Lal Ded and Nund Rishi by Pandit Anand Koul (1921-30)

Finished extracting.

‘Life Sketch of Laleshwari – A Great Hermitess of Kashmir’
The Indian Antiquary
November, 1921
This work came after George Grierson and Lionel D. Barnett published ‘Lalla Vakyani’ (collected primarily from one Dharam Dasa Darwesh of village Goosh, near Baramulla) in 1920 which introduced the sayings of Lal Ded to western world [available here]. Anand Koul didn’t give the source of this life sketch but it can safely be assumed to be based on the lore popular among Kashmiri Pandits. In this work, he also mentioned collection some additional saying of Lal Ded which are not available in ‘Lalla Vakyani’ of Grierson and Barnett. These he published much later in 1930, offering 33 additonal sayings of Lal Ded.
Some additions to the Lallavakyani
(The Wise Saying of Lal Ded)
The Indian Antiquary

June, 1930
I have complied both the articles into a simple pdf and the works are now easily accessible here:
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‘A Life of Nand Rishi’ 
by Pandit Anand Koul
The Indian Antiquary, in three parts in October 1929, December 1929 and February 1930.
This was the first time someone had presented an English translation of Nund Rishi’s Nurnama. The life story of Nund Rishi is interspersed with accounts from Pandit lore, bringing in an undercurrent of a conflict that extends into metaphysical space where legacies of the saints too gradually will end up fuelling conflict. 
What we get is typical Kashmiri play: eulogize mystic sayings and yet not miss a chance to indulge in childish game of one-upmanship over whose saint had a bigger halo. It’s a pattern that is now all too set in all such writings on these topics. 
The three articles are combined together and available here:
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One Reply to “Lal Ded and Nund Rishi by Pandit Anand Koul (1921-30)”

  1. Thank you for the upload! I had been looking for some history on Lal Ded's work since I watched M K Raina's Raje Pather. Could not understand much of the dialogues in Dogri, but enjoyed it nevertheless!

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