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BACK OF BOOK
Postage Stamps: Windows To Music & Dance
Stamps On Saints And Poets - Part 11
Narsi Mehta -S. SANKARANARAYANAN
Stamp on Narsi Mehta
The Dept. of Indian Posts
& Telegraphs issued a stamp and First Day Cover on Narsi Mehta-- the
name is spelt as Narasinha Mehta-- on 30 May 1967. The stamp,
printed at the Nasik Security Press, is in the denomination of 15
P., perf. 14 x 13-1/2, is blackish brown in colour, and is printed
on un-watermarked adhesive stamp paper.
Vaishnava jana to tene
kahiye je peedha paraayee jaane rey. Which devout Hindu has not
heard this bhajan? It is Narsi Mehta's. The opening lines of the
song are printed on the First Day Cover.
His name was Narasimha
Mehta (also spelt as Narsimh Mehta. He however signed his poems as 'Narsi',
and hence he is popularly known by that name.
We are fortunate to have
reliable accounts of most of the events in Narsi Mehta's life from
his autobiographical poems. Works of later poets on him also throw
light on many incidents in his life.
Life of Narsi Mehta
Narsi Mehta (Narsee Mehtaa)
was born in 1414 AD at Talaja, a town near Bhavnagar in Gujarat.
Krishnadas and Dayakor were his parents. He belonged to the orthodox
caste of Nagar (Naagar) Brahmins.
Narsi lost his father when
he was barely three. He and his mother then moved to his paternal
uncle's house.
He learnt Gujarati at the
local village school. His parents and grandparents were devout
Vaishnavites from whom he learnt the stories of Bhagavata and
other Puranas.
As a boy, Narsi evinced
little interest in studies. He preferred to spend time in singing
the praise of Sree Krishna, his beloved God, or in meditating on
him.
Narsi's mother died when
he was eleven years old. After about three years, Narsi's
grandfather got him married to Manekbai, a Nagar girl. Not long
after the wedding Narsi's grandfather also expired. As Narsi did not
have a house of his own, they moved to live with his cousin,
Bansidhar.
His life in Bansidhar's
house was anything but happy. He had no vocation or calling, and
therefore had no earning even to sustain a bare livelihood.
Bansidhar and his wife thoroughly disapproved of Narsi's way of
life. They insulted, ridiculed, and harassed him. Unable to bear the
cruelty and humiliation, the Narsi couple left the house.
They reached an almost
uninhabited village. Narsi took shelter in an old Siva temple and
decided to do penance. After a week or so, he grew thin, became pale
and weak and almost lost his consciousness. What happened next is
vividly described by Narsi himself. He went into a trance and in
that blissful moment Lord Siva appeared before him and blessed him
by placing His hand on Narsi's head. The touch of the Lord enabled
Narsi to have a wondrous vision of what he was longing to see,
namely, the Rasa Leela of Sree Krishna in Brindavan.
In a moving song Narsi has
described the world of ecstasy to which he was transported on
witnessing the divine dance. That vision completely changed his
life, to a life of composing hundreds of keertana-s/pada-s on Sree
Krishna and His playful sports, and singing them to his heart's
content. It is no wonder, therefore, that a large number of his
songs are on the Rasa Leela theme. They are all sringara pada-s.
He left the village, moved
to Junagadh and settled down there. A daughter, Kunvarbai, was born
in 1434 and a son, Saamaldas, in 1438. It is believed that the ruler
of Junagadh provided financial support to him.
In 1447, when Kunvarbai
was 13, she was given in marriage. His son's marriage took place
three years later. Narsi says that for the expenses of the marriages
and subsequent ceremonies, he trusted God and God alone. In his
celebrated poem Maamerun, Narsi describes how his relatives
humiliated him during the ceremonies (because he had no wherewithal
to meet the expenses), and how his Sree Krishna saved his honour by
providing timely help in the form of presents and gold. The legend
goes that Krishna Himself came in disguise as a wealthy merchant and
honoured a hundi (similar to a present day cheque/draft) issued by
Narsi.
Altogether, Narsi led a
happy life in Junagadh. Then a chain of tragedies struck in quick
succession.
A year after his son's
marriage, his wife expired. Narsi thought that he had been freed
from all family responsibilities and that, thenceforth, he could
devote his entire time in the service of his Lord. But fate had
something very harsh in store for him. In a span of three years he
lost his son and his son-in-law. A widowed daughter and a widowed
daughter-in-law were thrust into his care. He however remained
serene as ever, and managed to run the household with the help of a
few well-wishers.
Narsi's own Nagar
community was very orthodox. Its members did not approve of his
conducting bhajan-s in the company of all castes. They also opposed
his allowing women in the group-singing of keertana-s. Gradually
their hostility grew violent. Narsi says that God unfailingly
rescued him from all those miserable situations. (A good many
stories of miracles are woven around those incidents. They are part
of folklore in the Saurashtra region.)
He left Junagadh before it
was annexed by the Sultan of Ahmedabad in 1473.
As Narsi grew old he
turned more introspective. His poems had more philosophical and
spiritual overtones; no more sringara pada-s.
He spent his last years in
a place called Mangrol. He joined his Maker in 1480, at the age of
66. The place where he was cremated is known as Narsi's 'smasaan'.
Narsi's works
Narsi's works are broadly
classified into four groups. They are: (1) those based on the 10th
Skanda of the Bhagavata, (2) those inspired by Jayadeva's
Geeta Govinda, (3) autobiographical, and (4) philosophical.
The Bhagavata-related
works are: Krishna Janma, Bala Leela, Naga Daman, Daan Leela,
Rasa Leela, Rasa Sahasrapadi, Sudama Charit, Maan Leela, Rukmini
Vivaha, and Govinda Gamana. The poems inspired by
Geeta Govinda are sringara pada-s. These include: Chaaturi
Chhatreesi, Chaaturi Shodasi, Surat Sangraam, Sringara Mala,
Sringara Na Pado, and Dasavatara Na Pado. The sringara
pada-s are symbolic of the yearning of the devotee for communion
with his God. Narsi maintains a fine balance between the sensual
and the spiritual and never allows them to descend into eroticism.
Maamerun, Saamalsa No
Vivaha and Haar Mala are his autobiographical songs. They
contain vivid descriptions of a number of events and incidents in
his life, trials and tribulations that he had undergone and how God
came to his succour in all those testing moments.
Narsi's philosophical
songs, which he composed during the last years of his life, are
collectively known as Jnana Ane Bhakti Na Pado.
Narsi's poems are known as
'pada-s'. He seems to have employed many metrical forms. Some of
them have been set to classical tunes, and some adapted to Garbha
dance. In the opinion of
knowledgeable critics, Narsi's poetic imagery amply reflects his
love of nature and knowledge of human relations.
He was well-versed in
Sanskrit but, like many saint-poets of the mediaeval period, he
chose to compose in Apabhrashta dialect. But, because he wrote in
simple and unsophisticated language, interpolations have crept in,
and several words have been changed to later-day Gujarati.
Narsi's bhajan-s are quite
popular in Gujarat. Though Carnatic musicians sometimes sing a
bhajan or two of Meera, Kabir, Surdas or Tulsidas, we rarely find a
Narsi bhajan in concerts. (Incidentally, this writer has an HMV
recording of an Ariyakudi concert, in which he has rendered
Vaishnava jana to, in Sindhubhairavi.)
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sruti.com
...As
Vedavalli steps into her seventy first year on November 9,
2005, it has been more than six decades of a life in music.
The old order of musicians has given way to the new. With
this change have also come fresh trends in performance
music. While she is a researcher, she is not one for
innovations as far as music is concerned. Her focus is to
discover the old and, more importantly, get back to it
wherever practical. Words like 'mass appeal', artist
assessment yardsticks like performance charts (that count
the number of times an artist has performed in a season and
thus rate his/her popularity) make no impression on her
whatsoever. She is a convinced sampradayik performer who
steadfastly refuses to incorporate even bhajan-s in her
concerts. She has her own select audience and as she says,
"I have always sung for those who come to my performance and
have never fretted about those who don't."
