The Hindu : On the trail of Kabir's many facets

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Saturday, Jun 01, 2002

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On the trail of Kabir's many facets

By Aarti Dhar

Linda Hess in the Capital. Photo: R.V. Moorthy

NEW DELHI MAY 31. The two personalities in Kabir, social critic and spiritual leader, cannot be separated. For it is the fearlessness generated by spiritualism that made him face the hypocrisy and harsh realities of society. Having worked on poets of the bhakti movement in North India for decades now, Ms Linda Hess of Stanford University Department of Religious Studies, and senior fellow at the American Institute of Indian Studies, believes that the fearlessness in Kabir's poems and the sense of urgency in his work to change the system for the better can inspire an individual to develop body and soul. "Kabir's words are blunt and his style direct and hard-hitting, close to being aggressive,'' she pointed out.

Ms Hess talked of her association with Kabir to The Hindu here today. She recalled that it dates back to her High School days when she came under the influence of 19th century American thinkers who wrote on the Bhagwat Gita and Upanishads. "They had their own insights into the Indian spiritual movement and the more I read them, the more I was drawn to it,'' she points out. Ultimately she got a chance to visit India in the early 60s - much before the hippies, she quips - under a scholarship programme to teach English. "I was sent to Patna - the least stimulating of places - but anything about India was enchanting for me.'' Since the programme included research work also, Linda pursued her interest in religious and spiritual studies while learning Hindi simultaneously. "I hunted for gurus and my search ended ultimately in the Bhakti poets,'' she recalls.

Her instinct was to work on the four Bhakti saints - Surdas, Meera, Tulsidas and Kabir- but it was Kabir whose creations influenced and suited her temperament most.

Linda came back to India in the late 70s and spent a couple of years in Benaras where she translated the `Kabir Bijak' - considered the most authentic composition on his works - into English with help from Oxford University. ``It was during my stay in Ram Nagar with thousands of people for five years that I realised how different persons interpreted the works of these poets in their own way. More important, I was certain that written works reached only a certain segment but the traditional singing of Kabir's works were likely to influence a larger number of people.''

In the second phase of her research, Linda is working on the different stages of Kabir's works, from the oral tradition to the present multi-media, which include tracing its history from the middle of the 15th Century till now and how the interpretation of words change from place to place within the country, and even within a state. During her travels, Linda discovered that the influence of Kabirpanth was greater in the Malwa region of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh than in eastern U.P. There were also marked differences in the way Kabirpanthis interpreted their sect. "In Damakheda and Bandavgarh areas in Chhattisgarh, for example, it has emerged as a strong segment, influenced by the Hindu rituals, which is evident from their belief in `guru bhakti' though this goes, more or less, against the teachings of Kabir who was against worshipping an idol or individual. But, again it is the `guru bhakti' that has made the segment so strong,'' she explains.

Even those who join the Kabirpanth realise the admirable values of compassion and high moral values that Kabir stood for are not easy to attain. In the Malwa region somehow Kabir's work have influenced people greatly and it is the ordinary villagers who have kept the tradition alive and vibrant. Linda recalls her meeting with Prahlad Singh Tipania, a schoolteacher who sings Kabir bhajans remarkably well. "He is not a trained singer but is respected for his knowledge and style of singing. He was the one who took me to "Bailon ka mela'' (fair of bulls) in a remote village in Dewas district of Madhya Pradesh where he had been invited to sing. Here I realised how the people enjoyed Kabir bhajans even as they came to sell bulls. In this fair about a lakh heads of cattle are sold !

t is ultimately the amazing rendering of Kabir bhajans by Pandit Kumar Gandharva that has left a lasting influence on Linda. "The power of Kabir's words and the passion with which Kumar Gandharva sang was a profoundly beautiful experience that touches the soul. Most of the bhajans Kumar selected originated from the traditional and little-known works of the saint and the two seem inter-connected. As an individual, Kabir has taught me to understand my body and mind and what it means to be serious about life and death. Again, we need not be saints to understand these facts. One can just live an honest life,'' Linda says. Her research would deal with both these aspects of Kabir.

Kabirpanthis wield a lot of influence in Chhattisgarh since their spiritual guru lives near Raipur. Guru Dharam Dass is said to be the first to have documented the words of Kabir stayed in the region. The name Kawardha --a district here -- is said to be the corruption of the word Kabir Dham.

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