First published in 1978 under the Oxford University South Asian Studies Series, this work is an inquiry into the conceptions of love in its sacred and profane dimensions as a universal theme in religious and secular literature. The author proceeds from the universal to the particular, and examines the way in which the generic experience finds expression in a specific context, the Indian traditions, and the way in which these are exemplified in Jayadeva's well-known twelfth-century Sanskrit poem, the Gitagovinda. Simultaneously, the author considers the poem in its own cultural milieu and compares it with texts from other cultures. The volume also contains a new translation of the poem by Dr. Siegel.