City of mirrors : songs of Lalan Sai = Āẏanā śahara : Lālana Sān̐iẏera gā̄na

Carol Salomon dedicated over thirty years of her life to researching, translating, and annotating this compilation of songs by the Bengali poet and mystical philosopher Lalan Sai (popularly transliterated as Lalon) who lived in the village of Cheuriya in Bengal in the latter half of the nineteenth century. One major objective of his lyrical riddles was to challenge the restrictions of cultural, political, and sexual identity, and his songs accordingly express a longing to understand humanity, its duties, and its ultimate destiny. His songs also contain thinly veiled references to esoteric yogic practices ( sadhana ), including body-centered Hathayogic techniques that are related to those found in Buddhist, Kaula, Natha, and Sufi medieval tantric literature. Dr. Salomon's translation of the work is the first dedicated English translation of Lalan's songs to closely follow the Bangla text, with all of its dialectical variations, and is here produced alongside the original text. Although her untimely death left her work unpublished, the editors have worked diligently to reconstruct her translations from her surviving printed and handwritten manuscripts. The result is a finished product that can finally share her groundbreaking scholarship on Baul traditions with the world. Cover......Page 1 Half-Title......Page 2 Series......Page 3 SOUTH ASIA RESEARCHCity of Mirrors......Page 4 Copyright......Page 5 Contents......Page 6 প্রসঙ্গ-​কথা (ইংরেজি)......Page 10 প্রসঙ্গ-​কথা (বাংলা অনুবাদ)......Page 14 ভূমিকা (ইংরেজি)......Page 18 সম্পাদকের কথা (ইংরেজি)......Page 28 সম্পাদকের কথা (বাংলা অনুবাদ)......Page 32 সংক্ষে পণ......Page 34 প্রথম খণ্ড : পূর্ব প্রকাশন......Page 38 “On Editing the Songs of Laˉlan Fakir using both Oral and Written Sources”......Page 40 দ্বিতীয় খণ্ড : লালন সাঁইয়ের গান......Page 50 গানের প্রথম ছত্রের অক্ষরানুক্রমিক সূচি (বাংলা)......Page 52 গানের প্রথম ছত্রের অক্ষরানুক্রমিক সূচি (ইংরেজি)......Page 59 গান: মূল বাংলা পাঠ ও ইংেরিজ অনুবাদ......Page 65 শব্দকোষ......Page 624 গ্রন্থপঞ্জি......Page 632 শব্দসূচি......Page 638 সূচিপত্র......Page 8 This is the first dedicated English translation of the songs of the Bengali poet and mystical philosopher Lalan Sai to closely follow the original Bangla text, with all of its dialectical variations, and is here produced alongside the original text. Dr. Carol Salomon used multiple written and oral texts to arrive at a meaning as close as possible to the original works.