Lal Ded – A Dogri Novel

Lal Ded, originally written in Dogri translated by Suman K. Sharma, has already been translated into Kashmiri, Pahari, Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu, Marathi and Gujarati. It has been awarded the ‘Best Book’ prize by the Government of Jammu & Kashmir in 2012. The novel has also been prescribed in a course of study by the University of Jammu.
700 years ago too, the Valley of Kashmir was passing through the same spell of torment and turmoil as it is today. At that time, the social norms, culture and geopolitics of the region were in a rapid flux. In the name of novelty, the old values were being given up for the faith of the aggressive foreigners. Such were the circumstances in which was born Kashmir’s primal poetess, Lal Ded.
Centuries have passed, but the songs that she sang in her inborn anguish, assimilating the Valley’s intense agony, are still being heard in the murmur of chilly winds passing through its woods.
The novel tells the tale of the hermit poetess. What she says in these pages are but snippets of her songs. The people of Kashmir have kept those songs close to their bosom as they do the Kangri that innovative fire-pot which keeps them warm even in the harshest cold winds.