K N Pandita
(Hardbound, pp 206, published by Pralek Publishing House Pvt. Ltd, Pune, Email; pralek.prakashan@gmail.com Price INR 599/-)
Lalleyshwari, generally known to Kashmiris as Lal-Ded (circa CE1320-1392), is a Kashmiri mystic poetess widely known to the people of her native land. She was an ardent Shaivite who left behind her philosophical thoughts in terse didactic aphorisms locally called Vakh. For a long time, her Vakh(s) passed from generation to generation through word of mouth before being compiled and preserved in the form of a written word.
But the controversy over the original and spurious Vakhs attributed to Lal-Ded rages with fury even today, particularly among those who rubbish the Lal-Ded and Nund Reshi meeting as a figment of imagination.
The life period of Lal-Ded is of much historical and social importance because the civilizational transformation of Hindu-Kashmir took shape during this period. Kashmir’s millennia-old civilization of indigenous character was replaced with a faith and culture of foreign origin. Lal-Ded, intrinsically a social scientist gifted by nature with the faculty of keen observation, reflected pensively on the making of a new society in new circumstances.
In a sense, Lal-Ded’s life and thought are comparable to those of Baba Tahir Oryani, the first Iranian mystic poet born circa AH 326/CE 937-38 in Hamadan, the well-known town in western Iran famous for the concentration of the people of Jewish and Zoroastrian faith, as recorded by Herodotus.
He is given the sobriquet of Oryani — the naked—, composed of do-bayti (somewhat like a quatrain) in the local dialect Luri, reflecting philosophical themes somewhat vague in presentation but loaded with deep philosophical intonation. Like Lal-Ded, Baba Tahir also looks at himself as a wayfarer in search of the ultimate destination.
Curiously, many mystic poets and thinkers in the East have usually composed cliché, technically called aphorisms in English, Shattha in Arabic and do-bayti in Farsi. In the case of Lal-Ded, her poetic compositions or format are called Vakh, a word derived from her writings.
Vakh of Kashmiri lexicon appears to be originally vakyaof Sanskrit, Vacha of Avestic and Vajeh of contemporary Farsi origin. In all these forms, the meaning (the word/utterance/verse) remains unchanged.
What is the book about?
Dr Agnishekhar, a scholar of eminence, an unconventional poet and essayist, and a Kashmirologist of rare insight, in his book, “?????????”translated into ‘Thus Spake Lal-Ded’ by Dr Chandra Kanta, has introduced to us the iconic hermit poetess Lalleyshwari in a living profile making her speak to us the great saga of her life, fortitude, thought, vision and experience. We have copious literature on Lalleyshwari scripted by eminent scholars versatile in the field of assessment of personalities and their contribution. Their effort in introducing Lal-Ded is commendable and remains our precious heritage.
However, no authentic biography of Lal-Ded exists. As such, her life story is shrouded in mystery. But it is through her Shaivite philosophy embodied in her poetic compositions that have come down to us, she has become immortal.
But Dr Agnishekhar has refused to walk the beaten track. In his book ” ?????????”he has carved a new and untraversed path carrying in his hand the searchlight of truth and wisdom. Such is the force of his conviction that he makes Lalleyshwari speak threadbare not only about the joys of her childhood in the lap of mother nature, the turbulent saga of her married life, the version of her search for the Guru, the vicissitudes and vagaries of fast fleeting Time etc. but also the poignant story of the very Nature, in the form of its physical manifestations becoming her companion, in her endless wayfaring until the final destination is arrived at.
What is this wayfaring? The unending cycle of birth and rebirth, the difficult task of crossing the hurdles when searching for the elusive consciousness — the Shiva — the final dissolving and then becoming part of eternity.
Agnishekhar makes Lalleyshwari unravel various phases of her life and spiritual pilgrimage. Her supposed conversation with animate and inanimate objects sometimes unravels the deeply-seated mysteries in the labyrinthine spacesof her mind. Note her conversation with the birds in the poem titled :”Said birds to me today —–:
“Can’t stand you in anguish
One day we will lift you away with us from your fields”
The river, too, said,” Surrender your sufferings to me,
Will carry them far away to the seas”:
And so said the lofty Chinar,” Give me your sorrows,
Beneath my shade shall I shelter thee”.
Today at my spinning wheel,
I sang the birdie-songs in my soul,
Lit the lamps in my deep within
Set them afloat on the river…..embraced the Chinar
And wept …
A leaf upon my head at that moment
(Note: the entire philosophy is hidden in the final words that even the leaves have to depart from the tree that brings them to life)
Lal-Ded calls herself a wayfarer, traversing plains, forests and deserts; seeking guidance from her Guru — the only one who guides her to her destination. After a journey over endless time and space, she arrives at her destination. And here is how. The disciple of Lal-Ded puts words in her mouth;
“While remembering you Shiva, I become you
In the bliss of Abedha, not a whit of Laleshwari was left in me
All dilemmas dissolved, the Varna, caste and gender, no longer
Water, fire, earth, air, ether all in unison
A shape? No shape all in you
Existent, non-existent, an enigmatic you,
Elixir, beauty, fragrance, touch, sound, silence, ignorance and awareness – all pervasive in you
You, the finite, the infinite,
You the cosmos, the one indivisible form,
The eternal flow of consciousness, you the unobstructed,
This, that, we, it,
You a speck of sound too!
Then who is this other apart from you’?
The translator
The original book” Mai Lal-Ded authored by Dr Agnishekhar is in Hindi. Prof. Dr Chandra Kanta, a distinguished Professor of English, has translated it into English and given it the title Thus SpakeLal-Ded.
English translation will make the book accessible to the English-knowing readership which is vast and intrusive. They know the art of sifting facts from the hash.
But translating from one major language to another major language is not everybody’s cup of tea. Translating is not only an art; it is more a meditation than art. For days at an end, a translator grapples with a word or a phrase to find how best it can be rendered in another idiom.
We will not be far from the truth if we say that no translation is a true replication of the original.
A true and honest translator is lost to her/himself while struggling with the translation work. Yes, s/he is lost; her/his person is lost, her/his personality is lost and her/his world is lost to her/him. S/he is transported to another world, which is apparently alien to her/him but ultimately becomes her/his own realm.
Her diction strictly guided by brevity is the foremost beauty of her translation. In the art of coining phrases that aptly conform to the scenario or observation in hand, she has few parallels. For example, note some of them: balsamic breeze, unintended censure, tears nurtured in future’s womb, jubilation in my unseen hamlet, frowning piles of snow, dead-wood minds, enigmatic footpath, stoic Sun, hypnotizing mysteries.
Chandra is a dedicated scholar in her right. She has a respectable place among the English writers of our times. Her recent publication The Songs of Vitasta I Singwas released in an imposing function attended by at least three distinguished Padam Shri award holders among a large gathering of outstanding academic credentials. Hopefully, the volume under review will enrich the corpus of material produced on Lalleyshwari, the mystic, the social reformer and the conscience keeper of the community.
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