This book is a translation and study of the poems of a ninth-century woman saint and mystic. The Introduction is designed to make the translations accessible to a non-specialist audience, while the Notes provide insights into the poems and useful explications of allusions and convention with which readers who do not possess a specialized knowledge of Tamil Vaisnava bhakti may be unfamiliar.

"I liked the clear and idiomatic translation. Dehejia introduces the reader to a world of religious experience that is little known. In doing so, she recaptures Anl's very personal appropriation of the world of Hindu Vaisnava myth. This book will make an important contribution towards widening our knowledge of women mystics." — Paul E. Muller-Ortega, Department of Religious Studies, Michigan State University

"As an aesthetically successful English translation of an important but hitherto neglected Tamil bhakti text, this book represents a major contribution to the study of south Indian Hinduism. the text translated is exemplary of an important variety of religious experience in Hinduism which is prominent in many regions of India. It is therefore significant both in terms of the study of Tamil Hinduism and from a broader pan-regional perspective." — Norman Cutler, Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations, The University of Chicago

Vidya Dehejia is Associate Professor at Columbia University. She has written Slaves of the Lord: the Path of the Tamil Saints.