#NarsinhMehta

Narsinh Mehtā · c. 1414–1488

In the books · 1 chapter

Who this is

Poetry — the Ādikavi, "first poet," of Odia; author of the Sarala Mahābhārata, the Vilaṅkā Rāmāyaṇa and the Chaṇḍī Purāṇa.

“Every other founding poet in this book so far worked for a court. Sarala worked a field — and the Mahābhārata he made there, reimagined village by village, is still being sung in the villages he made it for.”

— The Great Indians, Ch. 121

The big idea, in the book's words:

“A farmer with no Sanskrit schooling retold — not translated — the Mahābhārata in village Odia, all eighteen books, and a language that had never had a literature began with a masterpiece.”

— The Great Indians, Ch. 121