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.

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Excerpt from The Bijak of Kabir: Translated Into English While in 1910 my Hindi d104 was passing through the Press, I was engaged in putting the same into English, and the Reverend B. H. P. Fisher very kindly helped in revising and correcting the same and a few pages also passed through the Press. But for various reasons the printing of the translation had to be abandoned. For about five years the translation remained in suspense. During this period fresh light was 1thrown upon the text of the Bijak, and it was strongly felt necessary that a fresh translation should be made. Early in 1916 I started the translation and finished it by the end of February 1916. This time I asked the Reverend E. W. Ormerod, of the Cawnpore Brotherhood, to revise and correct my translation. To this request of mine he readily responded and spent many weary hours daily with me in correcting the translation. I am indebted to him for having made the translation intelligible for English readers to which I can make no pretension. But in no way should he be held responsible if the rendering into English does not agree with the original. I trust he will permit me to avail myself of this opportunity of tendering my warmest acknowledgement of his invaluable labours. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

The Bijak of Kabir is written mostly in the Hindi of the Mirzapuri dialect, though some of the hymns show traces also of the Gorakhpuri dialect, which is due, perhaps, to the fact tliat Kabir spent his last days in Maghdr in the Gorakh-pur district. I have seen several manuscripts of the Bijak, all written in the Kaithi character with the words not separated. Amon" these manuscripts, some were quite complete, agreeing with the arrangement of the Raja of Rewah DEGREESs edition, but without any commentary; some had only a portion of the Bi

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Kabir was an extraordinary poet whose works have been sung and recited by millions throughout North India for half a millennium. He was perhaps illiterate (I don't touch ink or paper, this hand never grasped a pen), and he preached an abrasive, sometimes shocking, always uncompromising message exhorting his audience to shed their delusions, pretensions and empty orthodoxies in favour of an intense, direct 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 anthologies, being the sacred book of the Kabir Panth and the main representative of the Eastern tradition of KabirÍs verses. All versions of the Bijak include three main sections called Ramani, Sabda, and Sakhi, plus a fourth section containing several miscellaneous folk-song forms. Most of the Kabir material has been popularized through the song-form known as sabda or pada, and through the aphoristic Sakhi that serves throughout North India as a vehicle for popular wisdom. These two forms, universally linked with Kabir, have been emphasized in this translation. Sukhdev Singh and Linda Hess have accomplished a translation of real grace and remarkable accuracy. The introduction and notes explore KabirÍs work, place it in its initial context, and explore its meaning for modern time. The Bijak is one of the most important anthologies, being the sacred book of the Kabir Panth and the main representative of the Eastern tradition of Kabir's verses. Sukhdev Singh and Linda Hess have accomplished a translation of real grace and remarkable accuracy. The introduction and notes explore Kabir's work, place it in its initial context, and explore its meaning for modern time.