Volume : 6, Issue : 6, June - 2017

The Image of God Presented in the Devotional Poems of Narsinh Mehta

Chintan Jayvant Arya

Abstract :

<p>&nbsp;<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;">The medieval history of India is full of socio-political and religious upheavals that changed the straight-jacketed scenario of pre-medieval time. The spontaneous reformation that took place with the creations of Poet saints of the time ought drastic changes in the political, social and religious panorama . It mainly took its initiatives from the South Indian Movement propagated by the Alwār and Nayanār tradition of saints that advocated the Bhakti as a means to retain salvation. In Gujarāt, the systematic growth can be traced in the creations of Narsinh Mehta who is hailed as the Ādi Kavi for his earliest compositions in Gujarati. History of Gujarati Literature will always be indebted to Narsinh for his matchless creations. He presented the most complicated philosophies of Vedic Brāhminic religion in couple of lines with utmost ease and that is his mastery. He mostly propagated Premlakshanā Bhakti in his poems. In most of his poems he addressed God Krishna as his beloved and hence desperately urged for His benevolence. Unlike the earlier projection of God, he projected Krishna as a shepherd that dwelled among countryman in day to day life, taking care of their problems. Hence, he oke the conventional portrayal that was presented by the upper Sanskritized class and made Him a God of common man.&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;&#10;line-height:200%"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:200%;font-family:&#10;&quot;Arial&quot;,sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p>