Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Metro Plus | Open Page | Education Plus | Book Review | Business | SciTech | Friday Review | Young World | Property Plus | Quest | Folio |

Threading Kabir

The book, `Kabir - The Weaver Poet' will get you to rethink life, says the author

The book may not transform you, but it will get you to rethink life, the author promises. Jaya Madhavan started working on her book, "Kabir, The Weaver Poet", after an informal gathering to discuss the poetFacts on Kabir were "hazy" ("with dates and details conflicting"), she says, in her prologue — he may have lived between 1398-1498, in Kashi or Varanasi and perhaps born to a Hindu mother, raised by Muslim parents and guided by Ramanujam. "There is no authentic information on him but legends, such as that of him sitting on a thread or his body turning to roses, abound. Perhaps he said things that rankled many, which is why he is not remembered with clarity," said Jaya. Kabir, she said, was abrasive as well as compassionate. He reacted to his surroundings with impromptu verses. He spoke of things we don't want to hear. "He rankles me from four centuries across. "Imagine how annoying he must have been to his contemporaries," she said.

With facts scarce and fiction aplenty, she chose to draw most from his dohas for her book. The book is one day in the life of Kabir and the story happens in three places: a ghat, a marketplace and at his loom. She kept the fantastical in his life, but wanted the readers to take it with a pinch of salt and thus was born the character "Dhaga". Dhaga, a thread from Kabir's loom and his friend, carries the legends in his bulging stomach.

The book is her experience of Kabir. With the writing of the book started an ongoing transition for the writer. "I have reduced my circle of affection and today I have a bag in which I plan to hold all my needs."

The book was meant to be a picture book for young adults, but she could not limit herself to less than 35,000 words on the poet and it became a novelette. But there is no reason to complain; it is a good introduction to the poet.

ASHA MENON

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail