Who was Kabir anyway?

Sailen  Routray

I did not first hear Kabir. I first came across his work in the pages of a book of translation of his songs into Odia by a very famous poet whose work I am extremely fond of. However, this particular attempt at translation was a complete washout. I first heard Kabir's songs when I was studying in Bombay, well into my twenties, and I heard him in the renditions by Kumar Gandharva on a tape recorder. This was like coming back to a home I never thought I had once or had lost subsequently.

There are of course many Kabirs. There is the Kabir of the Kabirpathis, who is a saint more than anything else. There is the Kabir of the cosmopolitan elite who find in their own appreciations of his earthy wisdom a way of connecting to the roots, whatever that may mean. There is also the Kabir of the secularist in the woods, who locates in him a very important instantiation of the syncretic traditions of India. And there is the Kabir of the school textbooks that children in the Hindi speaking tracts and elsewhere encounter, and this perhaps forms how increasingly many Indians meet Kabir for the first time.    

In this context, 'Kabir: the weaver-poet' is an important addition to children's literature as it provides a wide-eyed yet sympathetic introduction to the life and work of Kabir to children. The book is a work of fiction. It captures one day from the life of Kabir. Through encounters with various characters who relate to him in a multitude of ways, some are fans of his songs and wisdom, and others—especially those in positions of power—who find him unsettling, the readers come to know various aspects of Kabir the man, as the author imagines him to be.

Writing the book must have entailed a huge amount of labour of love. The author has done research into weaving to be able to write the story. It is visible in the way they discuss Kabir's weaving work and its relationship with his poetry. In fact, various objects related to the weaving process, such as spools of threads, the warp and the weft come alive as characters who try and save Kabir from himself. The narrative also beautifully weaves together some of Kabir's couplets into the story and shows how the performance of these songs was perhaps an integral part of the creation of the myth of Kabir even when he was alive.

'Kabir: the weaver-poet' makes for racy reading. The book is a must read for both children and those who work with them. The volume is also for anyone who wants to cultivate familiarity with Kabir and other saint-poets like him, as it makes the man Kabir come alive for us. Otherwise, he perhaps remains as another wise old man residing in the nooks and crannies of textbooks for most of us who inhabit spaces in urban India. The book is also very good to think with for approaching writing on authors who populate children's lifeworlds.

Details about the book: Jaya Madhavan. 2013 (first Indian print in 2006). 'Kabir: the weaver-poet'. Chennai: Tulika Publishers. Age: 12+.