Colour Oxford English Dictionary

Murty Classical Library of India #5

by Kenneth E. Bryant, Kenneth E. Bryant (Editor), John Stratton Hawley (Translator)

Surdas has been regarded as the epitome of artistry in Old Hindi religious poetry from the end of the sixteenth century, when he lived, to the present day. His fame rests upon his remarkable refashioning of the widely known narrative of the cowherd deity Krishna and his lover Radha into lyrics that are at once elegant and approachable. Surdas s popularity led to the proliferation, through an energetic oral tradition, of poems ascribed to him, known as the "Sursagar."

Sur'ss Ocean: Poems from the Early Tradition," presents a dramatically new edition in Devanagari script and a lyrical English translation. This remarkable volume reconstructs the early tradition of Surdas s verse the 433 poems that were known to the singers of Surdas s own time as his. Here Surdas stands out with a clarity never before achieved.

The Murty Classical Library of India makes available original texts and modern English translations of the masterpieces of literature and thought from across the whole spectrum of Indic languages over the past two millennia in the most authoritative and accessible formats on offer anywhere."

Genres: Poetry, Indian Literature, Classics

1072 pages, Paperback

First published November 17, 2014

About the author

Kenneth E. Bryant is Associate Professor in Asian Studies at the University of British Columbia.

Reviews

[Jackson Cyril · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of poems in Old Hindi, fully attributed to, but only partly authored by, the poet Surdas deals a great deal with the exploits-- amorous and otherwise-- of the god Krishna.