The programme will focus on the poetry of Akka Mahadevi (virashaivism); Mirabai (devotion to Krishna); Kabir; Yunus Emre; Rumi; and William Blake (Songs of Innocence and Experience)

Talk followed by readings in English, Hindi and Urdu by Sanjula Sharma (Akka Mahadevi & Rumi); Rachna Joshi (Mirabai & William Blake); and Sameer Kakkar (readings from Kabir and Yunus Emre)

Chair: Dr. Amrita Bhalla, Associate Professor of English, Jesus and Mary College, University of Delhi

In India, during the middle ages, Bhakti poets challenged social norms through their writings. However, it rarely resulted in the persecution and martyrdom of the kind that Europe saw for centuries. The religious establishments in India continued a dialogue with the Bhaktas, and the many streams of thought practice frequently coexisted, and at times merged one with another. Mirabai is the poet saint of India who defied the conventions of the time, choosing to leave home and hearth to live among the saints and wandering mendicants out of devotion to Krishna. For the English mystical poet, William Blake, the life of the imagination was more real than the material world. 

(Collaboration: The Poetry Society, India)