Abstract
The devotional literatures across the Hindu bhakti traditions of medieval India are shaped by distinctive styles of affective responses to the divine reality. A theme which recurs in several layers of their songs is a theological dialectic between divine majesty and divine accessibility; the divine is not only simply transcendent in the sense of being a distant deity but is also immanently present in and through a range of human sensitivities, emotions, and affectivities. We will highlight the dialectic in the devotional songs of three medieval figures, Tulsīdās (c. 1600), Sūrdās (c. 1600), and Mādhavadeva (1489–1596), which are structured primarily by the devotional attitude of a servant (dāsa) towards the Lord. As we will see, this theological servitude is not to be understood as a form of abject servility, for the three poets, in their somewhat distinctive ways, can not only speak of the Lord as a friend and as a lover, but can even level various kinds of complaints, challenges, and accusations at the Lord. Thus, if the Lord’s transcendental sovereignty is emphasised by the devotee through the modes of self-censure, the Lord’s immanent availability is also highlighted through the protests that the devotee fervently makes to the seemingly uncaring Lord.
Highlights
The devotional literatures across the Hindu bhakti traditions of medieval India are shaped by distinctive styles of affective responses to the divine reality
Tulsīdās, Sūrdās, and Mādhavadeva elaborate the devotional trope of magnifying their own wretchedness and exalting the mercy of the Lord; they offer self-censuring judgements that they are the greatest of the fallen, and invite their Lord, who is known as the one who helps the distressed, to deliver them from their worldly agonies, afflictions, and imperfections
We find in Sūrdās too the rhetorical magnification by Tulsīdās of his own depravity, which is so utter that even the Lord of the underworld cannot comprehend its extension; the theme of enslavement to worldly rulers; and the lament at having lost the most precious treasure, the Lord, who is yet supremely merciful to the fallen
Summary
The Vinaypatrikā, the ‘Petition to Rāma’, of Tulsīdās is composed of several layers whose themes alternate between exaltation of the cosmic greatness of the name of Rāma, eulogies to Rāma who is a sweet lover of the devotee, and reminders to Rāma that he is known all over the world as the ‘purifier of the fallen’. Working with these two interrelated themes—human desolation and divine mercifulness—Tulsīdās often magnifies the depths of his own wretchedness by characteristically calling himself the greatest or the highest of the fallen and highlights Rāma’s super-eminent greatness of being the crest-jewel of the generous (udāra cūḍāmani) (VP 185, 313) Highlighting his utter destitution, Tulsīdās says that he does not have the devotion which would please Rāma; he does not, in addition, have the karma, the nature, the time, a master, a place, wealth, a beautiful body, a right mind, or a right age (VP 182, 308). As truly the greatest of the wretched, Tulsīdās seeks to cultivate a devotional servitude towards his Lord, by highlighting the misery of becoming enslaved to worldly masters He has sold to others the name of Rāma for a pittance, and has become their slave (cero) (VP 143, 256–57). Tulsīdās bowed his head; his petition was accepted (VP 279: 456)
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