Awaaz Dey KahaaN Hay

Re: # 144
Echoboom
If we do not preserve our folk music it is in danger of dying out. In our society folk music was handed down within families or within castes whose occupation amongst others was the creation of music. There are no patrons of this anymore. Every state and region has a wealth of folk music which should at least be recorded for posterity and of course to inspire your brown sahibs.

If not we will never have any record of this treasure. This music will stagnate and die if there is nobody to transform it into a living breathing changing thing.

Imagine , no baul singers in Bengal, no vadakkan paat in Kerala, no abhangs in Marathi, no qawwalis ... to pull out only a few regions.

It has already happened to our classical instruments. After Vinayak Vora I don`t know of any tar shehnai player of repute. Which new surbahar player is there on the horizon? How many rudra veena exponents are present today?

Incidentally speaking of folk music does anybody remember Rafi`s ``pipra ke patwaa sareekhe doley manwa`` composed by Ravi Shankar for the film Godaan?

To come back to Naushad there is a great Lata-Rafi duet in Shabab ``Man ki been matwari baaje``.

swarrier:

I have seen dasavatar performed at stage in both Kathakali and Bharat Natyam, including by Vyjyantimala. I enjoyed it more in the Bharat Natyam, because I still have to learn to enjoy the slow, sylised movements of Kathakali.

When watching das-avatar, one cannot help but be reminded of the Darwin`s theory of evolution.

#140 by swarrier :

I just don`t have words to thank you for this.

My ignorant-innocent enquiry: Could Vaman be the humble small Man, and not really dwarf?
meaning Eeshwar appearing as vaman ( baman?).

I`ll be able to enjoy it even more & with repeat listening & reconfirming reach the ``kunh`` of it... a great arabic word (no equivalent) meaning the root to the ``atomic`` level..where it all starts..

Re: # 141

You are welcome.
Vamana was the name of the brahmin boy. Legends say he was a dwarf so I assumed that would be it. I guess it was to heighten the contrast as he became large. It could be small man too.
Incidentally the state that I come from , we celebrate Mahabali who was pushed down into the Nether world. He was an Asura King. It is our harvest festival. He was a good king but the devas were afraid of him. So they called on Vishnu to get rid of him. But he was given a boon to come back to his people once every year.

swarrier#138:

``This translation does not do justice to the poem especially when you have seen it performed in temples. There is real feeling there.``

We Punjabis do not know much about these feelings, except to some extent in the gurudwaras.

I once visited the Siddhi Vinayak (?) temple in Mumbai and there was an aarti going on for more than half hour during which the entire congregation stood and chanted the aarti. I am not sure if it was in sanskrit or marathi or maybe a combination, but the atmosphere was electric.

Re: # 139
DM
I meant the Kathakali art form and the music accompanying it. I have seen Geeta Govindam performed as such. In Kerala it is normally performed in grounds around temples. Sometimes these dance dramas go on throughout the night. The atmosphere, coupled with the stories that you have heard as a child make it very compelling. You feel some sort of an other worldly presence at times.

I can never stop marvelling at the ingenuity of the human mind. To be able to soar to such levels, with words, with intellect, with art , with science, as to create such a feeling that one can almost have such a belief in a supernatural force.

Echoboom
At the end of the song there is this sloka.
vedan uddharate,
jagan-nivahate,
bhugolam ud-bibhrate
daityam darayatem balim chalayate,
kshatra kshayam kurvate,
poulasyam jayate,
halam kalayate,
karunyam atanvate,
mlechchan murchayate,
dashakruti krute,
Krushnaya tubhyam namaH.

This is Barbara Stoller Miller`s translation. I found this from a post by Neha Desai on RMIM.

For upholding the Vedas,
For supporting the earth,
For raising the world,
For tearing the demon asunder,
For cheating Bali,
For destroying the warrior class,
For conquering Ravana,
For wielding the plow,
For spreading compassion,
For routing the barbarians,
Homage to you, Krishna,
In your ten incarnate forms!

swarrier#135:

Really impressed!

Re: # 136
DM
Thank you. But it is not my work. I used a couple of dictionaries and a translation of the Geeta Govindam itself in parts. The English is mine, I wish I could understand the Sanskrit more. This translation does not do justice to the poem especially when you have seen it performed in temples. There is real feeling there.

#133 by subhashjoshi

One word that I don`t see in hindi is zunoon (passion).

---

LOL:
It is Junoon. It is arabic/farsi/urdu

There is a reason for it. :)

Babur has written about it in his memoirs: The climate of Hind is such that it makes one ready to compromise, avoid conflict , and there is this overwhelming desire to surrender to the nearest foe.It tames ones passions.

P.s: written in good humour. No debate solicited here. subject closed. Lets talk music.

#131 by subhashjoshi

well not exactly!

Bhoolna is when you just cannot remember. Bisarna is when you you can recall, if prompted.

what a subtle & elegentl shair:
``Muddatoan guzri tiri yaad bhhee aaee naa hUmeiN
aur hUm bhhool gaeyn hoaN tujhhay; aisaa bhhee naheeN--Firaque Gorakhpoori.

Separate words exist for a reason.

Now there is Khainchnaa (to pull) and then there is Ainchnaa in hindi ( another beautiful concept word , missing in `urdu`/english). Do you know what it means. Banjaara sahib!

Re: # 132


One can say bhoolna has a wider connotation than bisaarna, then I agree. It can stand for bisaarna and also ``total oblivion``. That may be because it is used more commonly.

One word that I don`t see in hindi is zunoon (passion).

128:

anand MaTTHh!

Re: # 130 Echoboom
Okay I have some time. This is a long post. First some background , if you know all this shoot me.
The stanzas are taken from Jaydev`s Geeta Govindam. So it again is about Krishna as the first two lines by Hemant Kumar indicate. This is not part of Geeta Govindam .

Hare muraare madhu kaithaba hare
Gopal govind mukunda shaure (I`m not sure if this is shaure or hare, shauryam in sanskrit is heroism)

The other stanzas deal with 5 of Vishnu`s avataras, of whom Krishna is one though there is no mention of him in Jaydeva`s stanzas. The 8th avatara is Balarama his brother, who wields the plough as his weapon (Haladhar, plough bearer).
In the song you will notice that each time Geeta Dutt sings the refrain the avatara changes as the stanza changes.

The first stanza is
pralaya payodhi jale, dhrutavan asi vedam
vihita vahitra charitram akhedam
keshava, dh^Rta mina sharira, jaya jagadisha hare

(Briefly means , O keshava when the world was deluged with the waters of the primordial oceans you took the form of a fish and brought up the world and upheld the four vedas by floating like a legendary ship on the oceans) .
At this point Geeta Dutt sings ``Keshava dhrita mina sharira , jay jagdeesh hare ``(mina sharira is ``form of a fish)

Second stanza
chalayasi vikramane, balim adbhuta vamana
pada nakha nira janita jana pavana
keshava, dh^Rta vamana rupa, jaya jagadisha hare

Meaning : O Keshava you assumed the form of a dwarfish boy and then became an astounding dwarf encompassing the universe in 3 steps driving Bali to the netherworld and anointing his head with the sacred water from heaves that emerged from your toe-nail)
Geeta now sings `Keshava dhrita vamana rupa, jaya .....(vamana was the name of the dwarf)

Third stanza
vitarasi dikshu rane, dik-pati kamaniyam
dasha-mukha mouli balim ramaniyam
keshava, dh^Rta rama sharira, jaya jagadisha hare

Meaning: O Keshava you took the form of Rama and with the approval of the 10 presiding deities destroyed the 10 headed ravana symmetrically sacrificing (giving him as a sacrifice) him pleasing all.)
Geeta sings Keshava dhrita rama sharira

Fourth stanza
nindasi yajnya vider-ahaha shruti jatam
sadaya hrudaya darshita pashu ghatam
keshava, dh^Rta buddha sharira, jaya jagadisha hare

Meaning : You have assumed the form of the Buddha who being kind hearted finds the vedic ritual sacrifice of animals at fault and even the vedic scriptures themselves doubtful. Hail to thee.

Fifth Stanza
mlechcha nivaha nidhane kalayasi karavalam
dhumaketum iva kimapi karalam
keshava, dh^Rta kalki sharira, jaya jagadisha hare

Meaning: You, in your final avatar as Kalki at the end of the Kali-yuga brandish a sword like a comet to eliminate all the barbarians (mleccha) and your deeds are horrendous to detail.
I have left out Geeta Dutt`s bit in the last two stanzas as she sings the last line always in the foreground.

There are actually other avataras described in other stanzas, that are not in the song, but present in the original poem (the boar, the tortoise, nara-simha, parasu rama, balarama).
Anyway this is a very rough translation and I guess to fully appreciate it you need to know the legends. But the song is sung with great feeling.
If somebody feels this isn`t good enough perhaps they can provide a better translation. I`m done.

RE: #111 by Banjaara

Saint Josephs, Dacca

I left in 1971.

Ras

Swarrier:

Could you , or someone else, give me a good translation of this.
Jai Jagdeesh haray

I had heard it only once several decades ago and it buzzed in my mind in a ``bisraa``*(not bhoola) kind of way. Eventually I tracked it down 5/6 years ago.

* it is such a beautiful word. Uniquely hindi word. `Urdu` or english do not have equivalent or perhaps even the concept. [thought ensconced in slumber in the recesses of memory, but reawakened by an event or odor, sight, or whatever)