Kashmiri woman's mystic’s verses transcend language boundary

At a time when art or spirituality was not shackled by the boundaries of organised religion, her words reached out to both Hindus and Muslims through poems about doubt, faith, quest; the way of the seeker and the love of the divine.

The English translation of verses penned in the 14th century by Lalleswari aka Lal Ded, a spiritual and literary figure from Kashmir, are now part of a recently released book, I, Lalla: The Poems of Lal Ded.

“Her poems have allowed many generations of Kashmiris across communities to speak with freedom about the human condition and the power of the sacred,” said poet and cultural theorist Ranjit Hoskote, who has painstakingly researched and translated the mystic’s works over the last two decades.

Born in 1320, Lal Ded was a Kashmir Shaivite yogini, who is also regarded as a Sufi saint. Her poetry is composed in a form called the vakh and is among the earliest compositions in the Kashmiri language.

Constructed and understood differently by each community, Lalleswari was referred to as Lalla Yogini by the Hindus and Lal Arifa by the Muslims.

However, keeping in mind the plural sensibilities of Kashmir, which are now under attack by fundamentalists intent on replacing multi-culturalism with a monolith religious identity, most followers of the mystic poet refer to her as Lal Ded, which means Grandmother Lal, colloquially.

“She was venerated by both communities for nearly seven centuries and she managed to elude the proprietorial claims of religious monopolists,” added the poet, who had began reading Lal Ded in his 20s and was mesmerised by her words and spiritual leanings.