The Memory of Love: Surdas Sings to Krishna

Surdas is unarguably the best known poet in Vrajbhasha, the most widely understood of the medieval Hindi literary dialects. He is the foremost Hindi poet of Krishna devotion and his verses are canonical in the Krishnaite tradition, which today is particularly vital in Western India. The verses are sung popularly throughout the Hindi-speaking regions. As with most legendary poet-singers in Indian oral tradition, Surdass authorship has been attributed to a great many verses. In his case, these constitute a very large corpus of devotional lyrics to Krishna, known in Hindi as the Sur Sagar, Surs Ocean. In this volume, Jack Hawley offers a selection of his charming translations of the most appealing of these poems, arranged according to such themes as Krishna growing up, the pangs and politics of love, and The Ramayana. Hawleys monumental annotated translation and commentary on the full corpus of lyrics attributed to Surdas, accompanied by Kenneth Bryants edition of the complete Vrajbhasha text, will be published within the next few years in our South Asia Research series. In the meantime, this abridged edition will appeal to a wide range of scholars and students of Hinduism and Indian culture. Surdas is unarguably the best known poet in Vrajbhasha, the most widely understood of the medieval Hindi literary dialects. He is the foremost Hindi poet of Krishna devotion and his verses are canonical in the Krishnaite tradition, which today is particularly vital in Western India. The verses are sung popularly throughout the Hindi-speaking regions. As with most legendary poet-singers in Indian oral tradition, Surdass authorship has been attributed to a great many verses. In his case, these constitute a very large corpus of devotional lyrics to Krishna, known in Hindi as the Sur Sagar, Surs Ocean. In this volume, Jack... Read More

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