Overview

Mirigavati or The Magic Doe is the work of Shaikh Qutban Suhravardi, an Indian Sufi master who was also an expert poet and storyteller attached to the glittering court-in-exile of Sultan Husain Shah Sharqi of Jaunpur. Composed in 1503 as an introduction to mystical practice for disciples, this powerful Hindavi or early Hindi Sufi romance is a richly layered and sophisticated text, simultaneously a spiritual enigma and an exciting love story full of adventures. The Mirigavati is both an excellent introduction to Sufism and one of the true literary classics of pre-modern India, a story that draws freely on the large pool of Indian, Islamic, and European narrative motifs in its distinctive telling of a mystical quest and its resolution. Adventures from the Odyssey and the voyages of Sindbad the Sailor--sea voyages, encounters with monstrous serpents, damsels in distress, flying demons and cannibals in caves, among others--surface in Suhravardi 's rollicking tale, marking it as first-rate entertainment for its time and, in private sessions in Sufi shrines, a narrative that shaped the interior journey for novices. Before his untimely death in 2009, Aditya Behl had finished this complete blank verse translation of the critical edition of the Mirigavati, an epic romance that is also the symbolic key to a secret Sufi mystical tradition and a gem of Indian and world literature.

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9780199842940

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We are very fortunate to have this remarkable work in a sparkling verse translation whose brio effortlessly carries the reader forward. All is well supported by a rich introduction. This is the work, and I must say the labour of love, of a brilliant young scholar of the University of Pennsylvania, Aditya Behl, who died in 2009 aged forty-two. His teacher, Wendy Doniger of the University of Chicago, has ensured that it has been published. It should undermine the ignorance which has surrounded Hindavi literature and, most importantly, bring it to a wider audience. * Francis Robinson, Times Literary Supplement *

We are very fortunate to have this remarkable work in a sparkling verse translation whose brio effortlessly carries the reader forward. All is well supported by a rich introduction. This is the work, and I must say the labour of love, of a brilliant young scholar of the University of Pennsylvania, Aditya Behl, who died in 2009 aged forty-two. His teacher, Wendy Doniger of the University of Chicago, has ensured that it has been published. It should undermine the ignorance which has surrounded Hindavi literature and, most importantly, bring it to a wider audience. Francis Robinson, Times Literary Supplement

Author Information

Aditya Behl (1966-2009) was Associate Professor of South Asian Studies at the University of Pennsylvania Wendy Doniger is Mircea Eliade Distinguished Service Professor of the History of Religions at the University of Chicago

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