Anand writes poems in English and Kabiri. He translates poetry from many Indian languages and sets them to ragas. He’s a student of dhrupad. As publisher at Navayana, he has worked with a range of writers, translators, artists and poets. He has annotated and edited some of Ambedkar’s key writings, and this has informed his poetry and music. Anand lives in Kabirstan.

Abstract of the lecture

The Zero Sum––Sunnyata/शून्यता and समानता/equality

Kabir–Ambedkar–Buddha in Raga 

Anand is an editor and publisher at Navayana. He has been a student of anticaste thought and Babasaheb Ambedkar for three decades. Since the past seven years, he has been a student of Dagarvani Dhrupad with Ustad Wasifuddin Dagar in Delhi. It was his pursuit of Ambedkar that led him to Kabir, and Kabir made him re-turn to music after fifteen years. The heard-and-sung Kabir led him, in turn, to the vachanas and suttas of the Buddha. He saw uncanny parallels in the words and themes of the suttas and Kabir’s verses. In this demlec, Anand will demonstrate how Kabir often translates and improvises on––and returns to––the Bahiya Sutta spoken by the Buddha. He will then show how Buddha and Kabir anticipate the words of Ambedkar in The Buddha and His Dhamma. What is the relationship between Sunnyata (शून्यता, the void) and Samaanta (समानता, equality)? How do you land each once on sam/सम, the point that begins and ends all points? How does the raga that is nirgun (निर्गुण), beyond गुण or form and quality), enfold amn embody and inform gun/गुण or form and help us experience both being and nothingness?