Three Bhakti Voices Mirabai, Surdas, and Kabir in Their Times and Ours

by Stratton Hawley, John

• ISBN13: 9780198085393
• ISBN10: 0198085397
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-09-03
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

The landscape of North Indian religion was dramatically transformed in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries by a remarkable family of poet-saints. Among the most famous and beloved of these figures - in India and throughout the world - are Mirabai, Surdas, and Kabir. In this book, JohnStratton Hawley takes a probing look at all three, finding that many of the beliefs and legends surrounding them - even central motifs - emerged long after their deaths. This volume probes the lives, works, beliefs, and legends of three Bhakti poets-Mirabai, Surdas, and Kabir. Analysing the oldest manuscripts across North India, Hawley describes how these poets were heard and perceived in their own day and reveals startling facts about them. Hawley shows that thesepoets are, surprisingly, creations of those who have loved them through the centuries. Weaving in some sixty-five English verse translations, most of them based on early manuscripts, Hawley tells this fascinating story of change and transmission. The new preface updates the research on the field. This book will interest students and scholars of religious studies, medieval Indian history, and informed general readers.

Author Biography

John Stratton Hawley is Professor, Department of Religion, Barnard College, Columbia University.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Paperback Edition	p. ix
Preface to the First Edition	p. xiii
Transliteration and Abbreviation	p. xvi
Poems Translated, by English Title	p. xx
Poems Translated, by Hindi Title	p. xxiii
Illustrations	p. xxvi
Introduction	p. 1
The Bhakti Poet-Saint
Author and Authority	p. 21
Morality beyond Morality	p. 48
The Nirgun/Sagun Distinction	p. 70
Mirabai
Mirabai in Manuscript	p. 89
Mirabai as Wife and Yogi	p. 117
The Saints Subdued in Amar Chitra Katha	p. 139
Krishna and the Gender of Longing	p. 165
Surdas
Last Seen with Akbar	p. 181
The Early Scrsagar and the Growth of the Sur Tradition	p. 194
The Verbal Icon-How Literal?	p. 208
Sur's Sudama	p. 217
Creative Enumeration in Sur's Vinaya Poetry	p. 235
Why Surdas Went Blind	p. 248
Kabir
The Received Kabir: Beginnings to Bly	p. 267
Kabir in His Oldest Dated Manuscript	p. 279
Vinaya Crossovers: Kabir and Sur	p. 305
Bhakti, Democracy, and the Study of Religion	p. 318
Notes	p. 337
Bibliography of Works Cited	p. 399
Index	p. 417
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