Steven P. Hopkins is Professor of Religion and Coordinator of Asian Studies at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. He is the author of Singing the Body of God: The Hymns of Vedantadesika in Their South Indian Tradition and An Ornament for Jewels: Love Poems for the Lord of Gods by Vedantadesika, which was awarded the 2010 South Asia Council of the Association for Asian Studies A.K. Ramanujan Book Prize for Translation.

"The Flight of Love, with its exploration of South Indian messenger poems, is a solid effort to show the significance of Sanskrit and Indian literature and the role it plays in the cultures, religions, and sacred spaces found amongst one of the largest and oldest human populations. Hopkins's book shows that simple messenger poems hold larger meaning by his connections of verses to the landscape of Tamil Nadu with powerful imagery and emotion."--Anjeanette LeBoeuf, Reading Religion

"Reading this wonderful book really does feel like flying. The translation is peerless, and Hopkins's fine meditation on what it took to get there is a close second. We're lucky to have both."-John Stratton Hawley, author of A Storm of Songs: India and the Idea of the Bhakti Movement

"Steven Hopkins brings alive the experience of anubhava, enjoyment, so central to the reading practices of the Srivaisnava ava tradition through a luminous and deeply felt translation of Venkatanatha's Hamsasandesa. His incisive and evocative readings, informed equally by Srivaisnava exegesis and literary theory, cover as vast a territory as the poem's royal goose does on its message of love. The Flight of Love is a book to be savored."-Archana Venkatesan, author of The Secret Garland: Antal's Tiruppavai and Nacciyar Tirumoli

"As a faithful, yet eminently readable, translation of a beautiful work of Sanskrit poetry, The Flight of Love is an unqualified success. Hopkins adeptly captures the lyricism, mood, and idiom of the original and, through his insightful commentary and notes, brings out its social, historical, linguistic, religious, and aesthetic significance. The introduction itself is a valuable resource for learning about the genres of Sanskrit poetry and the history of South India and Hinduism in the medieval period."-Deven M. Patel Author of Text to Tradition: The Naisadhiyacarita and Literary Community in South Asia