Author Description

This Volume Studies The Poetry And Culture Of Kabir - A Great And Still Popular Fifteenth-century Religious Poet Of North India - Through The Lens Of Oral-performative Traditions. It Draws From Ethnographic Research Conducted Over A Ten-year Period, Mainly In Malwa, Madhya Pradesh, As Well As On The History Of Written Collections. First It Focuses On Texts - Their Transmission By Singers, The Dynamics Of Textual Forms In Oral Performance, And The Connections Between Texts In Oral Forms, Written Forms, And Other Media. Second, It Attends To Context, Reception, And Community. Transliteration -- Introduction -- 1. You Must Meet Prahladji! -- 2. Oral Tradition In The Twenty-first Century: Observing Texts -- 3. True Words Of Kabir: Adventures In Authenticity -- 4. In The Jeweler's Bazaar: Malwa's Kabir -- 5. Oral Tradition In The Twenty-first Century: Exploring Theory -- 6. A Scorching Fire, A Cool Pool -- 7. Fighting Over Kabir's Dead Body -- 8. Political/spiritual Kabir. Linda Hess. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.