Songs of the Saints of India

The verses of the great religious poets of north India stand at the fount of the Hindi language, and many would say that they also represent its greatest flowering.  These poems are awash in universal themes--cruelty, loneliness, hope, infatuation, the weight of time--and are well known to Indians in every walk of life today.  Their authors are revered not only as poets but as saints through a hagiographical literature that extends to comic books, TV serials, and motion pictures.  Songs of the Saints of India presents six of the best known of these poets--Ravidas, Kabir, Nanak, Surdas, Mirabai, and Tulsidas--with a biographical and interpretive essay on each and a selection of representative verses in original translations.  The book provides a new way to be introduced to Hinduism as it is lived today.

History

Juergensmeyer, Mark

Hawley, John Stratton

Asia

Oxford University Press

The verses of the great poets of north India stand at the fount of the Hindi language, and many would say that they also represent its greatest flowering. In addition to their major religious significance for Hindus, these poems treat universal themes, have great popular appeal, and even today are well known to Indians in every walk of life. The beloved authors are revered not only as poets but also as saints, and hagiographical literature about them abounds, even in the form of comic books and popular motion pictures. Songs of the Saints of India serves as an introduction to six of the best known of these poets--Ravidas, Kabir, Nanak, Surdas, Mirabai, and Tulsidas--with a biographical and interpretive essay on each and a selection of representative verses in original translations.

Literature & Fiction

Poetry

The Memory of Love: Surdas Sings to Krishna

No Hindu god is closer to the soul of poetry than Krishna, and in North India no poet ever sang of Krishna more famously than S?rdD=as-or S?r, for short. He lived in the sixteenth century and became so influential that for centuries afterward aspiring Krishna poets signed their compositions orally with his name.This book takes us back to the source, offering a selection of S?rd=as's poems that were known and sung in the sixteenth century itself. Here we have poems of war, poems to the great rivers, poems of wit and rage, poems where the poet spills out his disappointments. Most of all, though, we have the memory of love-poems that adopt the voices of the women of Krishna's natal Braj country and evoke the power of being pulled into his irresistible orbit. Following the lead of several old manuscripts, Jack Hawley arranges these poems in such a way that they tell us Krishna's life story from birth to full maturity.These lyrics from S?r's Ocean (the S?rs=agar) were composed in the very tongue Hindus believe Krishna himself must have spoken: Brajbh=as=a, the language of Braj, a variety of Hindi. Hawley prepares the way for his verse translations with an introduction that explains what we know of S?rd=as and describes the basic structure of his poems. For readers new to Krishna's world or to the subtleties of a poet like S?rd=as, Hawley also provides a substantial set of analytical notes. "S?r is the sun," as a familiar saying has it, and we feel the warmth of his light in these pages.

Religion & Spirituality

Hinduism

No Hindu god is closer to the soul of poetry than Krishna, and in North India no poet ever sang of Krishna more famously than S=urdD=as-or S=ur, for short. He lived in the sixteenth century and became so influential that for centuries afterward aspiring Krishna poets signed their compositions orally with his name.This book takes us back to the source, offering a selection of S=urd=as's poems that were known and sung in the sixteenth century itself. Here we have poems of war, poems to the great rivers, poems of wit and rage, poems where the poet spills out his disappointments. Most of all, though, we have the memory of love-poems that adopt the voices of the women of Krishna's natal Braj country and evoke the power of being pulled into his irresistible orbit. Following the lead of several old manuscripts, Jack Hawley arranges these poems in such a way that they tell us Krishna's life story from birth to full maturity.These lyrics from S=ur's Ocean (the S=urs=agar) were composed in the very tongue Hindus believe Krishna himself must have spoken: Brajbh=as=a, the language of Braj, a variety of Hindi. Hawley prepares the way for his verse translations with an introduction that explains what we know of S=urd=as and describes the basic structure of his poems. For readers new to Krishna's world or to the subtleties of a poet like S=urd=as, Hawley also provides a substantial set of analytical notes. "S=ur is the sun," as a familiar saying has it, and we feel the warmth of his light in these pages.

The book is a collection of essays written over two decades but with consistency of style, concern and argument. It's divided into two parts: The first, "The Bhakti Poet Saint: Economies of Word and Life" ranges over the literature of Bhakti as a whole. The second part is organized around individual poets: Mira, Sur, and Kabir. Connections between the three poets is established meticulously and convincingly.

Three Bhakti Voices: Mirabai, Surdas, and Kabir in Their Time and Ours

The six poets presented here -- Ravidas, Kabir, Nanak, Surdas, Mirabai, and Tulsidas -- have contributed more to the religious vocabulary of Hinduism in north India today than any voices before or since. In worship, in education, even in politics, modern Hinduism sings their tune. For half a millennium, these saints' poems have circulated from the banks of the Jumna to the rice fields of Bihar and back to the deserts of Rajasthan, providing a language for many of life's most vivid concerns -- cruelty and loneliness, status and intimacy, hope and infatuation, and the maddening transitoriness of it all. With a biographical and interpretive essay on each poet and a selection of representative verses in original translation, this book offers a complete introduction to a literature that transcends the boundaries we associate with religion and those of India as well.

Songs of the Saints of India (Oxford India Paperbacks)

Sur-Das, a poet-singer who lived sometime during the 16th century, has come to be revered as one of the greatest literary figures in the Hindi language family. Reputedly blind from birth, Sur was, like Homer, endowed with a visionacute enough to exceed by far the capacities of ordinary eyes. (from the dust jacket).

Sur Das: Poet, Singer, Saint (Publications on Asia of the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, Vol 40)

History & Criticism

Univ of Washington Pr

This book explores a larger family of saints―those celebrated not just by Christianity but by other religious traditions of the world: Muslim, Hindu, Jewish, Buddhist, Confucian, African, and Caribbean. The essays show how saints serve as moral exemplars in the communities that venerate them.

Saints and Virtues (Comparative Studies in Religion and Society) (v. 2) (Volume 2)

Politics & Social Sciences

Sociology

University of California Press

The monotheistic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have severely limited the portrayal of the divine as feminine. But in Hinduism "God" very often means "Goddess." This extraordinary collection explores twelve different Hindu goddesses, all of whom are in some way related to Devi, the Great Goddess. They range from the liquid goddess-energy of the River Ganges to the possessing, entrancing heat of Bhagavati and Seranvali. They are local, like Vindhyavasini, and global, like Kali; ancient, like Saranyu, and modern, like "Mother India." The collection combines analysis of texts with intensive fieldwork, allowing the reader to see how goddesses are worshiped in everyday life. In these compelling essays, the divine feminine in Hinduism is revealed as never before—fascinating, contradictory, powerful.

Devi: Goddesses of India (Comparative Studies in Religion and Society)

Wulff, Donna Marie

Anthropology

The Life of Hinduism brings together a series of essays―many recognized as classics in the field―that present Hinduism as a vibrant, truly “lived” religion. Celebrating the diversity for which Hinduism is known, this volume begins its journey in the “new India” of Bangalore, India’s Silicon Valley, where global connections and local traditions rub shoulders daily. Readers are then offered a glimpse into the multifaceted world of Hindu worship, life-cycle rites, festivals, performances, gurus, and castes. The book’s final sections deal with the Hinduism that is emerging in diasporic North America and with issues of identity that face Hindus in India and around the world: militancy versus tolerance and the struggle between owning one’s own religion and sharing it with others. Contributors: Andrew Abbott, Michael Burawoy, Patricia Hill Collins, Barbara Ehrenreich, Evelyn Nakano Glenn, Sharon Hays, Douglas Massey, Joya Misra, Orlando Patterson, Frances Fox Piven, Lynn Smith-Lovin, Judith Stacey, Arthur Stinchcombe, Alain Touraine, Immanuel Wallerstein, William Julius Wilson, Robert Zussman

The Life of Hinduism (The Life of Religion) (Volume 3)

Narayanan, Vasudha

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Books by Hawley, John Stratton

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Hawley, John Stratton. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Songs of the Saints of India

Songs of the Saints of India

The Memory of Love: Surdas Sings to Krishna

The Memory of Love: Surdas Sings to Krishna

Three Bhakti Voices: Mirabai, Surdas, and Kabir in Their Time and Ours

Songs of the Saints of India (Oxford India Paperbacks)

Sur Das: Poet, Singer, Saint (Publications on Asia of the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, Vol 40)

Saints and Virtues (Comparative Studies in Religion and Society) (v. 2) (Volume 2)

Devi: Goddesses of India (Comparative Studies in Religion and Society)

The Life of Hinduism (The Life of Religion) (Volume 3)