Includes bibliographical references and index.

Celestial bodies seen from Deccan soil -- Siraj's bewilderment -- Siraj's silence -- Eros and spirit -- Poetry as music -- Transit: when Sufis meet Shi'is -- Mah Laqa Bai's radiance -- Mah Laqa Bai's men -- Mah Laqa Bai's shame -- The performance of gender -- Mah Laqa Bai's true love -- Conjunction: when sun meets moon.

"The two Muslim poets featured in Scott Kugle's comparative study lived separate lives during the eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries in the Deccan region of southern India. Here, they meet in the realm of literary imagination, illuminating the complexity of gender, sexuality, and religious practice in South Asian Islamic culture. Kugle argues that Sun and Moon expressed through their poetry exceptions to the general rules of heteronormativity and gender inequality common in their patriarchal societies. Their art provides a lens for a more subtle understanding of both the reach and the limitations of gender roles in Islamic and South Asian culture and underscores how the arts of poetry, music, and dance are integral to Islamic religious life. Integrated throughout are Kugle's translations of Urdu and Persian poetry previously unavailable in English" --