Pearls of Light

This book is a translation and study of the verses of Muhammad Yari Sahib (ca. 1668-1723 ce). The central question addressed in it is; how was it that a Muslim spiritual teacher from Delhi came to be remembered as a prominent figure in the interaction between Hindu and Muslim mystics in North India Key to understanding this are studies of both the spiritual teachings in Yari’s verses and how they were preserved and transmitted in the lineage of famous Sants such as Gulal Sahib and Paltu Sahib. The oral traditions of this lineage also included both Hindu and Muslim figures which allowed Yari to be remembered in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries as having been both a Sant and a Sufi. This volume includes all of the sixty or so poems of Yari and offers creative English translations built around the inner structure of the lines of each poem, along with a critical Hindi edition of the verses. The study shows that the verses contain expressions of the key ideas found in the Sant tradition. These include both the individual search for the divine within one’s self and the recognition of the divine light revealed within the microcosm of the body and the macrocosm of the universe. From a Sufi perspective these ideas can be expressed through the traditional saying ‘I was a hidden treasure and I desired to be known’. The imagery in the verses also speaks of the com­monality between the traditions in the search for the revelation of God.