Viraha

(“separation”) Well-established poetic
genre in classical Sanskrit poetry and in
much of vernacular devotional (bhakti)
poetry. The genre focuses on describing
the pain resulting from the separation of
lover and beloved, whether the separated lovers are two human beings or devotee (bhakta) and deity. Such separation
is believed to bring on specific physical
symptoms, which the poets describe in
detail—lack of appetite, insomnia,
inability to attend to daily life, or to
think about anyone but the beloved. The
sort of love felt in such separation is
believed to engender an even more
intense love for the beloved than love in
union because the latter is sweetened by
the presence of the beloved, whereas the
former has to stand by itself.
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Vira