In this volume the authors present the life stories and works of Ravidas, Kabir, Nanak, Surdas, Mirabai, and Tulsidas - six well-known 'saint-poets' of northern India who have contributed more to the religious vocabulary of Hinduism in the region today than any voices before or since.

In This Book The Author Translates The Songs Of Annamacharya, Purandaradasa And Kanakadasa, In An English That Is Sometimes Startlingly Contemporary And Colloquial, Capturing The Essence Of Bhakti As A Movement That Belonged To The People, And That Spoke The Language Of The Streets.

Four, Like Its Predecessor Volumes One, Two And Three, Encompasses Selections From The Lifework Of Ten Mystic Poet-Saints Of India. The Mystic Poet-Sages Include'D In This R Volume Lived Between The 8Th And 20Th C Centuries And Came From Such Diverse Regions Of India.Jike Kashmir, Kerala, Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Punjab And Andhra Pradesh. They Are: Sundarar (Also Known As Sundara- Murthy), One Of The Great Nayanmars, Nammalular, The Doyen Of Alwars, Basavanna, The Founder Of Veerasaivism-A Movement Pledged To An Egalitarian Society Devoted To God, Ijad Ded Or Ijalla Yogeswari, The Kashmiri Saivite Yogin, Bihva Mangal Immortalised By His Poem Krishnakarnamritam, Chandidas, The Vaishn Vite Rebel Of Bengal Who Spear- Headed The Sahaja Movement Ofbhakti, Guru Nanak, The Founder Of Sikhism, A'Knath, The Maharcishtra Saint, Kshetrajna, The Telugu Composer Whose Sensual Images Sought To Seek Spiriulal Uplift And Suddhananda Bharati, Th~ Mystic Yogi, Who Poured Out His Heart- Felt Love For God In Mellifluous Poetry. The Sang In Different Languages: Kashmiri, Kannada, Sanskrit, Punja Bi, Telugu, Marathi, Bmgali And Tamil But All Of Them Sang Of The Glory Of God, With Whom Each Had An Intimate, Spiritual Communion. This Precious Spiritual Legacy Bequeathed By The Mystics Of India Will Be A Perennial Source Of Inspiration For All Scholars Of Indology And A Limitless Repertoire For All Artistes In The Fields Of Music, Dance, Drama And Ballet.

An accessible translation of the songs of the saints from the Adi Granth, the Sikh holy book.

Lives and poetry of Tamil saints.

This complete and accessible translation of the songs of the saints from the Sikh holy book, the Adi Granth, provides access to the hymns written by Hindu and Muslim devotional writers of north India, who flourished from the twelfth to the eighteenth centuries. The songs of the saints hold a unique position in Sikhism in that they provide the faith with a prehistory that reaches back to the dawn of north Indian Bhakti and Sant traditions. These works provided a ground upon which Sikh gurus laid the foundations of their faith. The songs also mark the earliest beginnings of Hindi literature. Although the literary output of these saints comes down to us in various stages of corruption, the works which appeared in the Adi Granth are unchanged since their inclusion in that work in the early 1600s.

This collection includes the work of ten mystic poet-saints who lived between the 8th and 20th century and came from diverse regions of India.

Machine generated contents note: -- Transliteration -- Acknowledgements -- Preface -- 1. "You Must Meet Prahladji!"--2. Oral Tradition in the Twenty-first Century: Observing Texts -- 3. "True Words of Kabir": Adventures in Authenticity -- 4. In the Jeweler's Bazaar: Malwa's Kabir -- 5. Oral Tradition in the Twenty-first Century: Exploring Theory -- 6. A Scorching Fire, A Cool Pool -- 7. Fighting over Kabir's Dead Body -- 8. Political/Spiritual Kabir -- References -- Index