The number of surviving works by women writers in pre-modern Indian literature is very small. These authors include Andal, Mira Bai, Bahina Bai and Sahajo Bai, and their works record their deepest emotional and religious experiences. The poet-mystic, Daya Bai, wrote in Hindi in Delhi during the eighteenth century. Osho Rajnesh has called her "A little cuckoo", meaning that she was "a sweet singer like the Indian koyal. On an Indian summer night, the distant call of the cuckoo; that's what Daya is …a distant call in the hot summer of this world." This small book offers readers her voice in a simple English prose translation. It will be of interest to students of literature and religion, and to those who seek a deeper understanding of Indian society and the place the women in it.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Harry Aveling
Harry Aveling is Associate Professor of Asian Studies, La Trobe University, Melbourne (Australia) and Adjunct Professor of Southeast Asian Literature, Ohio University. he holds the degrees of Doctor of Philosophy from the National University of Singapore, and Doctor of Creative Arts from the University of Technology, Sydney. With Mrs. Sudha Joshi, formerly Head of the Department of Hindi at that university, Harry Aveling has also edited and translated The Last Morning Star, discourses by Osho Rajneesh on the poetry of Daya Bai (Rebel Publishing House, Pune 2000), and Sahaj Prakash: The Brightness of Simplicity, the poetry of Sahajor Bai (Motial Banarsidass, Delhi 2001).
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Peter Friedlander
Peter Friedlander is Lecturer in Hindi in the Asian Studies Program, La Trobe University. He holds the degree of Doctor of Philosophy from the University of London. Peter Friedlander has edited and translated, with Winand Callewaert, The Life and Works of Raidas (Manohar, New Delhi 1992)
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