A fascinating story of change and transmission, this book describes how Mirabai, Surdas, and Kabir-the most famous and beloved poet-saints of fifteenth and sixteenth centuries-were heard and perceived in their own times and probes into the many beliefs and legends that emerged long after their deaths.

• Preface to the Paperback Edition


• Preface to the First Edition


• Transliteration and Abbreviation


• Poems Translated, by English Title


• Poems Translated, by Hindi Title


• Illustrations


• Introduction


• THE BHAKTI POET-SAINT:


• 1: Author and Authority


• Chapter 2. Morality beyond Morality


• Chapter 3. The Nirgun?/Sagun? Distinction


• MIRABAI:


• Chapter 4. Mirabai in Manuscript


• Chapter 5. Mirabai as Wife and Yogi


• Chapter 6. The Saints Subdued in Amar Chitra Katha


• Chapter 7. Krishna and the Gender of Longing


• SURDAS:


• Chapter 8. Last Seen with Akbar


• Chapter 9. The Early S?rs?gar and the Growth of the Sur Tradition


• Chapter 10. The Verbal Icon-How Literal?


• Chapter 11. Sur's Sud?m?


• Chapter 12. Creative Enumeration in Sur's Vinaya Poetry


• Chapter 13. Why Surdas Went Blind


• KABIR:


• Chapter 14. The Received Kabir: Beginnings to Bly


• Chapter 15. Kabir in His Oldest Dated Manuscript


• Chapter 16. Vinaya Crossovers: Kabir and Sur


• Chapter 17. Bhakti, Democracy, and the Study of Religion


• Notes


• Bibliography of Works Cited


• Index

John Stratton Hawley is Professor, Department of Religion, Barnard College, Columbia University, New York.