(paricay) and recount the miracles (paraca) that surround their lives (Callewaert
1994, 2000b; Lorenzen 1991, 1996). Sikh collections known janma-sa ̄khı ̄sor
birth stories report anecdotes from the life of Na ̄nak (McLeod 1968: 3–15), and
accounts such as the Caurasi Vais.n.avan ki Varta, the Accounts of the Eighty-four
Vais.n.avas(1620ce) by Gokulnath, record episodes from the lives of saints of the
Pustimarg, thereby illustrating the practical implications of the teachings of
Vallabha ̄ca ̄rya (Barz 1994).
Further, episodes from the saints’ lives appear in the songs of other saints and
in some seemingly biographical songs, sometimes attributed to the saints them-
selves and other times clearly composed by later devotees. There is a sense in
which the saints all belong to one devotional community, the satsangor “gath-
ering of the true,” that transcends time, and so we find stories of their meetings
(however historically improbable) and records of extended debates or gosti
between them (Lorenzen 1996: 153–203). Further, their lives provide the
characters and plot for religious dramas called lı ̄la ̄sperformed along with the
life of Kr.s.n.a and Ra ̄ma with increasing regularity and also for regional folk
dramatic forms as well as staged dance performances and films beginning in the
silent era.
Among low-caste singers we sometimes also find epic songs telling more
extended tales of their lives on a par with the textual traditions but usually with
a more humanly realistic and less refined portrayal, as in the Janma Patriof
Mı ̄ra ̄baı ̄. In this epic song sung by low-caste leatherworkers and weavers, the
saint beats her servants as a woman of her high caste might when they bring
the wedding garments for the marriage in which she wants no part, and she is
cast out by her royal husband specifically because of her association with the
camarRaida ̄s though she begs him to let her live in a hut within the palace walls
and weave his garments, taking on the identity of those who sing this song
(Martin 1999b). Stories associated with Raida ̄s and Kabı ̄r also come to life in
low-caste communities through the medium of song.
All these narrative genres and the particular songs sung in the saints’ names
vary dramatically depending on the social, regional, and religious location of
both performer and audience, but the saints are well-loved and familiar charac-
ters within the world of North Indian devotees and provide the warp and woof
with which to weave a wide array of tales and to speak multiple and sometimes
divergent truths, emerging out of very different life experiences. The narratives
surrounding their lives as well as the tales of Kr.s.n.a, Ra ̄ma and other deities,
coupled with the full range of emotions and experiences that come with devo-
tion to God, are the primary subjects of the devotional literature of North India,
performed and sung as well as written, marked by overwhelming abundance and
ongoing creative participation.
Note
1 A comprehensive discussion of the traditions of story and song related to Mı ̄ra ̄baı ̄
can be found in my book Mı ̄ra ̄baı ̄, forthcoming with Oxford University Press.
north indian hindi devotional literature 195