{"product_id":"religious-devotion-and-the-poetics-of-reform","title":"Religious Devotion and the Poetics of Reform","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe poetry emanating from the \u003ci\u003ebhakti \u003c\/i\u003etradition of devotional love in India has been both a religious expression and a form of resistance to hierarchies of caste, gender, and colonialism. Some scholars have read this art form through the lens of resistance and reform, but others have responded that imposing an interpretive framework on these poems fails to appreciate their authentic expressions of devotion. This book\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003eargues that these declarations of love and piety can simultaneously represent efforts towards emancipation at the spiritual, political, and social level.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis book, through a close study of \u003ci\u003eNaḷini \u003c\/i\u003e(1911), a Malayalam lyric poem, as well as other poems, authored by Mahākavi Kumāran Āśān (1873–1924), a low-caste Kerala poet, demonstrates how Āśān employed a theme of love among humans during the modern period in Kerala that was grounded in the native South Indian \u003ci\u003ebhakti \u003c\/i\u003eunderstanding of love of the deity. Āśān believed that personal religious freedom comes from devotion to the deity, and that love for humans must emanate from love of the deity.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn showing how devotional religious expression also served as a resistance movement, this study provides new perspective on an understudied area of the colonial period. Bringing to light an under-explored medium, in both religious and artistic terms, this book will be of great interest to scholars of religious studies, Hindu studies, and religion and literature, as well as academics with an interest in Indian culture.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Taylor \u0026 Francis","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45588652228846,"sku":"9781138477995","price":227.2,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0630\/9612\/7726\/files\/9781138477995.jpg?v=1721211213","url":"https:\/\/bookland.com.au\/products\/religious-devotion-and-the-poetics-of-reform","provider":"Book Land AU","version":"1.0","type":"link"}