VRIND: LIFE & POEMS Translation & Introduction by Paul Smith Vrind Kavi (1643-1723) was an Indian Bhakti saint and poet in the Hindi language from Marwar in present day Rajasthan. He was an important poet of the Ritikal period of Hindi Literature known for his poems on ethics and mostly known for his work Nitisatsai (1704), a collection of 700 dohas. He was the guru of Raj Singh (ruled 1706-1748), ruler of Kishangarh where he was court poet. Like his contemporaries, Mati Ram, Rasnidhi and Ram Sahay, his doha poetry was primarily in Braj Bhasha dialect. It was deeply influenced by Bihari, noted poet of the preceding generation. He was a prolific poet and through his career worked for various patrons. After serving in Kishangarh, he moved to Delhi in 1673, where he was hired to tutor Azim-ush-Shan son of Azam Shah and grandson of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb. Azam Shah later succeeded his father and was a great enthusiast of Braj poetry and in time Azim-ush-Shan become patron of Vrind. In 1697, Azim-ush-Shan was made Governor of Bengal and so Vrind too shifted to Dhaka. During this period, he completed his most noted work, Nitisatsai ‘Seven Hundred Verses (Dohas) of Ethics’ in 1704. Here is a collection mainly of his Dohas, a rhymed couplet that is a wise, complete thought in itself. He was with Kabir, Tulsidas and Rahim a master of this simple but powerful form. 116 pages. ~Introduction to Bhakti Poets Series~ TULSIDAS, KABIR, VRIND, LALLA DED, RAHIM, VYASA, JAYADEVA (approx. 110-120 pages each… others to follow) Paul Smith (b. 1945) is a poet, author and translator of many books of Sufi poets from the Persian, Arabic, Urdu, Turkish, Pashtu, Hindi and other languages including Hafiz, Sadi, Nizami, Rumi, ‘Attar, Sana’i, Jahan Khatun, Obeyd Zakani, Mu’in, Amir Khusrau, Nesimi, Kabir, Anvari, Ansari, Jami, Khayyam, Rudaki, Lalla Ded, Mahsati, Baba Farid, Iqbal, Vrind, Rahim and others, and his own poetry, fiction, biographies, plays, children’s books and 12 screenplays. amazon.com/author/smithpa
