Bodies of Song

Kabir Oral Traditions and Performative Worlds in North India

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, Asian, South & Southeast Asian, Nonfiction, Religion & Spirituality, Eastern Religions, Hinduism
Cover of the book Bodies of Song by Linda Hess, Oxford University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Linda Hess ISBN: 9780190273170
Publisher: Oxford University Press Publication: July 13, 2015
Imprint: Oxford University Press Language: English
Author: Linda Hess
ISBN: 9780190273170
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Publication: July 13, 2015
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Language: English

Kabir was a great iconoclastic-mystic poet of fifteenth-century North India; his poems were composed orally, written down by others in manuscripts and books, and transmitted through song. Scholars and translators usually attend to written collections, but these present only a partial picture of the Kabir who has remained vibrantly alive through the centuries mostly in oral forms. Entering the worlds of singers and listeners in rural Madhya Pradesh, Bodies of Song combines ethnographic and textual study in exploring how oral transmission and performance shape the content and interpretation of vernacular poetry in North India. The book investigates textual scholars' study of oral-performative traditions in a milieu where texts move simultaneously via oral, written, audio/video-recorded, and electronic pathways. As texts and performances are always socially embedded, Linda Hess brings readers into the lives of those who sing, hear, celebrate, revere, and dispute about Kabir. Bodies of Song is rich in stories of individuals and families, villages and towns, religious and secular organizations, castes and communities. Dialogue between religious/spiritual Kabir and social/political Kabir is a continuous theme throughout the book: ambiguously located between Hindu and Muslim cultures, Kabir rejected religious identities, pretentions, and hypocrisies. But even while satirizing the religious, he composed stunning poetry of religious experience and psychological insight. A weaver by trade, Kabir also criticized caste and other inequalities and today serves as an icon for Dalits and all who strive to remove caste prejudice and oppression.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Kabir was a great iconoclastic-mystic poet of fifteenth-century North India; his poems were composed orally, written down by others in manuscripts and books, and transmitted through song. Scholars and translators usually attend to written collections, but these present only a partial picture of the Kabir who has remained vibrantly alive through the centuries mostly in oral forms. Entering the worlds of singers and listeners in rural Madhya Pradesh, Bodies of Song combines ethnographic and textual study in exploring how oral transmission and performance shape the content and interpretation of vernacular poetry in North India. The book investigates textual scholars' study of oral-performative traditions in a milieu where texts move simultaneously via oral, written, audio/video-recorded, and electronic pathways. As texts and performances are always socially embedded, Linda Hess brings readers into the lives of those who sing, hear, celebrate, revere, and dispute about Kabir. Bodies of Song is rich in stories of individuals and families, villages and towns, religious and secular organizations, castes and communities. Dialogue between religious/spiritual Kabir and social/political Kabir is a continuous theme throughout the book: ambiguously located between Hindu and Muslim cultures, Kabir rejected religious identities, pretentions, and hypocrisies. But even while satirizing the religious, he composed stunning poetry of religious experience and psychological insight. A weaver by trade, Kabir also criticized caste and other inequalities and today serves as an icon for Dalits and all who strive to remove caste prejudice and oppression.

More books from Oxford University Press

Cover of the book Holy War in Judaism by Linda Hess
Cover of the book Chemical Secret Level 3 Oxford Bookworms Library by Linda Hess
Cover of the book What Went Wrong?:Western Impact and Middle Eastern Response by Linda Hess
Cover of the book Islam in Indonesia: Oxford Bibliographies Online Research Guide by Linda Hess
Cover of the book The Ghost of Jim Crow by Linda Hess
Cover of the book The Psychology of Green Organizations by Linda Hess
Cover of the book Ethics and Values in Social Work: Oxford Bibliographies Online Research Guide by Linda Hess
Cover of the book Alzheimer's Disease and Dementia by Linda Hess
Cover of the book Chants Democratic by Linda Hess
Cover of the book The Oxford Handbook of Religion and American Education by Linda Hess
Cover of the book The Oxford Handbook of Transcendentalism by Linda Hess
Cover of the book As If an Enemy's Country by Linda Hess
Cover of the book Valuing the Closely Held Firm by Linda Hess
Cover of the book Voodoo Island - With Audio Level 2 Oxford Bookworms Library by Linda Hess
Cover of the book Warfare and Military Organizations: Oxford Bibliographies Online Research Guide by Linda Hess
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy