Jan Gopal : Sant Dadu Ke Jivanikar

Although he is not widely known today, Jan Gopal was an important indigenous intellectual of early modern India. The authors of Jan Gopal: Biographer of Saint Dadu argue that there have been many Nirgun Bhakti poets who, despite their poetic brilliance and historical significance, have not received the attention they deserved. The 19th-century Rajasthani poet and storyteller, Jan Gopal, is one such talent. This book is a groundbreaking study of his life and work. Jan Gopal does not fully fit the mold of a typical Nirgunpanthi devotee. Born into a merchant family, he chose the Nirgun sect not because of any family or social tradition, but as a conscious personal decision. In his literature, he demonstrated not only his profound knowledge of prosody, poetic tradition, and classical Hindustani music, but also a urban and progressive sensibility. Among his major works, Dadu Janam Leela, the life story of his guru and Akbars contemporary, Dadu Dayal, comes first. He also wove stories from the Bhagavata Purana into his poetry, the most prominent of which are Prahlad Charitra, Dhruv Charitra, and Jad Bharat Charitra. This book clearly demonstrates Jan Gopals special significance because he gave popular mythological tales a subtle contemporary touch in his Hindi and Braj works. In the process of reimagining the moral aspects of these stories, he also took a fresh look at the fundamentals of traditional theology and presented bhakti in an egalitarian and liberating form. Along with analyzing Jan Gopals life and work and giving him his rightful place in the bhakti tradition, the authors have presented in this book the three characters he created (Prahlad, Dhruv, and Bharat) along with twenty of his verses. This book is undoubtedly important for the study of indigenous intellectual traditions and Nirguna Bhakti.