Kabir Legends and Ananta-Das's Kabir Parachai

David N. Lorenzen is Professor in the Center of Asian and African Studies of El Colegio de Mexico.

"It is particularly useful to have in one place, in English, a compilation of all major legends surrounding Kabir's life, and one which includes most of its significant variants. I also appreciate the tone of the discussion: at once sympathetic and scholarly, it avoids the poles, at which most such discussions have clustered, of unquestioning credulity and strident skepticism." — Ken Bryant, University of British Columbia"This is a work of careful, long-considered scholarship. The critical edition and translation of Ananta-Das, arguably Kabir's earliest biographer, are of very great value in themselves — fresh contributions in a field that urgently needs to grow. Lorenzen's introduction adds another dimension by highlighting the social messages embedded in Ananta-Das's narrative. By presenting what the authors consider to be Kabir's earliest hagiographical halo, this book brings to light an all too little known aspect of a very well known figure." — John S. Hawley, Professor and Chair, Department of Religion, Barnard College, Columbia University"The strength of this book lies in the meticulous text scholarship it manifests. The authors have obviously done their homework and are showing us fully what they have found. " — Daniel Gold, Department of Asian Studies, Cornell University

• A Note on TransliterationPrefacePart I: The Legends 1. Legends and History2. The Kabir Parachai Cycle3. Other Legends Part II: Ananta-Das's Kabir Parachai 4. The Text of the Kabir Parachai5. A Translation of the Kabir ParachaiBy Jagdish Kumar, David N. Lorenzen, and Uma Thukral6. An Edition of the Kabir Parachai (Niranjani Panthi recension)Appendix AThe 1693 V. S. Manuscript (RPP 11583) of Ananta-das's Kabir ParachaiBibliographyIndex