In Light of India

The Spanish title of 'In Light of India' is 'Vislumbres de la India', difficult to translate perhaps, meaning glimpses dimly seen, as in twilight. But, while it is true that the reader who knows India even a little is left wondering about certain omissions (what about the worship of the elephant god Ganesha, for instance, and the dreaded goddess Kali?), the essays in this ambitious book--translated by Eliot Weinberger, who also edited the book of poems and translated many of them--are certainly not 'glimpses'; they are the result of long experience and study, beginning with reminiscences of great charm but leading to disquisitions on India's history, its religions, philosophy, and such things as caste, Sanskrit erotic poetry, sculpture, and architecture. Mr. Paz also contrasts Mexico with India, and this in part is the theme of the title poem in 'A Tale of Two Gardens', where he evokes a romantic abandoned garden he had loved as a child and the garden he and his wife, Marie-Jose, had in Delhi. Gardens, trees, birds, and flowers recur often in his poems."Paz, Octavio is the author of 'In Light of India', published 1997 under ISBN 9780151002221 and ISBN 0151002223.