Journalism of Courage
Rita Shahani bridges the gap between the common man and Sant Kabirdas work through her book Akath Kahani Kabir in Hindi and Sindhi
Sant Kabirdas is much beyond a few famous dohas and a disturbed childhood. He is an epitome of secular beliefs and righteous deeds. I have even portrayed him as a rebel,who defied then existing social rules to an extent that he was humiliated but was accepted and followed later, says Rita Shahani,renowned author.
After penning down an altogether different kind of book — Meerabai se vartalaapthat presented Meerabai in modern context,Akath Kahani Kabir is Shahanis second book in the genre,in which she travels down to the Kabirs era. She has written 34 books so far.
The specialty of the book is that it is not only about Kabirs ideology and his beliefs through his dohas. The content is in form of fiction where his poetry is personified and talks about him. I have also chosen the not-so-popular dohas and interpreted them in my own way and used them to reflect Kabirdass personality. For example,Kabir was rejected and humiliated by both Hindus and Muslims and so he denounced religion and that is evident from his writing.
Writing about Kabir was a challenge for me. I wrote about Meerabai,whose devotion and love was Krishna,but Kabir worshipped the formless. Moreover,there is no historical proof about Kabirs life. I had to do a lot of research and it took me two years to complete the book, she adds.
Akath Kahani Kabir has been published in two languages,Hindi and Sindhi. While the Hindi edition was published in India,the Sindhi version is published in Sindh (Pakistan).
I belong to Hyderabad (Sindh) in Pakistan. And I have my real readers in that part. Given a miniscule population of Sindhi in India,that too with low or practically no knowledge of Sindhi literature,my books is read by very less number of people in India. After the Sindhi edition,the published from Pakistan have demanded an Urdu translation of the same but in the same style of writing.
Talking about the harmony that literature and art brings,she says that art and literature can dissolve the boundaries. The foreword for my book has been given by a renowned Pakistani laureate Ibrahim Joyo,who made sure to write about the book in the backdrop of India and Hinduism as well, she concludes.
