BHUBANESWAR: Poetry of Lal Ded, the great mystic and a powerful Kashmiri poet, is seminal to almost all Kashmiris, be it Hindus or Muslims, said actor Mita Vasisht. On the second day of the Odisha Literary Festival 2023 on Sunday, Mita in a freewheeling chat with senior journalist Kaveree Bamzai said Lal Ded has remained in the Kashmiri consciousness for several years.
“When I speak to Kashmiris, they talk about her as though she was still alive and would refer to her in the present tense. She is a shared icon for both Hindus and Muslims,” she says.
Mita has been performing her solo play titled Lal Ded, based on the life of medieval Kashmiri mystic poet Lal Ded, in both English and Hindi languages since 2004. She has conceived, co-written and performed the play across the country and continues to do so. The play introduces people to some of Lal Ded’s (also known as Lalleshwari) works and how she was as a person. Lal Ded, Mita says, is the closest to her heart.
The actor shared her journey that brought her to Lal Ded. “When I turned 40, I started questioning myself as to where I had arrived with the feminine inside myself. As an actress too, I wanted to find a space within myself which was a space without any isms,” she said.
Mita said she grew up as a child in the 60s-70s. “Every thing that gave me an identity was also fraught with struggles, anger and constantly being against something. Finally at the age of 40, I was tired of the isms, I was looking for a voice...I was beyond the films,” she said. This was when she started studying all the mystic poets and finally, she arrived at Lal Ded. “I started liking her poetry. And then she started influencing me because I think unless you are respecting her enough, she does not let you come close. And if she does, you know that you are doing it right,” she said.
Punctuating her thoughts with poetry of Lal Ded, the actor said people of Kashmir also call the poet Lalla, Lalleswari and Lalmerge (which means mother). Speaking about the relationship of Lal Ded with people of Kashmir, she said that this relationship defines Kashmiriyat.