School children are taught that Kabir was weaver-poet from the 15th or 16th Century, and that he wrote 'dohas'. That he spoke of unity and harmony and offered simple wisdom about love. And when he died, Hindus and Muslims both claimed him - one wanted to cremate him and the other bury him. Apart from that, very little details were given to the average student. But, Kabir was, of course, much much more than that. He was a prominent poet of the 'Bhakti Movement', one which angered the Brahmin orthodoxy, and...
School children are taught that Kabir was weaver-poet from the 15th or 16th Century, and that he wrote 'dohas'. That he spoke of unity and harmony and offered simple wisdom about love. And when he died, Hindus and Muslims both claimed him - one wanted to cremate him and the other bury him. Apart from that, very little details were given to the average student. But, Kabir was, of course, much much more than that. He was a prominent poet of the 'Bhakti Movement', one which angered the Brahmin orthodoxy, and in fact, his dohas go much beyond what is widely known.
On this episode, Sidharth Bhatia is joined by Purushottam Agrawal, who has been interested in (one might even say obsessed with) Kabir since his student days in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). Kabir was a subject of his PhD dissertation and he has already written one book in Hindi on Kabir's poetry. Purushottam's new book 'Kabir, Kabir: The life and work of the early modern poet-philosopher' takes his research much further and squarely places him as the voice of modernity, and as somebody who wrote in everyday language instead of in Sanskrit or Persian, which the elite used. As such, he was the voice of the people.
On this episode, Purushottam talks to Sidharth about why Kabir is not only significant, but also relevant to our times. Tune in for an amazing and fascinating conversation.
Follow Purushottam on Twitter: https://twitter.com/puru_ag
Follow Sidharth Bhatia on Twitter and Instagram @bombaywallah
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