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MUSIC
Eternal India
encyclopedia
The Bhakti poetical literature is predomi-
nantly Vaishnavite and can be broadly divided
into those of Krishna worship and Rama cult
respectively. Many writers of the former faith
flourished in the Brajabhumi corresponding
roughly to the valley of the Yamuna.
Kabir (1440-1518)
was a great saint-poet.
Nothing is known about his birth. In one of his
poems he says that his parents died when he
was young. Though he was a weaver, he was
given over to meditation and philosophic
thought. In one of his hymns he-says, "Kabir
has renounced all spinning and weaving. The
name of Hari (God) is imprinted all over the
body".
Kabir was looked down upon and fre-
quently jeered because of his birth in a low
caste. He was a great advocate of Hindu-
Muslim unity. He tried to integrate the strict
monotheism of Islam with its abhorrence of
idolatry with the best in Hinduism.
He was the greatest lyric poet and mystic
of early Hindi literature. He preached through
hymns and poems and may be regarded as the
creator of sacred literature in Hindi. He showed
the path of devotion to Nirguna or Nirakar
(formless or abstract) God. He provided spiri-
tual strength to the community which was
then tom apart in the name of castes and
creeds. He accepted Ramananda, a preacher
of Advaita, as his mentor. He extolled the
concept of Nirguna Brahma, deplored Hindus
for their religious ceremonies, criticised the
Muslims for their blind religiosity and ex-
pounded his own views in such verse forms as
'doha' 'soratha'
and
'pad.'.
His discourses
compiled by his disciples are now published
under the title of
'Kabir granthavali'
. Among
the followers of his mode of bhakti are Dadu,
Raidas, Sunderdas and Malukdas.
One of the greatest of the school of Krishna
worship was
Surdas
'the blind bard of Agra’
who, writing in Brajabhasha, described in his
'Sursagar'
the sports of Krishna's early life
and wrote about the charms of Krishna and his
beloved Radha. It is said that he composed
about one and a quarter lakh verses but now
only 5500 are available under the title of
Sursagar. He was one of the eight disciples of
Vallabhacharya. His name is included in Abul
Fazl's list of 36 singers and musicians em-
ployed at the court of Akbar.
Another great preacher was
Nanak,
the
founder of
Sikhism.
He proclaimed, "Make
continence thy furnace, resignation thy gold-
smith, understanding thine anvil, divine knowl-
edge thy tools, the fear of God thy bellows,
DEVOTIONAL MUSIC
austerities thy fire, divine love thy crucible,
and melt God's name therein. In such a true
mint the Word shall be coined. This is the
practice of those on whom God looked with an
eye of favour."
Nanak's religion being a proselytising one,
several Muslims were converted to it, and it
gathered momentum under his successors.
Mirabai
(1499-1547) was a great saint-
poetess of India. She composed melodious
lyrics of devotional love and dedication to-
wards Lord Krishna.
Born a princess in a Vaishnav family, she
studied dance, music and poetry. As her father
Ratan Singh was engaged in warfare she was
brought up by her grandfather in a religious
atmosphere. Her poems suggest she had a
mystical experience in early childhood and
was emotionally wedded to God. She was
married to Bhoj, the son of the King of Mewar.
The marriage was however without any issue.
She dedicated her life to the service of man
and God and she began to compose poems.
After the death of her husband she was
persecuted by her brothers-in-law. She left
Mewar in 1532, went to Brindavan (1534-36)
and finally to Dwaraka (1537-46). In 1546
Rana Uday Singh in a mood of repentence
offered to reinstate her honourably in Mewar.
She left Dwaraka incognito on a pilgrimage to
the south (1547-56) and the east (1557). Her
poems are found in three languages Rajast-
hani, Brij and Gujarati. There are above 1400
poems to her name. Her poems are short,
simple and spontaneous with an intensity of
feeling.
Tulsidas,
the most renowned poet of the
age, based his epic
'Ramcharitmanas'
on the
story of Rama, the great divine hero of Indian
mythology. This work
"The pool of Rama's
Life",
has been justly described by Sir George
Grierson as
"the one Bible of a hundred mil-
lions of people"
- of Hindustan. His
'Vinay-
patrika'
with its enchanting melodious devo-
tional poems and
'Kavitavali'
with its kavit
and savaiyya metrical style are mature works.
Amir Khusrau
(b. 1253 - d.1325) was a
great Sufi saint and poet. His ancestors hailed
from Transoxiana, a central Asian Turkish
tribe. Khusrau's father was forced to migrate
to India due to the onslaughts of Chengiz
Khan and held a place of honour in the court of
Sultan Mohammad Tuglaq. Khusrau was
bom at Patiali (district Etah) in Uttar Pradesh.
Khusrau was a great Persian poet and creative
writer. He influenced many generations of
writers with his mysticism, romanticism and
psychic realism. A great Indo-Aryan mystic,
he was deeply influenced by Khwaja Nizam -
ud-Din Aulia and remained attached to him till
his death. When Khwaja Nizam-ud-din died
Khusrau went almost mad with grief and lived
thereafter for only six months. Besides being
a celebrated poet, prose writer and linguist he
was a great musician and possessed vast knowl-
edge of the musical traditions of the Indian,
Arab and Persian systems.
The greatest and most popular of Vaish-
nava saints was
Sri Chaitanya
(1485-1533).
Born in a learned Brahmana family of Nadia
in Bengal, his original name was Nimai or
Gauranga. An erudite scholar of Sanskrit, he
renounced the world at the age of 24 and spent
the rest of his life preaching his message of
love and devotion -18 years in Orissa and 6
years in Brindavan, Gaur and other places.
The essence of his creed is that "if a creature
adores Krishna and serves his Guru, he is
released from the meshes of illusion and at-
tains to Krishna's feet". His gospel was meant
for all, irrespective of caste and creed, and
some of his disciples were drawn from the
lower strata of Hindu society and from among
Muslims.
His songs ushered in the golden age of
Bengali and Sanskrit literature in medieval
Bengal. Chaitanya and his followers added
'prema' or 'bhakti' as the fifth purushartha and
developed bhakti as a supreme rasa by itself.
For Chaitanya, the legend of Krishna and his
divine consort Radha was the symbol of the
highest expression of mutual love between
God and the human soul. The movement started
by him spread all over Bengal and East India
and inspired people for about two centuries.
Narsimha Mehta
(1414-80) was a great
saint poet of Gujarat. A vedantist his knowl-
edge of the Supreme transcends him to one-
ness with Brahma, transforming him into a
'Gopi' in absolute love with Lord Krishna. His
devotional lyrics of
'Premalaksna bhakti'
rank
him with Surdas, Yidyapati and other devo-
tional poets of India.