Vrind - Life & Poems


Book Description

VRIND: LIFE & POEMS Translation & Introduction by Paul Smith Vrind Kavi (1643-1723) was an Indian Bhakti saint and poet in the Hindi language from Marwar in present day Rajasthan. He was an important poet of the Ritikal period of Hindi Literature known for his poems on ethics and mostly known for his work Nitisatsai (1704), a collection of 700 dohas. He was the guru of Raj Singh (ruled 1706-1748), ruler of Kishangarh where he was court poet. Like his contemporaries, Mati Ram, Rasnidhi and Ram Sahay, his doha poetry was primarily in Braj Bhasha dialect. It was deeply influenced by Bihari, noted poet of the preceding generation. He was a prolific poet and through his career worked for various patrons. After serving in Kishangarh, he moved to Delhi in 1673, where he was hired to tutor Azim-ush-Shan son of Azam Shah and grandson of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb. Azam Shah later succeeded his father and was a great enthusiast of Braj poetry and in time Azim-ush-Shan become patron of Vrind. In 1697, Azim-ush-Shan was made Governor of Bengal and so Vrind too shifted to Dhaka. During this period, he completed his most noted work, Nitisatsai 'Seven Hundred Verses (Dohas) of Ethics' in 1704. Here is a collection mainly of his Dohas, a rhymed couplet that is a wise, complete thought in itself. He was with Kabir, Tulsidas and Rahim a master of this simple but powerful form. 116 pages. Introduction to Bhakti Poets Series TULSIDAS, KABIR, VRIND, LALLA DED, RAHIM, VYASA, JAYADEVA (approx. 110-120 pages each... others to follow) Paul Smith (b. 1945) is a poet, author and translator of many books of Sufi poets from the Persian, Arabic, Urdu, Turkish, Pashtu, Hindi and other languages including Hafiz, Sadi, Nizami, Rumi, 'Attar, Sana'i, Jahan Khatun, Obeyd Zakani, Mu'in, Amir Khusrau, Nesimi, Kabir, Anvari, Ansari, Jami, Khayyam, Rudaki, Lalla Ded, Mahsati, Baba Farid, Iqbal, Vrind, Rahim and others, and his own poetry, fiction, biographies, plays, children's books and 12 screenplays. www.newhumanitybooks.com




Poetry of Kings


Book Description

This in-depth study of the classical Hindi tradition brings the world of Mughal-era poetry and court culture alive for an English readership. Allison Busch draws on the perspectives of literary, social, and intellectual history to elucidate one of premodern India's most significant textual traditions, documenting the dramatic rise of a new type of professional Hindi writer while providing critical insight into the motives that animated this literary community and its patrons.Busch examines how riti literature served as an important aesthetic and political resource in the richly multicultural world of Mughal India, and provides, for the first time in a Western language, a detailed study of the fascinating oeuvre of Keshavdas, whose seminal Rasikpriya (Handbook for poetry connoisseurs, 1591) was the catalyst for a new Hindi classicism that attracted a spectacular following in the leading courts of early modern India. The circulation of Hindi literature among diverse communities during this period is testament to a remarkable pluralism that cannot be understood in terms of the nationalist logic that has constrained modern Hindi and Urdu to be "Hindu" and "Muslim" languages since the nineteenth century. With the cultural reforms ushered in by colonialism, north Indians repudiated the classical traditions of the courtly past, a complex process given extended treatment in the final chapter.Busch provides valuable insight into more than two centuries of Hindi courtly culture. Poetry of Kings also showcases the importance of bringing precolonial archives into dialogue with current debates of postcolonial theory.




Mobilizing Krishna's World


Book Description

Savant Singh (1694–1764), the Rajput prince of Kishangarh-Rupnagar, is famous for commissioning beautiful works of miniature painting and composing devotional (bhakti) poetry to Krishna under the nom de plume Nagaridas. After his throne was usurped by his younger brother, while Savant Singh was on the road seeking military alliances to regain his kingdom, he composed an autobiographical pilgrimage account, “The Pilgrim’s Bliss” (Tirthananda); a hagiographic anthology, “Garland of Anecdotes about Songs” (Pad-Prasang-mala); and a reworking of the story of Rama, “Garland of Rama’s Story” (Ram-Carit-Mala). Through an examination of Savant Singh’s life and works, Heidi Pauwels explores the circulation of ideas and culture in the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries in north India, revealing how Singh mobilized soldiers but also used myths, songs, and stories about saints in order to cope with his personal and political crisis. Mobilizing Krishna’s World allows us a peek behind the dreamlike paintings and refined poetry to glimpse a world of intrigue involving political and religious reform movements.




Tellings and Texts


Book Description

Examining materials from early modern and contemporary North India and Pakistan, Tellings and Texts brings together seventeen first-rate papers on the relations between written and oral texts, their performance, and the musical traditions these performances have entailed. The contributions from some of the best scholars in the field cover a wide range of literary genres and social and cultural contexts across the region. The texts and practices are contextualized in relation to the broader social and political background in which they emerged, showing how religious affiliations, caste dynamics and political concerns played a role in shaping social identities as well as aesthetic sensibilities. By doing so this book sheds light into theoretical issues of more general significance, such as textual versus oral norms; the features of oral performance and improvisation; the role of the text in performance; the aesthetics and social dimension of performance; the significance of space in performance history and important considerations on repertoires of story-telling. The book also contains links to audio files of some of the works discussed in the text. Tellings and Texts is essential reading for anyone with an interest in South Asian culture and, more generally, in the theory and practice of oral literature, performance and story-telling.




Dadu - Life and Poems


Book Description

DADU: LIFE AND POEMS Translation & Introduction by Paul Smith Dadu Dayal (1544-1603) was a Bhakti poet/saint from Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. 'Dadu' means brother and 'Dayal' means 'the compassionate one'. He was found by an affluent businessman floating on the river Sabarmati. He later moved to Amer near Jaipur Rajasthan, where he gathered around himself a group of followers, forming a sect that became known as the Dadu-panth. Dadu's compositions were recorded by his disciple Rajjab and are known as the Dadu Anubhav Vani, a compilation of 5,000 couplets, many of them bhajans and dohas. Dadu spent the latter years of his life in Naraiana. Five ashrams are considered sacred by the followers: Naraiana, Bhairanaji, Sambhar, Amer, and Karadala (Kalyanpura). He was born in 1544, and died in 1603. He made his living by sewing skins into bags for raising water from wells, until eventually he was initiated into the religious life by the sadhu Sundardas. Dadu had no book-learning but his natural genius and the vision gained by his devotion made him a lover of beauty and a poet. Here are 85 of his wonderful, powerful bhajans & dohas in the correct rhyming form for the first time. 120 pages. Introduction to Bhakti Poets Series TULSIDAS, KABIR, VRIND, LALLA DED, RAHIM, VYASA, JAYADEVA, DADU (approx. 110-120 pages each... others to follow) Paul Smith (b. 1945) is a poet, author and translator of many books of Sufi poets from the Persian, Arabic, Urdu, Turkish, Pashtu, Hindi and other languages including Hafiz, Sadi, Nizami, Rumi, 'Attar, Sana'i, Jahan Khatun, Obeyd Zakani, Mu'in, Amir Khusrau, Nesimi, Kabir, Anvari, Ansari, Jami, Khayyam, Rudaki, Lalla Ded, Mahsati, Baba Farid, Iqbal, Vrind, Rahim and others, and his own poetry, fiction, biographies, plays, children's books and 12 screenplays. www.newhumanitybooks.com




Medieval Indian Literature: Surveys and selections


Book Description

This Volume Has Two Parts, Surveys Of All The Languages And Selections From Three Languages Assamese, Bengali And Dogri.




Jayadeva - Life & Poems


Book Description

JAYADEVA: LIFE AND POEMS Translation & Introduction Paul Smith Jayadeva (circa 12oo AD.) was a Sanskrit poet and most known for his immortal composition, the epic poem/play Gita Govinda that depicts the divine love of Avatar Krishna and his consort, Radha. This poem is considered an important text in the Bhakti (Path of Love) movement of Hinduism. The work delineates the love of Krishna for Radha, the milkmaid, his faithlessness and subsequent return to her, and is taken as symbolical of the human soul's straying from its true allegiance but returning at length to the God that created it. It elaborates the eight moods of the heroine that over the years has been an inspiration for many paintings, compositions and choreographic works in Indian classical dances. It has been translated to many languages and is considered to be among the finest examples of Sanskrit poetry. Paul Smith has worked with Puran Singh's powerful & beautiful original free-form poetic version and brought it up to date. Introduction on Bhakti & Bhakti Poetry and Life & Poetry of Jayadeva. Glossary. Pages 115. Introduction to Bhakti Poets Series TULSIDAS, KABIR, VRIND, LALLA DED, RAHIM, JAYADEVA, VYASA (approx. 110-120 pages each... others to follow) Paul Smith (b. 1945) is a poet, author and translator of many books of Sufi poets from the Persian, Arabic, Urdu, Turkish, Pashtu, Hindi and other languages including Hafiz, Sadi, Nizami, Rumi, 'Attar, Sana'i, Jahan Khatun, Obeyd Zakani, Mu'in, Amir Khusrau, Nesimi, Kabir, Anvari, Ansari, Jami, Khayyam, Rudaki, Lalla Ded, Mahsati, Baba Farid, Iqbal, Vrind, Rahim and others, and his own poetry, fiction, biographies, plays, children's books and 12 screenplays. www.newhumanitybooks.com







The Road to Empire


Book Description

From the late seventeenth century to the late eighteenth century, the Sikh community transformed from a relatively insignificant religious minority to an elevated position of kingship and empire. Under the leadership of Guru Gobind Singh (1661–1708), Sikh elites and peasants began to align themselves with discourses of power and authority, and within a few decades Khalsa Sikh warriors conquered some of the wealthiest provinces of the Mughal and Afghan empires. In this book, Satnam Singh argues that the Sikhs’ increasing self-assertion was not simply a reaction to Mughal persecution but also a result of an active program initiated by the Guru to pursue larger visions of scholarship, conquest, and political sovereignty. Using a vast trove of understudied court literature, Singh shows how Sikhs grappled with Indo-Islamic traditions to forge their own unique ideas of governance and kingship with the aim to establish an independent Sikh polity. The Road to Empire offers an impressive intellectual history of the early modern Sikh world.




Nazir Akbarabadi and Seemab Akbarabadi - the Two Greatest Sufi Poets of Agra


Book Description

NAZIR AKBARABADI & SEEMAB AKBARABADIThe Two Greatest Sufi Poets of AgraSELECTED POEMSTranslation and Introduction Paul Smith Nazir Akbarabadi (1735-1830) is an Indian poet from Agra (old name 'Akbarabadi') known as the 'Father of Nazm', who wrote mainly Urdu ghazals and nazms. It is said that Nazir's poetic treasure consisted of about 200,000 but only about 6000 couplets remain. The canvas of Nazir's nazms is so vast that it encompasses all aspects of human behavior and every person can find nazms that can suit his taste. Many of his poems are about daily life and observations of things such as training a young bear or the pleasures of the rainy season, how beauty can fade, the lives of old prostitutes, etc. His poems are loved by folk today. Many of his poems are spiritual and he is seen as a true Sufi. Bankey Behari: 'He saw the Lord everywhere. His meditations led him to the realization of the Forms of the Lord as well as the Formless Divinity. He sings of Shri Krishna with the greatest fervour as of Hazrat Ali and the Prophet Mohammed, and turns his face if he comes across the pseudo-saints and religious preceptors who are wanting in realization and yet profess it. By far he is best in portraying the heat of his yearning for his vision.' Seemab Akbarabadi began ghazal writing in the 19th century and became a disciple of the poet Dagh Dehlvi. He composed a remarkable Urdu translation in rhyming poetry of the Quran. He also translated into Urdu the Masnavi of Rumi, a massive task. His ghazals are suffused with true Sufism. The Perfect Spiritual Master, Meher Baba while listening to the singing of a ghazal of Seemab was so impressed by a particular couplet that he stopped the singer and declared that because of it he had bestowed on Seemab the ultimate gift of liberation or God-realization. The first poem in this collection is that ghazal. This is the largest translation of their poetry into English, with the correct form & meaning. Introduction on their Life, Times & Poetry and on the poetic forms they used. Selected Bibliography. Large Format 7" x 10" 470 pages.Paul Smith (b. 1945) is a poet, author and translator of many books of Sufi poets from the Persian, Arabic, Urdu, Turkish, Pashtu, Hindi and other languages including Hafiz, Sadi, Nizami, Rumi, 'Attar, Sana'i, Jahan Khatun, Obeyd Zakani, Mu'in, Amir Khusrau, Nesimi, Kabir, Anvari, Ansari, Jami, Khayyam, Rudaki, Lalla Ded, Mahsati, Baba Farid, Iqbal, Vrind, Rahim and others, and his own poetry, fiction, biographies, plays, children's books and a dozen screenplays. www.newhumanitybooks.com




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