Kamla K. KapurRecensioni

At this point I guess it is safe to say that I am one of the admirers of Rumi. However, I have not read his work. Ok this may be weird to say… admiring Rumi without having read any of his writings. But books such as this one make it possible. Along with other books I have read such as “The Forty Rules of Love” & “Rumi’s daughter”.

I enjoyed learning about several Hindu deities and the Hindu view of creation and reality.

I received this book a long time ago from librarything . It is difficult to read because there are many stories and many characters so you lost the way a lot . the style is typical of indian writers with many teferences to indian language. It reminds me the book of the thousand nights and one night

I received an electronic version of this book through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers scheme. I must apologize for not writing the review sooner, and have to admit that I did not read the whole book - it is too dense to read on-screen, and there are too many pages to print out. So my impressions here are from my reading of the introduction and Chapter 1, and from scanning through the rest.
The book is tastefully and elegantly produced with an attractive typeface and black-and-white line illustrations, with ornaments that give it an Indian feel. There are many footnotes and a bibliography. The language flows smoothly and easily, and I think the book would appeal to anyone interested in Indian history, religions, mythology and legends. If I had it as a real, printed volume, I'd probably read it from cover to cover.

An interesting book giving an insight into Guru Nanak and the rise if Sikhism.

Round about the time that Europe was plunging into the Reformation, Guru Nanak (1469-1539) was igniting Sikhism in India. Kamla Kapur retells tales about his life and works with the aim of bringing increased understanding of him and his faith to a wider audience.

It succeeds to some extent but, as well as telling of faraway times in faraway lands, the author expresses herself in a way that, although perfectly good english, seems to come across with a pronounced Indian accent. As much as it opens up new stories to me, it leaves me realising how little information I have to understand them in a wider context.

That is more my fault than Kapur’s but from my anglocentric perspective, I think I need shorter stories as I felt I hardly managed to digest them at all. I think this will be a book to return to in the future; it wasn’t quite such an easy way into grasping the singing guru as I had hoped.

I developed an interest in Sikhism after taking a class on Indian history in college. This book served as a perfect refresher on Sikhism and a tool to delve deeper into the culture and philosophy of this religion. The writing style is very accessible, with a selection of key definitions without overwhelming the text with footnotes. The author's love of the Sikh faith shows through and infects the reader with that passion.

With a captive audience, Mardana shares tales of his time with Baba, Nanak.

Of their wanderings, of Nanak disappearance and reappearance - and the change in him, of lessons learnt and a journey shared; we see if Baba can change their entrapment as goats, ready to be sacrificed; and are given a vision of a life lived together in learning.

There are lessons to be learnt, though Mardana doesn't seem to learn them - hence his captivity in the first place!

These shared stories give wise advice on chasing fame and fortune - and where it might take you, or following the really important things in life; along with the perils of giving in to temptation.

An enlightening tale of a culture I knew little of.½