabindranath Tagore. From what I've heard of his poetry, which is in translation of course, he seems like a great artist.