I, Lalla: The Poems of Lal DĕdThe 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. |
Common terms and phrases
Abhinavagupta appear aspirant awareness Azizullah body Brahmin breath Buddhist centuries chakra companion vākhs consciousness contributory lineage cultural cycle death dhyāna Divine dōhā energy enlightenment experience guru heart heteroglossia Hindu Hinduism Hoskote's identity Indian Islam Jayalal Kaul journey karma Kashmir Śaivism lake Lal Děd Lalla Lalla’s poems Lalla’s poetry Lalla's vākhs language LD corpus lives Lord Master meaning meditation metaphor mind Muslim mystic Nārāyana Nātha note to poem offer Pandit path Persian philosophical poem 19 poem 51 prāṇāyāma quest questor realised reciters reference religious renouncer Rishi ritual sahasrāra saint-poet Śaiva Śaivite samsāra Sanskrit says in poem scholars scriptures seeker Shakti Shiva Shiva and Shakti Shiva-principle Siddha Śiva social soul spiritual practice subcontinent Sufi Sufism Supreme Tantra Tantric Tantric underground teacher teaching Toshkhani töy traditions transcendence translation universe Utpaladeva utterance Vasugupta Vedānta vision Void woman word worship Yoga Yogācāra yogi Yogic practice yogini