Songs of Kabir

Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), the first non-European to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature (1913), was a Bengali poet, novelist, musician, painter and playwright. Tagore modernized Bengali art and literature by rejecting classical forms, and produced strongly poetic and spiritual works. In addition to his original writings, Tagore's translations have been revered throughout both the Eastern and Western worlds, earning him the respect of such literary figures as W.B. Yeats, Ezra Pound, and Gandhi protégé, Charles F. Andrews. Tagore translated the "Songs of Kabir" in 1915; his poetic writing style and prophet-like persona contribute to the spiritual nature of the work. Kabir (1440-1518) was a mystic poet and saint of India who inspired the Kabir Panth, a religious community, one of the Sant Mat sects, of nearly ten million members. His poetry integrates the philosophies of Sufism, Hinduism and the Kabbalah, accepting the concepts of reincarnation and Karma, as well as the affirmation of a single god and the rejection of the cast system and idolatry.