Jagannathbuva "Gunidas" Purohit - Vamanrao's tribute
Rajan P. Parrikar
portrait of Jagannathbuva "Gunidas" Purohit, first published
in November 1967. Gunidas passed less than a year later. For
another piece on Gunidas the reader is referred to
http://www.aoe.vt.edu/~boppe/MUSIC/GM/HV/Gunidas.html
Vamanrao traces Gunidas' musical life in some detail, along
the way dwelling on the remarkable epistolary exchange,
pregnant with freshly created bandishes, between Gunidas and
his guru, Vilayat Hussein Khan ("prANpiyA"). One wonders how
many more memorable compositions would have come into being had
the facility of FedEx overnight delivery been made available.
Btw, Vilayat Hussein Khan's AIR recordings made just before his
death in 1962 have been recently issued on T-Series CDs (5-pack,
I think); they provide glimpses of his formidable artistry.
In the posting following this one, a composition of Gunidas
that I have notated will be offered. It is in Raga Bihagda
and Vamanrao alludes to it ('sakhee maundarvA') below. Again
remember, this is a translation of the Marathi original.
Warm regards,
Rajan Parrikar
==============
email: parr...@colorado.edu
**************************************************************
From "Between Two Tanpuras" by Vamanrao Deshpande
Translation by Ram Deshmukh and B.R. Dekhney
First published November 1967
Jagannathbuwa Purohit "Gunidas"
by
Vaman Hari Deshpande
Pandit Jagannathbuwa Purohit having completed sixty years is
now in the sixty-first year of his life. He is a repository
of a number of great qualities - exceedingly deep knowledge of
music and willingness to impart it to others, devotion to his
guru and deep affection for his own disciples etc. Several
musicians have celebrated their entry into their sixty-first
year. They were all greatly respected in their individual
branches of music. However in Jagannathbuwa's case, there was
no need to campaign for collection of contributions. As soon
as news went round that there was going to be a celebration in
his honour contributions came in pouring on an astonishingly
large scale. I should not be surprised if this was the first
celebration of its kind to bring in voluntary subscriptions
on such a large scale.
The very first thing that occurs to me while thinking about Buwa
is that he is equally popular or respected throughout the various,
sometimes discordant, layers of the world of music. He is equally
at home in the company of scholarly music teachers like D.R. Deodhar
and S.N. Ratanjankar, mehfil stars like Kumar Gandharva and Bhimsen
Joshi, actor-singers like Suresh Haldankar and Ram Marathe or amateur
singers like Baburao Joshi and G.N. Joshi. Besides, he is greatly
admired by his numerous disciples spread all over in Bombay, Pune
and Kolhapur. Obviously, he must be an artist of considerable stature.
Naturally the persons belonging to these different layers make
different demands on him. Some might be looking for a pleasurable
conversation with him in which music figures prominently while others
look for deep analysis of a particular raga. Some are collectors of
bandishes of diverse origins. Some are fond of technical discussions.
And disciples, of course, wish to continue to drink at the ever
fresh fountain of his musical knowledge which does not dry up even
after years of tuition. Unless a person has all the qualities expected
of him he cannot achieve popularity in such diverse circles or,
having earned it, retain it successfully. It is not enough to be a
successful mehfil-performer - the person must be a capable artist
and a capitalist in the sense of having a large fund of technical
knowledge or a large repertoire of cheejs. In olden times 'capitalist'
singers of this type were called Kothiwale (Literally those who have
a large store-house of cheejs) singers.
It is true that Buwa has an enormous stock of musical knowledge
and cheejs made by different people at different periods. But in
addition to that he has another special quality - his extraordinary
creativity. The ragas and new compositions he has created are being
enthusiastically learnt and taught. I wonder whether he has himself
counted how many cheejs he has composed, in conventional ragas and
ragas newly created by him, but I am sure they are at least 101.
Why I say this is that sometime ago when some Kolhapur friends wanted
to honour him, Buwa categorically told them that he would not attend
any such function until he had composed at least 101 cheejs. Some
of his compositions, e.g., Soogar bara payo (raga Jog-Kauns) or
Sakhi mandarwa me (Bihagda) or Bega bega awo mandir (Ahir Bhairava)
and many others have proved so popular that many renowned singers
frequently sing them in Mehfils or they can be heard being sung on
the radio every day.
New compositions are not created merely because there is a will
and an effort to create them-there must be inspiration behind
them. A discussion of why or how such inspiration occurs would
be out of place here. A number of cheejs never get completed
because the composer does not know how to complete them. In
some the sthayi (first part) is ready but the antara (latter or
higher-key part) proves elusive for years. With some cheejs, the
opening portion is composed but the rest of the cheej defies
creation. All in all, the number of complete cheejs is rather
small. Besides, the new composition must be neat and attractive;
it must have a beautiful face, it must move attractively, its
words and phrases must blend well with the rhythm and it must
be playful and gay. It will be dear to a large number of singers
only if it passes all these tests. Otherwise it would be consigned
to some neglected and forgotten corner.
All Buwa's musical offsprings, having passed through the various
tests, not only vie with each other in beauty but they are also
all chaste and have the classical ring. Their extraordinary
popularity with singers is proof of their own attractiveness
and it clearly establishes Buwa as a very successful composer.
He was extremely particular in regard to his compositions - he
did not regard a cheej as complete or teach it to his disciples
unless he had himself sung it in mehfils and was convinced
of its perfectness.
The depth of his knowledge and extraordinary capability can be
traced to his discipleship of great teachers in his youth. This
training began in his early childhood and all his teachers were
Muslims. Indeed Buwa had been so much under their influence that
at first sight most people would be inclined to class him as a
Muslim. He really belonged to a priestly Karhada Brahmin family;
but since he was ten, he kept constant company with Muslim musician-
teachers and indeed considered himself fortunate to be able to
serve them. Buwa does not know where his priestly family originated
or how many generations ago it emigrated to Hyderabad. But his
entire childhood, youth and some of his middle age were spent
in Hyderabad. He never married, so he never had any family ties.
His mother died so early that he was too young to remember the
event; his father died when Buwa was in his tenth year. While his
father was still alive, Buwa received some elementary Marathi
education, that is all! Otherwise he had no formal education
whatsoever. For thirty or thirty-five years of his life, he had
moved in purely Muslim circles; all his friends and acquaintances
were Muslim musicians. It was but natural that he should have been
steeped in Muslim culture. Really speaking, he should have been
called 'Jagannath Khan,' rather than 'Buwa' or 'Pandit'.
And truly he has the bearing of someone who was born in a
family of a long line of respected Muslim musicians. it might be
more appropriate to say that he belongs to an aristocratic Muslim
mould. His only education was in music and that too not with
ordinary singers - he was taught by several singers of great renown
from the age of eleven or twelve until quite recently. The teachers
included Mohamed Ali Khansaheb (Sikandara Gharana), Tanras
Khan's son Umrao Khansaheb and his son Sardar Khan and
nephew Shabbu Khan, Bashir Khan (Gudiyana Gharana), Ghulam Mohamed
Khan (Tilwandi Gharana) and finally Vilayat Hussein
Khansaheb (Agra Gharana). The list itself is so impressive
that any singer would be overawed by it. This is the secret of
Buwa's successful music career. This is not a biographical
treatise and I have no intention of going into its details. But
it must nevertheless be said that very few people are so fortunate
as to have received training for so many years from so many
outstanding masters of music. He learnt accurate intonation from
some; he picked up alapi from someone; he learnt bol-upaj from
someone; kheencha-tani from someone else and adi-didi i.e., fast
fractional movement, from yet another. And from everyone he picked
up cheejs of different composers and different types. The surprising
point is that all those renowned maestros were kind enough to
impart them to him. Buwa, astonishingly enough, picked up all this
knowledge despite his abject poverty. Buwa amassed all these
riches on the strength of his ability to serve his preceptors. He
possessed this quality in abundance and still does.
In Buwa's youth, Hyderabad had a large number of talented artists
such as the ones mentioned above except Vilayat Hussein Khan.
(Buwa's father too was apparently a music-lover. Buwa recollects
his father leading him by his finger to the mehfils of these Muslim
singers as a child. The father must have really been fond of music
otherwise why should be, an orthodox Brahmin belonging to a priestly
family, frequent Muslim houses?) One thing Buwa knew was to render
personal service to the Khansahebs. He had to do everything that
goes with domestic service such as running errands, washing clothes
etc. and also do all the 'bandobast' where his masters' predilections
were concerned. Buwa had to become an expert in procuring cannabis,
hashish, opium, other narcotics, toddy, liquor etc. whenever called
for, and the rest of the paraphernalia. Buwa's expertise in these
matters is sound enough to train any young hopeful who may be
inclined that way. The only astonishing thing is that Buwa
himself remained completely untouched by these vices. A server
is all the more trustworthy and popular if he is himself free
from vices. The credit for not falling a prey to these vices
goes not so much to Buwa as to the Vedic orthodoxy of his family
background. The important point is that although he had to handle
liquor and things like that every day, he had full control over
his own palate and his mind. Even his worst enemy cannot accuse
him of having any vices. Being able to provide such services selflessly
made him popular with his teachers and he could pick up everything
they had to give. It is worth mentioning that the name 'Gunidas'
(under which pen-name he composes his cheejs) was not chosen by him
but by his Muslim masters. They used to say - "You are really a
Gunidas - a worshipper of merit!" And the name stuck. Buwa, too,
began to use it in his compositions.
Buwa and I became acquainted about twenty years ago at Kolhapur
when one evening Govindrao Tembe introduced us. On that occasion
I had given a fair rendering of Jaitashri. I was also somewhat
conscious of my musical prowess and the rigorous training I had
taken. There was also a priggish inner feeling that I was way
out of Buwa's class. ("What is he going to sing after my
performance?"). It was Buwa's turn to sing next and in the very
first rhythmic cycle of his Maru Bihag he completely floored me.
Even today, I consider the manner in which, in that particular
raga, he vaulted from sa to ri, to be debatable. That apart,
I was enchanted by the design of the cheej, skill of presentation,
alapi in which words of the cheej figured and by his boltan. Even
today I find his boltan very beautiful. To arrive at the climax
purely through the boltan, i.e., without having resort to emotional
voice modulation and an ascending pattern of notes, seems to be
a special feature of his style. We became friends in this first
meeting and I also had the occasion to enjoy his hospitality.
In the meetings that followed he sang for me numerous cheejs from
little known ragas and he even passed on some of them to me by way
of keep-sakes. Out of these I vividly recall a dhun (tune) from
raga Shubhri Gouri to this day.
Apart from the journeys he had to make for appearances in mehfils
Buwa frequently moved his residence from place to place -
Hyderabad, Pune, Kolhapur and finally Bombay. He has considerable
experience of the film industry having worked in the music
departments of Chhatrapati Cinetone, Hans Pictures, Shalini
Cinetone and other film companies. In Atre's film Brahmachari,
he even sang an arati 'Satrane uddane' along with the now
famous G.D. Madgulkar. He was on terms of great intimacy with
Govindrao Tembe and in many of his films he liked officiating
as his deputy or to conduct rehearsals of the music staff, help
Govindrao in composing songs, attend the recordings and participate
in music practice with him. It was Govindrao who introduced Buwa
to the Court of Yuvraj of Mysore and took him along when the
Prince and his retinue went on tours of England, France and
other European countries. These trips broadened the sum-total of
Buwa's experience and gave him a new outlook.
I have, of course, no personal knowledge of Buwa's early life
at Hyderabad spent in the company of his great Muslim teachers.
But during the last twenty or twenty-five years (counting from the
time when Govindrao introduced us) I have met him fairly
frequently. This was his 'Vilayat Hussein Khan period' which was
noted as much for his own fulfilment as for a model of relationship
of teacber-disciple tradition in the world of music. The saint poets
wrote devotional songs for their deity: Buwa used his own medium
for the worship of his guru. In terms of intensity I, at any rate,
cannot see any difference between the two types of devotion,
except that saints worshipped their God and Buwa equally devotedly
worshipped his guru. In the former case, the devotion was expressed
in abhangas or ovis (Metric form used principally for devotional
purposes), in the latter it was expressed in a bandish,
i.e., in a musical form. One has a literary value, the other a
musical one. Buwa devotedly showered bandishs on Vilayat Hussein
Khansaheb as one showers flowers; in the same way, Khansaheb
pleased by the devotion of his disciple, blessed him by
composing bandishs of his own. The tradition was handed down
from Buwa to his disciples and they began to compose bandishes
dedicated to Buwa. The bandishs came from the same mould as Buwa's
own. Indeed had they not carried the names of the disciple-composers
they could have been easily mistaken for Buwa's creations.
Buwa's disciples showered him with bandishs and Buwa, pleased
with his disciples' devotion, returned the offerings with bandishes
of his own. I give below a few samples without any further comment.
Buwa becomes restless, anxious on hearing that Vilayat Hussein
Khansaheb is ill at Agra. He is particularly anxious because there
is no letter from Khansaheb. He does obeisance to God and offers
a prayer in the form of a composition:
Raga: Abir Bhuirava Tala: Ektal
Sthayi: Tero jiya sukha pawe
Nisa dina mere gunavanta/
Antara: Binati Prabhuse 'Dasaguni' ki
Juga juga jiyo mere pran //
What the composition means in brief is that - "I, Dasaguni, i.e.,
Gunidas (Buwa's nom de guerre), pray to God that my 'Pran'
(Pranpiya is Khansaheb's nom de guerre in bandishes) recover and
live for countless years." Having said as much, Buwa is convinced
that Khansaheb is better and prays to Khansaheb in the same
raga: "You are well now, so let me see you soon."
Raga: Ahir Bhairava Tala: Jalad Ektal
Sthayi: Bega bega awo Mandir
Bahut dinana beete/
Antara: Soojhat kachhu nahin mohe
Nisa dina ghari pala chhina
'Gunidas' ko daras deeje
O Pranpiya //
The meaning is - "I am restless day and night, every minute,
every second, etc. You are well now, so 0 Pranpiya, come and
see me soon."
I do not want to give too many examples - one should be enough.
I did not select it deliberately - it was a random sample. Most
of Buwa's compositions come from the same mould. Now let us take
a look at Khansaheb's return gretings:
Raga: Patadeepak Tala: Ektal Madhya laya
Sthayi: Saach gurunanaki sewa
Karat wohi pawe samadhan
Antara: Prembhakta 'Pran' kahat
Sun ho 'Gunidas'
Ya dowu jaga me prabhu
Fohe deta badho nam
Briefly the meaning is as follows:
"I, Pranpiya, say this to you Gunidas; listen - one who serves
his guru he alone gets real satisfaction. Similarly it is my
wish that you get increasing fame in both the worlds."
(There is no third-nether-world among the Muslims.)
Another cheej of the same sort (which I cannot recall now) was
sung by Buwa on the radio at Bombay when Khansaheb was ill.
Khansaheb heard Buwa sing it. When Buwa called on him, Khansaheb,
until then completely confined to his bed, suddenly stood up. The
two met in a hearty embrace. The eyes of the guru and the disciple
were filled with tears; neither was able to speak. Finally
Khansaheb, unable to control himself, said, "Buwa! Even my own
sons did not do what you have done for me." With that Khansaheb
once again broke into tears.
I shall now give a sample of a cheej composed on Buwa by one
of his disciples [the composer is C.R. Vyas "gunijAn" - and
a fine recording of this beautiful rAga and bandish by C.R. Vyas
is available; look up www.khazana.com. The only wrinkle is that
the rendition on the flip side (Raga Bhairav Bahar) is ho-hum - RP]
Raga: Malav Tala: Jalad Ektal
Sthayi: Toohi rangila mera
Karat jo hoo ranga
Gunidas tumahi so paya/
Antara: Gane mein rasapran ko tumahi apanaya
soN diya Janaguni ko barnee na jaya
anmol tihari maya //
Meaning: "You alone are my Rangila. Whatever little 'rang'
I have acquired is, Oh Gunidas, through you. That 'rang' you
obtained from your guru, i.e., Vilayat Hussein Khansaheb and
gave it to us. No one can describe your great compassion and
affection. It is priceless." This is what the disciple writing
under the pen-name of Gunijan (in ordinary life C.R. Vyas) says.
Another composition from Vyas:
Raga: Nata Bhairava Tala: Trital
Sthayi: Suraj chanda jab tak phire
Saban tore nam sumiran kare/
Antara: Gunidas tum kiyo
Amar dhun sach sapta surana me
Sunat sab log Janguni mana hare //
Meaning: "As long as the Sun and the Moon shine in the sky
people will remember the immortal tunes you have composed. i.e.,
Oh Gunidas, you have composed such tunes in seven
notes (i.e., in music) as captivate the hearts of music lovers
as they do the heart of Gunijan (i.e., me) too."
Buwa returns the compliment by a composition offered as
blessing to his disciple:
Raga: Jog Tala: Rupak
Sthayi: Mora ladala, nahin gunan mome
Kahe karat mose neha/
Antara: Kahat Gunidas suna ho Gunijan
Jawo vahin jahan vidyadhana payo
Tero sacho guru 'Rajaram' //
Meaning: "My dear disciple, why do you love me so much
when I have no great merit? I, Gunidas, say this to you:
Oh Gunijan - one who gave you so much wealth of learning
for so many years, viz., Rajaram (i.e., Rajarambuwa Paradkar)
is your real guru."
That is enough of these samples. There is no end to this
exchange of compositions and musical dialogue between Buwa and
Vilayat Hussein Khan and Buwa and his disciples.
Note: After reading about the musical conversation between
guru and disciple in the above article, readers should not
reach the mistaken conclusion that the meaning of cheejs has
any great significance in music. A cheej is not literature or
poetry, it is a bandish. When a bandish is sung the expression
of musical quality pushes the verbal meaning into background;
it is drowned by music and rightly so. It was the same in
Buwa's music. The verbal meaning of a cheej at the most
establishes a certain mood; once that happens its only function
is to step back into the wings and let music hold the stage.
The writer thought it necessary to add this note lest anyone
felt that what he has said here contradicted statements made
by him on this subject elsewhere,
Finally, on this auspicious occasion while offering my best
wishes to Buwa, a thought occurs to me which I shall share with
you before I close. Most of the well-known singers, male and
female, who are under forty, are Buwa's disciples. The list
includes a galaxy of musicians like Ram Marathe, Suresh Haldankar,
Jitendra Abhisheki, C.R. Vyas, Balakram, Jitendra Dhanal etc.
who vie with each other in excellence. Similarly there are
female musicians like Manik Varma, Malati Pande, Poornima
Talwalkar etc. All these disciples have enhanced Buwa's fame.
Buwa really started his music career as a tabaliya (percussionist).
He had received training from the late Thirakawa Saheb and
Amir Khansaheb and had made a name for himself as a tabaliya.
He has a host of disciples in the percussion field as well. Out
of these, Gaitonde and Nana Mule are in the limelight.
Prof. B.R. Deodhar happened to make an observation the other
day which is rather pertinent in this context. He said the
teacher's artistic talent draws inspiration through the
instruction he gives to capable disciples - it is really they
(the disciples) who make their guru great. There is no doubt
that Buwa's disciples have added to the knowledge and fame of
their preceptor and inspired him. But there is a further stage
beyond this. A careful observer can easily see that Buwa is
gradally moving towards it. This last stage is particularly
arduous and difficult to reach. It involves being accepted as
a guru by all other contemporary singers. Every era has to have
a great singer who is treated with the respect due to a guru by
all top performers in mehfils of that period whether or not they
have received training from him. This ultimate guru is rather
like a Reserve or Central Bank which guides other banks and
comes to their rescue in times of need, in as much as he acts
like a guidepost to all contemporary singers. He can only do
this if he has a rich experience of countless mehfils, an
immense collection of cheejs and a sound judgement with which
to analyse the nature of ragas and other qualities. It is
only if a person possesses all these qualities that he can
perhaps attain such supreme position and that too after he
has crossed sixty or sixty-five years of life. In my knowledge
the late Alladiya Khansaheb adorned such a position of the
guru of all singers. After him Faiyaz Khansaheb held this
honoured position and later Vilayat Hussein Khansaheb.
Buwa is moving in the same direction and he is undoubtedly
endowed with the necessary knowledge, talent and analytical
ability. Before closing my congratulatory piece I, therefore,
express the hope that Buwa, in the evening of his life, may
acquire such a position at an early date.
*******************************************************************