lingvistika THE LANGUAGE OF MYSTICS - THE MYSTICS OF LANGUAGE. A READING OF KABIR'S POEM

The paper tries to solve one of many Kabir's mysteries - his ontological outlook. Being suspended between Hinduism and Islam. the great mystic gives in his poetry hints which can be read twice-fold. Linguistic analysis of one of his poems sets to dislose monistic and dualistic attitudes to the Absolute.

Kabir has been if not the world's then definitely India's greatest mystic. What we know about him is mostly legends and tradition kept up by his followers -Kabir Panthis. His life span varies in different sources from seventy to three hundred yearsl. Collections of his songs vary in volume and reliability. Those included in Sikhs' Adi Granth seem to be rather authentic, hovewer a discussion arises around Bijaks -collections of his songs. Some authors neglect the authenticity of some portions, some -the whole collection 2 . On the one hand, Kabir himself was illiterate or as Indian tradition wants to see him -alliterate, on the other hand his followers have been taken by anti-plagiatarism. We can doubt about many pieces ascribed to the master yet they have the poet's signature in the last doha (couplet).
If we take his legendary biography as the starting point for controversies we should start with his birth. Presumably a legal son of a bramin widow,like Moses, was put into a basket and floated down the stream of the Ganges in Varanasi. His rescuers and new parents, an elderly couple of Muslim weavers granted him proper Muslim education (why then illiteracy?). His mystical experience was for some time guided by Sufi pir Pitambar. Then Kabir became a disciple of the Hindu guru Ramananda.

P Piekarski
His attitude to both religions is expressed clearly in many of his dohas. Hated by Muslim rulers, suspected by Hindu gurus even at his death Kabir was a mystery. As one of the legends tells us the disciples quarreled about the way Master's body should be treated. After long arguments someone suggested asking Master Himself. Under the shroud a bunch of flowers was found. A part of them was buried and the other burnt thus satisfying both parties.
Till the present time arguments continue and solutions are not easy. One of the main problems is mystical ontology. The Hindus, according to Advaita Vedanta, are mooists. Individual soul-atman and the Universal Being -Absolute -brahman are one. During the period of bhakti (mysticism) some other standpoints were elaborated (bheda -abheda -separated yet inseparable; visishtadavaita -special non dualism etc.)3. On the other hand Muslims have always been dualists, in spite of Sufi mooistic tendencies 4 .
Bearing in mind the problems let us closer examine one of Kabir's poems.

ham sab miimhi sakal ham miimhim/ ham the aur dusrii niihim// tin lok mem hamiirii pasiirii/ iigiigaman sab khel hamiirii// khat darsan kahiyat bhekhii/ hamhim aat riip nahim rekhii// hamhim iip kabir kahiivii/ hamhlm apniim iip lakhiivii/p
In a way similar to the post mortem "flower testimony" we can read out the ontological level in two juxtaposed ways. The mystics of grammar can be helpful. In Hindiham is a word denoting the first person, plural pronoun -corresponding to English 'we'. The language of Kabir's poetry is what he called himself purvi -eastern, which means a variety of Avadhi -one of Hindi dialects, known not only by the great poetry of Tulsi Das but of Indian Sufis who, like Malkk Muhammad Jayasi have made use of it. The problem we face very often in Urdu, which is basically kindred to Hindi, is the lack of some pronoun forms. There no separate plural forms are in case of third person pronouns hence we have yah/ ye and vah/ve for both the numbers. A similar problem occurs with the first person pronounham which can stand for both singular and plural. In spoken language it is very often differentiated by log 'people' being here a semantic modifier of plurality. Such a problem occurs not only in Urdu. It does exist also in peripheral dialects of Hindi.