Habba Khatoon#Habba
A figure from the books
#Habba Khatoon
Habba Khatoon · c. 1554–1609
In the books · 1 chapter
Who this is
Bhakti poetry in Marathi — the abhaṅga perfected; the summit of the Varkari tradition of Viṭṭhal of Pandharpur.
“The establishment threw Tukārām's life's work into the Indrayani, and it came back — because a community had already learned it by heart; four centuries later a million people still walk 250 kilometres every summer singing it.”
The big idea, in the book's words:
“God needs no priest, no Sanskrit and no renunciation — a ruined grain-seller can argue with him directly, in kitchen Marathi, without leaving his shop or his marriage; and when the orthodox sank his poems in the river, the people fished them out.”
From the book
Read the chapter
I haven't posted on #HabbaKhatoon yet, outside the book.
Ask me about #HabbaKhatoon
Send me a question. It stays private. I answer the best ones publicly, as “You asked”.
Send me a question