Neelamadhava, Mahanadi & Mussoorie
Neelamadhava
Recently, we
visited Kantilo, a small town in Odisha on the western bank of Mahanadi and had
the privilege of a darshan of Neelamadhava, the presiding deity of the temple
on top of a steep mountain. Neelamadhava is not just another form of Vishnu; He
is the Blue God: Redeemer of sinners in Kali Yuga of whom King Indradyumna of
Avanti had heard, and to locate Him had sent missionaries in all directions.
Vidyapati, brother of the King’s Head Priest travelled east, and in a dense,
intractable forest met Vishwavasu, the Sabara Chieftain; married Lalita, his beautiful
daughter and persuaded her, behind her father’s back, to lead him to the Byaghra
Gumpha (Tiger Cave) inside which resided Neelamadhava, and was worshipped in total
secrecy by Vishwavasu.
When King Indradyumna
arrived with a large retinue to worship Neelamadhava, he found the cave empty.
The Blue God had vanished. The crest-fallen king heard the aakashvani, “I will
reincarnate as Jagannatha at Puri to provide solace and salvation to my
distressed devotees in Kali Yuga. Go and build a temple there.”
(Neelamadhava Temple, Kantilo; Photo Credit: Wiki Commons)
After the
darshan, we circumambulated the main temple, paid our obeisance to the other
deities, and then beheld from the lofty vantage point the spectacular expanse
of the majestic Mahanadi. When the river is in flood the water-spread is about
eight kilometres from bank to bank, said a priest. Emerging out of the stifling
confines of the 24-km long Satkosia gorge, Mahanadi sights the Lord’s temple on
the Kantilo mountain, and spreads its wide arms in reverence, as it were.
(Mahanadi at Kantilo, Phot Credit: Wiki Commons)
The river
reminded me of a song and of a time long in the past.
Odia Song at Mussoorie
The last
week of our training was almost entirely devoted to rehearsals for the ‘Cultural
Evening,’ a grand finale before bidding adieu to Happy Valley and other happy
abodes of Charleville, Mussoorie. Many talented Gentlemen and Lady Officers had
been roped in by their allotted States, and most of the items to be presented
had been finalised.
Sundar
Burra, Deputy Director, and Co-ordinator for the Cultural Evening accosted our
motley gang of Odias, “Why aren’t you presenting something? Orissa is
culturally rich, and there are so many of you. Tell me tomorrow, I still have a
ten-minute slot available.’
He was
right. Odisha has a rich cultural heritage in dance, music, sculpture, and literature;
but the nine of us were culturally challenged. Were we asked to write an essay
on the topic, each of us could have written reams; but none of us could sing or
dance or perform in a skit to save our lives! We could hardly be blamed since
no father in Odisha would tolerate his progenies being corrupted by song, music,
or dance; such performances were for dull students who had no hope of ever
securing a government job! Games and sports, huge time-wasters, were also a
strict no-no. Study, more study, and still more study; that was the mandate
which could not be flouted.
What are our
options, I asked our group?
Make sure we
don’t run into Mr. Burra for the next 2-3 days. Unlikely that he would come
looking for us, said a friend.
But can’t we
manage a five-minute performance?
Since we got
no talent, why not regret?
Why don’t we
sing an Odia song? The audience would have no clue about the original song or
the singer, and won’t understand the lyric. The performance would register the
cultural presence of Orissa, and the modest capability of this group of serious-minded
KTPs (Keen Type Probationers).
Which song?
Jaa re
bhasi bhasi ja…
That was a
superhit song, we knew the lyrics by heart, and it suddenly appeared doable.
But that’s a
duet, and a chorus; where to find the female singers?
Not to
worry, we’ll borrow resources from other states.
We requested
a few colleagues - gentlemen and ladies who had never spoken a word of Odia,
and they readily agreed. How very generous of them, such was the camaraderie,
and ‘can do’ attitude!
You Tube was
decades away in the future, and the only resource was a tape-recorder-player
and a cassette with those translucent loops. The lyrics were transcribed into
English and Devnagari, a rough-and-ready translation was enclosed so that our
non-Odia friends got the hang of the theme and the mood of the song.
On the eventful
evening, we appeared on stage at our slot, two most unmusical and besoora Odia
males, an Assamese male who was a reasonably good folk-singer, and three ladies
– a Punjabi, and two Tamilians; all shaky, throats parched, but with
soaring spirits and unbounded optimism. The lead folk-singer and our lady
singers saved the day for us, effortlessly drowning out the unmusical
desperadoes. No idea if the audience enjoyed the song, but they were happy to
see the pretty ladies in their elegant handloom sarees (Sambalpuri, I hope!) gently
swinging to what appeared to be an enjoyable song. The performance was
applauded, and Mr Burra was indulgent. Well-done, he said. He was as surprised as
we were.
Whenever I
hear this memorable song by Akshyaya Mohanty, Odisha’s star singer of yester
years, I am transported back to the auditorium at Mussoorie, and feel grateful
to our friends who shared the stage with us that evening.
Ja Jaa Re Bhasi Bhasi Ja..
Neither devotional
nor romantic, how did this song become so phenomenally popular? Of course, the
singer’s golden voice was a factor. Akshyaya Mohanty produced many super-hit
songs, and sang for more than 150 Odia films. But the theme and the lyrics also
touched the hearts of millions of listeners.[i]
The song is a
gentle social satire on traditional marriages of the past which involved ‘selection’
of a suitable bride based on several parameters including dowry.
A boatman gliding
down the majestic Mahanadi from Sambalpur to Cuttack notices a few gorgeous, nubile
girls on the bathing ghats - sad, tense, and embarrassed since most of their
friends are already married. Those girls, like many other girls, suffered the
unbearable trauma of being a burden to their parents, and no match
materialising owing to concerns of the groom’s family regarding skin tone (every
groom and their family want the bride to be a gori regardless of the skin-tone
of the groom!), smartness (gadjatia vrs mogala-bandi), dowry, and more.
The boatman addresses
five girls at the bathing ghats of Sambalpur, Kantilo, Banki, and Cuttack (two
ghats – Gadagadia and Talamala). In a way, the song presents a brief lyrical lesson
in geography. Mahanadi enters Odisha at Sambalpur and travels south-east past
Kantilo, Banki, and Cuttack to meet the Bay of Bengal at False Point near
Paradip.
The boatman
was not on leisure travel, being one on the several boatmen rowing the manual
cargo boat to ferry goods from the west to the east. In an age when transport of
bulk cargo was not feasible for lack of roads and bridges between major towns
and trading stations, Mahanadi served as a vital water-way and boats ferried
from Cuttack to Arang near Raipur, a distance of 500 kms!
The boatman is
a keen observer, notices these sad girls and empathises with their unenviable
situation. All parents are anxious to find a suitable match for their daughter,
solemnise the marriage at the earliest, and send her off to her groom’s place
failing which they suffer social stigma and are the target of snide remarks and
unkind comments.
The Boisterous Band
This blog and
the translation of the Odia song are dedicated to the Boisterous Band: Anjuly,
Geeta, Girija, Harish, and Suresh who encouraged Yours Truly to join in as a
minor player.
Maybe, when
we meet for our next Reunion, The Band will sing this song again. Why not, Shakti
reassembled after 46 years and went on to win a Grammy!
I have put
that in my bucket list.
Ja jaa re bhasi bhasi ja…
Translation
by Prasanna Dash
Boatman:
Glide gently,
O my boat,
Dancing
merrily on Mahanadi’s blue waves.
Chorus:
Glide gently,
O my boat,
Dancing
merrily on Mahanadi’s blue waves.
Boatman:
O Damsel at Sambalpur
bathing ghat,
Your red-bordered
saree flutters in the wind,
How unkind of
your parents,
That you are
still unmarried!
Damsel:
Listen, O
Boatman,
They are
looking for a suitable match,
But father prefers
a groom from a distant village, and
Mother wants
a ghar-jawain.
Chorus:
Ja ja re
bhasi bhasi ja.....
Aaa...
Aaaa... Aha...
Boatman:
O Damsel at Kantilo,
At the ghat
below the rampart of Neelamadhava temple,
Your
unbundled tresses floating on the river
like a black
cloud on the sky,
How heartless
of your parents
For you to
be still single!
Damsel:
Listen, O
Boatman,
Horoscopes are
yet to be matched,
But the
groom thinks no end of himself
Just because he is from the Mogal-bandi area,
and
I am from a
Gadajat!*
Chorus:
Ja jare
bhasi.....
Aaaa...
Aaaa....
Boatman:
O pretty Damsel
At the women’s
ghat on Mahanadi at Banki,
Just blossomed
into youth,
Why are you
sad and disconsolate?
How inconsiderate
of your parents
That you are
still single!
Damsel:
Listen, O
Boatman,
How will my
marriage happen?
Many have rejected
me,
Too
dark-complexioned, they sneer.
Chorus:
Ja jare
bhasi bhasi ja......
Boatman:
O fair
Damsel at Cuttack,
Lighting up
the Gadagadia bathing ghat,
How pitiless
of your parents
That you are
still unmarried!
Damsel:
Mind your
own business, O insolent Boatman,
How very
silly of a petty ginger-trader
To dream of
buying a ship;
How does it
bother your father,
Whether I am
married or single?
Chorus:
Ja ja re
bhasi......
Aaaa...
Aaaaa..
Boatman:
O Damsel
from Talamala,
Alone in the
bathing ghat
Rinsing your
saree in the flowing river,
How insensitive
of your parents
That you are
still single!
Damsel:
Listen, O
Boatman,
How will the
marriage materialise,
When the
groom, a clerk at Bhubaneswar,
Demands a
motorcycle for dowry?
Chorus:
Ja ja re
bhasi bhasi ja.....
***
*(Before
independence, Kantilo was part of Nayagarh, a Gadajata (Princely State).
Gadajata states were poorer and backward vis-à-vis the more prosperous coastal
areas which were part of the Mogal-bandi, i.e., the area under Settlement
during the Mughal regime, and later were under British rule.)
***
Ja Re Bhasi Bhasi Ja… Transliteration
Boatman:
Ja jare
bhasi bhasi ja,
Nauka mora
bhasija
Mahanadira
neela dheure
Nachi nachi
tu bhasi ja..
Chorus:
Ja jare
bhasi bhasi ja,
Nauka mora
bhasija
Mahanadira
neela dheure
Nachi nachi
tu bhasi ja..
Boatman:
Samalpur
naire aha sinana kare nani
Gadhua tuthe
disuchhi tara nali panata-kani...
Kahare
Nani kahareeee..
Kede
niridaya
To Bapa maa
tate
ejayen
deleni baha..
Damsel:
Nauria tu
sunija
Chalichhi
mora bara khoja,
Bapa
khojanti doora bandhu aau
Maa khoje ghara
joiyan.
Chorus:
Ja ja re
bhasi bhasi ja.....
Aaa...
Aaaa... Aha.....
Boatman:
Kantilo
neela madhaba bedha pachiri tale gori..
Aha...
Pachiri tale gori,
Nai suaare
deichhi meli
kala bauda
kesha kholi.
Kahare...
Gori kahareee....
Kede
niridaya
To Bapa Maa
tate
Ejayen
deleni baha...
Damsel:
Nauria tu
shunija,
Padila jadi
jatak ta,
Mogala-bandi
bara ta kahe
Mun kale Gadajatiya.
Chorus:
Ja jare
bhasi.....
Aaaa...
Aaaa....
Boatman:
Bankira Mahanadira
teere nabina sukumari..
Aha...
Nabina sukumari,
Ekela hoi
maaipi tuthe basichhi mana mari
Aha basichhi
mana mari..
Kahare.. Kuaanri
kahare......
Kede
niridaya to bapa maa tote
Ejayen
deleni baha.
Damsel:
Nauria tu
shunija,
Kiye ba mote
heba baha...
Jiye
dekhanti naka tekanti..
Mun kale
kaali kaniya..
Chorus:
Ja jare
bhasi bhasi ja......
Boatman:
Gadagadia ghatare
aha Katakiani jhia..
Aha Katakiani
jhia,
Gadhua tutha
ujala kari maajuchhi suna deha..
Aha majuchi
suna deha..
Kahare..
Gori
kahare..
Kede
niridaya
To Bapa Maa
tote
Ejayen
deleni baha..
Damsel:
Ada bepari
nauria,
Tuta bada
behiya,
To Bapa ra
jauchhi kisa
Mun heli na
heli baha..?
Chorus:
Ja ja re
bhasi......
Aaaa...
Aaaaa..
Boatman:
Tala malara
Roopakumari nirola dekhi ghata..
Aha nirola
dekhi ghata..
Apana sukhe
gadhua sari
pakhale
pindha pata..
Kahare..
Gori
kahare...
Kede
niridaya
To Bapa Maa
tote
Ejayen
deleni baha...
Damsel:
Nauria tu
sunija..
Kimiti bhala
heba baha..
Bhubaneswar
kirani bara
Maguchhi
phata phatia..
Chorus:
Ja ja re
bhasi bhasi ja.....
***
[i] Link
for the song: https://youtu.be/OjSDaH0vVFQ?si=mOzGadU02SvA74NG
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