Radha’s Diet Therapy: Part I

Thus Sang Radha

(Sambalpuri Song: Boile Radhika sunago Dooti*.

Translation by Prasanna Dash)

 

Listen, O Dooti, listen;

At dawn, I got a strange chill, a shiver,

But without any fever;

Tortured am I with a splitting headache,

Kabiraj came, felt my pulse, and diagnosed –

It’s viraha jvara,

There’s no medicine for it, he said.

O Dooti, I’m hungry, but can’t eat a morsel,

Racked by nausea, I can’t taste a thing.

Only you know how to heal me,

Don’t you, O Dooti?

Hurry, fetch me the special Krishna pathi,

Prepare Krishna khichdi,

Remember to add ginger slices

Fried in ghee while remembering Ghanshyam’s name,

Season it with jeera, methi, hing,

Remember Nilamani while adding salt,

Recite Kanhu’s name when you fry raw banana rounds,

O, how I savour that;

Bring also a serving of fresh pakhala

In the name of Gopala,

Paired with

Kunja Binodia kanji ambila,

To which add all necessary ingredients –

Saru, kakharu, baigan, bhendi, and kardi;

Also bring a black lentil curry,

Shining like my dark Lord;

Pour pure cow-ghee on Ghanashyam lia, O Dutika,

Please bring a serving of soft, supple arua rice,

I also crave for a Rasa Binodia rai;

In Pitambara’s name,

Make a bitter curry, too;

Bring a few tender cucumbers

Looking like Krishna with his garlands,

Crush it in a mix of curd, chili and salt,

Serve a dish of leutia saag

Dark green and shining like Krishna;

For my ailment,

That is the sure cure,

Says Govinda;

Krishna pathi will dissipate my distaste for food and life;

Fetch the dishes,

O Dooti,

Make haste,

Revive my taste,

Kindle my appetite,

Save my life;

Any dish seasoned with Krishna,

Any deliocacy that reminds me of my Krishna,

Will cure my lovesickness,

O Dootika.

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* Lyrics – Gobinda

Singer – Fakir Pattanaik

Composer – Raghunath Panigrahi

Source – You Tube, song uploaded by Saregama India Ltd.

Released on – 25/05/1995

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Sambalpuri Song: Brief Comments

The song is a prayer. The dishes desired by Radha are incidental to the song, the several names of Krishna constitute the basic frame and essence of this prayer. Radha fondly recalls the following names of her love of life – Krishna (repeated four times), Ghanashyam (twice), Nilamani, Kanhu, Gopal, Kunja Binodia, Kalia, Rasa Binodia, Pitambara, Kainchamalia, Gobinda.

Which are the dishes Radha pines for her Krushna pathi? Khichdi, kadali bhaja, ambila, muga dali, alua bhata, bitter curry, and leutia saag. A wonderful diet for a sick person, but no less appetising and healthy for a normal person!

Danda Nacha

This song was possibly written by the lyricist for a Danda nacha, a robust and captivating folk-theatre which combined song, dance, and enactment -  with male actors playing Radha and Dooti and performing on the village street. Decades ago, these popular street plays enacted select stories and episodes from the puranas and were much enjoyed in the villages of Odisha. Alas, this folk-theatre tradition is nearly dead now.

The song is about Radha’s viraha – her agony of separation from Krishna. But Fakir Pattanaik’s vibrant rendition and Raghunath Panigrahi’s thoughtfully orchestrated music composition transform this melancholic song to a celebration of Krishna’s healing power. The rustic, racy rhythm drowns out the sorrow, if any, as Radha exults with her insight about Krishna pathi, the self-cure that she herself figured out. Once life is seasoned with the name of Krishna, there is no sorrow.

Link for the hit song:

https://youtu.be/u4p2Aq6jqQc?si=mUokO5I2sBpvLYZn

Odia Song by Prafulla Kar

The link for the same song rendered by Prafulla Kar, though with different lyrics, is:

https://youtu.be/RNZ1lDpvHmY?si=_go5r5l59jDZpxr5

The lyricist, as the song mentions, is Purna Ram Bihari; but I could not get further details about him. This may be the original song, adapted into Sambalpuri by Govinda, but it is difficult to tell for sure.

However, both songs are very different. The Sambalpuri song celebrates its local cuisine, and the Odia song the dietary preference of eastern Odisha. The style chosen by the singers, both highly talented, are also different. Prafulla Kar’s classical rendition makes the song poignant - perfectly suited to Radha’s disconsolate, sad, and plaintive mood. Fakir Pattanaik chose a rustic, racy style for his rendition. Radha is in agony, but her song has a robust tempo that vibrates with her love for Krishna, life, and her favourite Sambalpuri cuisine. She is in a great hurry, for she has found the remedy.

The Odia song is a conversation between Radha and Dooti, the Sambalpuri song is Radha’s address to Dooti. The first one is a song, the second one a song for a Danda nacha performance.

Radha is Sambalpurian

In the Sambalpuri song, Radha is not from Gopa but very much a Sambalpurian for her dietary preference is unmistakably local. She does not pine for roti-rajma, kadhi-chawal, palak paneer or rabdi kheer.

Only in western Odisha, ambila is made with kardi! Thus, the song is a prayer, and a celebration of the unique Sambalpuri cuisine with local ingredients.

Radha’s Pathi

Radha is sick, but it is no ordinary malady. She feels a strange chill at dawn, but without any fever. Kabiraj has felt her nadi and said, ‘You got viraha jvara. There’s no jadibuti for that.’

Radha is hungry, but racked with nausea she can’t eat. She bares her heart, and shares her agony with Dooti, her trusted companion. The song is Radha’s anguished plea to Dooti to fetch the only remedy that comes to her mind – pathi, a diet for her tormented soul and body. Radha needs soul food, and suggests a detailed menu, each of which resonates with the colour and fragrance and touch and feel of her love of life – Krishna Kanhaiya.

The cuisine she lists is fascinating in its variety, spread, texture, aroma, flavour, taste, colour, touch, feel, and its palliative power.

O Dooti, Please, Please fetch me this Special Krishna pathi, pleads Radha –

1.   Krishna khichdi with diced dumplings of ginger fried in ghee while recalling Krishna’s name, and seasoned with jeera, methi, hing, and salt

2.   Green banana rounds fried on a tawa

3.   Fresh pakhala (rice in water)

4.   Kanji ambila, a sour and soupy vegetable dish for which the necessary ingredients are – saru, kakharu, baigan, bhendi, and kardi

5.   Black moong dal curry

6.   Soft, supple arua rice

7.   A bitter curry (bitter gourd or neem flower with baigan and badi, maybe)

8.   Tender cucumber with curd, chili and salt

9.   Mildly seasoned leutia (a delicious green leaf) saag

How would this pathi restore Radha and save her life? Because each dish, ingredient, and flavour remind her of Krishna, and the entire cuisine is Krishnamrut for her. Radha is no longer separate or separable from Krishna. She has merged with her loved one. She has found the remedy for her strange malady.

There may be other prayers where the devotee serves chappan bhog or a preferred dish to God; but this may be the only bhajan where the devotee plans a menu for herself, but can see nothing except her Krishna in every kernel of her pathi. This is prem bhakti – simple, unpretentious, soulful. A prayer like none other.

(Raja Ravi Varma: Radha waiting for Krishna - Source: wikimedia)

 

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