Ajay Kumar at 17:53, 12 August 2023

2023-08-12T17:53:27Z

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{{Short description|Fourteenth century Kashmiri mystic}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Lalleshwari
| honorific_suffix =
| native_name =
| native_name_lang = ks
| image = 
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_date = 1320
| birth_place = Pandrethan
(present-day [[Srinagar]], [[Jammu and Kashmir (union territory)|Jammu and Kashmir]], [[India]])
| death_date = 1392
| death_place = [[Kashmir Valley|Kashmir]]
| other_names = Lalla, Lalleshwari, Lal Arifa
| known_for = [[Vatsun]] poetry
| notable_works =
| style =
| footnotes =
}}
'''Lalleshwari''', also known locally as '''Lal Ded''' ({{IPA-ks|laːl dʲad}}; 1320–1392), was a [[Kashmiri people|Kashmiri]] [[mysticism|mystic]] of the [[Kashmir Shaivism]] school of [[Hindu philosophy]].<ref name="MGChitkara2002">{{cite book | author=M. G. Chitkara | title=Kashmir Shaivism: Under Siege | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5CK0DFijayQC&pg=PR14 | date=1 January 2002 | publisher=APH Publishing | isbn=978-81-7648-360-5 | pages=14–}}</ref><ref name="Kaul 2020">{{cite news |last1=Kaul |first1=Shonaleeka |title=Remembering Lal Ded, the Kashmiri Yogini |url=https://www.newindianexpress.com/opinions/2020/oct/16/remembering-lal-ded-the-kashmiri-yogini-2210887.html |access-date=18 September 2021 |work=[[The New Indian Express]] |date=October 16, 2020}}</ref> She was the creator of the style of mystic poetry called [[vatsun]] or ''Vakhs'', literally "speech" (from Sanskrit ''[[vāc]]''). Known as Lal Vakhs, her verses are the earliest compositions in the [[Kashmiri language]] and are an important part in the history of modern [[Kashmiri literature]].<ref>[http://www.koausa.org/Music/LalVakh/index.html Lal Vakh online] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080511233728/http://koausa.org/Music/LalVakh/index.html |date=11 May 2008 }}</ref><ref name=lal>[http://www.koausa.org/Saints/LalDed/article7.html Lal Ded's Vakhs]</ref>

Lalleshwari ("Mother Lal" or "Mother Lalla") is also known by various other names, including Lal Dyad (''Dyad'' means "Grandmother"), Lalla Aarifa, Lal Diddi, Lalleshwari, Lalla Yogishwari/Yogeshwari and Lalishri.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Paniker|first=K. Ayyappa|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KYLpvaKJIMEC&dq=lal+dyad&pg=PA220|title=Medieval Indian Literature: Surveys and selections|date=1997|publisher=Sahitya Akademi|isbn=978-81-260-0365-5|language=en}}</ref><ref name="Temple2003">{{cite book|author=Richard Carnac Temple|title=Word of Lalla the Prophetess|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ec1Bv2wW_xkC|date=1 August 2003|publisher=Kessinger Publishing|isbn=978-0-7661-8119-9}}</ref><ref>[http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/D/DedLal/ Lal Ded] www.poetry-chaikhana.com.</ref><ref>[http://www.radiokashmir.org/lalded/index.html Lal Ded] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080919105514/http://www.radiokashmir.org/lalded/index.html |date=19 September 2008 }} www.radiokashmir.org.</ref>

== Life ==
A great deal of the records of Lalleshwari's life are contained in oral tradition, and consequently there is considerable variance on the details of her life and beliefs.<ref name=":0" /> Numerous contemporary Kashmiri histories, such as those prepared by Jonaraja, Srivara, Prajyabhatta, and Haidar Malik Chadura, do not mention Lalleshwari.<ref name=":0" /> The first written record of Lalleshwari's life is contained in the ''Tadhkirat-ul-Arifin'' (1587), a collection of biographies of saints and religious figures written by Mulla Ali Raina, and followed by an account of her life in Baba Daud Mishkati's Asrar ul-Akbar (1654). In these texts, Lalleshwari is described as a mystic saint, appearing in the forest to travellers.<ref name=":0" /> In 1736, Khwaja Azam Diddamari's ''Tarikh-i-Azami'' contained a more detailed account of Lalleshwari's life.<ref name=":0" /> She is also noted in a Persian chronicle, the ''Waqiati-e-Kashmir'' (1746) in which she is described as being famous in the reign of Sultan Alau-ud-din (1343–54) and died in the reign of Sultan Shihab-ud-din (1354–73).<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Laldyada|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s82RBWcbrT8C&q=Lal+Ded|title=Mystical Verses of Lallā: A Journey of Self Realization|date=2007|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publishe|isbn=978-81-208-3255-8|pages=4|language=en}}</ref>

Lalleshwari is also believed to be a contemporary of [[Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani|Mir Sayyid Ali-Hamdani]], an Iranian [[Sufism|Sufi]] scholar and poet, who recorded stories of her in his own verse during his travels to Kashmir.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Grierson|first1=Sir George|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nh19CgAAQBAJ&dq=Lal+Ded&pg=PP1|title=Lalla-Vakyani or the Wise Sayings of Lal-Ded - A Mystic Poetess of Ancient Kashmir|last2=Barnett|first2=Lionel D.|date=2013-04-18|publisher=Read Books Ltd|isbn=978-1-4474-9436-2|language=en}}</ref>

Most modern scholars place Lalleshwari's birth between 1301 and 1320 C.E., near Sempore or Pandrenthan.<ref name=":1" /><ref name="Kaul 2020"/> She is estimated to have died in 1373, and a grave near Bijbehara is commonly attributed to her, although there is no confirmation. Lalleshwari is believed to have been born to a Brahmin family, and was married at the age of twelve in accordance with the local customs.<ref name=":0" /> Following her marriage, she was renamed, as is custom, to Padmavati, but continued to be known as Lalla or Lalleshwari.<ref name=":1" /> Some reports suggest her marriage was unhappy,<ref name=":1" /> and that she left home, between the ages of twenty-four and twenty-six, to become a disciple of a spiritual leader, Siddha Srikanth or Sed Boyu, who was a [[Shaivism|Shaivite]].<ref name=":0" /> As part of her religious education, she travelled alone on foot, surviving on alms, before becoming a teacher and spiritual leader herself.<ref name=":0" />

== Literary works ==
Lalleshwari's poems represent some of the earliest known works of Kashmiri literature, and were written as Kashmiri began to emerge as a distinct language from Apabhramsa-prakrit, which was spoken in North India.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Ded|first1=Lal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LGAengEACAAJ|title=I, Lalla: The Poems of Lal Ded|last2=Laldyada|date=2013|publisher=Penguin|isbn=978-0-14-342078-1|pages=x|language=en}}</ref> A total of 285 poems, known as ''vakhs,'' are attributed to Lalleshwari.<ref name=":0" />

=== Themes ===
Lalleshwari's ''vakhs'' drawn from influences and languages that made contact with the Indian sub-continent in her life, drawing from Sanskritic, Islamic, Sufi, and Sikh cultures.<ref name=":0" />

She continued the mystic tradition of [[Kashmiri Shaivism|Shaivism]] in Kashmir, which was known as [[Trika]] before 1900.<ref name="Toshkhani 2002">{{cite book|last=Toshkhani|first=S.S.|title=Lal Ded : the great Kashmiri saint-poetess|publisher=A.P.H. Pub. Corp|year=2002|isbn=81-7648-381-8|location=New Delhi}}</ref>

=== Translations ===
Lalleshwari's works were first recorded in writing in the twentieth century, and have been frequently republished since, in Kashmiri as well as in translation. In 1914, Sir [[George Abraham Grierson|George Grierson]], a civil servant and the Superintendent of the Linguistic Survey of India, commissioned a copy of Lalleshwari's ''vakhs''. A written record of the ''vakhs'' was unavailable at the time, and one was prepared by transcribing an oral narration of the ''vakhs'' performed by Dharma-dasa Darwesh, a story-teller residing in Gush, Kashmir. This manuscript was translated in English by Grierson and published as ''Lalla-Vakyani'', or ''The Wise Sayings of Lal Ded''.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Grierson|first1=Sir George|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nh19CgAAQBAJ&q=george+grierson+lal+ded|title=Lalla-Vakyani or the Wise Sayings of Lal-Ded - A Mystic Poetess of Ancient Kashmir|last2=Barnett|first2=Lionel D.|date=2013-04-18|publisher=Read Books Ltd|isbn=978-1-4474-9436-2|language=en}}</ref> Grierson consolidated and expanded on the partial translation prepared by the Hungarian-British archaeologist and scholar Sir [[Aurel Stein|Marc Aurel Stein]], and incorporated some archived poems that were contained in the ''Dictionary of Kashmiri Proverbs and Sayings'' (1888).<ref name=":0" />

Grierson's translation was the first printed and published volume of Lalleshwari's works. Following his translation, a number of English translations have been produced, notably those by Pandit Ananda Koul (1921), Sir Richard Carnac Temple (1924)<ref>{{Cite book|last=Temple|first=Richard Carnac|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RHFvQwAACAAJ&q=lal+ded+carnac+temple|title=The Word of Lalla the Prophetess, Being the Sayings of Lal Ded, Or Lal Diddi of Kashmir ... Between 1300 and 1400 A.D., Done Into English Verse from the Lalla-Vakyani Or Lal-Wakhi and Annotated by Sir Richard Carnac Temple, ...|date=1924|publisher=The University Press|language=en}}</ref> and Jaylal Kaul (1973). More recent translations include those by [[Coleman Barks]],<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Laldyada|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ot4RwQEACAAJ&q=lal+ded+coleman+barks|title=Naked Song|last2=Barks|first2=Coleman|date=1992|publisher=Maypop|isbn=978-0-9618916-4-0|language=en}}</ref> [[Jaishree Odin|Jaishree Odin Kak]],<ref>{{Cite book|last=Laldyada|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s82RBWcbrT8C&q=lal+ded+jayshree+kak|title=Mystical Verses of Lallā: A Journey of Self Realization|date=2007|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publishe|isbn=978-81-208-3255-8|language=en}}</ref> and [[Ranjit Hoskote]].<ref name=":0" />

Her poems, (''vakhs'') have been translated into English by Richard Temple, Jaylal Kaul, [[Coleman Barks]],<ref name="Barks 1992">{{cite book|last=Barks|first=Coleman|title=Naked Song|publisher=Maypop Books|year=1992|isbn=0-9618916-4-5}}</ref> [[Jaishree Odin]], and [[Ranjit Hoskote]].<ref>[http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/features/life/article2322091.ece Kashmir's wise old Grandmother Lal] Aditi De's review of ''I, Lalla'' by Ranjit Hoskote in ''The Hindu/ Business Line''</ref><ref>[http://www.thehindu.com/arts/books/article2330838.ece Mystic insights] Abdullah Khan's review of ''I, Lalla'' by Ranjit Hoskote in ''The Hindu''</ref><ref>[https://archive.today/20130125135934/http://www.hindustantimes.com/Words-are-floating/Article1-729886.aspx Words are floating] Jerry Pinto's review of ''I, Lalla'' by Ranjit Hoskote in ''Hindustan Times''</ref><ref>[http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/nilanjana-s-roy-lallakabir-resurrected/439810/ Lalla and Kabir, resurrected] Nilanjana S. Roy's article on Ranjit Hoskote's ''I, Lalla'' and Arvind Krishna Mehrotra's ''Songs of Kabir''</ref>

== Legacy ==
The leading Kashmiri [[Sufi]] figure [[Sheikh Noor-ud-din Wali]] (also known as Nooruddin Rishi or Nunda Rishi) was highly influenced by Lalleshwari. He ultimately led to the formation of the [[Rishi order]] of saints and later gave rise to many Rishi saints like [[Resh Mir Sàeb]].<ref name="MGChitkara2002"/> One Kashmiri folk story recounts that, as a baby, Nunda Rishi refused to be breast-fed by his mother. It was Lalleshwari who breast-fed him.<ref name="KWarikoo2009">{{cite book | author=K. Warikoo | title=Cultural Heritage of Jammu And Kashmir | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qvAr6ZJLLuIC&pg=PA140| date=1 January 2009 | publisher=Pentagon Press | isbn=978-81-8274-376-2 | pages=140–}}</ref>

Lalleshwari and her mystic musings continue to have a deep impact on the psyche of Kashmiris, and the 2000 National Seminar on her held at New Delhi led to the release of the book ''Remembering Lal Ded in Modern Times''.<ref>[http://ikashmir.net/lalded2/index.html Remembering Lal Ded in Modern Times] National Seminar by Kashmir Education, Culture and Science Society, 2000.</ref> In his book "Triadic Mysticism", Paul E. Murphy calls her the "chief exponent of devotional or emotion-oriented Triadism".{{Citation needed|date=April 2017}} According to him, three significant representatives of devotionalism emerged in Kashmir in the five hundred years between the last half of the ninth and the end of the fourteenth centuries.{{Citation needed|date=April 2017}}

What this points to is the non-sectarian nature of Lalleshwari's spiritual life and her song-poems. Yet, her life and work have been used for various religious and political agendas over time. As author and poet [[Ranjit Hoskote]] writes:<ref name=":0">I, Lalla: The Poems of Lal Ded, translated by Ranjit Hoskote with an Introduction and Notes, Penguin Classics, 2011, p. xiv {{ISBN|978-0-670-08447-0}}.</ref>

{{Quote|text=To the outer world, Lal Ded is arguably Kashmir's best known spiritual and literary figure; within Kashmir, she has been venerated both by Hindus and Muslims for nearly seven centuries. For most of that period, she has successfully eluded the proprietorial claims of religious monopolists. Since the 1980s, however, Kashmir's confluential culture has frayed thin under the pressure of a prolonged conflict to which transnational terrorism, State repression and local militancy have all contributed. Religious identities in the region have become harder and more sharp-edged, following a substantial exodus of the Hindu minority during the early 1990s, and a gradual effort to replace Kashmir's unique and syncretically nuanced tradition of Islam with a more Arabocentric global template. It is true that Lal Ded was constructed differently by each community, but she was simultaneously Lallesvari or Lalla Yogini to the Hindus and Lal'arifa to the Muslims; today unfortunately, these descriptions are increasingly being promoted at the expense of one another.|author=|title=|source=}}

Beyond several new translations of Lalleshwari's vakh, there are other contemporary performative arts that are based on Lalleshwari's life and poetry. For example, there are contemporary renderings of Lalleshwari's poetry in song. In addition, a solo play in English, Hindi, and Kashmiri titled ''Lal Ded'' (based on her life) has been performed by actress [[Mita Vashisht]] across India since 2004.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20050505222515/http://www.hindu.com/lr/2005/05/01/stories/2005050100170400.htm Songs of a mystic], ''[[The Hindu]]'', 1 May 2005.</ref><ref>Bhumika K. [http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-metroplus/article2604921.ece All for theatre]. ''The Hindu'', 7 November 2011.</ref>

==Further reading==
* ''Lalla Yogishwari'', Anand Kaul, reprint from the Indian Antiquary, Vols. L, LIX, LX, LXI, LXII.
* ''Lalla-Vakyani'', [[George Abraham Grierson|Sir George Grierson]] and Dr. Lionel D. Barnett Litt. D. (R. A. S. monograph, Vol. XVII, London 1920).{{ISBN|1846647010}}.
* ''Vaakh Lalla Ishwari'', Parts I and II (Urdu Edition by A. K. Wanchoo and English by Sarwanand Chaaragi, 1939).
* ''Lal Ded'' by Jayalal Kaul, 1973, [[Sahitya Akademi]], New Delhi.
* ''The Ascent of Self: A Reinterpretation of the Mystical Poetry of Lalla-Ded'' by B. N. Parimoo, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi. {{ISBN|81-208-0305-1}}.
* ''The Word of Lalla the Prophetess'', by Sir Richard Carnac Temple, Cambridge 1924
* ''Lal Ded: Her life and sayings'' by Nil Kanth Kotru, Utpal publications, Srinagar, {{ISBN|81-85217-02-5}}.
* ''Lalleshwari : spiritual poems by a great Siddha yogini'', by [[Muktananda|Swami Muktananda]] and Swami Laldyada. 1981, SYDA Foundation, ASIN: B000M1C7BC.
* ''Lal Ded: Her life & sayings'', by Swami Laldyada. Utpal Publications, 1989, {{ISBN|81-85217-02-5}}.
* ''Naked Song'', by Laldyada, Lalla, Coleman Barks (Translator), 1992, Maypop Books, {{ISBN|0-9618916-4-5}}. [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0961891645]
* ''Mystical Verses of Lalla: A Journey of Self Realization'', by [[Jaishree Odin|Jaishree Kak]]. Motilal Banarsidass, 2007.
* ''I, Lalla: The Poems of Lal Ded'', translated by [[Ranjit Hoskote]] with an Introduction and Notes, Penguin Classics, 2011, {{ISBN|978-0-670-08447-0}}. [https://www.amazon.com/I-Lalla-Poems-Lal-Ded/dp/0670084476]
* ''Siddha Yogini, A Kashmiri Secret of Divine Knowledge.'' by Ghauri, Laila Khalid. Proquest Dissertations And Theses 2012. Section 0075, Part 0604 82 pages; [M.A dissertation].United States – District of Columbia: The George Washington University; 2012. Publication Number: AAT 1501080.
* ''Lalla, Unveiled: The Naked Voice of the Feminine'' Translations by Jennifer Sundeen. 2nd Tier Publishing, July 3, 2020.' {{ISBN|978-0578542577}}.

==See also==
*[[Habba Khatoon]]
*[[Nund Rishi]]
*[[Hamza Makhdoom]]
*[[Rishi order]]

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* [http://ikashmir.net/lalded/ Kashmiri Saints and Sages]
* [[iarchive:LallaVakyaniTheWiseSayingsOfLalDedSirGeorgeGrierson/mode/2up|The Wise Sayings of Lal Ded]], translated by [[George_Abraham_Grierson|Sir George Grierson]]
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lalleshwari}}
[[Category:Hindu female religious leaders]]
[[Category:Hindu mystics]]
[[Category:Kashmiri Shaivites]]
[[Category:Hindu poets]]
[[Category:Kashmiri poets]]
[[Category:Indian women poets]]
[[Category:1320 births]]
[[Category:1392 deaths]]
[[Category:14th-century Indian poets]]
[[Category:14th-century Indian women writers]]
[[Category:14th-century Indian writers]]
[[Category:Women mystics]]

Lalleshwari - Revision history

Ajay Kumar at 17:53, 12 August 2023