The first ever English translations of two Gujarati nirguna bhakti poet-saints—Akha Bhagat and Vasto Vishwambhar—translated by the acclaimed poet and playwright Gieve Patel.
Akho, the Gujarati poet-saint of the seventeenth century, and Vasto Vishwambhar, whose dates are less certain, stand among the great voices of India’s nirguna bhakti tradition. Akho, a goldsmith by profession, was known for his chhappas—pithy, sharp-edged verses that cut through spiritual pretension to reveal lived truths. Vasto, his successor in spirit, celebrated the ecstatic union of the human and the divine in a voice at once sensual and transcendental.
This remarkable volume brings together Gieve Patel’s translations of Akho and Vasto, presented not only in their final English form but also through the earlier drafts and variations that reveal Patel’s evolving engagement with their verse. The result is both a work of translation and a record of a translator’s inner dialogue. It is a testament to the patience and humility that true transcreation demands.
With Patel’s passing, the book stands as a double homage: to Akho and Vasto, whose wisdom still speaks across languages and centuries, and to Gieve Patel himself—poet, painter and doctor—whose last labour of love illuminates the space between devotion and art.