Lalleshwari
Lalleshwari (1320–1392), locally known mostly as Lal Ded, was a Kashmiri mystic of the Kashmir Shaivism school of philosophy in the Indian subcontinent. She was one of the first poets of early modern Kashmiri language, and she developed a new style of spontaneous poetic composition known as "Vaakh" (literally, oral style). Out of her original compositions less than 300 are available today.
Quotes
[edit]Poetry
[edit]- I can dispel the clouds, drain the sea, or cure someone hopelessly ill. But to change the mind of a fool is beyond me.
- I trapped my breath in the bellows of my throat, and a lamp blazed up inside, showing me who I really was. I crossed the darkness holding fast to that lamp.
- I didn't believe in it for a moment
but I gulped down the wine of my own voice.
And then I wrestled with the darkness inside me,
knocked it down, clawed at it, ripped it to shreds.- The Poems of Lal Ded, poem 48, p. 10
- It covers your shame, keeps you from shivering.
Grass and water are the food it asks.
Who taught you, priest-man,
to feed this breathing thing to your thing of stone?- The Poems of Lal Ded, poem 59, p. 15
- They lash me with insults, serenade me with curses.
Their barking means nothing to me.
Even if they came with soul-flowers to offer,
I couldn’t care less. Untouched, I move on.- The Poems of Lal Ded, poem 92
From Kashmiri Poetry
[edit]- yi yi karu'm suy artsun
yi rasini vichoarum thi mantar
yihay lagamo dhahas partsun
suy Parasivun tanthar.- Translation : Whatever work I did became worship of the Lord;
Whatever word I uttered became a prayer;
Whatever this body of mine experienced became
the sadhana of Saiva Tantra
illumining my path to Parmasiva. - Lal Ded Vekhas
- Translation : Whatever work I did became worship of the Lord;
- Whatever work I've done,
whatever I have though,
was praise with my body
and praise hidden
inside my head.- Naked Songs, p. 18
External links
[edit]
- Ranjit Hoskote: I, Lalla, The Poems of Lal Dĕd, translated from the Kashmiri with and Introduction and Notes, Penguin India, July 2013
- Barks, Coleman: Naked Songs, Maypop Books, 1992