Lal Ded

Mystic & Poet

(1320 – Unknown) · South Asia

Fourteenth-century Kashmiri mystic poet and Shaivite saint, also known as Lalla Arifa or Lallesvari, whose vakhs (short verse sayings) are among the earliest examples of literature in the Kashmiri language. Born around 1320 in the Kashmir Valley, she is revered equally by Hindus and Muslims in Kashmir and her sayings have been transmitted orally for seven centuries. She is considered the mother of Kashmiri literature.