Publisher's Synopsis
The book is a collection of essays written over two decades but with consistency of style, concern and argument. It's divided into two parts: The first, "The Bhakti Poet Saint: Economies of Word and Life" ranges over the literature of Bhakti as a whole. The second part is organized around individual poets: Mira, Sur, and Kabir. Connections between the three poets is established meticulously and convincingly. The book also deals with the controversial question of "authenticity" by looking at how the poets appear in their oldest manuscript traditions. The author also translates a number of poems that emerge from the earliest manuscript strata, some translated for the first time. In addition, he also deals with the question of reception and interpretations with deep insight.
