The poems of the fourteenth-century Kashmiri mystic Lal Ded, popularly known as Lalla, strike us like brief and blinding bursts of light. Emotionally rich yet philosophically precise, sumptuously enigmatic yet crisply structured, these poems are as sensuously evocative as they are charged with an ecstatic devotion. Stripping away a century of Victorian-inflected translations and paraphrases, and restoring the jagged, colloquial power of Lalla's voice, in Ranjit Hoskote's new translation these poems are glorious manifestos of illumination.
This book on Lal Ded has been constructed by the process of restructuring a lot of literature books and other source material. Care has been taken not to violate the spirit of the original vakh and its meaning. Her vakhs or poetry has been translated widely by eminent scholars, but the authors of this book could hardly find a single book which would contain almost all the available vakhs. It is in this context that the authors have tried to consolidate all the vakhs and prepared a first catalogue of vakhs of the great saint poetess Lal Ded. We have been able to consolidate more than 315 of Lal Ded's vakhs in this book.Some of the vaakhs have their source as audio recordings and some including the word of the mouth.The Kashmiri saint and mystic poet Lal Ded, was married at the age of 12 into a family that was reported to have regularly mistreated her. After becoming a disciple of Sidh Srikanth, she renounced her material life and marriage to become a devotee of the god Shiva. As a mystic, she wandered naked, reciting her proverbs and her vakhs as a peaceful means of engagement with both Shaivism and Sufism.Her poems are emotionally rich yet philosophically exact. The vakhs are splendidly mysterious yet crisply ordered. We have been at work in compilation of Lal Vakh for the last several years. It has been a much tougher and more time consuming job than the authors had bargained for. ...I am holding the framework in this book to the first order test that it be able to take account of a very wide range of complicated and carefully observed matter in a lucid and substantive manner. I am a teacher, a researcher, a scientist, an author and above all a student still having a desire to learn. My research led me to correct many tender beliefs and opinions held about her. Sometimes I have had to reinterpret the text and at places set right the text itself. I admit I may be trying in part to engage you in the process of learning and understanding a person by understanding her vakhs and how they seem to feel. Often to be frank the authors have been grappling with the cryptic and linear meaning of some vakhs any help is deeply appreciated.
Lal Ded, Habba Khatun, Rupa Bhavani, Arnimal: these four women poets, dating from different periods in the history of Kashmir, are household names in the valley and are claimed by all, no matter what religious, ethnic or other group they belong to. In this beautiful volume, Neerja Mattoo brings their work together for the first time, placing it in two traditions, the mystic and the lyric. Fine and nuanced translations of their poems are accompanied by brief introductions to their work that place the women in a historical context and deal with both the facts and the beliefs about their work.
Mystical Verses of Lalla is a rich introduction to Lalla, the great 14th centuries. Also known as Lallesvari and Lal Ded, she defied social conventions and proceeded on the journey of self-realization. Her verses speak across cultural boundaries and traditions and are as relevant today as they were six centuries ago. Jaishree Kak has beautifully translated the verses from Kashmiri into English. Joseph Singer's prints and drawings complement the verses, providing visual pathways into Lalla's verses. The fourteenth-century mystic poet Lalla, also known as Lallesvari and Lal Ded, is an integral part of Kashmiri language, literature, and culture. Lalla-Vakh or Lalla's verse-sayings have resonated orally for centuries in the valley of Kashmir. Lalla has been compared to Shakespeare, Hafiz, Kabir and Tulsidasa. And, she has been honored as the first Kashmiri poet who modernized Kashmiri language as well as literature. Her richness of language, turn of phrases, and metaphors are now standard expressions in modern Kashmiri.
PREFACE. THE Author of this very practical treatise on Scotch Loch - Fishing desires clearly that it may be of use to all who had it. He does not pretend to have written anything new, but to have attempted to put what he has to say in as readable a form as possible. Everything in the way of the history and habits of fish has been studiously avoided, and technicalities have been used as sparingly as possible. The writing of this book has afforded him pleasure in his leisure moments, and that pleasure would be much increased if he knew that the perusal of it would create any bond of sympathy between himself and the angling community in general. This section is interleaved with blank shects for the readers notes. The Author need hardly say that any suggestions addressed to the case of the publishers, will meet with consideration in a future edition. We do not pretend to write or enlarge upon a new subject. Much has been said and written-and well said and written too on the art of fishing but loch-fishing has been rather looked upon as a second-rate performance, and to dispel this idea is one of the objects for which this present treatise has been written. Far be it from us to say anything against fishing, lawfully practised in any form but many pent up in our large towns will bear us out when me say that, on the whole, a days loch-fishing is the most convenient. One great matter is, that the loch-fisher is depend- ent on nothing but enough wind to curl the water, -and on a large loch it is very seldom that a dead calm prevails all day, -and can make his arrangements for a day, weeks beforehand whereas the stream- fisher is dependent for a good take on the state of the water and however pleasant and easy it may be for one living near the banks of a good trout stream or river, it is quite another matter to arrange for a days river-fishing, if one is looking forward to a holiday at a date some weeks ahead. Providence may favour the expectant angler with a good day, and the water in order but experience has taught most of us that the good days are in the minority, and that, as is the case with our rapid running streams, -such as many of our northern streams are, -the water is either too large or too small, unless, as previously remarked, you live near at hand, and can catch it at its best. A common belief in regard to loch-fishing is, that the tyro and the experienced angler have nearly the same chance in fishing, -the one from the stern and the other from the bow of the same boat. Of all the absurd beliefs as to loch-fishing, this is one of the most absurd. Try it. Give the tyro either end of the boat he likes give him a cast of ally flies he may fancy, or even a cast similar to those which a crack may be using and if he catches one for every three the other has, he may consider himself very lucky. Of course there are lochs where the fish are not abundant, and a beginner may come across as many as an older fisher but we speak of lochs where there are fish to be caught, and where each has a fair chance. Again, it is said that the boatman has as much to do with catching trout in a loch as the angler. Well, we dont deny that. In an untried loch it is necessary to have the guidance of a good boatman but the same argument holds good as to stream-fishing...
The book covers some of the great poets, writers and fighters of Kashmir who have left an indelible mark on the history of Kasdhmir but have been forgotten with the passage of time. Most of the write ups have appeared in various magazines and books and have been compiled in Urdu by Mr. Mohammad Amin Rafiqi and translated in to English by Sayyid Ashraf Shah, besides adding some more chapters at the end. The subjects shall be of great attraction to the people interested in the history of Kashmir.
