Love Songs of Narsinh Mehta

by Harsha V. Dehejia and Vijay Sharma

Love Songs of Narsinh Mehta is a commentary on Narsinh Mehta’s love songs. Narsinh (1408-65), a Vaishnava bhakti poet of medieval India, is considered as the adi-kavi of Gujarat. He is also regarded as a shringara kavi, a poet of romance. The quintessence of his bhakti is prem and his prem has inherent bhakti, and therefore his poetry is regarded as shringara bhakti kavya. Essentially shringara is the romantic celebration of the other, and when Narsinh's other is none other than Krishna, his shringara kavya becomes Krishna bhakti, where Krishna is both divine and human, at the same time. Singing for Krishna, Narsinh celebrates his swami through amorous verses and divine surrender like Jayadeva.

He sat in a temple and relentlessly sang for his Lord, living through absolute poverty. Nothing made him more jovial than singing the glory of his Krishna. The only man for Narsinh is Krishna, and for the latter Narsinh is a woman at heart. Narsinh, through his songs, brings in the cue of all romantic feelings and moments, recreates the idyllic Vrindavana in one’s mind, and he returns that Vrindavana a Vaikuntha with the footfalls of his Krishna.

Through this commentary, the author Harsha V. Dehejia introduces one to the fullness of Narsinh’s poems, thereby making one known to Narsinh in and out.