Kabir: Weaver's Songs - Softcover

Vinay Dharwadkar (author)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0143029681 ISBN 13: 9780143029687

Publisher: Penguin Books India, 2003

Synopsis

One of India's greatest mystics, Kabir (1398-1448) was also a satirist and philosopher, and a poet of timeless wit and wisdom. Equally immersed in theology and social thought, music and politics, his songs have won devoted followers from every walk of life through the past five centuries. He was a Muslimby name, but his ideas stand at the intersection of Hinduism and Islam, Bhakti and Yoga, religion and secularism. And his words were always marked by rhetorical boldness and conceptual subtlety. This book offers a sparkling new translation of one hundred poems, drawing for the first time on major sources in half a dozen literary languages. They closely mimic the structure, voice and style of the originals, revealing Kabir's multiple facets in historical and cultural contexts. Finely balancing simplicity and complexity, this selection opens up new forms of imagination and experience for discerning readers around the world.

About this title

About the Author:

Vinay Dharwadker was born in Pune in 1954, and was educated at St Stephen’s College, Delhi University, and the University of Chicago. He is the author of a book of poems, Sunday at the Lodi Gardens (1994), and an editor of The Oxford Anthology of Modern Indian Poetry (1994), a co-editor of The Collected Poems of A.K. Ramanujan (1995), and the general editor of The Collected Essays of A.K. Ramanujan (1999). His other edited books include Cosmopolitan Geographies: New Locations in Literature and Culture (2001). He has published translations of modern Hindi, Marathi, Urdu and Punjabi poetry, as well as essays on literary theory, translation studies and Indian English literature. He teaches Indian languages and literatures at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he also serves as the director of the Centre for South Asia.

Synopsis:

The author is one of India's great mystics 1398-1448 was also a sitirist and a philosopher. He was also immersed in theology and social thought, music and politics. He was a Muslim by name, but his ideas stand at the intersection of hinduism and Islam.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Books India
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0143029681
• ISBN 13: 9780143029687
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 328