A MYSTIC POETESS OF KASRMIR.*
WE need not be ashamed if we have not before heard tell of "Granny Lal," as she is called in modern Kashmir. It is probable that not many of the numerous Europeans who make holiday in the lovely Vale of Kashmir have any knowledge of her, though they must often have heard her wise saws quoted by Kaahmiris, both Hindus and Mussulmans, in the course of their travels. The authors of this valuable little monograph admit that " little is known about her." What little is known is thus summarized by Sir George Grierson ;— " All traditions agree that she was a contemporary of Sayyid 'Ali Hamadant, the famous saint who exercised a great influence in converting Kashmir to Islam. He arrived in Kashmir in A.D. 1380. . . . As we shall see from her songs, Leila was a Yogini, i.e., a follower of the Kashmir branch of the Saint religion, but she was no bigot, and to her, all religions were nt one in their essential elements."
It is tempting to go on, to quote some of the wonderful legends that in credulous modern times are associated with the memory of this mediaeval Hindu saint. But perhaps it is wiser to ask at once whether such a monograph as this, a work of Oriental research and erudition, is one which can be recommended to readers of the Spectator. It contains much, to be sure, Whirl' will be unintelligible, or at best difficult, to others than professed students of Indian languages and religions. But, after alb India is still, and perhaps may long be, a British Dependency. It is not sufficient that we should get our impreasions of India from newspapers only, or from the accounts of contemporsq visitors to its highly modernized cities. There are one or two reasons why this little book should be read by others than professional students of Indian lore. In the first place, it contains an admirable Preliminary Note on Yoga by Dr. Barnett. For some mysterious reason the word Yoga seems to have a fascination for the amateurs, male and female, who, in America and in England, have flirted with " Esoteric Buddhism " and Neo Hinduism." Such dabblers in strange cults can hardly be expected (even when they go so far as to deliver lectures on Yoga and the Tantras) to master the copious and difficult literature of their subject. Dr. Barnett, a learned and industrious professor of Sanskrit, has read the • Lotta-caproti; or. the Wise Sayings of Lai DM. o Mystic POEiede of /tined Eashmir. Edited with Translation, Notes. and a Vocabulary by SW Georg. GrWreon. and Dr. Lionel D. Barnett. Being Vol. XVII. of the Allsti. Society's Monographs. Published by the Royal Asiatic Society. most important Saiva scriptures, and here gives a compact, clear, and impartial summary of the astonishing doctrines which followers of the Yoga discipline are expected to hold.
Secondly, if Dr. Barnett's survey of his subject leaves the reader somewhat depressed and dismayed by the misplaced ingenuity displayed by religious theorists, he can turn for refreshment and solace to the mystical hymns and sayings of " Granny Lal," rendered into English with the sympathetic and smiling scholarship we have learned to expect of Sir George Grierson. Time was when it was the fashion (set, among others, by Lord Macaulay) to scoff at the puorilities, indecencies, inconsistencies of Hindu religious imagination. Scholars have shown that Hindu philosophy is as profound and ingenious as any. Men who have lived on intimate terms with Hindus, Christian missionaries among them, have reported that there are Hindu men and women who have lived saintly lives, and have found in their ancient faith a lifelong joy in believing. Of each, undoubtedly, was " Granny Lal," and it is fairly easy to see why the old lady's mystic sayings are still popular in her country after more than five centuries.
Our religion and philosophy, so far as we have any, are curiously different from hers. But she had, in her own fashion, a genuine love of God and man, and expressed it in words which have given delight and comfort to many generations of pious souls. Surely such an achievement deserves our respectful admiration.
Of the scholarship displayed in this little book this is not the place to speak. But we may be permitted to call attention to the valuable public service which is rendered by the Royal Asiatic Society, in spite of scanty funds and growing expenses, in publishing these monographs. Other governments than ours, those of Prance and Germany for example, recognize that public funds can rightly be expended in encouraging Oriental research, since disinterested learning in such studies as these adds to national prestige. In the world of Oriental scholarship the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society holds a deservedly high reputation. But its work is much hampered by lack of funds, and its capital has been sorely depleted by a recent expensive move to new quarters. The more reason why we should congratulate the Society on its enterprise in publish- ing a work which is not only learned but has real literary charm, and on securing the services of two such distinguished editors. We can only regret that Sir George Birdwood did not live to read a work which would have given vivid satisfaction to his intuitive admiration of all that is most attractive in the life, thought, and imagination of our Indian fellow-subjects.
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