Kabir, Kabir: The life and work of the early modern poet-philosopher

Kabir, Kabir: The life and work of the early modern poet-philosopher PDF Author: Purushottam Agrawal
Publisher: Westland Non-Fiction
ISBN: 939576757X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 251

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Book Description
A FASCINATING AND RIGOROUS EXAMINATION OF KABIR’S LIFE AND POETRY AND HIS RELEVANCE TODAY, FOR BOTH THE SCHOLAR AND GENERAL READER As the right wing tries to claim Kabir for itself, while other conservatives disown him and yet others portray him as a secular idol beyond religion, the poet has never been so misunderstood. Coming from the Nirgun bhakti tradition, the words of this fifteenth-century poet have the power to reach beyond time and speak to us today. Was he a Hindu or Muslim or was he beyond religion? Did he try to cultivate a new faith or did he eschew organised religion altogether? Was his modernity an exception or a reflection of the times he lived in? What does Kabir’s life and poetry tell us about this nation’s past and present? In this rare appraisal of Kabir’s writings and his life, Purushottam Agarwal approaches this timeless poet-revolutionary with little preconceptions, presenting him the way the poet wanted to be seen, rather than what his followers and fans want to see in him.

Kabir

Kabir PDF Author:
Publisher: Beacon Press
ISBN: 0807095370
Category : Poetry
Languages : en
Pages : 114

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Book Description
Originally published in 1976, with more than 75,000 copies in print, this collection of poems by fifteenth-century ecstatic poet Kabir is full of fun and full of thought. Columbia University professor of religion John Stratton Hawley has contributed an introduction that makes clear Kabir's immense importance to the contemporary reader and praises Bly's intuitive translations. By making every reader consider anew their religious thinking, the poems of Kabir seem as relevant today as when they were first written.

Padmavat

Padmavat PDF Author: Purushottama Agravāla
Publisher:
ISBN: 9789353040239
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Who Is Bharat Mata? On History, Culture and the Idea of India

Who Is Bharat Mata? On History, Culture and the Idea of India PDF Author: Purushottam Agrawal
Publisher:
ISBN: 9789386702876
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 538

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Book Description
An unprecedented and timely collection of writings by and on Jawaharlal Nehru--the man who shaped newly independent India; and the icon whose legacy is the subject of intense and often angry debate today. 'Who is this Bharat Mata, whose victory you wish?' asked Jawaharlal Nehru--a leading light of the Indian freedom movement who would become the country's first prime minister--at a public gathering in 1936. And then he explained: the mountains and rivers, forests and fields were of course dear to everyone, but what counted ultimately were 'the people of India...spread out all over this vast land. Bharat Mata, Mother India, [is] essentially these millions of people, and victory to her [is] victory to these people.' This collection of writings and speeches by and on Nehru shows us the mind--the ideology, born of experience, observation and deep study--behind this democratic and inclusive idea of India. It is a book of particular relevance at a time when 'nationalism' and the slogan 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' are being used to construct a militant and purely emotional idea of India that excludes millions of residents and citizens. 'Who Is Bharat Mata?' contains selections from Nehru's classic books--An Autobiography, Glimpses of World History and The Discovery of India; his speeches, essays and letters from the pre- and post-Independence years; and some of his most revealing interviews. The concluding section of the book comprises reminiscences and assessments of Nehru by his contemporaries--among them, Mahatma Gandhi, Bhagat Singh, Sardar Patel, Maulana Azad, Aruna Asaf Ali, Sheikh Abdullah, Ramdhari Singh Dinkar, Ali Sardar Jafri, Martin Luther King Jr and Atal Bihar Vajpayee. In this carefully put-together anthology--which also carries an illuminating introduction--Nehru emerges as a remarkable man of ideas and action who had an instinctive understanding of India's civilizational spirit, as also a clear commitment to the scientific temper; and as a leader who, despite the compulsions of politics, remained a true democrat. His legacy continues to be extremely relevant--for, in the words of the editor, an understanding of 'Nehru's political and intellectual journey is a pre-condition for India's survival as a democratic polity and as a humane, compassionate society'.

Kabir, Kabir

Kabir, Kabir PDF Author: Purushottama Agravāla
Publisher:
ISBN: 9789390679157
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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The Bijak of Kabir

The Bijak of Kabir PDF Author:
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199882029
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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Book Description
Kabir was an extraordinary oral poet whose works have been sung and recited by millions throughout North India for half a millennium. He may have been illiterate and he preached an abrasive, sometimes shocking, always uncompromising message that exhorted his audience to shed their delusions, pretentions, and empty orthodoxies in favor of an intense, direct, and personal confrontation with the truth. Thousands of poems are popularly attributed to Kabir, but only a few written collections have survived over the centuries. The Bijak is one of the most important, and is the sacred book of those who follow Kabir.

Kabir and the Kabir Panth

Kabir and the Kabir Panth PDF Author: G. H. Westcott
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Cults
Languages : en
Pages : 210

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The Kabir Book

The Kabir Book PDF Author: Kabir
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 104

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Book Description
"Few major achievements of world literature are as little known to Americans as the great ecstatic poetry of the Hindus and Sufis, as exemplified by the work of the 15th century master, Kabir. Irreverent while being intensely religious, Kabir seems incredibly playful in his taunting of the sacred dogmas of his time--to readers accustomed to the solemnity and ideological fidelity of most Western religious poems. Kabir has been translated into English only once before, by Rabindranath Tagore and Evelyn Underhill. Unfortunately, Tagore's Victorian English was simply not equal to Kabir's directness, spontaneity, and irreverent humor. Working from the Tagore-Underhill translation, Bly has done much more than retranslate into American diction. A noted poet himself, he has breathed new life into the work of a fascinating poet"--From back cover.

The Poetry of Kabir

The Poetry of Kabir PDF Author: Kabir
Publisher: Portable Poetry
ISBN: 9781783947881
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 36

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Book Description
Kabir, (meaning Great and one of the 99 names of God in Arabic), was a mystic and poet, born around 1440 whose work continues to be revered today by Muslims, Sufis, Sikhs and Hindus and is the founder of the Kabir Panth (Path of Kabir), a religious community mainly in India with approximately 10 million members. He was born in Varanasi to poor Muslim parents, although some say he was the child of a Brahmin widow and said of himself that he was "at once the child of Allah and Ram." He grew up learning his father's craft of weaving and very unusually for a Muslim, overcame obstacles to become a disciple of Saint or Swami Ramananda, the leading pioneer of the Bhakti movement, which promoted salvation for all. We cannot be sure of what religious teaching he received in Ramananda's ashram as Ramananda died when Kabir was 13 but we do know that he did not renounce his worldly life, as he married and had children, and was disdainful of professional piety which led to later persecution by religious authorities. This was further amplified by his progressive philosophy of social equality and his spiritual synthesis of Hindu ideas of karma and reincarnation and Muslim beliefs of one god and no idolatry or caste system. We do know that he had no formal education and remained almost entirely illiterate and expressed his poems as 'banis' meaning utterances in Hindi although he borrowed from various dialects. His songs and couplets were part of a strong oral tradition in the region and although spread across northern India orally were also written down by two of his disciples, namely Bhagodas and Dharmadas. Kabir's style was inventive and imaginative and able to capture the attention of a wide range of Indians and provide a path to spiritual awakening which for Kabir was mainly about love and brotherhood and not to be divorced from daily life. "All our actions performed anywhere are our duties, and work is worship." His work is understood and accessible to generations of Indians, more so than any other Saint and in India remains one of the most quoted mystic poets of all time. His ability to simplify and use examples of our universal daily life to enhance our spiritual well being and acceptance of our own self make his work very relevant today as is apparent in this volume. Kabir is thought to have lived an exceptionally long life and probably died in 1518. It is said that his Hindu followers wanted his body cremated and his Muslim followers wanted his body buried and a fight therefore ensued. When they finally lifted the cloth that covered his dead body they found flowers and took half each for his last rites.

The Weaver's Songs

The Weaver's Songs PDF Author: Kabir
Publisher: Penguin Books India
ISBN: 9780143029687
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 330

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Book Description
Life and works of a Hindu saint poet.