Author: Winand M Callewaert
Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass
Year: 1988
Language: multilingual
Pages: 178
ISBN/UPC (if available): 8120804902
Description
During the past few decades some lengthy studies have been devoted to Dadu and the Dadupanth. When writing a biography of Dadu, authors often give a list of sources without apparently having consulted the works they mention, with the result that most literature on the subject now available is to a great extent merely the result of copying from earlier writers.
Often, a mass of details about Dadu is given without a clear distinction being made between early documents and later information arising from tradition. In most cases the composition of an original work was followed by a wave of sectarian historians who indulged in laudatory embellishments to the point of the most fanciful miracle mongering.
A critical edition of the Hindi Biography of Dadu, by Jan Gopal (ca 1620 AD) was urgently needed because it shows that within one generation after its redaction the original version was greatly expanded and delicate issues in it were explained. Both versions are given here, with an English translation and commentary.
Contents
PREFACE
The Janma Lila
Sectarian sources of Dadu’s life
Non-sectarian and Western sources
Manuscripts of the Dadu Janma Lila
Intentional variants
Additions and Omissions
Names for God
Dadu’s disciples
Topography
Quotations
Conclusions
English translation
Hindi Text
Concordance
Bibliography