Narasinha Mehta of Gujarat
A Legacy of Bhakti in Songs and Stories
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Product details:
- Publisher OUP USA
- Date of Publication 15 January 2015
- ISBN 9780199976416
- Binding Hardback
- No. of pages352 pages
- Size 163x236x22 mm
- Weight 638 g
- Language English
- Illustrations 33 illus. 0
Categories
Short description:
Neelima Shukla-Bhatt offers an illuminating study of Narsinha Mehta, one of the most renowned saint-poets of medieval India and the most celebrated bhakti (devotion) poet from Gujarat, and shows how the songs and sacred narratives associated with the saint-poet have been sculpted into a popular source of moral inspiration by performers and audiences.
MoreLong description:
Neelima Shukla-Bhatt offers an illuminating study of Narsinha Mehta, one of the most renowned saint-poets of medieval India and the most celebrated bhakti (devotion) poet from Gujarat, whose songs and sacred biography formed a vital source of moral inspiration for Gandhi. Exploring manuscripts, medieval texts, Gandhi's more obscure writings, and performances in multiple religious and non-religious contexts, including modern popular media, Shukla-Bhatt shows that the songs and sacred narratives associated with the saint-poet have been sculpted by performers and audiences into a popular source of moral inspiration.
Drawing on the Indian concept of bhakti-rasa (devotion as nectar), Narasinha Mehta of Gujarat reveals that the sustained popularity of the songs and narratives over five centuries, often across religious boundaries and now beyond devotional contexts in modern media, is the result of their combination of inclusive religious messages and aesthetic appeal in performance. Taking as an example Gandhi's perception of the songs and stories as vital cultural resources for social reconstruction, the book suggests that when religion acquires the form of popular culture, it becomes a widely accessible platform for communication among diverse groups. Shukla-Bhatt expands upon the scholarship on the embodied and public dimension of bhakti through detailed analysis of multiple public venues of performance and commentary, including YouTube videos.
This study provides a vivid picture of the Narasinha tradition, and will be a crucial resource for anyone seeking to understand the power of religious performative traditions in popular media.
Neelima Shukla-Bhatt has written a beautiful book on Narasinha Mehta, a poet-saint beloved in Gujarat since the fifteenth century. His poetry has circulated in diverse ways across centuries and regions, through melodic everyday songs, the social justice of Mahatma Gandhi, and the global reach of YouTube, which demands the comprehensive and accessible elucidation that Shukla-Bhatt is the first to provide in English on this iconic figure. Importantly, Shukla-Bhatt considers Narasinha's poetry as a resource for healing a region with a recent troubled past, and for imagining a harmoniously pluralistic future. In the course of providing social history, Shukla-Bhatt brings the aesthetic possibilities of Narasinha's compositions to the fore: Read his poetry through her graceful prose, and be truly enchanted.
Table of Contents:
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Preface
Note on transliteration
Introduction
Part I - Devotion and Aesthetics in the Narasinha Tradition
1. Lyrics of Play- Krishna in the Human World
2. Lyrics of Awakening - Mysticism and Moral Reflection
3. Exemplary Bhakti, Exemplary Singing - Narasinha in Sacred Narratives
4. Singing as Bhakti - Musical Performances of Narasinha's Songs
Part II - The Narasinha Legacy in Religious and Popular Cultures
5. The Saint of the Threshold, the First of Poets - The Narasinha Tradition in Gujarat and Beyond
6. A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma - Narasinha Mehta and Gandhi
7. Songs and the Saint in Modern Media - Narasinha in Popular Culture
Concluding Remarks
Glossary
Notes
Bibliography
Index
