A Melody in Search of a Lyric
Kayao Shri Gowri Karuna Lahari
I would not qualify as Bhadralok not least because I am not Bengali and whose drive to be among its ranks is at times Pickwickean, I am not really "cultured" enough. Just that I am neither fan of its tongue nor of Robindro Sangeet and have at times begrudged the apotheosis of its great poet Tagore. I remember arguing with Prof Prabodh Parekh, an expert on Rabindranath Tagore at a lecture on aesthetics as to why it seemed that everything that Tagore did was so inestimable and addressed with such reverence, including painting that I did not see as much merit in. He countered whether I expected a deconstruction or a "Derrida" of Tagore. I held my tongue consoling myself that probably the genius of Tagore was accessible only through his poetry and not though any other means including music. When Kushwant Singh suggested that Bengal doesn't read or study Tagore but worships him there was a riot. It is my understanding however limited that the brouhaha created by Shanti Niketan over the apparent plagiarism of the a melody "Tomar holo shuru, amar holo shara" (a beautiful lyric and melody too, a Western one) was ironic given the many melodies Tagore picked up not just in India but in Europe and elsewhere to immortalize his poetry through song enroute to becoming a prophet for his people and Gurudev to the rest of us. Of course when Tagore did it he was merely inspired, as indeed he was, and one must hasten that one cannot retrospectively apply our present day values to what happened a century or more ago.
This piece is just a small tickle in the ribs to one such melody. This is just a playful observations and I have no intention to rile up the Bengali gentry. The British seized Mysore in 1831 on grounds on misgovernence and deposed its King Krishna Raja Wodeyar III. The Wodeyars lobbied at London and though Krishna Raja III died in 1868; succeeded in returning the throne to his adopted son Jaya Chamarajendra Wodeyar X in the Rendition 1881 who ruled until 1894. While creating the office of the Dewan C Ranga Charlu he also commissioned a State Anthem. This was the famous lyric "Kayao Shri Gowri Karuna Lahari" composed by Basavappa Shastry the court poet was well set to Carnatic paddhati. The simple lyric and melody was set to Dheera Shankarabharanam raaga with its equivalent in Hindustani as Bilawal. When heard with its gamakas it seems so quintessentially Carnatic. The lyric is constant with its last verse modified with each ruler. The lyric also served as a morning prayer at schools in Mysore state for many years.
Click on the link below to listen to the official version of the lyric and melody.
In 1893 Sarla Devi the neice of Gurudev Tagore was at Mysore and picked up some melodies that struck her as likely to meet the approval of Tagore to set his poems to music. According to an archive of Rabindra Sangeet "Gitabitan.com" she remarked ".. I had come up with a unique bouquet of music when I had been to Mysore. There seemed no respite till I could unload my basket under Rabi-mama's feet. He would gleefully pick up one at a time and own them with his own set of lyrics. 'Anandaloke mongolaloke ...' is a song the tune of which I had come up with.
The Carnatic gamakas were removed and straight notes replaced them and adorned the puja lyric of :Ananadoloke mongalaloke" a magnificent prayer song the Lord penned by Gurudev. Classified as Rag Jhijhit Mahisuri Bhajan in ektaal (though the pace can be sometimes tediously slow). Like "Kayao.." this too became a popular prayer song sung at schools and elsewhere. The lyrics almost sound like Sanksrit and has barely inhibited their immediate meaning. When Tagore visited Mysore in 1919 at the invitation of Sir Albion Bannerjee the first counsellor under Dewan M Kantharaj Urs he heard the original Kayao as the State Anthem.
Listen to this version by Debabrata Biswas in his silky voice this is an unedited compilation Anandoloke ( 6.28 min to 10.48 mins).
https://youtu.be/8E9yP9TosCc?t=372
Not only was this displacement of a melody from Dheera Shankarabharanam raaga from Mysore to Calcutta but the melody continued its journey further. At the turn of the 19th century the Brahma Samaj and as indeed several leaders trying to reform the Hindu way of life. Swami Vivekananda too was toying with the idea of how to 'virilise" what was considered the passivity and effeminate strain in the national psyche. One idea that the Brahma Samaj attempted was to contain the messy diversity of faith and practice of Hindus to make them akin to the monotheistic traditions of the Abrahamic faiths who claimed One God, One Book and One Church (not really). In its pursuit the Brahma Samaj selectively chose hymns and verses from the Vedas and other sacred texts that highlighted the impersonal Transcendent God. One such mantra was taken from the Rig Veda (X.191) exhorting men and women to unite under a common aspiration; and Tagore chose the same Mahisuri Bhajan raag to set this to music in taal Dadra "Sangachhadhwam Samwadaadhwam". The result was little short of success if not disastrous as the meter did not lend itself effortlessly and resorted to artifice to get back to its starting point as anyone who has sung the mantra (itself clumsily edited) to "Anandoloke" will point out. The point that the Rik was already metrical was overlooked and its original sonorous chant was really trampled upon. I am no purist but the idea of the mantra as an oral sound cathedral almost 3500 years of uninterrupted chant was reduced to just another "Ananondoloke". Roberto Colasso the Italian scholar echoed the Shatapatha Brahmana "Meters are cattle of the Gods" highlighting that the form of the poetry was as critical as the content in the mantra and inseparable. Indeed as scholars down the centuries emphasized that the union of form and content are as singular as the word and its meaning, Shiva and Uma. In a final twist, I discovered that the RSS too adds this mantra to its repertoire albeit also not faithful to the original chant but possibly as anthem to a collective consciousness among its faithful.
This version is by the Ramakrishna Mission
https://youtu.be/ZF21YkreS1Y?t=18
"Kayao Shri Gowri Karuna Lahari, Toyajakshi Shankarishwari" Thou great Goddess, lotus eyes, wave of compassion and consort of Shankara"
May we find commonality in our differences and a common melody in our disparate lyrics.
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