KABIR IN POETRY & MUSIC

“Why are we talking about Kabir?”

After a short invocation of Kabir, Professor of Ethnomusicology, Vivek Virani, addressed renowned scholar and author, Purushottam Agrawal, who responded with clarity and precision. Kabir is a great poet who not only transcends his time and space but also helps us transcend the limits of our individual self, as he ‘rejects binaries and dichotomies’.

To Purushottam Ji, author of a definitive study on Kabir tilted Akath Kahani Prem Ki: Kabir Ki Kavita Aur Unka Samay, Kabir exemplifies the idea of love into the fabric of which is woven his spiritual quest as well as social discontent. As Kabir moves closer to the idea of a profound truth, he realizes that this truth resides in the constant interaction and dialogue between the inside and the outside, the inner self and society.

For Shruthi Vishwanath, singer and composer, the heart of Kabir lies in the oral, vernacular and sung traditions of the country. Kabir’s words can be deceptively simple yet the metaphors within his poems are profound! Purushottam Agrawal added to this saying like all great works of art, like all profound truths, Kabir too can be very simple and complex at the same time!

Shruthi finds Kabir very socially aware with the language of protest alive in his poetry, marveling at where he found the love to transcend these limits. Purushottam Ji took this forward saying that different people take away different meanings from Kabir, in the light of their own experiences. For some he is the Mystic Kabir, for some the Revolutionary Kabir or the Householder Kabir and so on. However, though Kabir does lend himself to some ambiguity, there has to be a limit to the multiplicity of interpretations and we need to be careful to not impose our own ideologies onto his poetry.

How relevant is Kabir today? In India, many people are reading, singing, and reflecting on Kabir and the nuggets of wisdom hidden in his verses. The ‘Malwa Kabir Yatra’ started by Eklavya Vichar Manch in Madhya Pradesh about 20 years ago, is doing exemplary work in deepening the conversation about Kabir Das, the Sufi mystic and Hindu devotional saint of the 15th century.