This award-winning book contains the English translation of Sugata Saurabha ("The Sweet Fragrance of the Buddha"), an epic poem on the life and teachings of the Buddha. Chittadhar Hrdaya, a master poet from Nepal, wrote this tour de force while imprisoned for subversion in the 1940s and smuggled it out over time on scraps of paper. His consummate skill and poetic artistry are evident throughout as he tells the Buddha's story in dramatic terms, drawing on images from the natural world to heighten the description of emotionally charged events. It is peopled with very human characters who experience a wide range of emotions, from erotic love to anger, jealousy, heroism, compassion, and goodwill. By showing how the central events of the Buddha's life are experienced by Siddhartha, as well as by his family members and various disciples, the poem communicates a fuller sense of the humanity of everyone involved and the depth and power of the Buddha's loving-kindness.

For this new edition of the English translation, the translators improved the beauty and flow of most every line. The translation is also supplemented with a series of short essays by Todd Lewis, one of the translators, that articulates how Hrdaya incorporated his own Newar cultural traditions in order to connect his readership with the immediacy and relevancy of the Buddha's life and at the same time express his views on political issues, ethical principles, literary life, gender discrimination, economic policy, and social reform.

Epic of the Buddha: His Life and Teachings, Chittadhar Hrdaya, Shambhala Publications, Paperback, 448 pages, $24.95

Chittadhar Hrdaya is a distinguished poet of Nepalbhasa, mostly spoken in Kathmandu valley. Sweetness and simplicity are special traits of his writings. He was jailed for five years by the Rana regime in 1941 and in jail he wrote Sugata Saurabha, an epic poem on the life of the Buddha one of the Chittadhar Hridaya�s greatest work which was published from Kolkata in 1949. He is a a Nepalese poet who has published works numbering three dozens have contributed much to elevate and enrich the Nepalbhasa language and literature. He was a founder member, president and patron of NepalBahasa Parishad. He was conferred the title of Kavikeshari in 1956 . He died on may 21, 1981. In 1956, the title of Kavi Keshari (Lion among Poets) was conferred on him by King Mahendra of Nepal for his remarkable contribution to the NepalBahasa language and literature. Mainly he wrote in Nepal Bhasa. Beside, Nepalbhasa he has also wrote in Nepali and Hindi language.

CONTENTS: Epic of the Buddha
Translators' Preface to the Second Edition		vii
Translators' Preface to the First Edition		xi
Introduction, by Todd T. Lewis		3
Part One: Sugata Saurabha, the Epic of the Buddha, by Chittadhar Hrdaya
1.	Lumbini	21
2.	Family Tree	30
3.	Nativity	49
4.	Mother	65
5.	A Pleasant Childhood	76
6.	Education	85
7.	Marriage	103
8.	The Great Renunciation	127
9.	Yashodhara	147
10.	Attaining Enlightenment	162
11.	The Basic Teachings	177
12.	The Blessed One in Kapilavastu	203
13.	Handsome Nanda	220
14.	The Great Lay Disciple	238
15.	Twelve Years of Itinerant Preaching	247
16.	A Dispute over Water	262
17.	The Monastery Built by Vishakha	272
18.	Devadatta's Sacrilege	286
19.	Entry into Nirvana	308
Part Two: Perspectives on the Epic of the Buddha, by Todd T. Lewis
20.	The Life of the Buddha: Previous Accounts in the Buddhist Textual Tradition	325
21.	The Kavya Sanskrit Poetry Tradition and the Indic Aesthetic Tradition	328
22.	The Nepalese Context and Newar Cultural Traditions	335
23.	Chittadhar Hrdaya: A Literary Biography of His Formative Years	340
24.	Domestication of Newar Traditions in Sugata Saurabha as Those of the Ancient Shakyas	345
25.	The Modern Confluence of Buddhism in the Kathmandu Valley: Reformist Theravada and Traditional Mahayana	350
26.	Buddhist Doctrinal Emphases and Expositions	360
27.	The Spell of Idealizations and the Revitalization of Newar Civilization	369
Notes		379
References		407
Index		415