Back Cover copy
This complete and accessible translation of the songs of the saints from the Sikh holy book the Adi Granth provides access to the hymns written by Hindu and Muslim devotional writers of north India, who flourished from the twelfth to the eighteenth centuries. The songs of the saints hold a unique position in Sikhism in that they provide the faith with a prehistory that reaches back to the dawn of north Indian Bhakti and Sant traditions. These works provided a ground upon which Sikh gurus laid the foundations of their faith. The songs also mark the earliest beginnings of Hindi literature. Although the literary output of these saints comes down to us in various stages of corruption, the works which appeared in the Adi Granth are unchanged since their inclusion in that work in the early 1600s. "This book is important for many fields: It is not only vital for understanding Sikhism, but also crucial for the study of the saints (sants). It is thus significant for understanding the early development of Hindi literature, which began with the sants, and the Study of North Indian Religion, in which the sants figure prominently." - Daniel Gold, Cornell University
About the author
Nirmal Dass is an independent scholar and researcher. He is the author of The Avowing of King Arthur: A Modern Verse Translation, Rebuilding Babel: The Translations of W. H. Auden, and Songs of the Kabir from the Adi Granth, also published by SUNY Press.
