Grace and Mercy in Her Wild Hair : Selected Poems to the Mother Goddess

This translation by Leonard Nathan and Clinton Seely is considered a classic by both scholars of Indian poetry and lovers of the Great Mother. Their words capture the divine vitality and earthy quality of Ramprasad's uncompromising quest for spiritual liberation and his excruciating joy in devotion. From wild despair to exhilarating joy and resonant peace, the passion of Bengali poet Ramprasad Sen's work burns as hot as it did in the 18th century. Ramprasad Sen defied the Brahman-dominated Hindu orthodoxy of the time to create devotional poems, or bhakti, to Kali and Tara, the dark goddesses who are the guardians of the cycles of birth and death. Poets wrote bhakti to achieve a direct, passionate relationship with a particular deity. Lyrical and poignant, the poems are as relevant today-to readers of all faiths and cultures-as they were two hundred years ago: