In the Dark of the Heart: Songs of Meera
by Shama Futehally, Mīrābāī,
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Meera, they said, was mad. She is also the symbol Mahatma Gandhi chose to inspire his modern Indian renaissance and the archetypal female saint whose songs of love and devotion remain an integral part of Indian life and culture. Meera was a sixteenth-century Rajput princess who renounced her privileged life and royal family to live as a mendicant wandering, dancing, and singing the praises of God. A devotee of Krishna, she was part of an influential religious movement (bhakti) that rejected show more distinctions of caste and creed, stunned the stultifying rituals and inaccessible scripture of conservative religion, and believed that direct union with God was possible for all-men and women, highborn and lowborn. Mystical, celebratory, and frankly feminine, the songs of Meera embrace and evoke all of life-the ordinary, lowly, and humble; the natural world and all creatures; love and longing. They express a passionate faith that breaks down barriers, merging the human and the divine and challenging all notions of rank and hierarchy. Both poetry and prayer, these extraordinary songs reflect an all-encompassing spirituality and ardent devotion that remains part of the living folk tradition of India.]] show lessTags
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- In the Dark of the Heart: Songs of Meera
- Original publication date
- 1540
- First words
- I saw the swelling clouds and Shyam, my eyes began to rain.
- Quotations
- Lord, you remove the burdens of your worshippers.
Look how he wounds me again. He vowed to come, and the yard is empty. Food flung away like my senses -- tell me where to find them. Why must you shame what you say? You've wisped yourself away, lifter of the mountain, left me... (show all) here to splinter.
At nightfall I'll skip to his door, be lit by his face. At dawn I'll return to my yard, walk lightly in grace. Tease like a breeze, wear what will please, wait as he says; eat what he tells me, be sold should he sell me, lift... (show all)er of the mountain. Our bond is old as the world, says Meera.
My lord, the lifter of the mountain. A moment without you is no moment.
To love one not earthly this is the root of pain, my friend. He will speak -oh so sweetly! then snap love like a jasmine stem. Says Meera devoutly the thorn of waiting pierces without end. - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)The Name is loud on this lips: the heart doesn't seem to hear: Help me fling off these clinging wants and turn to You, says Meera.
Classifications
- Genres
- Fiction and Literature, Poetry
- DDC/MDS
- 891.4312 — Literature & rhetoric Literatures of other languages East Indo-European and Celtic literatures Modern Indic languages Hindi, Urdu Hindi poetry 1345–1645
- LCC
- PK2095 .M5 .A245 — Language and Literature Indo-Iranian languages and literatures Indo-Iranian philology and literature Indo-Aryan languages Modern Indo-Aryan languages Particular languages and dialects Hindi, Urdu, Hindustani languages and Hindi, Hindustani literatures
- BISAC
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- Languages
- English
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- ISBNs
- 4
