Tumultous life of Lal Ded

Amina Meer

History witnessed many wanderers, wandering bare footed in search of their creator. In search of their creation, why they are here, who created them and where He is. But the reality is, He is not far away from His believer, the only thing is to take some time and look into your heart. There is His home. Perhaps it’s the most difficult task in the world to know yourself. Many lost their lives in their struggle to discern their soul. Life can’t offer something more beautiful to those vagrants who are in a way finding their souls. Lal Ded was one among them.

Kashmir valley itself is a most precious jewel of world, and Kashmiri literature is full of some magnificent creations of God. It would be injustice with Lalleshwari, if I did not count her in this list. She was also known as Lala, Lalla Aarifa, Lal Diddi, Lalla Yogishwari, Lalishri and Lal Ded. Some called her a saint, for some she was a poet. Some believed she was a true devotee of Shiva and for some she was a Sufi .But her beautiful reality is, she introduces mystic poetry in Kasheer literature known as Vatsun poetry or Vakhs. Many translated Lal’s Vakh in English. The most prominent translators are Richard Temple, Jaylal Kaul, Coleman Barks, Jaishree Odin, G. Grierson and Ranjit Hoskote.

Lalleshwari was amazing, and has undoubtedly given us some of the most memorable verses. There is wisdom in every single word. Lalla was born in 1320 in Pandrethan, some miles away from Srinagar to a Kashmiri Pandit family. Her social life is full of tragedies as she married at the age of 12. The behaviour of her in-laws was humiliating, specially her mother-in-law and husband. She tried to compromise with hardships of her life and faced everything like a good Asian daughter. As normal teenagers don’t have any better understanding about the problems of life and social relationships, Lalla bear cruel deeds of her mother in law patiently.

In early twenties, she left her home when she was not able to bear humiliation anymore. After leaving her home, she joined Guru Siddha Srikantha and experienced renunciation (Sanyas). Later she wandered around the Valley in search of Divine and stop talking in terms of man and woman. It is told in folk tales that she rambled about nearly naked from village to village singing her Vakhs. There are many folk tales related to her miracle personality like dry pond and her interaction with Sheikh Noor-ud-din-Wali and Shah-e-Hamadan. There is no accurate date about her departure from this world but it is believed that Lal Ded died in 1392 in Anantnag district.

There is controversy among the historians about the religion aspect of Lalla. Many believed she embraced Islam after her interaction with Sufi scholars. But this debate is far away from the subject, the basic thing is her magical poetry. Lal’s poetry has nothing to do with religious sentiments. Her thoughts moved around the love for humanity and her search for the divine. It’s not easy to understand the hidden meaning of her poetic verses. One needs a focused mind and a learning attitude to absorb these marvellous Vakhs.

Her poetry includes Lal’s emotions, the experience of her search of Divine, her social grievances and her view about life and death. Her words are a pool of wisdom and had timeless meaning. Every generation can learn a lot from her mystic poetry.

Her verses teach to deal with problems wisely and be patient every time and tolerance is key to success. There are numerous aspects of Lal’s Vakhs. She used symbolism in her verses and tried to convey a message of freedom from social evils. She said there is nothing impossible in this world and a faith is the only way to pass dark tunnels of sorrows in life.

Kashmiri nation is surely lucky to have a great poetess like Lala. Many authors have tried to pay tribute to this great poetess. Some prominent authors include Anand Kaul, Sir George Grierson, A. K. Wanchoo, Jayalal Kaul, B. N. Parimoo, Nil Kanth Kotru, Ghauri, Laila Khalid and many others.

There is also a play made on her life titled as Lal Ded. The beauty of this play is it is presented in three languages including Hindi, English and Kashmiri. It is the only play which describes the accomplishments of her life.

If I say Lal Ded was the pioneer of the mystic poetry in the Kashmiri literature, it wouldn’t be wrong. Kashmiri literature is rich as it has produces great poets and poetess like Lal Ded, Habba Khatoon and many others. A single article is not enough to encounter the marvellous poetic contribution of Lalleshwari to Kasheer literature. I tried to sum up some main events of her life. The need of the hour is to learn positive lessons from her poetry as society needs to understand those lessons dreadfully to change their unpleasant attitudes. I think peace deserves a chance.

Dance, Lalla, with nothing on

but air: Sing, Lalla,

wearing the sky.

Look at this glowing day! What clothes

could be so beautiful, or

more sacred

The author can be mailed at aminamir396@gmail.com