Narasinha Mehta of Gujarat: A Legacy of Bhakti in Songs and Stories 9780199976416

Table of contents :
Introduction
Neelima Shukla-Bhatt
Introduction
Neelima Shukla-Bhatt
Abstract and Keywords
Introduction
Introduction
Introduction
Introduction
Introduction
The Narasinha Tradition
The Region and the Language
Introduction
Introduction
The Milieu of Emergence
Introduction
Introduction
Integrative Devotion
Introduction
Integrative Aesthetics
Introduction
(p.12) Evolution of the Tradition
Introduction
Introduction
Introduction
Introduction
The Issue of Authorship
Introduction
Bhakti and Rasa—Devotion and Aesthetic Delight
Introduction
Introduction
Introduction
Rasa in Aesthetic Theories
Introduction
Religious Understanding of Bhakti-rasa
Introduction
Rasa in Non-Hindu Devotional Contexts
Introduction
Rasa and Modern Scholarship
Introduction
Introduction
Bhakti, Rasa, and Saint-poet Traditions
Introduction
Introduction
The Shaping and Plan of the Book
Introduction
Introduction
Introduction
Introduction
Notes:
Introduction
Introduction
Introduction
Introduction
Introduction
Introduction
Introduction
Introduction
Introduction
Introduction
Lyrics of Play
Neelima Shukla-Bhatt
Lyrics of Play
Krishna in the Human World
Neelima Shukla-Bhatt
Abstract and Keywords
Lyrics of Play
Lyrics of Play
Lyrics of Play
Lyrics of Play
Krishna-līlā in Narasinha's Lyrics
Lyrics of Play
Lyrics of Play
The Divine Child among Cowherds
Lyrics of Play
Lyrics of Play
Lyrics of Play
Lyrics of Play
Lyrics of Play
Lyrics of Play
Lyrics of Play
Lyrics of Play
Lyrics of Play
The Mystery of Passionate Love
Lyrics of Play
Lyrics of Play
Lyrics of Play
Lyrics of Play
Lyrics of Play
Lyrics of Play
The Flute—The Call of Love
Lyrics of Play
Lyrics of Play
Lyrics of Play
The Rās Dance—The Circle of Love
Lyrics of Play
Lyrics of Play
Lyrics of Play
Longing as a Way of Love
Lyrics of Play
Lyrics of Play
Lyrics of Play
(p.64) Union—The Body and Beyond
Lyrics of Play
Lyrics of Play
The Erotic and the Meditative
Lyrics of Play
Lyrics of Play
Lyrics of Play
Lyrics of Play
Notes:
Lyrics of Play
Lyrics of Play
Lyrics of Play
Lyrics of Play
Lyrics of Play
Lyrics of Play
Lyrics of Play
Lyrics of Awakening
Neelima Shukla-Bhatt
Lyrics of Awakening
Mysticism and Moral Reflection
Neelima Shukla-Bhatt
Abstract and Keywords
Lyrics of Awakening
Lyrics of Awakening
Lyrics of Awakening
The Sporting of the Ineffable Supreme
Lyrics of Awakening
Lyrics of Awakening
Lyrics of Awakening
Lyrics of Awakening
Lyrics of Awakening
Lyrics of Awakening
Lyrics of Awakening
Lyrics of Awakening
Lyrics of Awakening
(p.82) Roads to Awakening
Lyrics of Awakening
Lyrics of Awakening
Lyrics of Awakening
Lyrics of Awakening
Counsel for Moral Perfection
Lyrics of Awakening
Lyrics of Awakening
Lyrics of Awakening
Lyrics of Awakening
Lyrics of Awakening
Lyrics of Awakening
Lyrics of Awakening
Jnān-bhakti and Krishna-līlā Songs Formation of a Corpus
Lyrics of Awakening
Lyrics of Awakening
Notes:
Lyrics of Awakening
Lyrics of Awakening
Lyrics of Awakening
Lyrics of Awakening
Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti
Neelima Shukla-Bhatt
Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti
Narasinha Mehta in Narratives
Neelima Shukla-Bhatt
Abstract and Keywords
Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti
Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti
Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti
Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti
Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti
The Oral and Written Sources
Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti
Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti
Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti
(p.104) Narasinha Mehta's Life in Traditional Sources
Initiation into Krishna-bhakti by Shiva
Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti
Narasinha's Son's Wedding
Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti
The Promissory Note
The Ceremony for the Pregnant Daughter
Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti
(p.107) The Garland of Damodar
(p.108) Narasinha's Association with the “Untouchables”
Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti
Narasinha's Last Days
(p.109) Narasinha in Regional and Transregional Performative Texts
Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti
Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti
Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti
Dual Grace and Ecumenical Bhakti
Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti
Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti
Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti
“Sharing” and the Equality of All Devotees
Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti
Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti
Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti
Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti
Abundance in Generosity
Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti
Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti
Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti
Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti
(p.122) Popular Narrative Songs, Legends, and Monument
Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti
Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti
Hagiography as a Source and Enhancer of Bhakti
Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti
Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti
Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti
Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti
Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti
Notes:
Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti
Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti
Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti
Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti
Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti
Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti
Singing as Bhakti
Neelima Shukla-Bhatt
Singing as Bhakti
Narasinha's Lyrics in Musical Performances
Neelima Shukla-Bhatt
Abstract and Keywords
Singing as Bhakti
Singing in Saint-poets' Traditions
Singing as Bhakti
Singing as Bhakti
Musical Aspects of Narasinha's Songs
Singing as Bhakti
Melodies
Singing as Bhakti
Singing as Bhakti
Structures of Rhythm
Singing as Bhakti
Singing as Bhakti
Narasinha's Lyrics in Performance
Singing as Bhakti
Garbī
Singing as Bhakti
Singing as Bhakti
Dhoḷ
Singing as Bhakti
Singing as Bhakti
Prabhātiyā̃
Singing as Bhakti
Singing as Bhakti
Vaiṣṇavajana to
Singing as Bhakti
Singing as Bhakti
Narasinha in an Urban Underprivileged Community
Singing as Bhakti
A Bharatnatyam Medley
Singing as Bhakti
Singing as Bhakti
Performative and Poetic Meanings
Singing as Bhakti
Singing as Bhakti
Notes:
Singing as Bhakti
Singing as Bhakti
Singing as Bhakti
Singing as Bhakti
The Saint of the Threshold, the First of Poets
Neelima Shukla-Bhatt
The Saint of the Threshold, the First of Poets
The Narasinha Tradition in Gujarat and Beyond
Neelima Shukla-Bhatt
Abstract and Keywords
The Saint of the Threshold, the First of Poets
Narasinha Mehta and the Sectarian bhakti Milieu of Gujarat
The Saint of the Threshold, the First of Poets
The Saint of the Threshold, the First of Poets
The Saint of the Threshold, the First of Poets
The Saint of the Threshold, the First of Poets
The Saint of the Threshold, the First of Poets
Narasinha beyond Hindu Gujarat
The Saint of the Threshold, the First of Poets
The Saint of the Threshold, the First of Poets
The Saint of the Threshold, the First of Poets
Narasinha's Poetic Heritage
The Saint of the Threshold, the First of Poets
The Saint of the Threshold, the First of Poets
(p.166) The “First Poet” of the Gujarati Language
The Saint of the Threshold, the First of Poets
The Saint of the Threshold, the First of Poets
The Saint of the Threshold, the First of Poets
The Saint of the Threshold, the First of Poets
The Saint of the Threshold, the First of Poets
The Saint of the Threshold, the First of Poets
Notes:
The Saint of the Threshold, the First of Poets
The Saint of the Threshold, the First of Poets
The Saint of the Threshold, the First of Poets
The Saint of the Threshold, the First of Poets
The Saint of the Threshold, the First of Poets
The Saint of the Threshold, the First of Poets
A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma
Neelima Shukla-Bhatt
A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma
Narasinha Mehta and Gandhi
Neelima Shukla-Bhatt
Abstract and Keywords
A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma
A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma
A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma
A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma
Gandhi's Quest—Devotional Aesthetics and Moral Fervor
A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma
(Re) discovering Devotional Roots
A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma
A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma
A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma
The Saintly Paradigm for Personal Piety and Social Reform
A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma
A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma
A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma
A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma
Songs of a Saint in the Making of a Mahatma
A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma
A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma
A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma
A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma
Vaiṣṇavajana to—From a Popular Bhajan to a Gandhi Anthem
A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma
A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma
A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma
A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma
A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma
A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma
What Is in a Name? “Vaiṣṇavajana” and “Harijan”
A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma
A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma
A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma
A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma
A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma
A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma
A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma
Gandhi's Narasinha—A Cultural Resource
A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma
A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma
A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma
A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma
Notes:
A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma
A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma
A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma
A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma
A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma
A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma
A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma
A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma
Songs and the Saint in Modern Media
Neelima Shukla-Bhatt
Songs and the Saint in Modern Media
Narasinha Mehta in Popular Culture
Neelima Shukla-Bhatt
Abstract and Keywords
Songs and the Saint in Modern Media
Popular Culture
Songs and the Saint in Modern Media
Songs and the Saint in Modern Media
Narasinha's Songs in Recorded Form
Songs and the Saint in Modern Media
The Saint in Celluloid—The Hindi Film Narsi Bhagat (1940)
Songs and the Saint in Modern Media
Film as Hagiographic Scroll
Songs and the Saint in Modern Media
The Vijay Bhatt Film
Songs and the Saint in Modern Media
Songs and the Saint in Modern Media
Songs and the Saint in Modern Media
Songs and the Saint in Modern Media
Songs and the Saint in Modern Media
Songs and the Saint in Modern Media
Songs and the Saint in Modern Media
(p.220) Narsaiyo—Gujarati Television Serial
Songs and the Saint in Modern Media
Songs and the Saint in Modern Media
Songs and the Saint in Modern Media
Songs and the Saint in Modern Media
Songs and the Saint in Modern Media
Songs and the Saint in Modern Media
Songs and the Saint in Modern Media
Narsaiyo and the Rasa of Bhakti
Songs and the Saint in Modern Media
Songs and the Saint in Modern Media
The Saint in Cyberspace—Narasinha on YouTube
Songs and the Saint in Modern Media
Songs and the Saint in Modern Media
Vaiṣṇavajana to
Songs and the Saint in Modern Media
Songs and the Saint in Modern Media
Songs and the Saint in Modern Media
Songs and the Saint in Modern Media
Songs and the Saint in Modern Media
Songs and the Saint in Modern Media
Other Narasinha Songs
Songs and the Saint in Modern Media
Songs and the Saint in Modern Media
Songs and the Saint in Modern Media
Songs and the Saint in Modern Media
Songs and the Saint in Modern Media
Narasinha Narratives on YouTube
Songs and the Saint in Modern Media
Songs and the Saint in Modern Media
Songs and the Saint in Modern Media
Notes:
Songs and the Saint in Modern Media
Songs and the Saint in Modern Media
Songs and the Saint in Modern Media
Songs and the Saint in Modern Media
Songs and the Saint in Modern Media
Concluding Remarks
Neelima Shukla-Bhatt
Concluding Remarks
Neelima Shukla-Bhatt
Abstract and Keywords
Concluding Remarks
Concluding Remarks
Concluding Remarks
Concluding Remarks
Concluding Remarks
Concluding Remarks
Concluding Remarks
Concluding Remarks
Concluding Remarks
Concluding Remarks
Notes:
Concluding Remarks
Concluding Remarks

Citation preview

Introduction

Narasinha Mehta of Gujarat: A Legacy of Bhakti in Songs and Stories Neelima Shukla-Bhatt

Print publication date: 2014 Print ISBN-13: 9780199976416 Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: November 2014 DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199976416.001.0001

Introduction Neelima Shukla-Bhatt

DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199976416.003.0001

Abstract and Keywords The Introduction first charts the evolution of the tradition of Narasinha Mehta as a popular current of Hindu bhakti (devotion) from the fifteenth century in Gujarat and its sustained popularity even in current times through songs and stories in performance. It then discusses the use of the term rasa (aesthetic delight) in conjunction with bhakti in the popular rhetoric about devotional performances and suggests that this term provides an important lens to understand the continued popularity of the songs and hagiographic narratives of his tradition and those of other saint-poets of India. It finally points out that with their broadly appealing message of love and equality in relation to the divine and their circulation among diverse communities through performance, the songs and stories of regional saint-poets of north India have turned into inspiring forms of popular cultures in their regions. As such, they can be used as cultural resources for constructive social agenda. Keywords:   bhakti, rasa, Gujarat, Junagadh, Krishna, Girnar, regional, transregional, saint-poet

Call only that one a Vaishnava, Who understands others' pain.1 Narasinha Mehta As the titles roll at the end of Richard Attenborough's 1981 Oscar-winning film Gandhi, a soothing song plays in the background. That song was also heard at a charity concert for earthquake victims in India in 2001, at the inauguration of the first woman president of Harvard University in 2007, at a large cultural Page 1 of 41

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Introduction show by the Indian community in Singapore the same year, and on the way during a peace march from India and Pakistan to Gaza in 2011.2 This was Gandhi's favorite devotional song in the Gujarati language—Vaiṣṇavajana to tene re kahīe (Call only that one a Vaishnava)—which defines a religious person (here, a worshipper of Vishnu) in terms of compassion and moral integrity.3 Held up by Gandhi as having the authority of scriptures, the song has been heard by innumerable people around the world as his emblem of peace. Even in the aftermath of the tragic 2002 communal riots of Gujarat—which took hundreds of lives, mostly from the minority Muslim community—social analysts, journalists, and peace workers referenced Vaiṣṇavajana to as a symbol of a lost legacy of peace that needed to be reclaimed urgently.4 The song is attributed to a beloved saint and poet of Gandhi's native region in western India, Gujarat, which is roughly co-terminus with the present-day state of that name. Along with this and other songs of the saint-poet, his sacred biography highlighting his devotion, voluntary poverty, and sympathy for the downtrodden also provided a model that Gandhi strove to emulate. The saint-poet who so inspired the man regarded as a Mahatma (great soul) by many around the world was Narasinha Mehta (ca. 1414–1480), the most celebrated poet of the Gujarati language and an ardent devotee of the Hindu deity Krishna (an incarnation of Lord Vishnu). Narasinha Mehta is an important figure among the regional saint-poets of medieval north India (14th–18th centuries CE), who are regarded as cultural icons in their regions and honored widely in South Asia.5 Devotional poems attributed to these poets are some of the pivotal poetic works in their regional languages, and (p.2) literary histories of these languages treat them as such.6 Traditionally however, the poems are viewed as devotional songs and have been sung in all strata of the society in the regions of the saint-poets for centuries. Many songs have also traveled far and wide in the subcontinent beyond the regions of their origin. Their appeal derives from their messages about love, compassion, inner search, and human dignity conveyed in an accessible manner as well as from their simple traditional tunes. Little information of historical accuracy is available about the lives of most saint-poets. But hagiographic narratives portraying them as exemplars of devotion and moral integrity have circulated widely. These songs and narratives form distinctive regional traditions that intersect one another in a loose network of popular devotion in India and share themes, rhetoric, and melodic structures. Today, they are also performed in a variety of secular contexts by well-known and little-known performers. Over the centuries, the meanings associated with them have varied, but people's attachment to them has endured. The songs and narratives associated with Narasinha Mehta constitute such a tradition of enduring significance. Songs of devotion (bhakti) attributed to him have been sung in regionally popular tunes in Gujarat and southern Rajasthan for five centuries. Narratives about his ecstatic singing of bhakti songs in the company of the marginalized of his society, about his persecution by the Page 2 of 41

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Introduction powerful, and about his rescue by Krishna have circulated even more widely in north India. Even though focused primarily on love for Krishna, songs and narratives in Narasinha's tradition present an eclectic devotional perspective integrating multiple currents of Hindu bhakti. Many of them also convey teachings about compassion as well as a critique of social hierarchies. With their broad moral appeal and folksong-like melodies, a number of them have enjoyed popularity even beyond the Hindu fold. Today, in addition to devotional gatherings, they are heard regularly in secular contexts such as school assemblies and cultural events. They also circulate on popular media such as radio, audio CDs, film, television, and the Internet, where they generate constructive conversations about moral and social values among people from diverse backgrounds living in different corners of the world. In their “instantly recognizable sanity,” to draw on an apt expression used by the poet and translator Andrew Schelling with regard to bhakti songs of India, they offer a platform for meaningful communications among members of diverse communities that contrast the bitter exchanges of antagonism surfacing in the cyber space at times.7 This book examines songs and hagiographic narratives associated with Narasinha Mehta as forming a popular regional current of bhakti with enduring religious, ethical, and cultural resonances in Gujarat and beyond it. Looking closely at texts and performances in diverse contexts, it seeks to explore the factors that have contributed to their enduring appeal as cultural resources with a range of devotional, ethical, and social meanings. It also seeks to engage— though not directly to answer—questions regarding some broader implications of their (p.3) sustained popularity in the twenty-first century. It asks whether they have the potential to serve as shared cultural resources that can help create bonds among diverse communities in Gujarat and, if they have that potential, what would be required to tap into it. Since this work is an inquiry into the enduring legacy of a tradition, it necessarily explores aspects that have continued to draw people to it. Yet it is not simply a celebration of the tradition. Through an examination of Narasinha's tradition, it is also an inquiry into the relevance of religion in current times. Can religion serve as a constructive social force in the present day? If it can, what form should it take? Does the Narasinha tradition formed by popular songs and narratives that have circulated through diverse channels for centuries have the potential to serve as such a force? The book attempts an exploration of these questions with a focus on the aesthetically appealing aspects of Narasinha's tradition. In focusing on the cultural significance of songs and hagiographic narratives in the Narasinha tradition in a variety of contexts over centuries, the book follows Sheldon Pollock who recommends trying “to understand what the texts of South Asian literature meant to the people who wrote, heard, saw or read them, and how these meanings may have changed over time” for a better appreciation of the region's literary cultures.8 In exploring the issues of meaning and the Page 3 of 41

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Introduction inspirational potential of the Narasinha tradition, this book draws on American philosopher John Dewey's pragmatist aesthetics, especially his thought on the relationship between aesthetic experience and civilization. Aesthetic experience, Dewey argues, is “a manifestation” of “the life of a civilization” and also “a means of promoting its development.” The quality of a civilization depends on aesthetic experience because, even though “it is produced and enjoyed by individuals, those individuals are what they are in the content of their experience of the cultures in which they participate.”9 While drawing on Dewey's thought, the main category of analysis the book employs is rasa (aesthetic delight), a core concept in Indian aesthetic theories. This concept is integral to the term bhakti-rasa, which is widely used in north India to connote the blissful experience of devotion (bhakti) and is often heard in the context of performances. Through this lens the book underscores the centrality of the aesthetic dimension and its ethical implications in the enduring legacies of vernacular saint-poet traditions of India such as Narasinha's. The songs and hagiographies of the bhakti saint-poets of north India have been explored extensively in Western scholarship from a variety of perspectives. Some studies have focused on their religious and literary dimensions, with close attention to their historical development based on an examination of manuscripts and textual evidence.10 Some are based on observation of their performances.11 Some have examined their social implications, including their role in the construction of public memory.12 A few have discussed contemporary interpretations of stories of the saints in print media that reflect a particular conception of Indian identity.13 This vast scholarship has thrown light on the contributions of popular devotional (p.4) currents of Bengal, Maharashtra, and Hindi-speaking areas to the religious and cultural histories of their regions and more broadly of South Asia. Yet Gujarat, which forms an integral part of the bhakti network of north India, has remained underrepresented in it, with the notable exceptions of Françoise Mallison's work on different aspects of the devotional milieu of the region and Rachel Dwyer's book on the Vaishnava poet Dayaram. Mallison's French-language monograph on the morning hymn genre in the Narasinha's corpus forms the only study of the poet as a bhakti figure in a European language.14 This book examines the Narasinha tradition in a fuller manner looking at various genres of its songs and diverse sources of hagiographic narratives as well as multiple contexts of their performances and their enduring cultural significance. In its attention to manuscripts, analysis of lyrics and hagiographic narratives as texts, accounts of performances, and consideration of films on the saint's life to examine the place of Narasinha's tradition in the religious and cultural history of Gujarat and north India it aligns with the corpus of scholarly works on saint-poet traditions of India. Additionally, it includes two layers of analysis in order to consider the inspirational potential of Narasinha's songs and hagiography embedded in their popular appeal. It looks closely at Gandhi's use of Narasinha's Page 4 of 41

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Introduction songs and hagiography in public life for constructive purposes and their circulation on the social spaces of the Internet generating conversations among individuals of diverse backgrounds. Rasa as the central category of analysis is especially helpful in this consideration. In employing this indigenous concept, the book follows Lawrence Sullivan, who, drawing on the anthropologist James Boon, argues that every “culture possesses coherent ideas about human action and reflects upon human capacity to interpret acts.” Such ideas, he stresses, do not form “quaint cultural examples,” but “people's systematic thoughts about their own meaning, about the nature and value of their acts, and about the process of understanding.” He goes on to propose that such views “must become a part of a hermeneutics of performance, if that hermeneutics wishes to speak to the modern situation in which we find ourselves.”15 Rasa offers such a lens for the hermeneutics of performance of songs and stories associated with saintpoets like Narasinha. Along with rasa, another idea related to aesthetics on which this work draws, especially for examining the circulation of Narasinha's songs and hagiography in modern media, is British theologian Gordon Lynch's argument that serious attention should be paid to “theological aesthetics of popular culture” with a view to exploring its potential for building peaceful communities. Following the sociomusicologist Simon Frith, who lamented the neglect of serious study of the aesthetic aspects of popular culture, Lynch argues that such a study is necessary to understand how people choose to circulate what they find enjoyable or inspiring and how they use it to build relationships and communities.16 Examining the Narasinha tradition through the lens of these ideas reveals that it has thrived through the centuries in diverse contexts including contemporary (p.5) popular media because, with its participatory and regionally grounded devotional aesthetics, it has gradually grown into something more than popular religion. It has come to form a part of the popular culture of Gujarat and, more broadly, of India. The type of popular culture it represents, however, is not trendy but enduring, not merely entertaining but morally inspiring. Like the popular Christian hymn “Amazing Grace,” which originated in eighteenthcentury England but continues to be sung in religious and secular contexts as a song of hope and transformation, songs and narratives associated with saintpoets of South Asia like Narasinha provide examples of devotional forms that create inspirational platforms on which people of diverse backgrounds can meet. They show that when religion overflows from the strictly theological and takes the form of popular culture, it is redeemed from exclusivity and becomes a vital channel for eclectic spiritual and ethical messages. With cultural imagination and will, this work suggests, popular devotional songs and narratives can be used as cultural resources to strengthen the bonds among members of diverse communities, as was attempted by Gandhi in the early twentieth century. Such a suggestion is difficult to make in the current moment, when religious or spiritual forms are often associated with exclusivity and violence because of their Page 5 of 41

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Introduction manipulation for political and other gains and therefore a substantive amount of scholarship has rightly focused on such utilization of these forms. But as the political scientist Leela Fernandes suggests, the very dissociation between constructive social agenda and spirituality cedes the power of spiritual and religious forms to manipulative forces.17 Therefore, even with the keen awareness of violent manipulation of religion in India in recent times, observations about the potential of popular religious forms such as the songs and hagiographies of regional saint-poets of India to serve as constructive cultural resources, may be a meaningful academic project. This book makes an effort in this direction. In what follows, I begin with a discussion of the emergence and development of the Narasinha tradition. I then discuss the concept of rasa and the implications of the widely prevalent use of the term bhakti-rasa in north Indian languages for exploring the poetic, musical, and narrative aspects of the Narasinha tradition. I end with an overview of the plan of the work.

The Narasinha Tradition The songs and sacred narratives associated with Narasinha Mehta emerge from the context of a tide of bhakti expressed in vernacular languages that spread across north India between the thirteenth and seventeenth centuries. Traditions of regional saint-poets formed a major core of that tide. This phenomenon is often called the “bhakti movement” and is discussed in terms of its origins in songs of saints that circulated in the second half of the first millennium in Tamilspeaking (p.6) south India, its gradual spread northward, and its great flowering in between the fifteenth and the seventeenth centuries in north India.18 The evolution of the Narasinha tradition belongs to a transitional zone on this trajectory, both geographically and historically. The region of its origin is located midway between south and north India on the western edge of the subcontinent, and its early history coincides with the early phase of Krishna-bhakti poetry in north India before the full flourishing of sects exclusively devoted to the deity. This has contributed to the development of the Narasinha tradition as a popular tradition of Krishna-bhakti that is outside of a sectarian context and interweaves elements from diverse devotional currents. Since Narasinha has not been incorporated as a central figure even in the Krishna-bhakti sects that later established a stronghold in Gujarat, his tradition offers a particularly illuminating example of a devotional current in north India with a broad popular base. The Region and the Language

Narasinha Mehta enjoys an iconic status in Gujarat. He is honored as both the most important saint-poet of the region and the first poet (ādikavi) of the Gujarati language. A prestigious award in Gujarati poetry is named after him; lakes and roads bear his name; and his statues in devotional singing poses are found in important cities of Gujarat.19 Indeed, at his fifth-centenary celebrations Page 6 of 41

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Introduction in 1981, the poet Harindra Dave remarked that if there were a conference of the saint-poets of medieval India, most Gujarati speakers would designate Narasinha as their region's delegate.20 Narasinha's dual recognition as a representative saint-poet of Gujarat and the ādikavi of the Gujarati language leads us to ask three questions: What is Gujarat? What is the language of which Narasinha is honored as the first poet? What does Narasinha's stature as both bhakta and ādikavi say about the relationship between bhakti and the development of regional literatures in north India? As a linguistically based state within the Republic of India, Gujarat has existed only since 1960, when it was carved out of the former Bombay State. Yet as a name of the region originally associated with Gurjar tribes, it has been prevalent in slightly different forms (“Gurjaratta,” “Gurjar Desh,” “Guzerat,” etc.) in literary texts, court chronicles, and gazetteers since the twelfth century. While the political boundaries of the referent of the term have continually shifted, the term itself has continued to be used.21 Importantly for this work, bhakti texts since the sixteenth century such as the Sanskrit Padma Purāṇa and the Hindi hagiographic compendium of Nabhadas (1570–1662), the Bhaktamāl (ca. seventeenth century), also refer to Gujarat (“Gurjar” and “Gujjar,” respectively) as a region where bhakti did not flourish. The latter notes that it is well known (jagat vidit) that Narasinha spread bhakti in such a region.22 Thus, the name of the region has been prevalent for eight centuries, and Narasinha's recognition as its important bhakti figure in pan-Indian hagiographic texts is evident since the seventeenth century. (p.7) The language of Narasinha's songs, an Indo-Aryan language known today as Gujarati, had been evolving out of the transregional Apabhramsha language since the thirteenth century. This early form of Gujarati, which was not completely distinct from the language spoken in parts of present-day Rajasthan until the late sixteenth century, contributed to a sense of regional identity in the areas where it was spoken.23 As the language evolved, a number of writers contributed to its development as a literary language. Prominent among them were Jain monks who wrote extensively in the genres of rāso, a long narrative poem, and phāgu, a poem describing or celebrating spring. These works greatly influenced later works in Gujarati in terms of poetic diction and shaped genres distinctive to the region.24 Yet, as will be discussed in detail later, in Gujarati scholarship since the late nineteenth century the title of ādikavi has been used only for Narasinha primarily because he was the first major poet whose lyrics circulated widely among the speakers of the language. In Narasinha's songs the spread of vernacular bhakti in north India and the evolution of Gujarati as a literary language intersected, adding a new regional tradition to the former and an important turn to the latter.

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Introduction The Milieu of Emergence

As is common with saint-poets of South Asia whose poems have circulated primarily in performance, no historical documentation about Narasinha is available.25 His sacred biography has evolved entirely from “autobiographical” poems attributed to him and narrative compositions about him by others. The only major courtly chronicle that contains a section on him—Tarikh-i-Sorath of Ranchodji Amarji, the divan of Junagadh (early nineteenth century)—also draws from legends.26 Tradition holds that he lived in the fifteenth century, and there is now a general consensus among Gujarati scholars that this is the case. But the issue of dates (though not his historicity itself) was a subject of contention in the twentieth century, with some scholars placing the saint-poet in the sixteenth century and suggesting that he was influenced by texts of the Gaudiya Vaishnava sect. A possibility that two poets named Narasinha lived at different times in Gujarat was also suggested in the 1970s. The view of the scholars arguing for the fifteenth century has, however, been broadly accepted partly because songs attributed to Narasinha contain several references to Ra Mandalik, a fifteenthcentury king of Junagadh; whereas, references to later bhakti figures are absent.27 In addition to placing him in the fifteenth century, scholars generally agree that Narasinha lived most of his life in the city of Junagadh in the foothills of Mt. Girnar in the peninsular Saurashtra; he belonged to the high-caste community of Nagar Brahmins; he was married to Manek; and he had two children, a son and a daughter. This work follows these broadly accepted views about Narasinha's life. The biographical details about Narasinha on which scholars generally agree— the dates of his life, the city in which he lived, and the community of which he (p.8) was a part—place him in a context of great political and religious activity. In the fifteenth century, Junagadh was governed by the rulers belonging to the Hindu Chudasama dynasty, who, like a large number of rulers in the area, paid tribute to the Gujarat Sultanate, which had its capital in Ahmedabad. Junagadh was thus a part of the broader Islamicate political culture, with which it constantly negotiated power until it was annexed to the sultanate in 1469 by Sultan Muhammad Begda (r. 1459–1511), having captured it from Ra Mandalik (r. 1451–1469), the king who figures prominently in Narasinha's sacred biography. Religiously, the fifteenth-century Junagadh was a city where encounters among diverse currents of devotion were a matter of everyday life. The broader Hindu milieu of Saurashtra and Gujarat was predominantly nonsectarian in the sense that a large number of people worshipped Shiva, the great goddess, and Vishnu side by side and did not belong to organized sects worshipping a single deity exclusively.28 The communities that focused their devotion on one deity did not exclude other deities from their religious life. Narasinha's community of Nagar

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Introduction Brahmins, for example, worshipped Shiva as iṣṭadevatā (the preferred deity) without shunning other deities. The city of Junagadh, which had influential Nagar citizens, was a center of multiple religious strands of Hindu and other religious traditions.29 The city is located in the foothills of Mt. Girnar, a sacred mountain for Hindus and Jains since ancient times. There are Jain temples to Neminath and a temple of the goddess Ambika on its peaks. It has also long been a major hub of Shivaworshiping Nath ascetics who have strongly opposed Brahminical orthodoxy.30 On a hill in the vicinity is a sacred place associated with the Muslim mystic Jamial Shah who is believed to have arrived here in the fifteenth century and revered by people across religious boundaries.31 Junagadh was also a key stop on the route to Dwaraka, an important pilgrimage destination for worshipers of Vishnu, and Somanath, a major Shaivite site.32 Pilgrims following a variety of devotional paths from Gujarat and all over India passed regularly through this city. As they did, they would often be singing devotional songs in their own languages. The fifteenth century was a time when vernacular poetry of bhakti to Vishnu's incarnation as Krishna was beginning to emerge in north India. Two classics of Krishna devotion in the elite Sanskrit language—the Bhāgavata Purāṇa (ca. ninth century) and the Gītagovinda of the poet Jayadeva (ca. twelfth century)—had reached many parts of the country, including Gujarat.33 With them, the narratives of Krishna's childhood in idyllic Vraj, his witty pranks among cowherds, and his romantic adventures with gopīs (cowherd women) were also circulating in various regions of India. Even though the songs of well-known poets like Surdas and Mira (both ca. sixteenth century) were yet to come and major bhakti sects of north India had not developed, Vidyapati of Mithila (ca. fourteenth century) and Chandidas of Bengal (ca. fifteenth century) were composing popular songs about the love story of Krishna and the gopīs.34 (p.9) Several other currents of bhakti were also emerging across north India. The Varkari tradition of Maharashtra, which integrates devotion to Vitthala (a form of Vishnu) with worship of Lord Shiva, was thriving in songs of saints in the Marathi language.35 The saint-poet Namdev, a towering figure of that tradition, had traveled through many parts of India a century earlier. While followers of different forms of Vishnu were singing the praise of the divine “with form and attributes” (saguṇa), in Banaras followers were perhaps gathering around two great Hindi poets, Ravidas and Kabir (both ca. fifteenth century), who worshiped the divine “without form and attributes” (nirguṇa). These poets, belonging to the lower strata of society, questioned the religious authority of the priestly Brahmins and conveyed the teachings of interior religion in their popular songs.36 Challenging the exclusive use of Sanskrit for Hindu religious practices and their control by the priestly caste, the vernacularization of bhakti was well on its way in north India in the voices of poets and common people. Devotional Page 9 of 41

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Introduction songs could be heard in the regional dialects of pilgrims passing through Junagadh in the fifteenth century.37 Along with Hindu devotional voices, Jain chants and hymns could also be heard in Junagadh in the voices to pilgrims to Mt. Girnar.38 Even if Narasinha is placed in the early sixteenth century, the milieu of Junagadh does not seem to have undergone dramatic changes with regard to religion under the governors appointed by the Gujarat sultans. Integrative Devotion

Arising from a multilayered religious milieu of this type, the Narasinha tradition integrates multiple strands of Hindu bhakti prevalent at the time. It has adoration of Krishna at its core. But love for Krishna is intertwined with reverential praise for Shiva in both its songs and hagiography. In Narasinha's traditional biography, Shiva is, in fact, the divine guru who initiates him in devotion to Krishna. In this, Narasinha's tradition closely parallels those of early Varkari saints, whose hagiographies depict them as being initiated into Vitthala bhakti by Shiva-worshipping Naths.39 In the songs, Krishna's life in Vraj remains the central theme, but Shiva is also evoked with great reverence. Charlotte Vaudeville argues that the songs and hagiography of Narasinha, like those of early saints of Maharashtra, are found in the transitional zone of the gradual shift from a synthesis of bhakti of Shiva and Vishnu to a focus on Vishnu, especially as his incarnation Krishna, which marked the later bhakti poetry of north India.40 Vaudeville's observation is also supported by historian Samira Sheikh's recent work, where she argues that the Muslim sultans of medieval Gujarat supported the spread of Vaishnava bhakti among the merchant classes over the worship of Shiva, which was greatly patronized by the earlier Hindu rulers in the region. The Chudasamas of Junagadh were worshippers of Shiva and the goddess, even though they also claimed descent from Krishna's own Yadava clan and patronized (p.10) the temple of Damodara (one of Krishna's forms in Junagadh). They represented the old courtly convention of patronage of Sanskrit and Brahmanical ritual that staunchly opposed popular Krishna devotion like Narasinha's, but was itself on the wane in the larger sultanate context of Gujarat.41 The integration of reverence for Shiva in devotion to Krishna in Narasinha's tradition reflects this sociopolitical shift in Gujarat prior to the success of Pushtimarg, a sect exclusively devoted to the latter deity, in the sixteenth century. In addition to Shaiva (related to Shiva) and Vaishnava (related to Vishnu) bhakti, the Narasinha tradition has developed interweaving yet another theological layer. In this tradition, devotion to Krishna, the divine incarnation with human form and attributes (saguṇa), is inseparable from realization of the Ultimate pervading the universe, sometimes referred as “formless” (nirguṇa brahman) and sometimes as having an inexhaustible number of forms (not a specific one). In theological debates, devotion to the divine with form, saguṇa bhakti, is often Page 10 of 41

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Introduction seen as incompatible with nirguṇa bhakti. This theological distinction has a sociological correlate in scholarship on bhakti where nirguṇa bhakti and lowcaste saints (sants) are associated with questioning of caste hierarchy in ways that saguṇa bhakti and high-caste “devotees” (bhaktas) are not.42 Yet Narasinha's songs integrate facets of both saguṇa and nirguṇa bhakti. Their most popular aspects include expression of love and longing for Krishna on the one hand, and contemplative verses about the all-pervading Supreme on the other. Narasinha came from the community of Nagars, who have held high status even among Brahmins of Gujarat. But explicit questioning of the caste hierarchy forms an important aspect of songs and hagiography in his tradition. This feature of integration marks Narasinha's tradition as a current of popular devotion with a broad base and distinguishes it from more exclusively focused bhakti sects. Integrative Aesthetics

The religious and moral messages of the songs and stories form one core aspect of the Narasinha's tradition. But the tradition derives its vitality equally from poetic images, tunes, narrative structures—aspects that have an aesthetic appeal. In these, transregional and regional, classical and folk elements get integrally interwoven. The lyrics attributed to Narasinha draw substantially from the transregionally popular Sanskrit classics Bhāgavata Purāṇa and the Gītagovinda in terms of themes and rhetoric. Narratives of Krishna's childhood pranks found in the Bhāgavata Purāṇa form the basis of many of these lyrics. The influence of Jayadeva, the twelfth-century poet of the Gītagovinda can be seen in the tender reciprocity of love in many of Narasinha's lyrics of erotic mood.43 Yet the songs remain grounded in Gujarat's culture through imagery drawn from the region's natural and social environment as well as through the use of simple colloquial Gujarati (p.11) words and phrases. In Narasinha's songs, Krishna's life in mythical Vraj is recognizably Gujaratized. His foster mother feeds him the Gujarati dish dahītharā; the residents of Vraj address him with Gujarati diminutives of Krishna such as “Kānuḍo”; his love games with the gopīs take place in forests blooming with kesu flowers found plentiful in the forests of Gujarat; and the gopīs put on Gujarati saris like the paṭoḷī, with their intricate thread work.44 A link to the region's Gurjar Apabhramsa poetic genre of phāgu mentioned earlier can also be seen in the spring time descriptions. The synthesis of the transregional classical and the regional elements in these lyrics offers an example of Imre Bangha's observation that the literary culture of India in the early second millennium was not marked simply by a decline in the production of Sanskrit literature; it also saw “the infusion of the Sanskritic learning into the vernaculars.”45

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Introduction The musical aspects of the songs and the narrative elements of Narasinha's hagiography also interweave transregional and regional elements. The traditional tunes of many songs use classical melodic frames (rāgas) such as Prabhātī and Rāmagrī, which are mentioned widely in the manuscripts of devotional songs in north India.46 But they also draw from popular folk tunes of Gujarat. The melodic structure of morning hymns (prabhātiyā̃), which are some of the most popular Narasinha songs, is distinctive to Gujarat. The narratives of Narasinha's life follow broad pan-Indian hagiographic patterns, such as testing of the saint by the powerful and orthodox opponents of bhakti. Nevertheless, the type of testing he undergoes in these narratives unmistakably reflects the mercantile social milieu of Gujarat, a region known for its trade and prosperity. For example, a large majority of narratives about the saint involve harassment by relatives because of his voluntary poverty. To rescue him from devastating humiliation, Krishna brings him an abundance of expensive material gifts. Along with a broad devotional appeal, the reflection of the land and culture of Gujarat contributes to the appeal of the Narasinha tradition for its people, often across religious boundaries, as will be seen in later chapters. Bangha's observation about the infusion of transregional Sanskritic elements into the vernacular literary culture is applicable to all aspects of Narasinha's tradition—lyrics, music, and stories. But Bangha's observation that because many vernacular literary works drew on the Sanskritic tradition, their aesthetics were derived from it is not applicable to Narasinha's lyrics.47 Their aesthetic appeal is not simply derivative. The interweaving of elements from the transregional with the vernacular in them creates distinctively regional aesthetics to which people are drawn in performance. Since they are meant primarily for performance—to be sung or to be told (often musically)—the aesthetic appeal of the lyrics or the stories as texts cannot be separated from their musical and performative aspects. Even when found in written or printed forms in traditional contexts, they are meant not for reading but for performance. Paradoxically, however, an idea of the evolution of the Narasinha tradition can only be gained from a broad overview of available sources in which songs and stories are found in written or printed forms. (p.12) Evolution of the Tradition

Our earliest extant sources of the Narasinha tradition consist of premodern, handwritten manuscripts of unknown ownership.48 Even though the available manuscripts do not provide any verifiable information about the historical Narasinha, they nevertheless give us an indication of the popularity of different lyrics at various points in time and carry the imprints of performances that are now lost to us. They offer us a glimpse into the contributions of generations of performers, collectors, scribes, and unknown poets who may have attributed their own songs to the saint. And they show how by collecting, performing, circulating, and adding to the songs and stories associated with Narasinha these

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Introduction anonymous people have turned them into a valued part of the religio-cultural heritage of their region. As is the case with a large number of medieval saint-poets, the earliest manuscript containing songs attributed to Narasinha is dated more than a hundred years after his generally accepted lifetime—Vikram Samvat (VS) 1668 (1611 CE).49 It includes fifteen lyrics with Narasinha's name inserted in the last line—a widely prevalent literary device in medieval Indic literature known as bhaṇitā, which serves as a kind of signature. The other contents of the manuscript include parts of Jayadeva's Gītagovinda, hymns to Krishna and Rama in Sanskrit, a nirguṇa type poem of moral teaching in Hindi, and a hymn to Shiva in Gujarati. The predominant theme of these lyrics is love between the gopīs and Krishna. Even though small in number, they have some features that have been sustained in Narasinha's corpus through the centuries. One such feature is the confident voice of the gopī, who is keenly aware of both Krishna's dependence on her and her equal status in their relationship. Another is the inclusion of small phrases that hint at the mystical nature of Krishna-gopī love. A third is the predominance of rāgas (melodic frames) associated with morning in the tunes indicated for their performance. And finally, the hymns dedicated to both Krishna and Shiva along with which they are found offer an indication of the fluid bhakti environment in which the early tradition flourished. It is also significant that these Narasinha lyrics are closer in themes and style to the Gītagovinda than the lyrics found in later manuscripts. A slightly later manuscript is from the mid-seventeenth century (1643 CE), when Vallabhacarya's Pushtimarg with exclusive focus on Krishna devotion had already been established in Gujarat. This manuscript contains a large number of Narasinha songs with a diversity of themes and divided by rāgas.50 Along with songs about Krishna-gopī love, songs detailing Krishna's life in mythical Vraj among cowherds—such as his childhood pranks and his dance with the gopīs in the forest of Vrindavan—proliferate here. This larger corpus has a distinctly playful quality, similar to folk songs. Yet, many songs contain one or two verses with mystical interpretations of Krishna's boyish adventures. Some also make references to humility and generosity as essential qualities for a devotee. (p.13) Multiple manuscripts containing Narasinha's songs that date from the early eighteenth century have been found from different parts of Gujarat. In these, along with lyrics of Krishna's playful life in Vraj, numerous songs with a focus on mystical themes and moral teaching appear.51 The songs contain recurring references to the all-pervading divine, and the mood of many of these lyrics is contemplative, expanding on the mystical dimension of the scattered phrases found in the early manuscripts. The corpus available in manuscripts by the end of the eighteenth century includes the full range of themes and styles now associated with Narasinha. It is important to note that by this time songs of major Gujarati poets of nirguṇa bhakti like Akho, Pritam, and Dhiro as well as Page 13 of 41

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Introduction those of the saints in the Ravi-Bhan sect, which linked itself directly to Kabir, were circulating widely in Gujarat.52 Songs of contemplative mood found in Narasinha's corpus align closely with these in terms of themes. Yet, they also share a number of stylistic features and refined lyricism of Krishna bhakti songs in Narasinha's corpus. What an examination of manuscripts leads us to see is that even though the corpus grows with time, the lyrics are held together by some recurring elements of poetic style as well as by recurrent themes such as glorification of women and love as the unifying principle of the universe. Even with unknown authors attributing their own lyrics to Narasinha, the shaping of the tradition has occurred around some core elements. Like the corpus of songs, the textual sources of hagiographic narratives about Narasinha have also grown with time.53 An early tribute to Narasinha, from around the same time as the first manuscript of songs, is found in the famous hagiographic collection, the Bhaktamāl (Garland of devotees), attributed to Nabhadas mentioned above, which is believed to have been composed in northern Rajasthan, far from Gujarat. In this text, praise for each saint, highlighting an important aspect of his or her bhakti, is presented in a terse, sixline poetic form called chappaī. For Narasinha, the text focuses on his spreading of bhakti full of rasa (rasarītī bhakti) among conservative and ritual-oriented people of Gujarat (Gujjar) who lacked sensitivity. It also alludes to the saint's persecution by orthodox people and his moral vindication through miracles.54 The poem gives an indication that by the end of the sixteenth century, Narasinha was a well-known figure in the bhakti circles of northern India. A number of hagiographic compositions about Narasinha and “autobiographical” poems related to events in his sacred biography were written from the midseventeenth century in Gujarat.55 Most of them are in the genre of ākhyān, which is a long narrative poem meant for public performance (mixing music and narration) and is generally based on mythology or epic.56 These portray Narasinha as an exemplary bhakta (devotee) repeatedly put in difficult situations by powerful people of his community but rescued each time by Krishna, who is drawn to the saint's devotion and singing. With these ākhyāns, a fuller biography of Narasinha becomes available in textual sources. His association with lowercaste communities first appears in Narasaῖ Mahetānũ Ākhyān (Ākhyān of (p.14) Narasinha Mehta), dating from the eighteenth century, even though his association with other marginalized groups—women and mendicants—is found even in earlier poems.57 From this time on, along with exemplary devotion to Krishna, an egalitarian approach in the context of bhakti practices becomes an integral part of Narasinha's image. The proliferation of Narasinha narratives in the ākhyān format, which was generally associated with mythology and public performance, suggests that by the mid-seventeenth century, he had acquired a legendary status in the region and stories about him assured large audiences.

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Introduction An expanded biography of Narasinha is also found in several hagiographic compositions created outside of Gujarat from the early eighteenth century on. Narasinha has a prominent place in the famous commentary on Bhaktamāl entitled Bhaktirasabodhinī (The [text] awakening bhakti-rasa, ca. 1712), which was composed by Priyadas in Vrindavan, north India.58 In the latter half of the eighteenth century, an elaborate biography of Narasinha appeared in the Bhaktavijaya (Victory of devotee), a compendium composed by Mahipati in central Maharashtra, southeast of Gujarat.59 A hagiographic composition that focuses exclusively on Narasinha, Narsī jī ro Māhero, comes from Rajasthan and is attributed to the famous female saint Mira.60 Since all these compositions were meant for performance, it can be safely inferred that by the eighteenth century, the Narasinha story had a wide popular appeal as a bhakti narrative in northern and western India, where it was told by narrators belonging to diverse communities.61 The premodern sources discussed above allow us to see the evolution of the Narasinha tradition through a gradual layering of songs and narratives in performance and its integration into larger circuits of bhakti in north India. It is important to note that the evolution of the Narasinha tradition as found in manuscripts and hagiographic texts took place in the broader context of the Islamicate culture of sultanate and mogul rule in Gujarat. Yet no references to the dominance of Islam are found in the saint's songs or hagiography. In his sacred biography, most people who harass him are influential people from his own community; and the only political figure who persecutes him is the Hindu king Ra Mandalik. Interestingly, in the legends about Mandalik, not only his persecution of Narasinha, but also the wrath he incurred for mistreating a Charan woman named Nagbai and a Muslim mystic named Jamial Shah figure prominently as reasons behind his defeat at the hands of Sultan Muhammad Begda.62 The saint, the Sufi, the Charan woman, and the sultan get linked as mythical and actual agents contributing to the king's fall in these legends. No legend about Narasinha mentions a Muslim political figure as a persecutor. In more recent times the Narasinha tradition has not seen an expansion of content, but rather a number of new means of transmission and interpretation. The new methods of transmission emerged with the introduction of the printing press and Western education in the British colonial context.63 Through these new methods, we see Narasinha songs and stories enter the world of mass production (p.15) and reach a large number of people in written form. We also see Narasinha being given the title of the ādikavi of the Gujarati language in scholarly writings of the educated elite.64 In the early twentieth century, recurrent allusions to Narasinha are found in Gandhi's works in support of his agenda of social reform. Here, the Narasinha tradition's moral and aesthetic appeal is put to use in public life for constructive changes. With the introduction of motion pictures in India, especially from the early years of “talkies” on, the visual retelling of the Narasinha story, interwoven with songs, makes its Page 15 of 41

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Introduction appearance in Gujarati and Hindi films. And from the 1970s through the present, songs and stories have been available in a variety of audio-visual media including CDs, DVDs, television programs, and Internet videos, where they acquire dimensions of popular culture. The Narasinha songs and narratives no longer belong exclusively to the realm of religion. In the modern channels of circulation, they accrue new layers of meaning, including those related to cultural and linguistic identity. But their vibrancy and popularity in these new contexts also depend on their performative aspects, just as they did in the traditional religious ones. The Issue of Authorship

The absence of historical documentation and the growth of the corpus of lyrics attributed to Narasinha over time make it impossible to ascertain which of the lyrics that bear his name in the bhaṇitā indeed belong to the poet who lived and sang in Junagadh in the mid-second millennium—a common issue with regard to the saint-poets of medieval India. The authorship of the songs found in later manuscripts, especially those of the nirguṇa variety, has been a matter of debate in Gujarati scholarship.65 Some scholars however, advise caution in making a distinction purely on the basis of dates. They point out that in premodern times, manuscripts were closely tied to literacy and means of production. The songs that were more popular among the lower strata of society are therefore not likely to appear in the early manuscripts.66 The scholarly debates, however, hardly concern the people who sing the songs. For them, a song reflecting the kind of devotion associated with Narasinha or set to a tune that is believed to be distinctly his rightfully belongs in his corpus. What matters is whether it evokes bhakti in the “Narasinha way.” Rajendra Shukla, a recipient of the prestigious Narasinha Mehta Award in Gujarati poetry (2006) who is also from Junagadh and alludes to the saint in his mystical poems, explained in an interview that for performers and listeners, a Narasinha lyric is the one in which a reflection of “an elevated consciousness” associated with him is perceived. People do not relate to a historical figure; they relate to that elevated consciousness.67 Shukla's response resonates with John Hawley's conclusion in his 1988 essay on bhaṇitā that the signature lines “communicate much more than authorship” in (p.16) that they lend “authority and conviction” and “establish an aura in which the act of listening can be as intense as the speech.”68 In a recent work, revisiting the issue with regard to the poet Surdas, Hawley makes a choice to respect the traditional sense of a singular author with the awareness that what one says about an author is only an approximation.69 The issue of authorship is considered from a different perspective by Christian Novetzke through the idea of “corporate authorship.” Focusing on the centrality of performance in saintpoet traditions, Novetzke draws attention to three layers of authorship of a song Page 16 of 41

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Introduction —of the poet, of the originator of the musical form, and of the performer or participant in a specific event.70 This idea brings into focus contributions of multiple agents in a song performance and intersects with Indian literary scholar Ayyappa Paniker's suggestion that the songs of saint-poets get deconstructed and created anew in each performance.71 In this work, I refer to Narasinha as an author, with the awareness that his authorship is sculpted by multiple contributors—the figure at the center of the tradition; later poets who attributed their songs to him; scribes, singers, and even listeners—who have associated the songs with the saint-poet. I pay close attention to re-authoring and re-creation of songs in specific contexts. Additionally, I stress a sense of cultural ownership of the tradition by its participants, who assume the authority to modify it by articulating their own ideas through the songs they attribute to the poet. The key to understanding this process of continual re-creation of the songs is found in the frequent use of the term rasa in conjunction with bhakti by participants in devotional singing in Gujarat.

Bhakti and Rasa—Devotion and Aesthetic Delight Bhakti, generally translated as “devotion,” but also meaning “fondness,” “sharing,” and “participation,” is a key term in Hindu religious traditions that evades precise definition. As John Carman points out, bhakti, which is widely understood as one of three religious paths by Hindus, has many forms distinguished “not only by their special relations to particular forms of deity, but also according to the various moods of the devotees.” The different forms of bhakti often associated with different philosophical positions, incorporate a range of meditative, ascetic, emotional, embodied, and participatory approaches.72 The long history of bhakti is traceable back to the Śvetāśvatara Upanishad (ca. fourth century BCE) and the Bhagavad Gītā (ca. second century BCE), where it has the connotations of reverential love and individual spiritual discipline (sādhanā).73 In the early centuries of the first millennium, it also became associated with embodied religious forms such as ritual worship (pūjā) of divine images in temples and then in homes.74 Flourishing side-by-side with those forms of bhakti—from the latter part of the first millennium in south India through the pan-Indian scene—developed yet another form of bhakti at whose core were the vernacular songs and hagiographies (p.17) of regional saintpoets. Because of the centrality of people's agency and participation in it, often outside of formal religious settings, it has been one of the most popular forms of bhakti with important cultural implications. In the context of several regions of north India, the emergence of early saintpoet traditions was part of the cultural and political shifts of far-reaching consequences that Sheldon Pollock calls “vernacularization.” It was a process through which “the universalistic orders, formations, and practices of the preceding millennium were supplemented and gradually replaced by localized Page 17 of 41

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Introduction forms.” Regional cultures and communities were formed and provided with a “more self-conscious voice.”75 As a part of this process that gave voice to common people, the songs and narratives of saint-poet traditions were genres of resistance in the sense that they challenged dominant religious and social assumptions. Bhakti poetry, especially the nirguṇa type, is often rightly discussed in terms of its powerful articulation of challenge to Brahminical authority. As will be discussed in the chapter on Narasinha's Krishna-līlā lyrics, the articulation of resistance in saint-poet traditions is even more extensive and fundamental. Yet the saint-poet traditions do not articulate resistance through argument; they do so through aesthetic appeal. Focusing on love, as Schelling suggests, they tend “to circumvent debate and go directly to the human heart,” and show “how feeble most social assumptions are.”76 Their vitality as expressions of resistance from within a framework of devotion conveyed in songs and narratives contributes to their enduring popularity through the centuries. All forms of bhakti have been extensively studied in the past two hundred years. In the early orientalist scholarship of the colonial period, the focus on bhakti's origins and its identification with devotion to a personal deity was helpful in likening it to Christianity. But more recent scholarship has studied it on its own terms with foci on theology, practice, and social implications. Taking the phenomenological approach of “imaginative and sympathetic understanding,” some of these studies have brought to light Hindu theological perspectives that may be unfamiliar to outsiders.77 Some have focused on temple rituals and pilgrimage. As mentioned earlier, in the extensive scholarship on saint-poets' songs and hagiography, some works analyze their theological and literary aspects, some their historical development, and some their social implications. Some recent works also draw attention especially to their embodied and participatory nature and stress the role of many contributors in these traditions.78 Since performers and listeners of songs and narratives are key contributors to the saint-poet traditions, their perspectives provide important lenses for understanding the nature of this form of bhakti.79 Performers and listeners of devotional songs and stories in Gujarat are frequently heard using the term rasa and the compound bhakti-rasa to describe their experience in performance events. The term rasa, literally meaning “sap,” “juice,” “nectar,” or “essence,” has a long history as a core concept in Indian aesthetic theories and poetics, where it refers to “delight” derived from poetry or from a work of (p.18) art.80 In Gujarati, the meanings of rasa include “nonordinary (other worldly) joy derived from evocation of dominant emotions on listening to poetry” and “interest.”81 My attention was first drawn to the integral link between bhakti and rasa in the understanding of lay people during a nightlong bhajan (“devotional singing” or “devotional song”) session I attended in Keshod, not far from Narasinha's city Junagadh, in August 2001.82 Songs of many popular saint-poets of north India were sung in Gujarati and Hindi during the night by a well-known bhajan singer of the area, with the audience members Page 18 of 41

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Introduction spontaneously joining him at times. Several tea breaks provided people with a chance to exchange informal commentaries and stories about the saints. When the session ended with a Narasinha morning hymn, a rural man sitting next to me asked, “Ṭehaḍo paḍi gyo, na'i, ben?” (“We really relished it, didn't we, sister?”). He was describing the experience with a stress on delight or enjoyment, which was inseparable from devotional sentiment in this context. Ṭehaḍo is a colloquial diminutive of the Gujarati word tes, which is possibly derived from the English word “taste.” Tes meaning “taste” or “relishing” is a more conversational expression than the standard word svād in relation to food and drink; it is also often used to mean rasa in relation to enjoyable activity.83 Its diminutive ṭehaḍo stands for “great taste” or “relishing,” amplifying the sense of enjoyment. Without being aware of it, the man was translating into colloquial Gujarati—possibly via English—the term rasa, derived from Indian aesthetic theories developed in Sanskrit. His translation effectively conveyed the sense of aesthetic relishing of the devotional singing and conversations about saints during the night. The man's comment gave me a clue to understand his view of devotional performances. It illumined that people are drawn to the devotional songs and stories associated with saint-poets like Narasinha Mehta not just for religious or moral inspiration, but also for aesthetic delight—rasa, ṭehaḍo. It made me alert to the many usages of the word rasa in conjunction with bhakti in conversations and texts in my subsequent research. I began noting the use of the term rasa in many contexts. After particularly appealing performances of bhajan (devotional song), I often heard people saying that the singer “drenched everyone in bhakti-rasa” (bhakti-rasa mā̃ taraboḷ karyā̃), which is not heard in worship rituals. When referring to an event where the singing was not effective, my elderly neighbor said, “They sang, but there was no rasa in it.” I was given a book on popular devotional songs by the Gujarati writer Makarand Dave, titled Bhajanarasa (The rasa of devotional singing”).84 Importantly, I began to see the understanding reflected in Narasinha's songs where he refers to himself as an enjoyer of bhakti as rasa like the poets Shuka and Jayadeva, authors of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa and the Gītagovinda.85 It was not surprising then, to read Makarand Dave's discussion of Narasinha's poetry as rasopāsanā (worship of/through rasa).86 I also heard a similar expression in Hindi, “bhakti-rasa flowed” (bhakti-rasa bahā). These expressions in Gujarati and Hindi bear semantic links (p.19) to the Bengali term rasakīrtan, used for singing lyrics about Krishna, which refers to the experience of devotional singing “as conducing to the highest aesthetic and spiritual delight (rasa).”87 In these expressions, there is a sense of the nectarlike nature of the sentiment of bhakti; but, there is also an unmistakable association of bhakti with the aesthetic delight derived from poetry or performance.

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Introduction What is the basis of this stress on rasa in the devotional rhetoric of north India? What are its implications? In order to fully appreciate the prevalence of the term and its usefulness in understanding the responses of performers and listeners to songs and narratives from the traditions of saint-poets like Narasinha, a brief overview of the concept in aesthetic and religious theories will be helpful. Rasa in Aesthetic Theories

The understanding of rasa as an aesthetic concept was developed over many centuries in first-millennium India. Its foundational text is Nāṭyaśāstra, attributed to the legendary author Bharata (ca. second century CE). Two other key thinkers in its development were Anandavardhana (ca. ninth century CE), and Abhinavagupta (ca. eleventh century CE).88 Bharata provides its early exposition in the context of drama in his Nāṭyaśāstra. Here, he expounds that important human emotions (sthāyibhāvas) evoked in the context of performance lead a sensitive spectator to experience them in an enjoyable manner similar to the taste of good food. The delight experienced by the spectator is rasa. The evocation of rasa in a performance depends on effective dynamics among the stimulus or cause (vibhāva) provided by the characters and plot; the presentation (abhinaya); and the sensitivity of the spectator.89 Expanding on Bharata's concept of stimulus or cause (vibhāva), later theorists specified its two aspects: the “substantial cause” or basis (ālamban vibhāva) formed by characters, and the “enhancing cause” (uddīpan vibhāva) formed by the setting, the time, and so on that add to the emotions evoked by the characters.90 Developing the rasa concept from a literary perspective, Anandavardhana (ca. ninth century CE) focused on the link between the imagination of the poet and the response of the enjoyer. He explained that a good poet, because of his imaginative insight (pratibhā), has a deeper understanding of human emotions. He also has the skills to convey his insights about emotions in a structured form in a poem. The meaning suggested in a poem is not a personal feeling of everyday life but an emotion presented in an orderly form, offering insight into its nature. When a sensitive enjoyer reads or listens to the poem, he or she grasps the suggested meaning (dhvani) and is led to rasa or aesthetic delight. Rasa is the soul of poetry. The structures of a poem that convey its suggested meaning link the poet and the enjoyer in the evocation of rasa.91 The philosopher and aesthetician Abhinavagupta (ca. eleventh century CE), explored the subjective side of rasa further. He explained that a human emotion (p.20) is presented in an idealized form in a play or poem. When a sensitive enjoyer encounters the emotion in that form, he or she feels fully absorbed in it; is freed from his or her personal concerns for the duration of that absorption; and experiences aesthetic delight, or rasa. The experience is similar to mystical bliss because the enjoyer is liberated from his or her egocentric concerns and is temporarily led to a deeper understanding of his or her own self.92 In this way,

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Introduction Abhinavagupta suggested a parallel between the religious and aesthetic experiences and brought into focus the cognitive dimension of aesthetic delight. Rasa, as developed in Indian aesthetic theories, is thus an emotional response to a poem or performance that is enjoyable in nature. A poet or literary artist with an insight into human emotions conveys his understanding through the structures of his work. A sensitive enjoyer participates imaginatively in the world created by the artist (in poetry or play), gets absorbed in that world, and is led to aesthetic delight or rasa. Along with the formal aspects of a poem or performance, the enjoyer's involvement with those aspects is a key to the evocation of rasa. G. B. Mohan Thampi observes that in linking the processes of creation of art (“artistic”) and enjoyment of it (“aesthetic”) as well as in making a distinction between personal feeling and aesthetic delight, rasa provides a broad-ranging aesthetic concept.93 Even though the technical aspects of elaborate theories developed around the concept are no longer used in literary or dramatic appreciation, the use of the term rasa with its basic connotation of aesthetic delight and its association with evocation of emotions remains widely prevalent in north Indian languages. Indeed, interpretation of poetry is termed rasāsvād (savoring of rasa) in Gujarati. Religious Understanding of Bhakti-rasa

Drawing on aesthetic theories, medieval Vaishnava theologians following Krishna-bhakti developed religious theories in which rasa became associated with bhakti. An early thinker suggested that the diverse emotions of characters in the Krishna narratives in the Bhāgavata share a singular deeper layer—love for Krishna. Due to the nature of their relationship with Krishna, different characters make different kinds of devotees (bhaktas). Whereas Yashoda and Nanda (Krishna's foster parents in Vraj) express parental love (vātsalya) for him, the love expressed by the gopīs is erotic (śringāra). The ultimate experience of all these characters, however, is blissful love for Krishna. On encountering these characters in poetry or other aesthetic forms, devotees become absorbed in their emotions and are led to the experience of devotion as rasa.94 Rupa Gosvami, a sixteenth-century theologian of the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition founded by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (ca. 1486–1534), developed a sophisticated theory of bhakti-rasa as well as a spiritual discipline based on it. In his theory, expounded in Bhaktirasāmṛtasindhu (The ocean of the nectar of bhakti (p.21) rasa), Krishna is the source and object of rasa, which is understood as the infinite bliss of love.95 Every relationship with him is an exploration of rasa. In the spiritual discipline based on this understanding, a devotee imagines himself to be a character in Krishna's world. By cultivating that character's emotions, the devotee experiences bhakti as rasa. Depending on the type of emotion, a devotee may experience bhakti-rasa of various types. The five major types of bhakti-rasa are śānta (reverential love, associated with a tranquil mood), dāsya (subservient love, characterized by submission), sakhya (equal love of friends, Page 21 of 41

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Introduction often evoking a playful mood), vātsalya (parental love, marked by tenderness and protective instinct), and madhura or śringār (passionate love, characterized by intensity of emotions and intimacy). The rasa of bhakti gradually becomes a permanent part of the devotee's personality. Rupa's concept of bhakti-rasa thus blurs the distinction between the performer and the enjoyer; specifies a variety of avenues for experiencing deeply enjoyable bhakti; and associates greater permanence with it than rasa experienced, for example, in a play.96 Indeed, as David Haberman points out, Rupa's concept of rasa does not restrict it to a temporary experience of theater but extends it to all aspects of human experience as the “culminating core of a genuine human life.”97 Rasa in this sense has a transformative power with profound ethical implications. Rasa in Non-Hindu Devotional Contexts

Beyond the Vaishnava fold, Sufi poets of medieval India, who creatively synthesized Persian and Indian poetics, have also employed the term rasa extensively with aesthetic and mystical connotations in their romances composed in the Islamicate courtly milieu. Aditya Behl points out that Maulana Daud (fourteenth century) used the aesthetics of rasa in Chandayana, a pivotal text in the genre of Sufi romances, where he linked it to the bliss of union with the divine.98 It is also used as a core term in two sixteenth-century Sufi romances, Mirigāvatī (1503 CE) and Madhumālatī. In both, the hero gets a glimpse of the ethereal beauty of the heroine and falls madly in love. Unable to meet her, he pines for her and is spiritually transformed in the process. The eventual reunion of the lovers acquires mystical dimensions. In Madhumālatī, the poet Manjhan uses the term rasa in the sense of an elixir of love when the pining hero asks to be told the news about the heroine, “for its rasa would revive this dying man.”99 But perhaps the best exposition of rasa as a term of love mysticism is found in Qutban's Mirigāvatī, translated superbly by Behl. Here, the heroine resists the hero's impatient advances with the words, Force does not count; only through rasa can you enjoy the savor of love. Count that as true love, in both worlds. (p.22) Rasa cannot be enjoyed through violence. … Only those who are colored with rasa, can savor it now or hereafter.100

In associating rasa with eternal savoring as well as resistance to force, Qutban's verse brings both mystical and ethical dimensions of rasa into focus. An exposition on spiritual experience as rasa is also found in a treatise by Sikh teacher Randhir Singh (1878–1961). Here, Singh refers to spiritual joy as amritrasa (immortal nectar) that is hidden in human heart and can be experienced through practice as taught by Sikh Gurus. He explains that the Page 22 of 41

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Introduction experience of this rasa is not possible merely though intellectual learning but requires deep contemplation of hymns of Gurus. He goes on to declare that “There is nothing so savory and sweet as the aesthetic joy of Name of God.”101 Closer to the present day, Jyoti Sahi (b. 1944), a Christian artist from south India, explains the ultimate vision of Christian art in terms of the dialectic between “fundamental joy (which is the very nature of our human consciousness)” and human suffering, where the mystery of “resurrected body” lies. As Frank Burch Brown explains, Sahi's faith is Christian, but he draws on the theory of rasa in linking it to artistic taste and imagination.102 The occurrences of the term rasa in Sufi poetry indicate to what extent it permeated medieval Indian poetics of mysticism. The references in Singh's and Sahi's works suggest that it has continued to be a vital term in Indian religious parlance to refer to devotional or mystical experience. Beyond India, rasa forms the central term to describe emotive responses to traditional (often ritualistic) gamelan music in Java and Bali. Taken to this part of the world during the period of Hindu-Buddhist influence, it continues to be used in a predominantly Muslim milieu in terms of which gamelan is discussed, though with slightly re-shaped connotations.103 Rasa and Modern Scholarship

Rasa has been extensively explored in scholarship on Indian aesthetics in modern times. Although scholars like Ananda Coomarswamy have discussed it as an important contribution of Indian aesthetic thought, it has also been criticized from some postcolonial perspectives as elitist and orthodox.104 In contemporary times, it serves as a foundational concept in Indian classical dance—which may be seen from some perspectives as elite. But its use by Javanese musicians mentioned earlier can hardly be viewed as elitist. And as discussed above, the term and its basic connotations are familiar to common people in north India, who use it in their everyday parlance in relation to devotional forms. It is in this sense that it helps us understand their view of a saint-poet tradition and its sustained popularity. In several works on bhakti poetry—both Sanskrit and regional—references to rasa are found. Graham Schweig, for example, begins his analysis of the rās-līlā (p.23) (Krishna's dance with the gopīs) in the Bhāgavata Purāṇa with a discussion of devotional love as rasa.105 Whitney Sanford makes references to rasa as a religious idea in her work on the poet Paramanand.106 A brief reference to rasa in the aesthetic sense is also found in Philip Lutgendorf's work on the Rāmcaritmānas of Tulsidas.107 These references indicate scholarly acknowledgement of its usefulness. But in this book, rasa is used as the main tool for analysis, not exclusively as an aesthetic or Vaishnava theological concept, but rather as a key cultural category linked to them that has important ethical implications. It is used especially to highlight how its experience

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Introduction illuminates religious and moral ideas for enjoyers of Narasinha's songs and hagiography in performance. Beyond the scholarship on Indian aesthetics, poetry and performance, the concept of rasa resonates with some Western thinkers' views on experience of art, modern literary theories as well as insights offered by scholars in cultural studies. Abhinavagupta's stress on the cognitive dimension of rasa and its ability to lead to a deeper understanding of the self finds a parallel in John Dewey's thought who describes art experience as “delightful perception” and suggests that “at its height it signifies complete interpretation of self and the world of objects and events.”108 In its emphasis on the process of creation and enjoyment that links the consciousness of the poet and the enjoyer the understanding of rasa finds resonance in the work of religion and art theorist S. Brent Plate who terms “artistic activity” as “inventive” (emphasis in the original) and stresses its transformative power.109 In its stress on the role of the sensitivity of the enjoyer, it intersects with reader-response theories of 1980s, which emphasize the role of the reader in creating meanings of texts.110 An implication of this aspect is that the meaning is not fixed; it is re-created according to the sensitivity of the enjoyer. This helps us understand the range of religious and moral interpretations that are drawn from songs and stories about a saint-poet in different contexts. In its recognition of the cognitive dimension of aesthetic delight, rasa also parallels observations of cultural anthropologists like Milton Singer, who defines cultural performances as channels through which the cultural content of a tradition “is organized and transmitted on particular occasions through specific media.”111 Yet the application of the concept of rasa in exploring a saint-poet tradition is not without its challenge. One challenge faced in such an application is that in Indian performance theories, rasa relates to the experience of the enjoyer in a singular performance, whereas the saint-poet traditions thrive on interrelated forms of lyric (pad), musical performance (bhajan), and hagiographic narratives (santcarit) in multiple performances. Here, interpreting the idea of “enhancing causes” in rasa theory in light of insights offered by cultural anthropologists is helpful. Victor Turner, for example, has pointed out that in every culture, a single message is sent through a network of performative genres because repeated and orchestrated reinforcement helps people to absorb it.112 Such orchestrated reinforcement is possible, Richard Bauman suggests, because each cultural performance (p.24) contains cues for interpreting itself and other related performance genres. A culture thus creates an interpretive framework for its genres with different communicative means (poetic devices, ritual gestures, etc.).113 Pad, bhajan, and santcarit form orchestrated cultural genres that also serve as enhancing components for one another in the context of the tradition.

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Introduction Bhakti, Rasa, and Saint-poet Traditions

Most lay people in north India who use the term rasa in relation to bhakti when referring to performances of a devotional nature are not familiar with aesthetic or Vaishnava theories or with Sufi romances. Yet a recognition of the element of aesthetic delight in devotional sentiment evoked through poetry, music, or narration is integral to their use. Some broad aspects of aesthetic and Vaishnava theories are, therefore, useful in examining the appeal of songs and stories in saint-poet traditions like Narasinha's. Rasa as put forward in aesthetic theories helps draw attention to those aspects of a saint-poet's lyrics and hagiography in performance that appeal to even those for whom they are not devotional genres. This helps explain the wide circulation of the songs and stories beyond religious contexts. In its stress on imaginative participation and in its blurring of the boundary between performer and enjoyer, the Vaishnava understanding of bhakti-rasa illuminates the ability of devotional genres to connect people in a shared experience. A description of devotional singing in David Haberman's work on the significance of imaginative roleplaying in the Gaudiya tradition provides a snapshot of how words, music, kīrtan (devotional singing performance), and the sensitivities of performers and listeners contribute to the emotional state understood in Vaishnava traditions as bhakti-rasa: The musicians, accompanied by drums, cymbals, and flutes, are well trained to induce ecstatic emotional states in the audience. They sing poetic songs designed to draw the listener into the world they depict. I have attended Bengali kīrtana performances in Vrindavan in which many of the musicians and listeners are visibly moved to intense degrees…. The kīrtana performance, then, provides a means for the predisposed bhakta to participate in the emotional world of the līlā with the physical body.114 In the emotional world created by the songs, the boundary between the performers and listeners blurs. Even though the enjoyment of rasa is individual, it becomes a link that connects a participant to others who share the experience. Like prasād, or shared sacred food, shared rasa, with its sense of a drink in its connotation as “nectar” and its ability to flow, offers the basis for a sense of community. It is in such moments that bhakti's important connotations of sharing and participation, with their ethical implications of equal distribution and embodiment, which are (p.25) finely discussed in Prentiss's work, become manifest.115 As enjoyable individual experience that can be shared, and as participatory experience that can become a basis for community building, bhakti as rasa forms an undercurrent of a range of understandings of bhakti as discussed in scholarship—as personal devotion, as embodiment, as “movement,” as public memory.

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Introduction How a devotional song with popular appeal can become interwoven in the daily lives of people beyond a religious context and create a bond among them is effectively communicated in the 1951 Marathi film Amar Bhopali (Immortal Bhopali), from the renowned director V. Shantaram. In the film, Ghaśyām sundarā śridharā, a morning song about Yashoda waking up Krishna composed by the eighteenth-century Marathi poet Honaji Bala, is shown sung first by the poet and his friend; and then, as it becomes popular, by common people engaged in a variety of daily chores. The sense of circulation and the growth of participants is clearly conveyed in the scene.116 The same process can be seen at work in songs from the Narasinha tradition. In one popular song, Krishna's foster mother wakes him up gently, reminding him of his chores and the sweet rewards for completing them. When it is sung as a morning-hymn, the lyrics and the melody lead an attuned participant to the idyllic world of Vraj depicting the household of cowherd at daybreak. If the singer or listener is a devotee, he or she imaginatively participates in the scene and is led to experience devotional sentiment that is inseparable from aesthetic delight. If he or she is also familiar with Narasinha's sacred biography, the song's appeal is enhanced by the memory of the saint who is believed to have sung his morning hymns as he walked to the temple at dawn. But a participant in a performance may also enjoy the poem depicting a mother cajoling her child and the soothing melody without reference to bhakti for Krishna. Of the performers and listeners of this song whom I interviewed, some related to it in devotional ways, while others enjoyed it in nondevotional ways. But they all mentioned elements of aesthetic delight, often recalling it as a shared experience. It is the ability of such songs and stories to offer aesthetic delight and create a community of sharing, even as they convey devotional or moral messages, that forms the basis of their circulation beyond religious contexts and their potential to serve as cultural platforms for people of diverse backgrounds to come together. Rasa remains at the heart of this potential. The words of the little-known publisher of an inexpensive Gujarati anthology of devotional songs, Lokpriya Sant Bhajanāvali (Collection of popular songs of saints), give a glimpse into the centrality of emotional appeal in the popular understanding of saint-poets' songs and hagiographies: The songs of the saints have immeasurable richness because they contain traces of divine utterance. That is why their songs pierce straight to people's hearts…. If the saints had not conveyed their own experiences in their songs, they would not have become immortal…. The events in their (p.26) lives indeed have a deep impact on their songs. The nectar of their songs is established in the hearts of people and will remain there forever…. Bhajans carry the fragrance of flowers of spirituality that will show you a new path [as you sing them] and become your guide for life.117

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Introduction The publisher focuses on two aspects of the songs: their inspirational potential because of their “immeasurable richness” and connection to the saints' lives and their ability to offer “nectar” that becomes “established in the hearts” and remains there “forever.” As the publisher puts the songs in the market for wide circulation, he stresses their ability to move and inspire. His little-known preface presents a striking parallel to Roderick Hindery's suggestion that the “moral breadth and quality” of the popular (along with classical) literatures of India demand public and scholarly attention for their ethical implications.118

The Shaping and Plan of the Book In the following chapters, songs and hagiographic narratives in the Narasinha tradition are examined as interrelated devotional forms of enduring religious and cultural significance with a consideration of their potential to serve as inspiring resources for constructive social causes. This study has asked for an integration of emic and etic approaches. I have known these songs and stories all my life and have participated in their performances in a variety of contexts. Drawing on my close familiarity with them, I hope to give a vivid portrayal of the tradition; I especially hope to elucidate how a saint-poet tradition works. At the same time, based on archival research, textual analysis, participant observation, and communications with artists and participants in popular culture, I hope to illuminate the factors that contribute to the enduring legacy of the saint-poet. Among the textual sources used for this work, the main source for Narasinha's lyrics is Shivlal Jesalpura's critical edition, Narasinha Mehtāni Kāvyakrutio (“Poems of Narasinha Mehta,” 1981, NKK from now on), which the scholar discussed extensively with me.119 Additionally, I consulted manuscripts in the archives at B. J. Institute, Ahmedabad, and the Oriental Institute, Vadodara. I have used critical editions of premodern Gujarati hagiographic texts. For nonGujarati hagiographic sources, I have used the standard printed editions and, in the case of Marathi Bhaktavijaya, the well-known English translation by Justin Abbott and N. R. Godbole.120 In order to examine the circulation of Narasinha's poems in modern media, I have looked at their film, television, and YouTube representations and conducted e-mail and phone interviews with artists, producers, and participants in Internet discussions. Most performances discussed in the work were observed during my 2001 research trip to Gujarat. Some were observed in later trips or in gatherings in the United States. In addition to using observed performances, in a (p.27) few places I have drawn on the memory of performances in which I participated if I thought they would shed light on the issue under consideration. The book is divided into two parts. In the first part, which consists of chapters 1– 4, I examine Narasinha's lyrics, their musical performances, and the saint-poet's sacred biography as forming a regional bhakti current, which is also linked to a pan-Indian network. Special attention is given to the interweaving of the transregional and regional poetic, musical, and narrative motifs that evoke both Page 27 of 41

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Introduction bhakti and aesthetic-joy rasa. In the second part, chapters 4–7, I give consideration to circulation and reception of the songs and stories in a diachronic manner. This part begins with a discussion of Narasinha's place in the religious milieu of western India and his emergence as an icon of Gujarat's identity in the British colonial period. It then examines the saint's influence on Gandhi and the latter's use of his songs and narratives in public life, which has provided an influential model for their later interpretations in popular culture considered in the chapter on circulation of Narasinha's songs and hagiography in media. The examination of the tradition in various contexts leads to a consideration of the potential of Narasinha's songs and sacred biography to serve as inspirational resources for addressing some of the pressing issues of present-day Gujarat. Chapters 1 and 2 discuss Narasinha's popular lyrics (pad) as the foundational texts of his tradition. The first chapter examines poems focusing on Krishna's life in Vraj and his loving relationships with its residents. This analysis brings into focus how the lyrics use the frame of devotion to Krishna to stress the human capacity for love and to celebrate femininity. The poems, it shows, take advantage of the possibilities offered by the Krishna stories to underscore love as the highest religious value. The chapter gives special attention to explicit articulation of the meaninglessness of caste and gender hierarchies in the path of love. It further highlights two aspects of Narasinha's lyrics in terms of poetic presentation: First, it shows how the milieu of Gujarat is inscribed on mythic Vraj as presented in the poems, making them accessible and appealing for its residents. Especially important among these are allusions to things from the daily lives of rural women that at once uplift these things from ordinariness and render the songs familiar to rural audiences. Second, it draws attention to the distinctive dramatic quality of some of Narasinha's poems, which makes them popular in the context of Krishna-bhakti and beyond it. The second chapter turns to the lyrics of mysticism and moral teaching, many of which are sung in the morning-hymn melody. An important focus of the discussion here is the way in which lyrics evoking a contemplative mood relate to those on Krishna's playful adventures in their stress on love as the fundamental spiritual value. It also highlights how the songs conveying teachings about compassion, humility, and detachment as essential qualities for religiousness closely parallel songs of major nirguṇa poets. Both chapters on lyrics give a close consideration to the ethical implications of the lyrics and the integration of elements (p.28) from diverse transregional and regional currents of bhakti, contributing to the broad base of the Narasinha's tradition. Chapter 3 examines hagiographic narratives about Narasinha Mehta as found in regional and transregional sources from different historical contexts. It looks closely at how the narrative patterns found in pan-Indian hagiographic literature get a distinctively regional coloring in Narasinha's sacred biography through Page 28 of 41

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Introduction references to local customs and cultural values. In particular, I examine the emphasis on financial success and material acquisition in the prosperous mercantile milieu of Gujarat, which is challenged by Narasinha's voluntary poverty and generosity of spirit. Such regionally embedded aspects, I suggest, contribute to the process of vernacularization discussed by Pollock. Furthermore, I discuss how the narratives about Narasinha's association with the “untouchables” (now more widely called “Dalits”) and the opposition he faces from his high-caste community have come to occupy central significance in his hagiography since the eighteenth century.121 Brief comparisons between regional and transregional sources and responses of performers highlight the different functions related to them. The transregional sources draw attention to Narasinha's gradual integration in the larger networks of bhakti. Within the region, the stories function as enhancing components in relation to the lyrics. Chapter 4 is based on participant observation and examines performances of Narasinha songs in different contexts. It shows that musical performances parallel abhinaya in rasa theories in the ways in which they bring out the meanings of the lyrics anew each time. In this process, the memory of the saintpoet's own singing described in hagiography and made alive by the mention of his name in the signature line, plays an important role. The analysis here also points out the agency of the performer in reconfiguring the meanings in each context and making them resonate at more than one level. Here I demonstrate how people claim cultural ownership of the songs by integrating them into different aspects of life. The second part—chapters 5, 6, and 7—shifts focus to the reception of Narasinha's songs and hagiography in Gujarat and neighboring Rajasthan, examining their gradual integration into public life and popular culture through mass media. After a discussion of Narasinha's place and influence in the religious (Hindu and non-Hindu) world of Gujarat and Rajasthan, chapter 5 focuses on the change in his status brought about by the introduction of printing and Western-style education in the British colonial context of the late nineteenth century. It considers how, as Narasinha was recognized as the ādikavi or first poet of the Gujarati language, the songs and stories that had once circulated as popular devotional and inspirational resources entered the secular world of scholarship, turning a devotional figure into a literary icon and associating him with a specific linguistic identity. (p.29) Chapter 6 examines Narasinha's songs and hagiography as a vital source of moral inspiration for Gandhi and their constructive use by him in public life. Looking closely at the recurrent references to Narasinha's songs and narratives in Gandhi's personal letters, writings, and speeches, this chapter shows that the saint provided a model of emulation for him. In using the songs and hagiography for building inclusive communities and in campaigns for social reform, Gandhi provided a model for application of their moral content in public life. I give Page 29 of 41

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Introduction special consideration to the song Vaiṣṇavajana to, which became internationally popular because of Gandhi, and to the term Harijan (people of God), which he adopted from a Narasinha song to refer to the “untouchables” of the Hindu society, leading to bitter debates about self-representation. Through the examination of Gandhi's engagement with Narasinha's songs and narratives, this chapter illustrates the potential of saint-poet traditions of north India to be used as inspirational cultural resources for constructive purposes in public life beyond devotional contexts. It also points the limits set for such use by their traditional perception. The final chapter considers the circulation of the songs, narratives, and image of the saint-poet through modern media. It focuses specifically on a 1940 Hindi film made at Gandhi's suggestion, a 1991 Gujarati television serial, and several popular clips on YouTube. I begin by discussing how the circulation of the songs and narratives in these media is properly considered popular culture rather than popular religion. Briefly engaging with different views of popular culture in scholarly debates, I point out that in the wide circulation of Narasinha's songs and hagiography through mass media and their association with business, they have aspects of popular culture. Yet they form a site of popular culture where socially important meanings have been articulated by its producers and consumers (who, in the case of YouTube, are also its co-producers). The discussion of the film draws attention to its portrayal of Narasinha as articulating important social reform issues in pre-independence India and drawing parallels to Gandhi's life. The analysis of the television serial focuses on articulation of the social concerns of late twentieth-century India through the character of the saint. And the examination of YouTube clips, especially the comments on them, shows how participants in this cyberspace culture draw meanings from Narasinha's songs that resonate with their lives. Using the arguments of popular-culture scholars who view consumers as active agents in producing meanings, I suggest that these products of mass media are sites of meaning making used by producers, actors, and viewers. The meanings emerging in these sites resonate with the contexts and needs of the agents. In view of the sustained resonance of Narasinha's songs and hagiography in devotional and nonreligious contexts, including popular culture, the concluding section of the book considers the potential of the Narasinha tradition to serve as a cultural platform for people in Gujarat to address the important question of communal harmony in the region. Since the tragic riots of 2002, many (p.30) nongovernmental organizations, concerned citizens, writers, and local communities have made efforts to get justice for the victims and rebuild harmony, using a variety of platforms. Drawing on scholarship on popularculture that stresses people's power to construct meanings, pleasures, and social identities, and referring to Lynch's idea of the “theological aesthetics of popular culture,” I suggest that Narasinha's songs and sacred biography provide a valuable resource for the promotion of harmony if used meaningfully. Gandhi Page 30 of 41

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Introduction provided one model of cultural will and imagination by using them in constructive programs in the early twentieth century. In contemporary times, Pakistan's singer Salman Ahmad, who draws on the eighteenth-century Sufi poet Bulleh Shah, and India's film maker Shabnam Virmani, who has created a virtual community of Kabir, have shown ways in which the spiritual and sociopolitical resonances of saint-poet traditions of premodern South Asia can be retrieved. Meaningful engagement with Narasinha Mehta's songs and sacred biography, I suggest, demands a wave of such imagination and will. Notes:

(1) . Narasinha Mehta nī Kāvykrutio (NKK), edited by Shivlal Jesalpura (1981: 382). Jesalpura's edition, providing manuscript information and critical apparatus is the standard source for scholarly works on Narasinha Mehta in Gujarati. In this work, NKK is used as the primary source. For each lyric discussed, the date of the earliest manuscript in which it is found is provided in the note. The translations of Narasinha Mehta's lyrics throughout the work are mine. (2) . For the earthquake relief concert by Lata Mangeshkar in 2001, see http:// www.youtube.+com/watch?v=31JmokZnucI (accessed on July 31, 2013); for the performance by Sonu Nigam at the inauguration of Drew Faust as Harvard's president in 2007, see http://www.+youtube.com/watch? v=FouwOWzzT8g&feature=related (accessed on July 31, 2013); for the performance by students of Panchamam Arts and Creations in Singapore, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y58dQZBfpDs (accessed on July 31, 2013); for the peace march, see article by Subhajit Roy, Indian Express, January 11, 2011, also available at http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/gandhigiri-with-hamasahmedinejad/735905/1 (accessed on July 31, 2013). (3) . Even though the hymn uses the term “Vaishnava,” which literally means “Vishnu's devotee,” its use here—as will be seen in the following chapters—is viewed by a large majority of scholars and lay people as meaning “religious person” and not a follower of a specific devotional path. (4) . Ashutosh Varshney, for example, expressed despair at Vaiṣṇavajana to's becoming a mere historical curiosity instead of an “immediately recognizable” song of the popular culture of Gujarat in December 2002 (“Will the Stallion Baulk in Mid-Gallop?” Outlook India, December 30, 2002). In 2011, a young lawyer and activist, Shehzad Poonawalla, was struck by the irony of the song's playing in the by-lanes of the very place where a massacre took place in 2002 (“Two Circles” Internet news site, http://twocircles.net/2011may21/ lay+ing_siege_muslim_mind_gujarat_riots_2002.html#.U80f7PldWSp, accessed on February 16, 2012). The eminent Gandhi scholar Tridip Suhrud suggests that of the multifaceted personhood of the Mahatma, it is the dialogical self, which was equally moved by this hymn and by the “Sermon on the Mount,” that we Page 31 of 41

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Introduction seek in the aftermath of violence (http://www.+india-seminar.com/ 2002/513/513%20tridip%20suhrud.htm, accessed on February 16, 2012). (5) . “Medieval” here refers to the period from the fourteenth through the eighteenth centuries, which overlaps with “early modern” in current usage in history. (6) . This is clearly evident in the four volume anthology of Medieval Indian Literature published by the national academy of letters, Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi edited by Ayyappa Paniker (1997–2000). (7) . Schelling 2010: 54. (8) . Pollock 2003: 14. (9) . Dewey 2005 [1934]: 339. (10) . These include works such as John Stratton Hawley's studies of north Indian bhakti saints—Sūr Dās: Poet, Singer, Saint (1984) and Three Bhakti Voices (2005); essays by South Asian, European, and American scholars in Bhakti in Current Research (1979–1982, 1982–1985, 2001–2003); Winand Callewaert and Peter Friedlander's The Life and Works of Raidās (1993); Charlotte Vaudeville's A Weaver Named Kabir (1993); David Lorenzen's Praises to a Formless God (1996); Rachel McDermott's Mother of My Heart, Daughter of My Dreams (2001); and the volume edited by Karine Schomer and W. H. McLeod The Sants (1987). (11) . Philip Lutgendorf's The Life of a Text (1991) and Christian Novetzke's recent study of Namdev in Religion and Public Memory (2008) analyze performance. (12) . David Lorenzen's introductory essays in Bhakti Religion in North India (1995) and Religious Movements in South Asia (2004) provide good examples of studies of the social implications of bhakti. Novetzke's study also focuses on the public memory of the saint constructed and maintained in complex ways. (13) . See, for example, John Stratton Hawley's discussion of bhakti saints in Amar Chitra Katha (Hawley 1995b: 107–134). (14) . Françoise Mallison's French monograph Au Point du Jour, Les Prabhātiyāṃ de Narasiṃha Mahetā (1986) examines a popular genre of Narasinha's songs and provides their French translations with meticulous notes. Her essays in French and English on various Hindu, Jain, and Islamic devotional genres in Gujarati (a few of them on Narasinha Mehta) provide a helpful overview of the religious milieu in which the saint-poet's tradition developed. See Mallison 1980, 1989, 1991, 2000. Rachel Dwyer's work is titled The Poetics of Devotion: The Gujarati Lyrics of Dayaram (2001).

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Introduction (15) . Sullivan 1986: 14–15. (16) . For a discussion of the theological potential of popular culture, see Lynch 2005: 189–193. (17) . Fernandes 2003: 9. (18) . Schomer and McLeod 1987: 1; Hawley 1988: 6. In his recent works, Hawley has rightly problematized uncritical use of the term “bhakti movement” to signify an all-India religious movement (Hawley 2007: 209–225). (19) . To cite only a few indicators of the iconic status of Narasinha Mehta in Gujarat: in 1999 the prestigious “Narasinha Mehta Award” for poetry was established by the Rupayatan institution; in Junagadh the main lake of the city is named after him; in June 2010 a proposal was made to rename Vastrapur lake, a popular gathering place for young people in Ahmedabad, as “Narasinh Mehta Lake,” with the goal of educating youth about the region's cultural heritage. (“Ever Seen Vastrapur's Narsinh Mehta Lake?” DNA India. June 25, 2010); large statues of the saint-poet are found in the cities of Junagadh, Ahmedabad, Jamnagar, and Vadodara. (20) . Harindra Dave, the introduction to Narsaiyo Bhakta Harino (Audio Cassette), 1982. (21) . V. A. Janaki's detailed study in historical geography, Gujarat as the Arabs Knew It, traces the use of the term Gujarat since the eleventh century to refer to different territories in which the Gurjars had powerful presence. She concludes that the term came to refer to Gujarat roughly as we know it today in the fourteenth century (Janaki 1969: 27–33). More recently, Samira Sheikh also discusses the origins and referents of the term in her work on Gujarat under the Sultans (Sheikh 2009: 4–6). (22) . Padma Purāṇa, Uttarkhand, Śhrimad Bhāgavata Mahātmya 1.48–49 (Śhrimad Bhāgavatam 1998: 2); Nabhadas in Rpakala 1969 [1914]: 673. (23) . The cultural geographer Bharat Bhatt, who recognizes the importance of folk regions defined by shared oral literature, stresses the role of the evolution of the old Gujarati in carving a regional identity (Bhatt 1980: 52, 58). Such a sense of cultural region, not defined by political dynasties, is also traced by the literary scholar Sitanshu Yashaschandra in the Gujarati writings of the sixteenthcentury Jain monk Samayasundar, who wrote these pieces during his travels on foot in present-day Gujarat and Rajasthan (Yashaschandra 2003: 571–573). (24) . For the form of early Gujarati and its literature, see K. K. Shastri 2006 [1973]: 110–227.

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Introduction (25) . Even the few historical documents available from the period in which Narasinha is believed to have lived, fifteenth-century Junagadh in the peninsula area of Gujarat known as Saurashtra, do not mention him. For a succinct discussion of the absence of references to Narasinha in contemporary sources, see Mallison 1986: 26–27. (26) . Ranchodji Amarji 1882: 118–123. (27) . This debate had two main schools of thought. One school placed Narasinha in the fifteenth century, and the other, represented notably by A. B. Dhruv and K. M. Munshi, placed him in the sixteenth. As K. K. Shastri's detailed discussion shows, it lasted many decades (1905–1971) and involved complex arguments from both sides (K. Shastri 2005 [1971]: 28–89). Jethalal Trivedi sees a possibility that there were perhaps two or more Narasinhas in history (J. Trivedi 1973: 139–147). Sitanshu Yashaschandra and Samira Sheikh, Gujarati scholars writing in English, place Narasinha in the fifteenth century (Yashaschandra 2003: 583; Sheikh 2009: 138). Of the two European scholars who have worked on bhakti poetry in Gujarat, Françoise Mallison places Narasinha in the fifteenth century (Mallison 2000: 291); whereas Rachel Dwyer suggests that the fifteenthcentury dates have been largely discredited in favor of the years 1500–1580 (Dwyer 2006: 84). (28) . Jayantkumar Thakar discusses the nonsectarian nature of Hindu practices in Gujarat during the Sultanate period (1299–1572 CE), as indicated in inscriptions on sacred buildings mentioning many deities (Thakar 1977: 365). (29) . K. B. Dave discusses the references to Nagar Brahmins as worshipers of Shiva in the form of Hatakeshwar found in the “Nagar Khand” of the Skandapurana (K. Dave 1976: 533–535). Shambhuprasad Desai gives evidence of Nagars occupying important position in Junagadh since the twelfth century (S. Desai 1990 [1975]: 82–83). (30) . The Jain temple was built in the seventh century by a Jain from Kashmir. The many Shaivite sites in Girnar have long been associated with Nath ascetics, who gather there in large numbers (S. Desai 1990: 403–405, 396–397, 417, 426– 427). (31) . S. Desai 1990: 423–424. (32) . Even though the current temple dedicated to Krishna was not built until the sixteenth century, pilgrimage to Dwaraka had been in vogue for a few centuries (K. Shastri 1977: 163; D. Shastri 1977: 602–603). (33) . A verse from the Gītagovinda found in an inscription in Anavada, north Gujarat, from 1291 indicates that the text had reached Gujarat by that date (Sandesara 1976: 366). K. K. Shastri refers to a text by the Jain monk Page 34 of 41

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Introduction Manikyachandrasuri written in 1422 in which the author lists eighteen Puranas that a Brahmin should know, including the Bhāgavata (K. Shastri 2005 [1971]: 14). (34) . For Vidyapati, see W. G. Archer's Love Songs of Vidyapati (1987 [1963]). For Chandidas, see Love Songs of Chandidas, the Rebel Poet-priest of Bengal, trans. by Deben Bhattacharya (1967). (35) . Charlotte Vaudeville discusses the integration of Vishnu and Shiva worship in the early Varkari tradition with reference to Jnandeva (thirteenth century) and Namdev (fourteenth century), where she draws parallels between the hagiographies of Namdev and Narasinha (Vaudeville 1987: 215–228). (36) . For dates and work of Ravidas and Kabir, see Hawley and Juergensmeyer 1988: 9–23, 35–49. (37) . In his examination of the links between Varkari saints and Narasinha in terms of language (possessive ending -co in some places), meter, and themes, Shastri suggests that Narasinha's association with pilgrims traveling through Junagadh must have contributed to his integration of aspects of Marathi devotional songs in his lyrics (K. Shastri 2005 [1971]: 90–99). (38) . In her essays, Mallison discusses the historical ties between the Jain and Hindu traditions in Gujarat. Jain religious ideology and literary expression, she suggests, could have influenced some aspects of medieval Gujarati bhakti poetry (Mallison 2000: 291–300). (39) . Vaudeville 1987: 217–224. (40) . Ibid., 226–228. (41) . Sheikh 2009: 208–209. (42) . Lorenzen 1995: 13–21; Hawley and Juergensmeyer 1988, chapters 1 and 2; Bahuguna n.d. (43) . For the influence of the Bhāgavata and the Gītagovinda on Narasinha lyrics, see Shukla-Bhatt 2007: 260–264; K. K. Shastri 2005[1971] 125–132. (44) . NKK: 141, 181, 208. (45) . Bangha 2011: 140. (46) . For the occurrence of rāgas such as Rāmagrī and Prabhātī, see the lists of distribution in Callewaert 2000: 86–87, 102. (47) . Bangha 2011: 140.

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Introduction (48) . The term “premodern” in this work refers to the period prior to the nineteenth century. (49) . Vikram Samvat is the name of the Indian lunar calendar, which is 56.7 years ahead of the Gregorian calendar; MS # 69, B. J. Institute Archives, Ahmedabad, which I have examined. (50) . MS # 164 B. J. Institute Archives, Ahmedabad. I have examined this manuscript. (51) . At least ten manuscripts from this period and slightly earlier are found in the B. J. Institute, Ahmedabad. Of these, I examined seven: MSs # 223, VS 1738 (1682 CE), # 1099, VS 1746 (1690 CE), # 2240, VS 1758 (1702 CE), # 1101, VS 1764 (1708 CE), # 208, VS 1774 (1718 CE), # 689, VS 1792 (1736 CE), and # 184, VS 1795(1739 CE). (52) . For Akho see Joshi 2006 [1976]: 381–431; for Pritam and Dhiro see B. Trivedi 2006 [1976]: 432–452; for Ravi-Bhan sect see Gohil 2000. (53) . For hagiographic texts, I have not consulted manuscripts but have used print editions. (54) . For Nabhadas and Priyadas, I use Bhaktamāl “Bhaktisudhāsvād,” which contains the original text, the commentary of Priyadas, and exegesis by Sitaram Sharan Bhagavandas Rupakala 1969 [1914]. The section on Narasinha is on pp. 673–695. From now on, this text will be referenced with Rupakala's name. (55) . A manuscript containing poems about the incident when Narasinha was asked to get the flower garland from the image of Damodar by Ra Mandalik is dated VS 1675 (1619 CE); Gujarat Vidya Sabha MS # 189. (56) . For a definition of ākhyān, see Thompson 2003: 11. Darshana Dholakia lists eight ākhyāns from the seventeenth century (Dholakia 1992). (57) . For this ākhyān by an anonymous author, I use Narasaῖ Mehtānũ Ākhyān, edited by K. H. Dhruv (2000). This text has all the major episodes from other ākhyāns and adds the episode of Narasinha's association with the lower castes. (58) . For more on Priyadas, see R. D. Gupta 1969: 57–70. (59) . For the Bhaktavijaya, I use Mahipati, Stories of Indian Saints: English Translation of Mahipati's Marathi Bhaktavijaya, trans. by Justin E. Abbott and Pundit N. R. Godbole, vols. I–II 1988 [1933]. (60) . For Narsī jī ro Māhero, I use the text edited by Jethalal Trivedi (1972). Trivedi, following K. K. Shastri, argues that the work indeed belongs to Mira and refutes the earlier arguments made by the well-known Mira scholar C. L. Page 36 of 41

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Introduction Prabhat, who had argued that it belonged to a much later time. (22–31). Dholakia follows Prabhat and argues against Mira's authorship of this work (Dholakia 1992: 205–206). (61) . There are references to Priyadas as a public reader, or kathākār (narrator), of the Bhaktamāl in later commentarial traditions (R. D. Gupta 1969: 68–69). Novetzke points out that the entire Bhaktavijaya is in the form of kīrtan (devotional singing) (Novetzke 2008: 122). In this work, Mahipati recurrently uses the verb “listen” instead of “read” in addressing his audience. See Mahipati 1.105. 1.111, vol. 1 1988 [1933]: 9–10. (62) . See S. Desai 1990: 93–96, 424. (63) . An early source in print is Narasinha Mehtā nā pad, printed in Prācin Kāvya, vol.1, no. 3, 1885, ed. Hargovinddas Kantawala, Ahmedabad. See the Catalog of Marathi and Gujarati Printed Books in the Library of the British Museum (Blumhardt 1892: 89). The Gujarati scholar Deepak Mehta communicated that the first print publication of Narasinha's poems was in 1852 (e-mail communication, January 1, 2012). (64) . An early reference to Narasinha as ādikavi is found in Narmadashankar Dave's writings (N. Dave 1996 [1865]: 169). (65) . Jayant Kothari, for example, questions the authorship of songs found in later manuscripts in a series of articles in the Gujarati literary journal Uddeś (Kothari 1999: 380–387, 445–454, 49–58). (66) . Conversation with Dhirubhai Thaker, an eminent scholar of Gujarati literary history and the director of the Gujarati Vishvakosh Trust (Gujarati Encyclopedia Trust), March 1, 2001. (67) . Interview with Rajendra Shukla, May 14, 2001. (68) . Hawley 1988: 287–288. (69) . Hawley 2009: 27. (70) . Novetzke 2008: XIII, 74–85. (71) . Paniker 1997: xxix–xxx. (72) . Bhakti has many more meanings, including “predisposition (to disease),” “line,” and “streak” (Monier Monier-Williams 1979: 743). For an overview of bhakti in the Hindu tradition, see Carman 2005: 856–860. (73) . Śvetāśvatara Upanishad 6.22 (Hume 1992 [1921]: 411) and Bhagavad Gītā. Chapter 12 of the Bhagavad Gītā is titled Bhaktiyoga (Schweig 2010: 169–174).

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Introduction (74) . For a discussion of bhakti as an embodied practice, see Prentiss 1999: 7– 11. For reverential love shown to the divine through worship of images in Hindu temples, see Eck 1998: 47–48. (75) . Pollock 1998: 41–42. (76) . Schelling 2010: 56. (77) . For a discussion of phenomenological approach see Carman: 1974: 10–11. In the area of theology, John Carman's Theology of Ramanuja (1974); David Kinsley's The Sword and the Flute: Kali and Krishna, Dark Visions of the Terrible and the Sublime in Hindu Mythology (1977); Diana Eck's Banaras, the City of Light (1982); John Hawley's Krishna, the Butter Thief (1983); and John Carman and Vasudha Narayanan's The Tamil Veda (1989) provide a few examples. (78) . Prentiss 1999; Novetzke 2008. (79) . Vasudha Narayanan has argued persuasively about the role of performers as transmitters of tradition in the Hindu context more generally. See Narayanan 2000: 776. (80) . Monier-Williams: 869. (81) . Standard Gujarati dictionary Sārth Gujarātī Joḍaṇīkoṣ 1998 [1929]: 698. (82) . Bhajan gathering in the home of Nathabhai Gohil, August 17, 2011. (83) . For tes and svād, see Sārth Gujarātī Joḍaṇīkoṣ 1998 [1929]: 377, 878. The entry for tes indicates etymology from English with a question mark. For a discussion of an amusing usage of English words in Gujarati, see the article by Haresh Pandya (2010), a professor of English in Gujarat, at http:// www.macmillandictionaryblog.com/strange-amusing-use-of-+english-in-gujarati (accessed on December 25, 2011). (84) . M. Dave 1995 [1987]. (85) . NKK: 356, 362. (86) . M. Dave 2000: 37–54. (87) . Wulff 1995: 101. (88) . As a core theory in Indian aesthetics, the theory of rasa has been extensively studied. Many of its more complex aspects are not of relevance here. For an excellent overview of rasa as an aesthetic concept, see G. B. Mohan Thampi's essay “‘Rasa' as Aesthetic Experience” (Thampi 1965: 75–80). In my doctoral dissertation at Harvard, a chapter is devoted to the discussion of the

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Introduction concept of bhakti as rasa and its applicability to the traditions of saint-poets (Shukla-Bhatt 2003). (89) . For Bharata's Nāṭyaśāstra, see Adya Rangacharya, trans. (2010). The Nātyaśāstra, English Translation with Critical Notes. For the exposition of the term rasa, dominant emotions, acting (abhinaya), and qualifications of a good spectator by Bharata, see Nātyaśāstra VI. 31–38, VII. 1–3 and 7, VIII. 5–10, and XXVI. 50–62 (Rangacharya 2010: 54–55, 64–65, 78, 215–216). Rangacharya's discussion of rasa in his analytical work on the subject is also helpful (Rangacharya 2005: 75–77). (90) . Sushil Kumar De's discussion of the development of the concept of rasa gives a good overview of the developments after Bharata (De 1960: 243–282). For a succinct discussion of Bharata's and Abhinavagupta's theories of rasa, see Haberman 1988: 13–25. (91) . For Anandavardhana's thought, see Ramachandran 1980: 23–39, 57–73; Krishnamoorthy 1979: 166–168; and Jhanji 1985: 14–16, 80–83. (92) . Two excellent sources for Abhinavagupta's thought are Jeffery Masson and M. V. Patwardhan's Śāntarasa and Abhinavagupta's Philosophy of Aesthetics (1969) and Vaman M. Kulkarni's Outline of Abhinavagupta's Aesthetics (1998). For an overview of his thought, see Ramachandran 1980: 107–112. (93) . Thampi 1965: 75–80. (94) . A verse of Vopadeva (ca. thirteenth century) quoted by K. Krishnamoorthy clearly stresses the aesthetic aspect: “It is the experience of the delight brought about by hearing or reading the accounts of the Lord or the Lord's devotees as described by sages like Vyasa, which contain the well known nine rasas” (Krishnamoorthy 1979: 279). (95) . For an excellent introduction and translation, see David Haberman, trans. (2003) Bhaktirasāmr͎tasindhu of Rūpa Gosvāmin. (96) . For a discussion of Rupa Goswami's theory of bhakti-rasa, see Haberman 1988, chapter 3. For descriptions of the five types of bhakti-rasas, see Schweig 2005: 100–101. (97) . Haberman 2003: li. (98) . Behl and Weightman 2000: xvi. (99) . Manjhan's Madhumālatī, trans. by Behl and Weightman 2000: 102. (100) . Mirigāvatī, trans. by Behl 2012: 74. (101) . Singh, Randhir (trans. Trilochan Singh) 2011 [1981], Chapter 6. Page 39 of 41

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Introduction (102) . Brown 2000: 261–262. (103) . Two important works on gamelan discuss it in terms of rasa. See Benamou 2010; Heider 2011. (104) . See Coomaraswamy's The Transformation of Nature in Art (1934), chapters 1 and 3, and The Dance of Shiva (1957 [1947]), chapters 2 and 3. For remarks on rasa from a postcolonial perspective, see Dharwarkar 1993: 179–180. (105) . Schweig 2005: 97–101. (106) . Sanford 2008: 18, 21, 84–85. (107) . Lutgendorf 1991: 187. (108) . Dewey 2005 [1934]: 18–19. (109) . Plate 2005; 7. (110) . See for example, the essays in the volume edited by Jane P. Tompkins (1980). Especially relevant is Wolfgang Iser's “The Reading Process: A Phenomenological Approach,” pp. 50–69. See also Eco (1994). (111) . Milton Singer, as cited by Lawrence Sullivan in “Sounds and Senses” (Sullivan 1986: 1). (112) . V. Turner 1982 104–105. (113) . Bauman 1984: 15–16. (114) . Haberman 1988: 134–135. (115) . See Prentiss 1999: 153–155 for an excellent discussion of sharing as an integral aspect of bhakti. See also Novetzke 2008: 18. (116) . For the clip of the film with this song, see http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=n0-oT6UPsk8 (accessed on October 8, 2012). Honaji Bala (1754–1844) is well known for his contribution to the popular Marathi folk-music genre lāvni. I am grateful to Christian Novetzke for reminding me of this song. (117) . Harishbhai Varan, ed., Lokapriya Sant Bhajanāvali (Gujarati, “Popular devotional songs of aints”, n.d.), p. ii. The translation is mine. (118) . Hindery 2004 [1978]: 170–171. (119) . Jesalpura's critical edition is used as the standard source in scholarly works on Narasinha.

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Introduction (120) . For textual sources except Premanand, see notes 34–39, 41, 43–44. For Premanand, I use Premānand nī Kāvyakrutio (Poetic works of Premanand), edited by K. K. Shastri and Shivlal Jesalpura 1998 [1978]. (121) . In this work, both “untouchable” and “Dalit” are used. “Untouchable” in quotation marks is used when referring to premodern contexts and in discussing Gandhi's efforts to eliminate the social evil of “untouchability.” In all other places, the term “Dalit” is used.

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Lyrics of Play

Narasinha Mehta of Gujarat: A Legacy of Bhakti in Songs and Stories Neelima Shukla-Bhatt

Print publication date: 2014 Print ISBN-13: 9780199976416 Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: November 2014 DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199976416.001.0001

Lyrics of Play Krishna in the Human World Neelima Shukla-Bhatt

DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199976416.003.0002

Abstract and Keywords The first chapter examines Narasinha's poems that focus on Krishna's life in Vraj and his loving relationships with its residents. The analysis brings into focus the stress on the human capacity for love and the celebration of femininity in these poems, even as they glorify Krishna's grace. It shows that the poems take advantage of the possibilities offered by the Krishna stories to underscore love as the highest religious value. Special attention is given here to explicit articulation of the meaninglessness of caste and gender hierarchies in bhakti. The chapter further highlights two aspects of Narasinha's lyrics. Frist, it discusses inscription of Gujarat's cultural milieu on the mythic Vraj in the poems. Second, it draws attention to the distinctive dramatic quality of some of Narasinha's poems, which makes them popular in the context of Krishna bhakti and beyond it in secular contexts. Keywords:   Krishna, gopi, Vraj, ras, lila, gender, caste, rasa

Look, look at the footprints of your son. Running away, the little one took huge huge steps!1 —Narasinha Mehta These lines of a Narasinha song depict a scene from a well-loved Krishna story— his theft of butter from a cowherd household in Vraj and the complaint of neighborhood women to his foster mother, Yashoda. When I heard the song in a Page 1 of 44

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Lyrics of Play Gujarati family gathering, a smile lit up the faces of both the performer and the listeners when these specific lines were sung. A number of factors contributed to this expression of enjoyment, including the tune, the quality of the performance, and the context of celebrating Krishna's birthday with family members and friends. But the “blueprint” or basis for the experience was provided by the lyric in colloquial Gujarati drawing a charming picture of the divine child running away when he is caught stealing butter.2 The image of the child Krishna as a butter thief, popular all over India, is given a distinctive regional touch in these lines by the use of the Gujarati diminutive nānaḍiyo (the little one) as a term of affection. The appeal of this diminutive is enhanced further by the reference to his “huge huge steps.” The reference to the size of the steps not only highlights the dramatic appeal of the scene but also alludes to a story about Lord Vishnu, in which he traverses three worlds (the heavens, the earth, and the netherworld) in three steps to teach a lesson to the demon king Bali. For performers and listeners, many of whom may be familiar with the story of Vishnu's mighty steps, the lines bring home the irony of his incarnation as Krishna, a naughty child among the simple cowherds of Vraj. The lyric draws the performers to participate imaginatively in the divine play (līlā) through its layers of meanings and leads them to an experience of rasa. The enjoyable devotional sentiment that an effective performance such as the above evokes is rooted in the appeal of a lyric in which an allusion to a panIndian myth is vernacularized through regional colloquial expressions and (p. 34) a dramatic presentation of a scene that one may encounter in everyday life. The lyric provides an example of Gujarati writer Swami Anand's observation that the lyrics of saint-poets are like retail sales that make the riches of Indian devotional and mystical literature available to regional communities, interweaving them with local cultural elements.3 They form parts of broader currents of bhakti and draw from transregional Sanskrit Puranas and devotional classics. But with spontaneous vernacular rhetoric and layers of culturally embedded meanings, they remain firmly grounded in the regional ethos, offering people an authentic source of religious experience in their own language. In her work on Tiruvaymoli, the Tamil devotional poem by Nammalvar (ca. tenth century) used in temple liturgies and cherished by the Srivaishnava community of south India, Vasudha Narayanan uses the term “Vernacular Veda” to mean that it is a text of the highest religious authority that is nevertheless accessible to all through performance.4 Many of the devotional lyrics by regional poets do not form parts of temple liturgies; yet, because of their popularity as authentic religious texts, Narayanan's apt phrase is useful in describing them. Indeed, lyrics provide the very foundation for the popularity of a regional saint-poet tradition and its association as sources of bhakti that performers often describe in terms of rasa. Our exploration of the Narasinha tradition, therefore, must begin with his lyrics.

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Lyrics of Play In Gujarati, as in Hindi, the poetic genre in which the lyrics of the saint-poets are composed is called pad, a short poem marked by emotional intensity that is meant to be sung, with the refrain generally repeated in group. A pad is very similar to a folksong in its accessibility and musical aspects and offers an appropriate form to express deep and subtle emotions. It was used extensively by saint-poets to convey devotional or ethical messages.5 Narasinha's title as the ādikavi rests to a great degree on the sustained popularity of his pads, even though he is also credited with longer narrative poems.6 Since this work is focused on his enduring legacy, it focuses on his pads and not on other poems. The pads in his corpus belong to two broad categories: those based on narratives about Krishna's playful early life in Vraj, his līlā; and those containing reflections on the nature of the divine, the self, and bhakti, with its religious and moral implications.7 Lyrics in the two categories awaken devotional sentiment in different ways. Those in the first are dominated by love for Krishna as a divine incarnation and convey a form of bhakti in which emotions and relationships are at the center. They employ subjective or dramatic modes of presentation, often with appeal to visual imagination. By contrast, those in the second category convey bhakti of contemplation, focusing on the all-pervading form of the divine or conveying teachings on the human condition, ethical behavior, or the spiritual journey. These lyrics are often in the form of direct address to the audience as listeners. The poems in the first category correspond to the religious understanding conveyed (p.35) in texts such as the Bhaktirasāmṛtasindhu (The ocean of the nectar of bhakti rasa) of Rupa Gosvami, which stress that emotions should be cultivated “as an effective means of establishing a relationship with the ultimate reality.”8 Those in the second category convey a reflective mood in which the search is turned within, generally associated with the ancient philosophical treatises Upanishads in Hindu traditions.9 The difference between these two categories of songs in the Narasinha tradition corresponds to the oft-cited theological division between two currents of bhakti: saguṇa bhakti, the path of intense love directed to a personal deity such as Ram or Krishna, whose form and attributes are adored by the devotees; and nirguṇa bhakti, contemplative and meditative devotion directed to the formless Ultimate known by different names. The first is described as theistic in approach and the second as monistic. In poetry, saguṇa bhakti is often expressed as adoration for the beautiful form of the deity or as intense personal love. Nirguṇa bhakti poetry, on the other hand, stresses inner search and repetition of the divine name. Kenneth Bryant suggests that a helpful way to appreciate saguṇa and nirguṇa poetry is to recognize the first as poetry of form (rūpa), which has ties with Sanskrit poetics, and the latter as poetry of name (nāma), which does not follow a specific poetic tradition. The first appeals to imagination, while the second asks the audience to listen and understand.10 The corpus of Narasinha's lyrics, which incorporates Page 3 of 44

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Lyrics of Play both saguṇa and nirguṇa theological strands, thus also integrates rūpa and nāma poetics. The integration of saguṇa and nirguṇa types of bhakti in Narasinha's corpus carries important implications beyond theology. Sociologically, the two bhakti paths are seen as having different degrees of concern for egalitarian social organization. Both paths undermine the rules of hereditary purity and pollution that dominate priestly rituals. However, as mentioned in the introduction, the nirguṇa path is associated with explicit and sharp questioning of caste hierarchies as well as “untouchability” in the Hindu society in ways that the saguṇa path is not. The presence of elements from both currents in the Narasinha corpus has provided grounds for debate about authorship in Gujarati scholarship. These debates echo the broader conversations prevalent in scholarship on devotional poetry of India since the early twentieth century, in which nirguṇa bhakti poets, called sants, are distinguished from saguṇa bhakti poets, termed bhaktas.11 But in the view of most Gujarati scholars and most of the people who sing Narasinha's lyrics, the seemingly disparate elements represent complementary facets of his comprehensive understanding of bhakti, in which saguṇa and nirguṇa conceptions of the divine, emotions and contemplation, personal spiritual aspirations and concern for social equality all have a place.12 The popularity of Narasinha's songs in both categories points to a devotional milieu in which several bhakti currents crisscross. Performers and audiences associate with their beloved saint-poet an understanding of bhakti that resonates with their own devotional life and associate songs with (p.36) strikingly different moods to a single corpus. The internal diversity of the corpus, as we shall see later, makes it a platform on which people with diverse bhakti perspectives can meet. In this chapter and the next, I examine lyrics from the Narasinha tradition. A large number of these are popular in musical performances today. Others are often heard in recitation and reflect the interpretation of bhakti as offered by the Narasinha tradition as a whole. This chapter focuses on lyrics based on the narratives of Krishna's līlā (divine sporting) in the human world. The next chapter focuses on contemplative lyrics, classified in Gujarati scholarship as lyrics of knowledge-bhakti (gnān-bhakti nā̃ pad).13 An examination of both shows that despite the differences in the moods they evoke, the lyrics in the two categories overlap in terms of themes and style. Importantly, they are held together by an interpretation of bhakti as the way of being in tune with all of existence through love. In both categories, a large number of lyrics stress love as the fundamental link among the human, the natural, and the divine as the key to experience joy. Along with adoration for the divine, they contain an exaltation of the human (p.37) capacity for love. Social or religious norms that distract from experiencing the joy derived from love are described as inadequate at best. Lyrics in both categories in the Narasinha corpus refer to the meaninglessness of priestly rites, ascetic practices, and caste and gender discrimination. The Page 4 of 44

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Lyrics of Play understanding of bhakti as emerging from this corpus offers a platform to articulate not only religious themes but also a critique of social and spiritual hierarchies. Association of this understanding with Narasinha is closely linked to his hagiography and his stature as an inspirational figure today. Even with the awareness that not all the lyrics attributed to the saint-poet may belong to him, their examination as a corpus that emerges from hand written manuscripts preserved carefully by owners for centuries (see figure 1.1) offers us a glimpse into the shaping of a saint-poet tradition through thematic and stylistic links among them. It also allows us to view the corpus in relation to the broader milieu of bhakti poetry of India.

Krishna-līlā in Narasinha's Lyrics A large number of popular Narasinha lyrics are based on Krishna's life in Vraj, as narrated in the Bhāgavata Purāṇa. Like the story of Jesus as a divine incarnation, the story of Krishna as a divine descent (avatār) to earth is extraordinarily rich in its human interest. It is not exclusively a story of divine power and glory. Krishna is born in prison and immediately after birth is separated from his parents. He is brought to the village of Gokul in Vraj as a newborn and spends his early life among cowherds. There, his foster parents, Nanda and Yashoda, pamper and discipline

Figure 1.1 A medieval manuscript containing Narasinha's lyrics (BJ MS # 2240, ca. 1701 CE). Photograph: Neelima Shukla-Bhatt.

him, while neighborhood women scold him for pranks like stealing butter. Krishna plays boyish games with friends and cracks jokes, even as he protects the residents of his village from demons. As a young man, he plays the flute, dances, and engages in amorous adventures with cowherd women (gopīs), especially one named Radha. In all these phases of his childhood and youth, Krishna renders himself dependent on human love and, therefore, utterly vulnerable. The tension between his divine status and his vulnerability serves to highlight the power of love. His divine sporting (līlā) is not dazzling in its grandeur; rather, it unfolds in the context of loving relationships with simple people who have neither material nor social privilege.14 Page 5 of 44

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Lyrics of Play From the religious perspective, the Krishna story is one of ultimate grace, in which the divine is both accessible to and bound to his human devotees. But when presented in poetry and songs, it also provides a metaphoric frame in which to explore the depth and colors of human love. As a result, Krishna has been a beloved figure in Indian cultures for centuries. The Bengali saying “Without Krishna there is no song” (Kānu bina gīta nahi) expresses the idea that Krishna embodies that abundance of love and joy without which life is possible but not (p.38) worth living.15 References to Krishna are pervasive in all types of folk songs—wedding songs, lullabies, and carnival and festival songs. In lullabies, Krishna is the child being rocked to sleep. Thus, for a mother, her child becomes Krishna as she sings a lullaby. Young lovers in folk songs address each other as Krishna and Radha.16 As the Gujarati scholar Hasu Yagnik suggests, the charm of Krishna's character in a whole range of moods and situations of love has made him irresistibly attractive. People have, therefore, sought to enhance the meanings of their ordinary existence by interweaving Krishna themes in the songs associated with their own lives.17 For centuries, Krishna has not simply been a divine figure; he has been an integral part of the fabric of life in India. As a symbol of loving relationships, he has a pervasive presence in all forms of art, including mystical Sufi songs. Evidence suggests that some Krishna themes were prevalent in the folk songs and narrative poems of Jain monks in Gujarat even before Narasinha lived.18 What the Narasinha corpus offered were Krishna lyrics of enduring popularity, drawing on both Sanskrit Krishna-bhakti sources and regional poetic imagery. That Narasinha was indebted to classical Sanskrit sources of Krishna devotion is evident in his poetry. Indeed, his lyrics contain recurrent references to the authors of the Bhāgavata and the Gītagovinda as model devotees and poets.19 The Bhāgavata's influence on his lyrics is indeed profound and multifaceted. First, a large number of songs in the Narasinha corpus draw on popular Krishna-līlā narratives found in the Bhāgavata. Second, as in the Bhāgavata, they stress the significance of human relationships as the proper means for bhakti. Third, following the Bhāgavata's depiction of shared love for Krishna among the cowherds, they consistently draw attention to “sharing” as a connotation of bhakti. And fourth, in line with Friedhelm Hardy's description of the Bhāgavata's metaphysical vision as a “Projection of advaita-Vedanta on to the gopī-story,” they make recurrent references to Krishna's all-pervasive transcendent nature.20 A number of such references as noted by K. K. Shastri, not only highlight the dramatic irony of Krishna's interactions with the residents of Vraj but also hint at the possibility of relating to his divinity in a contemplative manner.21 The Gītagovinda's most significant influence on Narasinha's lyrics is in the interpretations of passionate love. A number of Narasinha poems explore the erotic as a pervasive mood as well as as a deep mystery that links the human, the natural, and the divine worlds.22 In one poem, a gopī even uses a direct Page 6 of 44

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Lyrics of Play quote from the Gītagovinda—“You are my life” (Tvamasi mama jīvana)—to express her total dependence on Krishna in love.23 While drawing themes and perspectives from these classical texts, Narasinha's lyrics do not simply provide vernacular reproductions of their sources. Like lyrics of other popular poets of Krishna-līlā in regional languages, they offer fresh interpretations of myths using regionally popular poetic devices that contribute to their appeal for performers.24 An important aspect of interpretation of Krishna-līlā in Narasinha's lyrics is the significant role played by the love of the Vraj residents. In (p.39) these lyrics, the cowherds of Vraj, and especially the women, remain as important to the story as is Krishna. Highlighting the divine's dependence on the love of people of low social status also provides poetic opportunities to show the meaninglessness of caste and gender hierarchies. Showing affection for one another in myriad ways, Krishna and the Vraj residents as portrayed in these poems provide a model for an ethical community of sharing. This pronounced humanism is seen by many as a distinguishing mark of Narasinha.25 The poetic structures of the lyrics— especially colloquial expressions and images drawn from the folklore and everyday life of women in rural Gujarat—not only ground the lyrics in the regional culture, they also uphold the dignity of ordinary rural residents. As the singers and listeners enter the imaginative space structured by the lyrics, they are able to identify with the persona in them and through them to celebrate their own capacity for love regardless of their social status. It is the experience of rasa. For a participant who is fully engaged with it, it can lead to a “complete interpretation of self and the world of objects and events” that Dewey associates with aesthetic experience.26

The Divine Child among Cowherds Among the most frequently heard Narasinha lyrics some are related to Krishna's birth and childhood, his sporting as a child (bāḷ-līlā). Their number is small, but their presence in the Narasinha corpus in early manuscripts is significant because popular lyrics of bāḷ-līlā are not associated with Vidyapati and Chandidas, the other early Krishna-bhakti poets of regional languages.27 In contrast to these poets' corpuses, Narasinha's corpus closely follows the Bhāgavata and draws on a fuller range of narratives. At the same time, his lyrics notably avoid the subject of Krishna's heroic feats in killing demons as a child. Rather, they feature only those moments that provide a scope for projecting human love and divine grace as fulfilling each other in a playful and spontaneous manner.

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Lyrics of Play A lyric in a manuscript from the first half of the seventeenth century (BJ 164, 1643 CE) about celebration of Krishna's birth at his foster parents' house depicts a scene in which the residents of Vraj enthusiastically express their love without an awareness of the infant's divine status: Nanda's front yard resounded with five kinds of instruments. Women sang auspicious dhaval songs. A proclamation was made in Gokul. From each house a gopī came out, gathering in a large group. Breaking the pots they had carried on their heads, (p.40) they made curds-mud in Nanda's yard. On the eighth of the dark half of Shravan Rohini constellation brought good luck! At midnight Narasaῖyā's Lord appeared in Gokul.28

The appearance of Krishna (“Narasaῖyā's Lord”) is an act of grace. But the gopīs' enthusiastic celebration, which is at the core of the lyric, is not an expression of gratitude to the divine. Theirs is only a spontaneous expression of affection. Gratitude is expressed by the poet through a reference to Krishna as “Narasaῖyā's Lord” (narasaῖyāno svāmī). The poet's use of his own name in the diminutive (“Narasaῖyo”, nominative; in possessive “Narasaῖyā's” now on) highlights Krishna's divinity, but the Vraj residents remain happily unaware of it. The lyric's focus on their celebration reinforces the centrality of human love in the Narasinha corpus. Another very popular song, half of which is found in the same manuscript as above and half over a century later, focuses on the transformative power of love for both the human community and the divine child. Here, Krishna's village, Gokul, is likened to Vaikuntha (Vishnu's heavenly abode). Krishna's accessibility to its residents is contrasted with his inaccessibility to yogis and celestials like Brahma and Shiva. In order to enjoy human relationships, he grazes the forest of Vrindavan and tries to please his elders, like an ordinary cowherd boy, hiding his divine status as the lord of Mukti (“liberation”) who is personified as a servant. The tiny village of Gokul— my Beloved has turned it into Vaikuntha, pampering devotees and giving joy to the gopīs. He, who is unfathomable through philosophies, who refuses to appear in a yogi's meditation, that dear one churns curds at Nanda's, and grazes cows in Vrindavan. Unasked, my beloved runs errands. Supreme Brahman Indestructible, for a little butter, Page 8 of 44

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Lyrics of Play he stands here before a gopī, with his mouth wide open. Whom Brahma cannot know, whom Shiva happily serves, He, Narasaῖyā's Lord, is bound to his devotees, with Mukti (liberation) as his serving maid.29

The lyric conveys a sense of wonder at the paradox of the divine child among cowherds. Krishna, whom even divine beings serve, is rendered utterly vulnerable (p.41) while waiting for a “little butter” in the play unfolding in Gokul. The roles are reversed; the sustainer of the universe waits eagerly to be fed. The picture drawn in this lyric is comparable to the one drawn by Surdas, the Braj Bhasha poet of Krishna-līlā par excellence, and translated beautifully by Kenneth Bryant. Here, Yashoda sits in her courtyard churning butter and asks little Krishna to dance if he wanted the reward of butter. The lyric ends with the signature line where Surdas praises “the Lord of the Three Worlds dances for his butter.”30 Surdas's lyric, like Narasinha's, takes advantage of the poetic tension inherent in the transcendent nature of the adorable child waiting for his reward of butter. Both are songs of affection for a child, compared in bhakti terminology to the protective instinct of a cow toward its calf (vātsalya bhāva). Both depict the divine enjoying human love. Yet, the focus of each is somewhat different. Whereas Surdas emphasizes the enchanting beauty of the mother-child interaction, the Narasinha lyric highlights the transformative power of love for the entire community. The divine, transformed into a child, runs around eagerly to please people and receive their love. But he also transforms the “tiny village of Gokul” into Vaikuntha. The first line, referring to Gokul in its Gujarati diminutive, Gokuḷiyũ, reinforces this meaning. Yet the village is not physically transformed; It remains a tiny cowherd commune. What makes it comparable to the divine abode of Vishnu is the atmosphere of love that prevails there. In the process of transformation, Vraj's residents are equal agents. The lyric opens room for this interpretation with a careful choice of words. There is no reference to Krishna by any of his names. The epithets of transcendence like “Brahman” stand in stark contrast to the colloquial Gujarati word vahālo (beloved), derived from a word vahāl, which has the connotation of “warmth of affection.” With the vahāl of simple rustic people, the village is transformed into a place where the one who grants liberation (the highest spiritual goal in Hindu traditions) is willingly bound. The dependence of Krishna on the love of common people is not simply a theological matter in Narasinha lyrics. It also serves to explicitly dismiss the hierarchies of caste as meaningless, as the following lyric found in a late eighteenth-century manuscript (“*” indicates one of Krishna's names now on): Look, Narahari* dances daily31 Page 9 of 44

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Lyrics of Play in the courtyard of a cowherd. The one who is reluctant to enter Brahma's dream is bound here to affection. How beautiful Hari* looks with his anklets ringing sweetly! Blessed are the cowherds. What [can be gained] from being of high caste?32

The happy atmosphere of a cowherd's courtyard, the poet stresses, is a result of affection. It cannot be created with a consciousness of caste. Such expressions suggesting (p.42) the supremacy of love over status in generating happiness are scattered through Narasinha's Krishna-līlā lyrics. The disregard for hierarchy is not articulated here in a tone of challenge, but in the suggestion of superiority of affection over status. A parallel to the picture painted here is found in the narratives about Narasinha's ecstatic singing in the company of low-caste devotees while his high-caste and high-status persecutors burn with anger. As will be discussed later, the potential of saint-poet traditions to support egalitarian social agenda lies in their power of suggestion through poetic and narrative devices and not through direct action for reform. The power of human love is suggested more dramatically in the following popular lyric found in an undated manuscript. Here, that love inspires awe even among celestials like Mount Meru, the serpent Vasuki, Shiva, Brahma, and Indra, who are important players in the myth of the churning of the cosmic ocean of milk. Queen Yashoda woke early to churn the curds; and to give her a helping hand, woke the holder of the Sarang bow.*33 “Ma, Yashoda, let me churn your curds, please. Do not be scared; I will not break your pot, mother.” Mount Meru shuddered, “I will certainly break if he makes me the churning pole.” “What will happen to me?” Vasuki [the Serpent] panicked, “My life will end if I am the churning cord.” “I have jewels no more,” the ocean said, “I will be churned this time surely in vain.” “What will become of me?” Mahadev [Shiva] agonized, “How will I drink the poison this time?” Brahma, Indra, and all clasped his feet: “Lord of Gokul, drop the cord, please!” Yashoda said, “I have all nine treasures with me; I have Narasaῖyā's Lord, the lover of devotees.”34

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Lyrics of Play This immensely popular song recreates a parallel to the Hindu myth in which celestial beings churn the cosmic ocean to obtain the nectar of immortality. In that cosmic event, Mount Meru provided the churning pole, the serpent Vasuki became the churning rope, and Lord Shiva drank the poison that came out before the nectar and other jewels.35 In Narasinha's lyric, Krishna's eagerness to help Yashoda in churning the curds has cosmic consequences. The characters in the myth become concerned about the implications of Krishna's taking the churning cords in his hands. The lyric ends with the suggestion that the celestial beings take on Yashoda's work. Yashoda is ecstatic, not so much for having celestial servants, as for sharing the bond of love with Krishna. Yashoda's nine treasures, paralleling (p.43) the treasures that came out of the cosmic ocean, are contained in that love. When this song is performed, the singers and listeners can enter Yashoda's world imaginatively and identify with the triumph of her love. The lyric is enjoyable even without reference to bhakti in its dramatic presentation. As in other lyrics, subtle subversion of the status quo is present in this lyric too. Yet it remains playful in its dramatic presentation, thus creating room for imaginative participation that leads to aesthetic delight, rasa. Subtle subversion of social hierarchy as presented in such lyrics based on Krishna narratives lacks the sharpness of a radical critique, but it allows the listener to identify with a character who has the power of love in ways that the rhetoric of the latter kind does not. This interpretation of Yashoda and Krishna relationship is inventive in Plate's sense of the term discussed earlier. A Surdas song on the same theme—the churning of the ocean—offers a parallel to the above lyric in its integration of classical and folk elements. The Surdas lyric portrays the cosmic players as having fears similar to what they have in the Narasinha song and points to the irony of Krishna's childhood by contrasting the cosmic ocean of milk with the curds in a cowherd's home. The poem ends with a sense of wonder at the līlā of the Lord who is sometimes not content with the whole sea of milk and sometimes is happy with a little butter.36 Even though this lyric differs slightly from Narasinha's in directing attention to the mystery of Krishna's līlā, the lyrics of both poets shed light on an important aspect of medieval bhakti poetics. Two elements in these lyrics have links to Sanskrit texts: the myth of the churning of the cosmic ocean from the Puranas, and the Bhāgavata stories about Krishna's fondness of butter. But the tender story of Krishna helping Yashoda churn butter, which depicts the power of the human bond to shake the cosmos, does not appear in the Sanskrit texts. It seems, rather, to be a folk narrative that circulated widely in medieval north India. The enduring appeal of the medieval bhakti songs derives to a great extent from such interweaving of Sanskritic and folk elements that allows people to relate to the lyrics more easily. It also serves to free religious expression from the exclusivity

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Lyrics of Play of Sanskrit while still retaining some of its authority through reference to classical literature—another way of challenging the status quo. A lyric based on a narrative from the Bhāgavata (10.8), found in an early nineteenth-century manuscript (BJ 475), offers a good example. The Bhāgavata episode, popular among medieval poets, depicts the gopīs' complaint to Yashoda about Krishna's stealing butter from their homes.37 The scenario, with its dimension of lighthearted neighborhood complaints about children is easily relatable and opens room for imaginative participation. The dramatic irony lies in the child's hidden divine status. The Narasinha lyric depicts the scene almost entirely through dialog: “Yashoda, yell and stop your Kānuḍā,* He has all of Gokul in commotion. Is there no one to check him? (p.44) He opened my doors, broke the hanging pot, and spilled curds all over. He ate some butter, and splattered the rest all around. He has truly wreaked havoc this time.” “He marches around, ransacking everything, and knows no fear. He smashed even my churning pot. What kind of indulgence is this?” “Look, I have complained to you many times; now, I won't be courteous. Living in the same town, how much can we bear everyday?” “My Kānjī* was at home, inside. When did you see him outside? We have pots full of milk and curds; but he doesn't even touch them. You are all fine ladies, crowding in, ten or twelve at a time and complaining!” Narasaῖyā's Lord is right; the women of Vraj are liars.38

This lyric extends the connotations of līlā through the gopīs' references to Krishna by Gujarati diminutives of his name, such as “Kānuḍā” and “Kānjī.” From the bhakti perspective, the mystery of Krishna-līlā in the lyric lies in the fact that the child is seen simultaneously by gopīs in their homes and by Yashoda in her own. Yashoda's deceptively simple words of protest—“My Kānjī was at home, inside / When did you see him outside?”—are subtly tied to an important Page 12 of 44

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Lyrics of Play term for God in the Hindu tradition—antaryāmin (inner dweller), which refers to the divine as present in human heart. Yet the drama is equally about human love, as suggested by the last line—“the women of Vraj are liars.” The gopīs' complaint is only a pretense to see Krishna. While the Bhāgavata contains a reference to Krishna's pretense of being frightened by his mother's scolding, it offers no suggestion of the gopīs' pretense or of Yashoda's good-hearted chiding. In the Narasinha song, by contrast, everyone seems to be playing a game and enjoying it. The līlā is not only divine; it is equally human. The quality of play is accentuated by the story's presentation in dialogue rather than in narration. The use of images drawn from the world of women in rural Gujarat—the hanging pot (śikũ) and curds (goras)—make it easily relatable for (p.45) rural women. While also appealing to the religious sentiments of the devout, the playful quality of the lyric allows it to be enjoyed outside of the devotional context. Often found in school textbooks, it is very popular among children. I remember bursting into this song with friends in a reunion of my school friends in New Jersey a few years ago. What we enjoyed had to do with the memory of our dramatic performance of the song in the school classroom and not with devotion. The aesthetic appeal—the rasa—of the song allows it to circulate beyond the strictly religious sphere and be a part of everyday life. The playful quality persists in another lyric based on a Bhāgavata story—the subjugation of the Kaliya serpent in the Jamuna River—which is found in multiple manuscripts, with the earliest belonging to the late eighteenth century (BJ 1035). Even though the situation warrants at least some evocation of heroic mood, vīr rasa in Indian aesthetic theories, the lyric derives its appeal entirely from a playful banter between Krishna and Kaliya's wives: “Drop the water lilies and leave, child! Our lord will wake up. He will wake up and kill you, and I will incur the sin of child-killing. Tell me, child, are you lost? Or has your enemy misled you? Certainly your days are over; why else would you venture here?” “No, Serpent lady, I am not lost; nor has my enemy misled me. Gambling in the city of Mathura, I have lost a bet for the serpent's head.” “With lovely complexion and a perfect form, you look so charming and so full of dreams. How many children does your mother have?

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Lyrics of Play Among them, are you the unloved one?” “My mother has two sons; of them, I am the younger. Now, Go! Wake up your serpent! My name is Krishna, little Kāhn.*” “Look, I will give you my necklace worth one and a quarter hundred thousand; I will also give you my gold chain. I will give you both, hiding them from my serpent.” (p.46) “What would I do with your necklace, Serpent lady? What would I do with your chain? And why should you, O Serpent lady, pilfer from your own home?” Pressing the feet and twisting the whiskers, the serpent's wife woke the serpent up. “Wake up, O Mighty One! There is some child at the door.” Both mighty ones wrestled in a combat, Krishna yoked Kaliya soon. With a thousand hoods he hissed, like the thundering clouds of monsoon. The serpent's wives began to lament: “He will surely torment the serpent. He will take him to the city of Mathura and sever his head.” Folding both hands, they began to pray, “Lord, please let go of our husband. We are the guilty ones. We failed to see and couldn't recognize the Lord!” They honored Shri Krishna, showering platefuls of pearls, The serpent women got the serpent freed from Narasaĩyā's Lord.39

As many Gujarati scholars point out, this lyric uses dramatic irony in a remarkably effective manner.40 Almost the entire episode is presented here through a dialogue that is a match of wills. The protective instinct of Kaliya's wives toward this “child” finds varied expression as they try first to warn, then to cajole, and then to bribe him into leaving the area. The mystery of Krishna's form is highlighted by his posturing as a brat who has lost “a bet of the serpent's head.” The actual combat between Kaliya and Krishna and the serpent's rescue do not warrant much attention in the structure of the poem; out of twenty-four lines, they receive only four. What is brought into focus is the radical change in Kaliya's wives' perception and tone, which provides the necessary ironic twist. Page 14 of 44

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Lyrics of Play The “child” whom the serpent women were trying to protect from their “Lord” is recognized as the real “Lord” whose protection they now seek for their husband. The song moves rapidly through the serpent wives' addresses to Krishna—first as “child,” then as “mighty one” (bhagavant), and in the end as “Lord” (svāmī). As the song culminates in Kaliya's rescue, the serpent's wives catch a glimpse of Krishna's might or even his divinity (of which the Vraj residents remain unaware). Paresh Nayak sees in this incident an allusion to Vishnu's powerful three steps in the dwarf incarnation, through which (p.47) he subjugated the demon king Bali.41 And yet, whose might is greater? Who is presented as the real winner? On the surface, it is of course, Krishna. But the agency for the joyous end is given to the serpent wives; they effect the serpent's rescue from “Narasaĩyā's Lord.” Here again, there is a subversion of status quo. Like the gopīs' complaint, the episode of Kaliya's subjugation has been a very popular theme in Krishna-līlā poetry in north India. Even the Jain poets of western India, writing in the Apabhramsha language, found this theme attractive. As early as the ninth century CE, the poet Svayambhu took advantage of the poetic opportunities offered by this narrative in his Araśṭinemicaritra (Portrait of Neminath), a long poem dedicated to the twenty-second Jain tīrthankara (realized soul), Neminath, believed to be Krishna's cousin: From the skies the gods watched the feat of the destroyer of demons, Devaki's son,* as he created a commotion in Jamuna's waters. All the water animals were startled as the waters splashed. The arrogant serpent came out. Krishna, Kaliya, and the waters of Jamuna— each one's darkness blended seamlessly with others'. What could anyone see in the midst of such darkness?42

Svayambhu presents a narrative dominated by the heroic mood. The Gujarati poet Premanand (eighteenth century CE), who has rendered the tenth canto of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa in the Gujarati language, similarly employs a heroic tone in his narration of the episode, which spans more than two hundred lines.43 By comparison, the Narasinha lyric is remarkably short and almost completely ignores the potential for evoking the heroic mood. Instead, in the playful combat of wills and the ultimate rescue of the serpent, the serpent's wives remain equal players with Krishna. The insistent avoidance of the heroic sets Narasinha's lyrics of bāḷ-līlā (child's play) apart even from those of the gentle Surdas, who alludes in a few poems to Krishna's killing of demons and has a cycle of poems on Krishna's lifting of Mt. Govardhan.44 Surdas thus allows the residents of Vraj to catch glimpses of Krishna's superhuman strength. In Narasinha's lyrics, there are recurrent references to Krishna as “Supreme,” “Brahman” (“the ultimate reality”), and so Page 15 of 44

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Lyrics of Play on. But they are shared only by the poet and the audience. The residents of Vraj, who are partners in the līlā, remain unaware of Krishna's divinity. This allows the poet to retain a playful mood in presentation of his childhood scenes, enjoyable for attuned audiences. Even though small in number, the bāḷ-līlā songs in the Narasinha corpus form an important cluster. They add to its thematic range, making it more diverse than other important bodies of Krishna-līlā poetry associated with regional poets from (p.48) its early phase in north India. In presenting charming depictions of Krishna's playful encounters with Vraj residents and in highlighting the irony of the divine play, they share many aspects with Surdas's famous bāḷ-līlā songs. But they also differ from Surdas's corpus in important ways. Bhramarlal Joshi points out two differences, which, in his view, indicate Surdas's superiority as a poet. First, compared to Surdas's corpus, Narasinha's treats a limited number of bāḷ-līlā themes found in the Bhāgavata. Second, Surdas's lyrics show greater refinement of expression in comparison to Narasinha's.45 Although Joshi views these differences as reflecting weaknesses in the Narasinha corpus, they may well be seen as correlates of the ways in which the lyrics associated with these two poets invite the audience into imaginative participation. While Surdas's lyrics draw fine pictures of the irresistible beauty of the divine child with a sophistication associated with courtly poetry of sixteenth-century north India, Narasinha's lyrics remain closer to the folk songs of Gujarat.46 Their target audience (sahṛdayas of the rasa theory) is different. The appeal of Narasinha's bāḷ-līlā lyrics derives thematically from their focus on the contribution of the human players in the fulfillment of the divine līlā. With the determined avoidance of heroic mood, and clear articulation of the meaninglessness of social hierarchy, they create a joyous world in which imaginative participation is easy for people from every strata of the society. They convey an ethical message of social equality in the creation of this world. Stylistically, the poetic images drawn from everyday life in rural Gujarat, combined with a dramatic presentation using colloquial expressions, make them easy to recite and memorize. The playful quality of these songs, enhanced in performance by tunes, leads to their enduring popularity even outside of religious contexts, as will be shown further in chapter 7, where YouTube videos of children's performances of two of them are discussed. Whether in the devotional or in the aesthetic sense, rasa remains at the heart of their appeal and provides a bond among their performers and listeners.

The Mystery of Passionate Love The largest part of Narasinha's corpus is formed by songs about love between gopīs and Krishna. The gopīs' passionate, all-absorbing love for Krishna has been upheld as the most exalted form of bhakti in the traditions of Krishna devotion since the composition of the Bhāgavata.47 Indeed, the experience of bhakti with the sweet emotion of love (madhura) as represented by the gopīs remains an Page 16 of 44

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Lyrics of Play ideal in Krishna-bhakti traditions.48 Male Krishna-bhakti poets narrate gopīs' experiences and even take on their personae.49 The overwhelming focus on gopī love in the Narasinha corpus follows this current. A large number of these songs are not heard in musical performances today, however, generally because their content is so overtly erotic that they (p.49) are viewed as inappropriate for communal performance in the traditional contexts. But the ones that have enjoyed popularity among performers and scholars convey an interpretation of bhakti that draws attention in its celebration of femininity, with explicit rejection of gender hierarchy as prescribed by orthodoxy, and its exaltation of love as the highest spiritual value best represented by the gopīs.50 The themes and situations in Narasinha's gopī lyrics are drawn largely from the Bhāgavata and the Gītagovinda, the two Sanskrit texts that present passionate love as the exalted form of bhakti in markedly different ways. In the Bhāgavata, most gopīs are married women who become oblivious to social norms (dharma) as they become absorbed in an all-consuming love for Krishna. Following the call of Krishna's flute, they risk everything that defines their worldly existence and rush to the forest of Vrindavan to be with him. But when Krishna leaves Vraj permanently, the pain of separation (viraha), takes their love to an even greater depth. In their absorption in love in both union and separation, the gopīs reach mystical heights beyond meditation. They are therefore extolled as “the only people who have attained the real purpose of a human birth in this world.”51 Some suggestion of the spiritual journey of gopīs as individuals is given in the depiction of the variety of ways in which each of them neglects her household duties to meet Krishna. But overall, the cowherd women of the Bhāgavata represent the ideal of collective bhakti and its ethical implications of sharing. When Krishna's messenger arrives from his princely city, Mathura, they converse with him as a group.52 In the Gītagovinda, by contrast, the narrative about Krishna's springtime love with his favorite gopī, Radha, focuses on an individual journey through stages of intense passion. A number of these stages involve pain and humiliation in separation. But here, separation is not permanent; in the end, it is resolved with a union of reciprocal love that allows “the poet's audience to witness the center of existence.”53 The various moods of Radha and Krishna's journey of passion are echoed exquisitely in the nature surrounding them. The poem takes the audience through an exploration of the erotic mood as the essence not only of religious and aesthetic experience but of all existence. Narasinha's lyrics on the gopī-Krishna theme recurrently acknowledge the poets of both the Bhāgavata and the Gītagovinda as exemplars of bhakti that is full of rasa. In a number of them, there are quotes or paraphrased lines from the two Sanskrit texts. But these borrowings are highly selective. Like the Bhāgavata, the Narasinha lyrics present gopīs as paradigmatic devotees who risk their social and marital lives in order to be with Krishna. In many songs, gopīs appear Page 17 of 44

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Lyrics of Play as a collective. A number of lyrics also focus on two important symbols from the Bhāgavata—Krishna's flute and his dance with the gopīs. However, the intensification of love in prolonged separation (viraha), the Bhāgavata theme that has inspired some of the most appealing Krishna-bhakti lyrics, does not receive much attention in the Narasinha corpus. As in the Gītagovinda, separation is generally short-term, and it resolves in an actual or possible union. Narasinha's lyrics also parallel the Gītagovinda in their sharp focus (p.50) on their exploration of the erotic mood as the foundation of all existence. They present this mood as a religious response of the human, of the elements of nature, and even of the divine to the rhythms of the universe. While the influence of the Sanskrit classics is evident in Narasinha's songs, some of their aspects mark them as a distinctive corpus. First, many incorporate explicit statements about the superiority of women. Just as the bāḷ-līlā lyrics suggest the meaninglessness of caste hierarchies, these lyrics highlight the meaninglessness of gender hierarchies. Again and again they reject the perspectives and rituals of the religious elite who do not consider women worthy of spiritual liberation and suggest instead that women are the prime models of religiousness because of their capacity for love. A. K. Ramanujan has observed that bhakti, which is conceptualized as feminine, stands in sharp contrast to Vedic sacrifices, which can be considered masculine in ethos, language, and personnel.54 Several lyrics from the Narasinha corpus explicitly bring this contrast in focus. Second, Narasinha's lyrics extensively incorporate tropes and imagery from Gujarati folk songs that celebrate women's lives, recognizing them as worthy of celebration. These aspects reinforce the humanism that marks the entire Narasinha corpus and makes it relevant beyond purely religious contexts. A few lyrics can be read as offering a framework for exploring the treatment of passionate love in Narasinha's corpus. In the first lyric in the earliest manuscript belonging to the seventeenth century (BJ 69, 1611 CE, shown in figure 1.2) and found in multiple manuscripts since then, a gopī wonders what merit in a previous life allowed her to be born female and to enjoy an intimate bond with Krishna: What was my good merit that I was born a woman? Shri Hari pleads with me with such meekness. The one whom they call eternal, whom no one knows, that beloved of Kamala [Vishnu], embraces me. The one whom you cannot find in vast sacrifices, whom you cannot see in meditation, whom you cannot reach through painful rites, him you may see with a loving glance. The one who sleeps on the luxuriant bed of Shesha, who has a residence like Vaikuntha, Page 18 of 44

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Lyrics of Play wearing the yellow garb he enters my love-bed, even greater than it [Vaikuntha] is my house.55 “His title is lover of devotees,” so pronounce the Vedas and sacred books. Blessed is meeting Narasaĩyā's Lord. He showered grace, seeing me so weak.56

(p.51) This lyric turns upsidedown the orthodox understanding that good merit leads to rebirth as a high-caste man. It extols the interplay of love and grace, contrasting it to the inefficient practices of priests and ascetics, such as sacrifices, meditation, and painful rites. Exalting love over other spiritual practices is a recurrent theme in much of Krishna-bhakti literature, with an important expression found in the Bhāgavata where Krishna's messenger to the gopīs, Uddhav, extols their absorption with Krishna in his absence as the highest spiritual attainment.57 The gopīs' love is intensified here in pain of separation (viraha). This intensity of love in separation

Figure 1.2 “What was my good merit…” in the earliest extant manuscript with Narasinha's lyrics (B. J. Institute MS # 69, ca. 1611 CE). Photograph: Neelima Shukla-Bhatt.

forms the foundation for declaring its superiority over other religious practices in numerous lyrics of Krishna-bhakti poets of north India.58 In the above Narasinha lyric, however, the basis for the gopī's utterance is not love in separation, but the bliss of union. It is almost as if the blissful experience of love in union is so complete and remains so alive in memory that it leaves no room for the experience of viraha, even though Krishna is not present. The lyric is a statement about the power of love in which Krishna and the gopī are dependent on each other. As in the bāḷ-līlā lyrics, their mutual love turns the gopī's house into a place greater than Vaikuntha. The only difference is that, unlike the Vraj residents in the bāḷ-līlā (p.52) lyrics, the gopī is fully aware of Krishna's divine status and, therefore, of the power of her own love. This Page 19 of 44

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Lyrics of Play awareness forms the basis of her confidence and her affirmation of the dignity of womanhood in the first line of the lyric. In fact, it is as much a lyric about confident feminine identity as it is a lyric about bhakti. The two themes laid out in this early lyric—the confidence of the female voice and the emphasis on union rather than separation—remain consistent features of popular Narasinha songs. Another lyric found in multiple manuscripts since the mid-seventeenth century (first in BJ 164) explores love not only as the essence of bhakti but also as an expression of joy that touches all life on earth in the season of spring. Its best manifestation is in the gopī. The earth's rasa has spread to tree branches, mind-born (love) has come to reside in the eyes. The heart's mood has filled the breasts; the love-god has arrived. The powerful Lord of Vegetation has stirred things vigorously Collecting nectar from the whole universe, he has put it in the young woman's face. He has given her amazing strength. The best among men is weak, when compared. He has given her the smile of a creeper, and the cuckoo's sweet voice. He has given yoga and detachment to the indifferent, and enjoyment to the devotee of the Lord. He has given asceticism to the dogged worker, to Narasaῖyo, the singing of praise.59

For the Lord of Vegetation (vanaspatināth), spreading love is a form of play. But who is he? The spring? The love god? Krishna? This remains ambiguous. Nurturing vegetation is a function attributed to Krishna in the Bhagavad Gītā, but the unusual epithet used in this lyric is not mentioned there.60 The Lord of Vegetation has given various gifts and tasks to different beings. The best among them are beauty and the amazing strength of love, both of which are given to women. Among other gifts, those who are in tune with the earth's mood of love— the devotees—receive enjoyment and singing. Those who are indifferent to it receive yoga, detachment, and asceticism. Here, the religious ways of the indifferent are not dismissed as inadequate; they are instead differentiated from the bhakti of love by their lack of joy, rasa. In describing the spring season, the lyric is linked to the regional phāgu genre mentioned earlier; but in presenting as a manifestation of earth's essence (rasa)—love—the lyric clearly parallels Jayadeva's Gītagovinda 1.4.46, where spring is described as the blissful state

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Lyrics of Play pervading the entire world that is brought about by Krishna, the “erotic mood incarnate.”61 (p.53) Today the above Narasinha lyric, containing some Sanskrit words, is not heard as much in musical performances as in recitation. But the perspective it presents—spring as the manifestation of the spirit of love that links all existence —is sustained in a song that is found in an early nineteenth-century manuscript (BJ 542, 1810 CE) and is popular in contemporary performances: It is a beautiful season, my darling; beautiful is the springtime. Beautiful Kesu flowers have blossomed in the forest. Beautiful is Radha's sweetheart.62

The association of Krishna with the beauty of the spring is given a more active expression in a poem in which one gopī invites another to engage properly with the spirit of the season, with embodied responses. The lyric is found in a seventeenth-century manuscript (BJ 164): Let's play, friend, stop churning curds! Spring is here: creepers have blossomed, mango groves have burgeoned; the cuckoo sings on the Kadamb tree; from flower to flower fly black-bees! Woman with a graceful gait, adorn yourself, put on a necklace, get up and get going! I have been urging for so long. Let's kiss the beloved's mouth, let's embrace him, let us sway with joy. Today, let shyness have no power! Entice Hari with love, revel, clasping him close to your heart! Taking your hand, Krishna will bow lovingly. Narasaῖyo will be enraptured by the euphoric mood; that will be the atonement for the lost day!63

Enticing Krishna with love is presented here as the “atonement” for the day lost in work. The expression of love is bold and direct. In its references to blossoming creepers, humming bees, and the suggestion to let go of shyness, his lyric has parallels to some lines of the Gītagovinda 1.3 about the rich mood of the spring season: Soft sandal mountain winds caress quivering vines of clove. Forest huts hum with droning bees and crying cuckoos.

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Lyrics of Play … Tender buds bloom into laughter as creatures abandon modesty.64

(p.54) Narasinha's lyrics, like the Gītagovinda, suggest a deeper meaning to the sensuous aspects of love-play between the gopīs and Krishna by relating it to the spread of the erotic mood in nature in the spring season. They explore the erotic as the essence that links all existence. In this context, women's special association with the erotic mood and its embodied expression makes them superior to all other beings. The gopīs are the most exalted representatives of feminine strength and charm. That the participants in his tradition shared such an understanding of the gopīs is reflected in drawings made by ordinary people in their compilations of Narasinha's lyrics (see figure 1.3). Bhakti provides a framework for articulating liberal views on gender in Narasinh's lyrics. Interpretations of passionate love as an exalted form of bhakti giving equal partnership to Krishna and the gopīs pervade his popular lyrics. The lyrics rely on a variety of motifs drawn from the Bhāgavata and folklore, with the most notable being the flute, the rās dance, longing in separation, and the joy of union. The Flute—The Call of Love

Krishna's flute—one of the most powerful symbols from the Bhāgavata—provides the central motif in a number of Narasinha lyrics of love. In the Bhāgavata, the sound of the flute draws the gopīs irresistibly to dance with Krishna in the forest of Vrindavan.65 It is in their spontaneous response to this call of the divine (p.55) lover that the gopīs first become oblivious to everything else, break all social barriers, and express their exalted bhakti.

Figure 1.3 A leaf from B. J. Institute MS # 422 (ca. 1742 CE) with Narasinha's Krishna-līlā poems. Photograph: Neelima Shukla-Bhatt.

The flute's compelling and disruptive power over the gopīs has therefore been a favorite theme of Krishna-bhakti poets. Along with the lyrics of Vidyapati and Chandidas, Narasinha's lyrics on the flute are among the earliest vernacular lyrics on this symbol in Krishna-bhakti poetry in north India.66 Although all three poets focus on depicting the gopīs' state upon hearing the sound of the flute, some Narasinha lyrics stress the good fortune of the cowherd women who are led to mystical union with Krishna in responding to his call. The following lyric, found Page 22 of 44

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Lyrics of Play in a late eighteenth-century manuscript (BJ 726, 1775 CE) and a very popular bhajan, provides a good example. Melodious and beautiful, it is your flute, Kahān*! I hear it in my home and my heart gets restless. I rushed out to see [him]; the excuse—fetching water! I hung the pot-holder on the mango tree; I left the water pot at the lake's side. Loving Kahān came and held my sari's edge. “Let me go, let me go, handsome Kahān!” I said, “I have already lost my senses.” My friend, there I met Narasaῖyā's Lord. He made the night six months long and fulfilled the desire of my heart.67

The first line of the lyric is addressed to an absent Krishna, but the rest is in the form of narration by one gopī to another. The gopī's restlessness compels her to transgress her household duties. She lies to her in-laws to get out of the house. Soon, however, she becomes oblivious to the things she needs in order to make her excuse believable. She forgets about both the water-pot and its holder in her restlessness. This lyric overlaps remarkably with a Gujarati folk song—Unchī taḷāvaḍī nī kor (Toward the high lake)—in its imagery and portrayal of a lovelorn woman. In the folk song, too, the woman goes out to fetch water with her water pot (beḍu) and water-pot holder (inḍhoṇi) and becomes intoxicated with love on seeing her beloved. The difference is that while the folk song omits explicit mention of union—instead suggesting it as a possibility—the Narasinha lyric ends with a clear reference to the bliss of union in which all the heart's desires are fulfilled. Yet the union is not described in physical terms. There is a suggestion that the union is mystical, beyond the realm of senses; indeed, the (p.56) gopī admits to having lost her senses and reports to the friend, “[T]here I met Narasainyā's Lord.” Interpreting the “meeting” in the last stanza of the above lyric as mystical is prevalent in many layers of society in Gujarat. Subhash Dave, a well-known Gujarati scholar, suggests that in this meeting, the gopī 's “consciousness moves in a reality beyond the wakeful state.”68 Dattu Bhagat (aka Kaka), a Dalit devotional singer from Ahmedabad who once hummed this song as he swept the streets, explained that in folk mystical vocabulary, “six months long night” is a reference to yogic trance, which is attained after long meditation.69 As we shall see in the chapter 4, a sense of being transported from ordinary reality and entering a trance-like state is also found in the response of a woman singer. Page 23 of 44

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Lyrics of Play Conveying the gopī's restlessness on hearing the flute and her absorption in Krishna's love through folk motifs, the lyric offers its connoisseurs a source to enter their world imaginatively and relate to the suggested meaning of mystical union. In another lyric, asceticism and yoga are associated not with the gopīs, but with the flute, vā̃saḷī, a feminine noun in Gujarati. Following the Bhāgavata 10.21.9, an important theme in the Krishna-līlā poetry of medieval India is the gopīs' jealousy of the flute—a mere piece of bamboo—for her constant contact with Krishna's lips.70 There are a few lyrics on this theme in the Narasinha corpus as well. In some, which are found in several manuscripts since the mid seventeenth century, the gopīs question the flute in a rather sharp tone about her hold over their beloved.71 But in one, also found in the mid seventeenth century (BJ 164), the flute's voice is also heard. Here, ending each line of her address to the gopīs with an expression of endearment, “re,” the flute explains to them how she won Krishna's love with sacrifices: “Friends, listen to what I tell you: why I am his beloved, re! I endured pain to my body; you didn't, re! I gave up comforts of the world, and lived in a forest, re! I endured pouring rains on my head, for four monsoon months, re! In the month of Kartik, my limbs froze with frost, re! In the heat of summer, my body burst into flames, re! I got my body sliced up, and whirled on carpenter's wheel, re! (p.57) I got all my curves cropped and became utterly flat, re! I had seven holes drilled in body and loved the beloved so much, re! “Learn such asceticism, friends,” says the little flute, re! Narasaῖyo says: nothing compares to love for Hari's name, re!72

This lyric extols the flute's extreme sacrifices for the sake of love (not unlike those made by the gopīs themselves) as a type of asceticism. At the same time, the friendly chiding by the flute reflects the broad concern for the marginalized that marks the Narasinha corpus. As a collective of exalted devotees, the gopīs Page 24 of 44

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Lyrics of Play are powerful. Compared to them, the flute is small and isolated. But even in her relative smallness, she has an important teaching for the most glorified devotees and conveys it in friendly tone. The lyric provides a refreshing new interpretation of the power structures within the bhakti world. Even the gopīs are not above censure if they dominate the less powerful. The dignity of the marginalized, a theme running through much of the Narasinha's corpus, is here articulated through an inanimate thing. The lyric provides a striking example of bhakti as a framework for the articulation of resistance to dominating power structures. A few flute lyrics in the Narasinha tradition show some evidence of tension between the gopīs and the flute, as seen above. But in most songs, gopīs happily dance to the sound of the flute. In one, found in the same manuscript as the one discussed above, a gopī advises others to befriend the flute and taste the rasa of Hari (Krishna) in a spirit of sharing. We should befriend and love her We have found Narasaῖyā's Lord, we should taste the rasa of Hari.*73

The spirit of a shared bond of love is expressed best in the lyrics on the rās-līlā, where Krishna dances with the gopīs on the banks of the Jamuna River, often with the flute on his lips. The Rās Dance—The Circle of Love

Among all of Krishna's līlās, the rās-līlā, the dance that forms the center of the Bhāgavata's vision of love, has held a central place in the theology of Krishna traditions. Graham Schweig discusses the view of rās-līlā as “the most profound revelation of divine love” and the gopīs' behavior during this līlā as “the most intimate (p.58) and intensely loving devotion to God” in a number of Krishna traditions. The dance symbolizes the blissful passionate mood that binds the human and the divine. All other moods of bhakti are considered subordinate to it.74 The Narasinha corpus contains a large number of lyrics on this theme. As in the Bhāgavata, the circular dance, in which Krishna takes multiple forms to dance with many gopīs, is the symbol of love that is not selfish but shared. Each gopī has the joy of dancing with Krishna, but she shares it with all the others. Like rasa, rās dance is enjoyed individually; yet in the company of others. Oh! what rasa is flooding Jamuna's banks? Instruments are playing and the Lord is dancing. With arms entwined, the gopīs are singing together, happily, harmoniously! No one sees anyone else; Page 25 of 44

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Lyrics of Play each has Krishna, pressed close to her heart. Each is drinking the nectar of his lips, facing an enraptured Śyam* who holds her gently close to his heart. Hari has adoring women wrapped in love. The rasa of love has gently settled on the woods. Watching the scene, Narasaῖyo is immersed in it, singing the glory of Krishna's play!75

In the above lyric found in a mid seventeenth-century manuscript (BJ 164), the focus is on the experience of harmony emerging from an aesthetic expression of love, which resonates with the mood expressed by nature on a moonlit night. With dancing and singing, instruments playing, and each gopī kissing Krishna and being held by him, there is a great deal of activity in this place. And still, every gopī is absorbed in her own love-play with Krishna, oblivious to everything else, in a trance much like a state of deep meditation (samādhi). The mood of love has “gently settled” on the landscape, drawing the poet into it as well. Along with him, by imaginatively watching the rās dance, the audience becomes immersed in the mood. It is significant that in the structure of the lyric, two references to rasa frame the sensuous activities of Krishna and the gopīs. Rasa of both love and the artistic activity of dance is the overarching theme of the lyric. The poet too is immersed in the scene full of rasa. The lyric provides an example of Richard Bauman's view discussed earlier that cultural forms contain cues to interpret them. It clearly establishes the centrality of rasa in religio-poetic world of Krishna bhakti songs and directs the performer or listener to interpret it in terms of this concept. (p.59) Narasinha's lyrics of rās-līlā closely follow the Bhāgavata in their depiction of the scene. But in the saint-poet's tradition these lyrics have additional layers of significance. According to Narasinha's sacred biography (discussed in chapter 3), the saint's understanding of rās-līlā did not derive solely from his familiarity with the Bhāgavata; he had actually seen the dance with the grace of Shiva. Narasinha had first meditated on Shiva for seven days. Pleased with his devotion, Shiva took him to Krishna's celestial Vrindavan to see the eternal rās-līlā. Narasinha's lyrics therefore, authentically describe the scene. Tradition also holds that he was so entranced by the beauty of the dance that his consciousness was transformed into that of a woman. The several references to Shiva's grace in Narasinha's lyrics of rās-līlā reinforce the hagiographic narrative. In Vrindavan, the sport began, with Govinda* and gopīs laughing together, and clapping hands with one another. … Blessed is the gopī, blessed the līlā, Page 26 of 44

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Lyrics of Play the gods are throwing flowers, with the grace of Umiya's Lord (Shiva), Narasaῖyo stands there, beholding the bliss.76

In another place, the bliss is identified as rasa of which Narasinha partakes, holding Shiva's hand: Blissful is Vrindavan, blissful līlā, Blessed the one who partakes of that rasa. Clinging to the hand of Umiya's Lord (Shiva), there Narasaĩyo held a lamp.77

The allusions to Shiva's grace reinforce the inclusive aspect of Krishna-bhakti in the Narasinha tradition but also lead to yogic interpretations of its rās-līlā lyrics. Niranjan Rajyaguru, an eminent scholar of devotional singing and mysticism in Gujarat, suggests that for many followers of yogic practices, rās-līlā is associated with opening of the center (cakra) of the heart and ecstatic union with the divine. The vehicles of this blissful experience are emotions and aesthetic delight. A yogic adept who advances to the heart cakra has visions of rās-līlā and experiences deep joy. Shiva, the greatest of yogis, guided Narasinha to that state of total absorption.78 Similarly, the late Makarand Dave, a scholar of Indian mystical traditions, suggests that Narasinha's vision (darśan) of rās-līlā symbolizes the opening of his inner third eye through the grace of the greatest yogi, Shiva. What he sees within himself is the divine dance, which is full of rasa. Paradoxically, because it (p.60) is centered on dance, this inner experience also brings home the realization that spirituality is essentially embodied.79 With this interpretation, the symbolism of rās-līlā does not belong only to Krishna-bhakti traditions; it can serve as part of a broader mystical vocabulary. Narasinha's lyrics of rās-līlā certainly leave room for interpretations from the perspectives of both Krishna-bhakti and yogic mysticism associated with Shiva. Interpretations from both perspectives stress that the blissful experience these lyrics depict involves the body, the heart, and the depth of one's inner being. Beyond the theological and mystical interpretations articulated by scholars and spiritual adepts, the rās-līlā lyrics attributed to Narasinha have yet another layer of significance in the cultural landscape of Gujarat. A number of communities in the region claim descent from those who accompanied Krishna when he migrated from Mathura, his princely capital in north India, to Dwaraka, a city in coastal Gujarat. A folk dance of the region called rās, in which men and women dance with sticks, is believed to be derived from Krishna's dance and is closely linked to the identity of these communities. Narasinha's lyrics are sung zealously in the performances of this dance (even in American colleges, as we will see later), indicating a broader basis of their circulation. Page 27 of 44

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Lyrics of Play Longing as a Way of Love

One implication of the Narasinha's witnessing of the rās-līlā in Krishna's eternal abode is that the dance is never ending. Krishna is always close to the devotees who long for him ardently, respond to his call of love, and participate in this līlā. Prolonged separation and intense longing, so central to the Bhāgavata narrative of the gopī story, therefore, does not receive much attention in the Narasinha corpus. In the Bhāgavata, pain in separation (viraha) is as powerful an expression of bhakti as is joy in union. After Krishna leaves for Mathura, the gopīs' bhakti is intensified and distilled in viraha. In the lyrics of some important medieval Krishna-bhakti poets, viraha, or separation (viyoga), becomes the ultimate experience of devotion, a kind of deep meditation. In Surdas's lyrics, the gopīs' unrequited longing remains an end in itself. As Hawley points out, for Surdas, “pangs of separation have a religious valency.” The gopīs' equivalent of yoga in Surdas's lyrics is “love's viyoga.”80 Some of the most popular lyrics attributed to the woman poet Mira, who wrote from a subjective perspective, also lay bare her pining in separation.81 By contrast, the Narasinha corpus contains only a few lyrics on the theme of viraha, leading to an overall absence of intensity, as rightly observed by scholars.82 Yet the limited portrayal of separation is consistent with the understanding emerging from the Narasinha corpus in which bhakti is presented as the awareness of the state of unity with the divine. In this, the Narasinha corpus remains closer to the Gītagovinda, which, following the traditions of Sanskrit poetry, takes the audience (p.61) through several phases of pain and longing but ends in the bliss of union where Krishna adorns Radha, and she is “secure in her power over him.”83 Barbara Stoler Miller explains that the mysticism of divine love between Radha and Krishna is presented here through the modes of both union and separation. But the religious meaning of the erotic mood is brought into focus in the reunion at end of their journey.84

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Lyrics of Play In popular Narasinha lyrics, as in the Gītagovinda, the bhakti of passionate love culminates in union. The gopīs' intense longing generally ends in an “auspicious meeting with Narasainyā's Lord.” However, they do not parallel the Sanskrit classic in poetic style. A large number remain close to regional folk songs. One, appearing in several manuscripts, uses the folk motif of a snake or scorpion bite, which symbolizes passionate longing. In folk songs, the pain disappears with the healing effect of the beloved's glance.85 In the Narasinha lyric, first appearing in the 1643 manuscript (BJ 164), a gopī declares to her mother that she has been bitten in her mind by a snake called Kahān (a name of Krishna). She also says that only the snake charmer (gāruḍī) Govind (another name of Krishna) can heal her bite. The mother takes her to the healer; he looks at the deep wound; and she is instantly cured. Mother, the black cobra, Kahān,* has bit me in my mind! With every breath, my life departs. Someone please stop it! Don't give me herbs; don't take me to a doctor! In Gokul is the snake charmer Govind.* Place me at his feet. The healer saw and thought: the bite is really deep! Auspicious was meeting Narasaῖyā's Lord; all poison was withdrawn from the maiden.86

The lyric's folk-song style renders it easily accessible for women performers. But it parallels the Gītagovinda in its stress on union. The suggested meaning of the lyric—the bliss of meeting Krishna, whose glance can heal—is conveyed through a layering of diverse poetics of bhakti. A group of lyrics in the Narasinha corpus use another popular folk motif—the anklet. The anklet and its tinkling sound form an important part of women's worlds—both physical and emotional—in several cultures of India. Many folk songs allude to the tinkling of the anklet as a means of communication between lovers. In one Narasinha lyric, it represents the voice of the gopī as she describes her journey from longing to union: Fair woman's anklet tinkled sweetly in the middle of a dark night: “My friend dear, come, listen to my tale: (p.62) [The other day, I was thinking…] For one, here is my foe—this terribly dark night, Second, at home is my grumpy mother-in-law, Then, there is the cuckoo-bird, singing away in woods, and then there is the Bapaiya bird sweetly chirping along, The moon also has risen to its height. So much love and such a short night! Page 29 of 44

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Lyrics of Play If I see Śāmaliyā* this time, I will tell him things hidden in my heart. Someone unite me with Māvji,* I will hold him in my arms.” [But then] “Narasaĩyā's Lord met me with love, my darling came and took my hand.”87

Here, the locale of the union is ambiguous. It is not clear whether the gopī was able to get out of the house or whether the union took place only in her imagination. Yet there is complete confidence in her declaration that Krishna met her and held her hand. In Narasinha's lyrics, union is often only the memory of a past moment or even imaginative. But it is presented as the inevitable end of the journey of longing. Generally, Narasinha lyrics of this type depict a single gopī's experience of longing and union. But in some, longing and union take on a collective dimension stressing the aspect of sharing. One such lyric, found in an undated manuscript, is immensely popular in performance. It is based on a popular narrative in which Radha leaves the house, making the excuse that she has to look for her lost necklace; her necklace, of course, is Krishna's arms.88 The Narasinha lyric reinterprets this story to portray the shared yearning of all gopīs to see Krishna after he leaves Vraj and marries Rukmini, who becomes his chief queen. The lyric begins with the gopīs' complaint about the distance between them and Krishna. But more hurtful than the physical distance is the emotional distance Krishna deliberately created when he insulted Radha, their finest representative by putting her necklace on Rukmini's neck. Not one to accept such an insult, though, Radha fumes with anger and demands justice. Her anger, coming out of her deep attachment, is rewarded by Krishna with a necklace of “unpierced pearls.” As this happens, the entire community celebrates “an auspicious meeting with Narasaῖyā's Lord”: “Today, dear Śāmaliyā has distanced himself from us! Taking Radhika's necklace, he has given it to Rukmini.” (p.63) “Street to street I paced, crying aloud. I went searching house to house. There! I recognized my pearls on queen Rukmini's neck. Had I been awake, I would not have let them be taken. My karma—I fell asleep. My enemy sleep seized me, but soon I woke up, saying “Hari, Hari.*” I will pump the blacksmith's bellows and heat up an iron ball. I will have him swear by life [holding that ball]. For the sake of my necklace, Page 30 of 44

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Lyrics of Play today, I will even summon sage Narad [to intervene].” Radhaji fumed with rage, with tears overflowing her eyes. “Hari*! Give me my necklace back, or here ends my life!” He ordered a heap of pearls and strung them unpierced. Auspicious was meeting Narasaῖyā's Lord who appeased an enraged Radha.89

In its focus on Radha's anger and appeasement at the end, the lyric parallels the Gītagovinda. It does not, however, express Radha's emotions as those of an individual, for here she represents all of the gopīs.90 And the issue is not simply one of longing and union; it is also one of challenging the hierarchy that undermines the gopīs' dignity as a community. It is a song of resistance. Rukmini may be Krishna's queen, but the first right over the “necklace” belongs to Radha as the representative of the cowherd women who love him unconditionally. The complaint, the argument, and the eventual appeasement of Radha, which are all expressed with colloquial expressions, reinforce the message that love has much greater power than social status. Moreover, the lyric highlights just anger as an appropriate emotion for connecting with the divine. This song also directs attention to the intricate networking of bhakti in which distinctive regional sensibilities are articulated through links and divergences. As mentioned in the introduction, Narasinha's bhakti songs have striking parallels with songs from the early Marathi Varkari tradition, seen most clearly in the interweaving of elements of bhakti with those of Vishnu and Shiva worship. Yet with regard to Radha, there is an important variance. Radha, who is the representative of the gopīs' love in the above song, is nowhere to be found in the Varkari tradition; it is Rukmini who is the object of veneration there. In incorporating Radha, this song in Narasinha's corpus is closer to the Krishna-bhakti songs of Hindi poets like Surdas. (p.64) Union—The Body and Beyond

Union remains the fundamental state of love in the understanding of bhakti emerging from the Narasinha corpus. Religious attainment, then, lies in realizing it in all layers of existence. A number of Narasinha lyrics convey the gopī 's realization of Krishna's inseparability from her through the imagery of women's jewelry, makeup, and everyday life. One such lyric, found in multiple manuscripts since the early eighteenth century (BJ 689, 1735 CE), uses the symbol of bindi, the round red mark that married Hindu women wear on their foreheads. Folk songs all over India refer to it as a symbol of nuptial bliss. In Gujarati, the word for the bindi is cā̃dalo—phonetically close to two words meaning “the moon,” cā̃do and cā̃daliyo —which only enhances its poetic potential because of the moon's association in Indian poetry with beauty and soothing effects. The Narasinha lyric portrays the

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Lyrics of Play condition of a gopī's heart through the symbol of the cā̃dalo, drawing from both layers of meaning. “In what auspicious moment did you get stuck to my cā̃dalo, Śyām*? You don't part with me even for a moment; my breath, my life, my handsome friend! I turn to the door, you stand there reaching out to me. I look at the window, and you are sitting there. On the street, I see you approaching; so much sweeter than nectar! I sit down to dine, and you are sitting alongside. I lie down, and see you in my bed. On my way to Vrindavan, you meet me and walk holding my hand! He does not leave alone the one whom he loves; such is the dear one, the delightful one. Blissful is meeting Narasaĩyā's Lord who lives in the lotus of the heart.91

Along with the cā̃dalo, Krishna is stuck on the forehead, the part of the body associated with destiny. Unlike the kind of cā̃dalo that is removed with a husband's death, though, the one through which Krishna gets associated with the woman's destiny offers happiness that is not interrupted “even for a moment.”92 The gopī feels Krishna's presence in bodily experiences of touching, seeing, and eating, even though the beloved resides in “the lotus of the heart.” Her love is exalted because it is inseparable from ordinary, everyday experiences. The exaltation of (p.65) the ordinary and everyday experiences of women as sacred further reinforces their dignity. In another very popular song found in an undated manuscript, “the everyday” is so transformed through bhakti that even the celestials glorify it: A naïve cowherdess set out to sell Hari, filling her pot with the darling of sixteen thousand gopīs. The cowherdess went around selling the Lord of the destitute, crying aloud on streets: “Get Murari* for yourself!” When she put her pot down, the flute resounded within. One look at his face,

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Lyrics of Play and she lost consciousness. Brahma, Indra, and other celestials witnessed this miracle. They saw the Lord of all worlds in an earthen pot. Due to [the] cowherdess's good fortune, the inner-dweller appeared. Narasaῖyā's Lord so pampers his devotees!93

This lyric has a clear thematic link with a verse in the Sanskrit poet Bilvamangal's popular Govinda Dāmodar Stotram (ca. thirteenth century), where he alludes to a gopī ' s complete absorption in Krishna's bhakti as she calls out his names—“Govinda, Damodar, Madhav”—while selling her curds.94 There, the focus is on bhakti. The Narasinha lyric highlights the interplay between bhakti and līlā as aspects of love. The gopī's bhakti creates an alternate reality out of her everyday chore. Her reality is illusory from the ordinary perspective. But due to the love that binds them, Krishna turns her illusion into reality. The central image of this lyric is the flute playing inside the gopī 's pot. Due to its fragility, the clay pot is an oft-used metaphor for the human body in bhakti poetry. Linda Hess discusses the way in which Kabir, the most outspoken of the north Indian nirguṇa poets, uses it in a poem in which he questions a priest. There, the poet brings into sharp focus the illusory nature of “untouchability” and caste discrimination by pointing out that all bodies are made of the same “clay.”95 In the Narasinha lyric, the image is used to convey a similar message about a gopī—a woman from the cowherd caste—but with a very different poetic effect. Here, the flute playing inside the pot suggests Krishna's presence within the gopī 's being. Even the gods are wonder-struck by the divinity contained in this “pot.” Krishna manifests himself in the pot because, as the inner-dweller (antaryāmīn), he knows (p.66) the depth of the gopī's love. Her love transforms absence into presence, material into spiritual, the formless into the manifest, and the marginalized into the exalted. The Erotic and the Meditative

While lyrics such as the above draw attention to the mystical dimensions of absorption in love by using important symbols of Krishna-līlā poetry such as the flute and the pot of curds, some lyrics within the Narasinha corpus integrate symbols of yogic mysticism with a vocabulary of passionate love to suggest the depth and transformative power of the latter. They portray love as an experience that fills the depth of one's being with joy, similar to a yogi's bliss in mystical union with the formless divine. Their tone is subdued and full of contentment. These lyrics serve as a bridge between Narasinha's lyrics of Krishna-līlā, which bristle with activity, and his contemplative poems, where līlā takes on cosmic and subtle dimensions. On the surface, devotion of passionate love involving reciprocity and embodied experiences seems antithetical to bhakti of deep meditation on the formless divine within one's heart. One is dependent primarily Page 33 of 44

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Lyrics of Play on form and body, which the other sees as illusory. One is centered on duality, while the other aims to go beyond it. Yet in the bhakti poetry of medieval India, the symbols associated with the two types of bhakti are often interwoven. In nirguṇa bhakti poetry, which focuses on the quest for the formless divine within one's heart, the symbolism of love is intertwined with yogic symbolism to depict various stages of the inner journey, such as the search for a guru, overcoming inner perils, and finally finding the divine within.96 Here, the basic stance is meditative. The symbolism of love is used as a poetic device to suggest the intensity of the spiritual quest and the bliss experienced at its end with the guidance of the guru, as in the following poem by Kabir. When will my desire to unite with my beloved be fulfilled? … Every limb of mine shivers with fear of many types. Being trapped in my karma and darkness of heart, I am lost in illusion. I am dumb, and this is a subtle play. Your moves are baffling. How can union happen? Give up sinful thoughts and grasp the good ones. Listening to the sadguru's words, bow to his feet. Open the veil of your heart, and let his words enter. You will then meet the beloved in your own heart.97

(p.67) The poem begins with an expression of longing in a woman's voice; but in the lines to follow, the vocabulary of illusion and darkness of heart, recurrent in nirguṇa poetry, is used in conjunction with a reference to hindrance in union with the beloved. The reference to sadguru's words, a key element in nirguṇa bhakti poetry, serves as the poem's turning point toward the hope for union within one's own heart. Overall, the motif of love suggests the intensity of the inner search.98

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Lyrics of Play Narasinha's lyrics, in contrast to Kabir's, use yogic symbolism to suggest the depth of love. In these lyrics, there are frequent references to meditation and the inner search for Krishna. The bliss of union is depicted using the symbols of yogic mysticism, such as radiant light, inner sound, and the opening of lotuses within one's being. Some phrases and single lines of this type are scattered in lyrics found in early manuscripts. In a lyric in the earliest manuscript (BJ 69), for example, “ever-fresh love for Krishna” is described in terms of deep meditation— samādhi.99 The lyric about the flute discussed above also refers to tapas or asceticism. But two lyrics found in manuscripts from the early nineteenth century are striking in their interweaving of love and yogic symbolism. In the first, the focus is on “seeing” Krishna. My foe—the dark night—has ended; the sun of the realm beyond has risen. Three worlds are now in my view, sister, the floods of illusion have receded. Each limb of the charming woman has awakened, sister, to see the beautiful form of Krishna. Millions of love-gods have risen, on seeing the Sovereign of gods. In abundance, lotuses have opened in me, sister, the black-bee within has been freed. There I have found Narasaῖyā's Lord; all desires of my heart are fulfilled.100

Here, the yogic vocabulary of “illusion” and “freedom” and the symbolism of lotuses opening within are intricately interwoven with the vocabulary of passionate love—“love-gods” and “desires of heart.” The union takes place in a realm that is illuminated by the light of the sun of the world beyond, where illusion cannot flood the mind, and where numberless lotuses have opened. Unlike the lyrics discussed above, where the place of meeting often remains ambiguous, here there is no ambiguity. This union is clearly in an inner space. Yet it is not an experience of nonduality with a formless divine, as in nirguṇa traditions. It is experienced in duality because the woman “sees” the beautiful form of Krishna. Further, even though the union takes place in the heart, the bliss is also experienced in the body, (p.68) for “each limb of the charming woman” awakens. The yogic symbolism in the lyric suggests only the depth of passionate love, not its replacement by a meditative stance. Just as the above lyric focuses on “seeing” the Lord within, another focuses on “hearing” the inner flute. Tonight the flute played in Vrindavan. I heard, and lost my heart, dear friend!

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Lyrics of Play I woke up from deep sleep. Sleep, wakefulness, dream, and the fourth state I sported in a realm beyond, the realm of ultimate bliss. My mind got cleansed of the three qualities. All illusions were dispelled. Everywhere I look, my friend, shine countless pearls of liberation. Walking around, I see with joy the enchanting play of Narasaῖyā's Lord.101

The four states of inner being mentioned in the poem—sleep, wakefulness, dreaming, and the fourth, highest state (turīya)—also form part of the yogic vocabulary recurrent in nirguṇa poetry.102 The fourth state is a state of bliss in which one becomes “conscious of consciousness.”103 It is a state of nonduality in which the self dissolves into the Ultimate, Brahman, and the subject-object perspective is no longer pertinent. In the Narasinha lyric, the woman reaches even beyond that state of complete liberation. The poem suggests that mystical bliss does not lead to dissolution of subjectivity; it leads to a perspective from which all reality appears as Krishna's līlā. Liberation (mukti) lies in being able to see that līlā. It is not attained through detachment, but through a deeper understanding of the connectedness of all life. The awareness of mystical unity, conveyed here through a gopī's voice, receives a reflective expression in some very popular lyrics classified generally in the category of lyrics of knowledge and bhakti (gnān-bhakti nā̃ pad), as we will see in the next chapter. As we have seen, Krishna-līlā lyrics in Narasinha's corpus, found from many layers of the evolution of his tradition, are linked through a focus on love. As songs of bhakti, they are necessarily about divine-human relationship and spiritual advancement. These themes remain central themes of these songs. Krishna's ultimate grace in making himself vulnerable to human love and the gopīs' total absorption in love for him, found widely in Krishna-bhakti poetry, form major themes in Narasinha's lyrics. Yet a current of resistance to social hierarchies of caste and gender also runs through Narasinha's popular Krishna-līlā lyrics. Bhakti (p.69) provides a frame to articulate it. The consistent focus on the agency of the residents of Vraj in making the divine līlā meaningful in these lyrics conveys the message in a noncombative manner. They stress love as the supreme religious value and a source of happiness, dismissing any social or religious consideration that distracts from it as meaningless. Even Krishna is challenged when he places Rukmini's status as his queen above Radha's love. The lyrics explicitly stress the gender and caste (cowherd) identity of gopī as a model of love. Her confident voice adds force to their message.

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Lyrics of Play The profusion of motifs and expressions drawn from vernacular folk songs reinforces the songs' messages about the dignity of those who are not part of the elite culture. Sitanshu Yashaschandra stresses this aspect of the Narasinha's corpus in his argument that the saint-poet's lyrics crafted a new non-elite audience in Gujarati literary history.104 Accessible poetic forms with a profusion of familiar images and expressions allow performers and audiences to imaginatively enter the world created by the lyrics and relate to their egalitarian messages as rasa. Whether all of these lyrics indeed belong to Narasinha remains a question that cannot be resolved with the extant sources. But for the performers who have shaped the tradition of the saint, they belong to a single corpus, which explores the potential of bhakti as a channel to articulate a social ideology founded on love in multiple ways. The attribution of lyrics to the saint-poet is not random. As our examination shows, the lyrics found in manuscripts belonging to different time periods share several formal lyrical aspects such as the use of everyday images from women's lives and the theme of love as the highest religious value. This theme also links the Krishna-līlā lyrics in the Narasinha corpus with those dominated by a contemplative mood, to which we now turn. Notes:

(1) . NKK: 140 (Manuscript date unknown). (2) . The term “blueprint” is borrowed from Philip Lutgendorf's study of Tulsidas's Ramayana in performance, where the author argues that even the study of the text in performance must necessarily start with the text, which provides a “blueprint rather than an artifact” for performance (Lutgendorf 1991: 36). (3) . Swami Anand as cited by Jhaverchand Meghani 1993 [1947]: 29. (4) . Vasudha Narayanan's book on the Tamil sacred literature of Srivaishnavas, Narayanan 1994. (5) . For a short discussion of the use of the term pad in Hindi, see Vaudeville 1987: 22; for a discussion of the term in Gujarati see Mehta 2005 [1976]: 20–30 and Joshi 1996: 361–362. (6) . The longer poems attributed to Narasinha include autobiographical poems; a long poem titled “Caturi,” containing a Radha-Krishna love story; and a long narrative poem about Krishna's friend Sudama (NKK 1–126). Of these, the autobiographical poems are discussed in chapter 3, on hagiography. Others have literary significance but do not contribute to the saint-poet's wider popularity.

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Lyrics of Play (7) . Even though Narasinha is credited with long autobiographical poems and narrative poetic works based on mythology here, only the lyrics (pads) that are popular in performance today or give indication of past popularity with recurrence in manuscripts are discussed. (8) . Haberman 2003: xxix. (9) . For an argument for the influence Upanishads on the mystical poetry of medieval saint-poets, see Barthwal 1991 [1930]: 61–63. Barthwal's work titled Traditions of Indian Mysticism Based upon Nirguna School of Hindi Poetry is one of the early works in this area and can be seen as a landmark in this direction. (10) . Bryant 1979: 67. (11) . In Hindi and English scholarship subsequent to Barthwal (cited above), the distinction between saguṇa and nirguṇa poetry has been important. For a brief discussion of the prevalence of this distinction, see Hawley 1995a: 160–162. (12) . In his essay in Gujarātī Sāhitya no Itihās (History of Gujarati Literature), Umashankar Joshi discusses the contemplative poems as reflecting the maturing of Narasinha's bhakti (U. Joshi 2006 [1976]: 166, 181, 191). Shastri views them as providing a philosophical framework for his bhakti (K. Shastri 2005 [1971]: 133–145.). Ishvarlal Dave sees them as philosophical poems full of rasa, which complement the Krishna-līlā lyrics (Dave 1973: 16). The performers whom I interviewed either did not think about the two categories as separate or saw them as complementary. (13) . The categorization is not uniform in scholarly works. Some lyrics with Krishna-līlā themes are included in the Jesalpura's edition (NKK) in the gnānbhakti-vairagya nā pad section (For example, the one in a gopī's voice that begins with the line “What was my good merit…” and the one that begins with the line “Naïve cowherdess…” discussed here). Yet Umashankar Joshi discusses them in his section on erotic love (U. Joshi 2005 [1976]: 153–154). Here, I follow Joshi in treating all lyrics focusing on Krishna's relationships with the gopīs and Vraj residents together. (14) . Kenneth Bryant points out that the Krishna narratives offer immense possibilities for devotional poetry. The dramatic irony inherent in the concept of divine incarnation is augmented in Krishna's līlā, which is full of mirth. Bryant 1978: 13–17. (15) . Kinsley 1979: 119–121. (16) . A compilation of Gujarati folk songs with Krishna themes by Hasu Yagnik contains 606 songs (Yagnik 1990). (17) . Yagnik 1995: 14. Page 38 of 44

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Lyrics of Play (18) . In the works of Jain monks since the late first millennium CE, Krishna appears as the cousin of the twenty-second Jain tīrthankara (“ford-maker,” a realized soul), Neminath (A. Shah 1974: 230). Examples of Apabhramsha verses with Radha-Krishna themes are also given by the twelfth-century Jain grammarian Hemachandracharya in his work (Miller 1997: 35, 65). H. C. Bhayani compiled a list of approximately two hundred popular Krishna songs of the early medieval period, which he found in anthologies of Jain hymns of that time. In these anthologies, refrains of popular Krishna songs were written at the top of the hymn texts to indicate their tunes (Bhayani and Yagnik 1991: 43). (19) . In a number of Narasinha lyrics, there are references to Shukadev, the legendary author of the Bhāgavata, and Jayadeva, the poet of the Gītagovinda, as the ones who knew experientially and conveyed to others the joy of singing Krishna-līlā (NKK: 356, 362, 390). (20) . Hardy 1983: 538. (21) . For the Bhāgavata's stress on personal love as the path to the divine, see Schweig 2005: 110. For a detailed discussion of these parallels to the Bhāgavata found in Narasinha's poems, see K. Shastri 2005 [1971]: 125–131. (22) . I have discussed the influence of these two texts on Narasinha's lyrics in detail elsewhere. See Shukla-Bhatt 2007: 260–264. (23) . Gītagovinda 10.4.1 (Miller 1997 [1977]: 112); NKK: 310. (24) . John S. Hawley remarks on Surdas's similar ability to surprise “his listeners with a point of view that would enable them to see it all afresh” (Hawley 1984: 73). (25) . Chauhan 1983: 63; Dholakia 1994: 80. (26) . Dewey 2005 [1934]: 18. (27) . Ten poems related to Krishna's birth and childhood are found in B. J. Institute (from now on, BJ) MS # 164, VS 1700 (1643 CE). See NKK: 130–144. (28) . NKK: 131, BJ MS # 164 dated ca. VS 1700 (1643 CE). (29) . NKK: 139. This song, which is popular today, combines parts found in different manuscripts. The last two stanzas are found in BJ MS # 164, ca. VS 1700 (1643 CE) and the first two are found in Farbas Gujarati Sabha MS # 274, VS 1845 (1789 CE). (30) . Bryant 1978: 168–169. (31) . Krishna is referred to by a number of names in Narasinha lyrics. Each name of Krishna is followed by an asterisk (*) now on. Page 39 of 44

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Lyrics of Play (32) . NKK: 135, BJ MS # 208, VS 1774 (1717 CE). (33) . Saranga: Krishna's bow, known for its strength. (34) . NKK: 139, BJ MS # 666 (date unknown). (35) . According to the myth of the churning of the cosmic ocean, the cosmic ocean of milk, the kṣīrasāgara, was churned at the beginning of time by gods and nongods in order to acquire the fourteen jewels it contained. Among these were the goddess of prosperity (Lakshmi), the nine treasures of Kuber (the god of wealth), various medicinal herbs, and most importantly, the nectar of immortality. For this churning, the churning pole was Mt. Mandar (Meru in oral traditions), and the churning rope was the celestial serpent Vasuki. As the churning began, one of the first things to come out was poison. Shiva drank it to save the world. See Dimmit and Van Buitenen 1978: 73–75. (36) . Bryant 1978: 163. (37) . For the Bhāgavata Purāṇa, I use Srimad Bhāgavata: The Holy Book of God, Vol. 3, trans. Swami Tapasyananda (1981). The episode is found in the Bhāgavata Purāṇa 10.8.29–32. (38) . NKK: 141, BJ MS # 475, VS 1869 (1812 CE). (39) . NKK: 143, BJ MS # 1035, VS 1835 (1778 CE). (40) . The song has received much attention in Gujarati scholarship (Nayak 1983: 107–109; Trivedi 1983: 67–73). Harivallabh Bhayani also discusses how the popularity of this song has led parts of it to be incorporated in Rajasthani songs and even in one lyric of Surdas (Bhayani 1986: 84–93). (41) . Nayak 1983: 108–109. (42) . Svayambhu, Araśṭinemicaritra, 6.1, as paraphrased in Gujarati by H. C. Bhayani (Bhayani 1986: 17). The English translation of the quoted lines is mine. (43) . Premanand 1998 [1978]: 709–720. (44) . Bryant 1978: 152–154, 190–192. (45) . B. Joshi 1968: 302. (46) . For the widely prevalent association of poetic refinement with the figure of Surdas in the courtly milieu of north India, see the section “Courtly Frames for Sūrdās” in Hawley 2009: 19–24. (47) . The Bhāgavata Purāṇa recurrently stresses the gopīs' superiority as devotees. In one place, Krishna declares that even he cannot repay their love; Page 40 of 44

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Lyrics of Play his messenger Uddhav sings in praise of the gopīs' absorption in his love (10.32.22, 10.47.57–63 BP: 171, 238–239). (48) . For an explanation of madhura bhakti-rasa in Rupa Goswami's influential text, see Raghu Nath Sharma 1996: 130. For a discussion of the significance of a gopī's emotions as model of bhakti, see Friedhelm Hardy 1983: 563–564. (49) . Surdas provides a well-known example in Hindi. But earlier poets like Vidyapati have also expressed emotions of the gopīs, especially Radha. For just a few examples from Surdas, see Hawley 2009: 117–118; for examples from Vidyapati, see Vidyapati 1987 [1963]: 12, 15–16. (50) . Umashankar Joshi recurrently comments on the lack of refinement in some overtly erotic lyrics and considers them a weak aspect in an otherwise brilliant corpus (Joshi 2005 [1976]: 150, 190). (51) . Bhāgavata Purāṇa 10.47.58 (1981: 238). (52) . Bhāgavata Purāṇa 10.47 (1981: 232–240). (53) . Miller 1997: 15. (54) . Ramanujan 1999: 270. (55) . Shesha—the cosmic serpent on whom Vishnu reclines in the cosmic ocean. The suggestion in the lyrics is that this inaccessible transcendent divine enters the gopī 's bed because of the power of her love. (56) . NKK: 361–362, BJ MS # 69, VS 1668 (1611 CE). (57) . Bhāgavata Purāṇa 10.47.58–59 (1981: 238–229). (58) . For Surdas's exquisite poems based on the bhramargīt or “the songs of the bee” in the Bhāgavata Purāṇa where the gopīs address Krishna through a passing bee, see Hawley 1984: 98–112. (59) . NKK: 189, BJ MS # 164, VS 1700 (1643 CE). (60) . Bhagavad Gītā 15.13–14, trans. Eknath Easwaran 2007: 233–234. (61) . Jayadeva, Gītagovinda (trans. Miller) 1997: 77. (62) . NKK: 181, BJ MS # 542, VS 1867 (1810 CE). (63) . NKK: 182–183. (64) . Gītagovinda 1.3.27, 1.3.31. Jayadeva (trans. Miller) 1997: 74–75. (65) . Bhāgavata Purāṇa 10.29.3–9 (1981: 156–157). Page 41 of 44

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Lyrics of Play (66) . For lyrics on this theme by Vidyapati and Chandidas, see Vidyapati 1987: 120; and Chandidas 1967: 124; both translated by Deben Bhattacharya. (67) . NKK: 198, BJ MS # 726, VS 1832 (1775 CE). (68) . Dave 1983: 264. (69) . During my 2000–2001 research trip, I came to know Dattu Bhagat, whom everyone called “Kaka” (uncle), in the Shailesh Park Society near L. D. Engineering College in Ahmedabad, where he sang bhajans while he cleaned streets. He had a profound knowledge of the mystical traditions prevalent in the lower strata of society in Gujarat, which he freely shared with me. (70) . See, for example, Surdas's poems 3–6 in Bryant 1978: 196–198. (71) . NKK: 191, 196, 200, 201. Of these, the earliest is in BJ MS # 164, VS 1700 (1643 CE). (72) . NKK: 202. Re is an exclamatory sound in many Indic languages, expressing closeness to the person to whom it is addressed. (73) . NKK: 200. (74) . Schweig 1997: 6–7, 45. The traditions that Schweig specifically mentions are Chaitanya, Vallabha, and Nimbarka. See also Schweig 2005: 101, 172–183. (75) . NKK: 166, BJ MS # 164, VS 1700 (1643 CE). (76) . NKK: 152–153. (77) . NKK: 179. (78) . Personal conversation with Niranjan Rajyaguru, June 2001, Ghoghavadar, India. (79) . M. Dave 2000: 37–48. (80) . Hawley 1984: 96, 112, 118. The chapter titled “Viraha: Separation and Simple Religion” is one of the finest explorations of the theme in vernacular poetry (ibid., 93–118). (81) . See, for example, Mira (trans. Schelling) 1998: 62. (82) . Out of 473 lyrics on the gopī-Krishna theme included in NKK, a mere ten are on the theme of a gopī 's pain in permanent separation. Only one of these is found in an early manuscript, NKK: 222–227. Bhramarlal Joshi observes that because it contains very few lyrics of viraha, the Narasinha corpus fails to portray the full range of emotions associated with love, which Surdas's corpus so ably does (Joshi 1968: 186). Mansukhlal Zaveri suggests that Narasinha's poems Page 42 of 44

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Lyrics of Play lack the intensity that one finds in Mira's because the latter expresses the intense pain of separation, whereas Narasihna's do not (Zaveri 1968: 14). (83) . Gītagovinda 12.11, Jayadeva (trans. Miller) 1997: 124. (84) . Gītagovinda, introduction to Jayadeva by Miller 1997: 15–16. (85) . In Gujarati songs for a dance called garbo, the motif of a scorpion bite is recurrent. The bite by a poisonous creature also represents the pain of love in the folk songs of many regional Indian languages. The Marathi folk song Vicchu chawla (The scorpion bit me) uses the same motif. Even a famous movie song of the past, set in rural Himachal Pradesh, Daiyā re daiyā caḍh gayo pāpi bichuā (Oh my destiny that the evil scorpion has bit me) from Madhumati (1958) directed by Bimal Roy, uses the motif. (86) . NKK: 284, BJ MS # 164, VS 1700 (1643 CE). This theme also seems to have been popular more broadly in north India. A whole cycle of songs is found on the theme in the corpus of Surdas (Hawley 1984: 53). (87) . NKK: 208, BJ MS # 207, VS 1774 (1717 CE). (88) . Hawley indicates that the later Sūr Sāgar includes fifty-one songs on this theme (Hawley 1984: 83). (89) . NKK: 273, BJ MS # 2547, no date. (90) . Hawley points out that in Surdas's lyrics, too, Radha is significant because of her representative role in relation to the rest of gopīs (Hawley 1984: 89). (91) . NKK: 209, BJ MS # 689, VS 1792 (1735 CE). (92) . In a popular song attributed to Mira, the reason she gives for marrying Krishna is that it brings “unbroken/unbreakable good fortune” (akhanḍa saubhāgya), which is associated in Hindi vocabulary with the husband's long life. (93) . NKK: 375, BJ MS # 1275, no date. (94) . “Even though desirous of selling her curds, with her mind fixed on Krishna's feet, out of attachment the gopī called out ‘Govinda, Damodar, Madhav.'” Govinda Dāmodar Stotram. 3. As cited by Topiwala 1983: 228. The translation is mine. (95) . Hess 1987: 156 (ff. 17.). (96) . See Dwivedi 2000: 156–157. (97) . From Kabīr Vacan, as quoted by Dwivedi, Kabīr, 156. The translation is mine. Page 43 of 44

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Lyrics of Play (98) . Hazari Prasad Dwivedi discusses the motif of love in Kabir using the term abhisarika (a woman takes great risks in setting out to search for her beloved). See Dwivedi 2000: 156–157. (99) . NKK: 317, BJ MS # 69, VS 1668 (1611 CE). (100) . NKK: 388, BJ MS # 1730, VS 1894 (1837 CE). (101) . NKK: 389, BJ MS # 574, VS 1896 (1839 CE). (102) . Dwivedi 2000: 45–46. (103) . For the roots of this symbolism in early Indic texts, see Eliade 1969: 71. (104) . Yashaschandra 2003: 585–586.

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Lyrics of Awakening

Narasinha Mehta of Gujarat: A Legacy of Bhakti in Songs and Stories Neelima Shukla-Bhatt

Print publication date: 2014 Print ISBN-13: 9780199976416 Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: November 2014 DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199976416.001.0001

Lyrics of Awakening Mysticism and Moral Reflection Neelima Shukla-Bhatt

DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199976416.003.0003

Abstract and Keywords This chapter examines the lyrics of mysticism and moral teaching in the Narasinha tradition, many of which are sung as morning hymns in Gujarat. An important focus of the discussion here is the way in which lyrics evoking a contemplative mood relate to those on Krishna's playful adventures in their stress on love as the fundamental spiritual value. The chapter also highlights how the songs of teachings about compassion, humility, and detachment as essential qualities for religiousness closely parallel songs of major nirguṇa poets. It gives a close consideration to the integration of elements from diverse transregional and regional currents of bhakti in Narasinha's songs, which contributes to their inclusive spirit and makes them popular among diverse communities. Keywords:   prabhatiya, morning hymns, nirguna, saguna, mysticism, Brahman, Shiva, Vaishnavajana, Harijan, moral integrity

This is a marvelous play! You remain changeless. You neither come, nor go. Neither grow, nor diminish. You shine as the essence of the entire universe and the world. —Narasinha Mehta

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Lyrics of Awakening In the bhakti milieu of north India, Narasinha Mehta has been known as an exemplary devotee of Krishna. Hagiographic narratives about his devotion to Krishna have circulated in north India for four centuries. Indeed, as we saw in the last chapter, Krishna-līlā songs dominate his corpus and contain multiple references to the bliss of singing Krishna's praise. Yet in Gujarat, his iconic stature as a saint-poet does not rest exclusively on his songs about Krishna's life in Vraj. Some of the most popular songs of his tradition make no reference to Krishna as Vishnu's earthly descent (avatār). Rather, these are songs of metaphysical and moral reflection. Some of them, such as the one quoted above, are infused with a sense of wonder and glorify the all-pervading divine, referred to alternatively as Krishna, Shiva, Brahman (the Ultimate), or Paribrahma (the Perfect Ultimate).1 Stressing that the underlying unity of all existence can only be realized through love, these songs evoke a tranquil, contemplative mood (śānta rasa). A few lyrics focus on the nature of bhakti and self-knowledge, and some convey teachings about an ethical life anchored in love for one's fellow beings. Associated with spiritual awakening, many popular songs of contemplation are sung as morning hymns (prabhātiyā̃) in a soothing traditional melody, which is loosely based on the classical rāga Bilāval, a melodic frame associated with tenderness and affection.2 One hears them sung by women starting their daily chores, farmers working in their fields, or groups walking around town early in the morning singing hymns (prabhāt-pherī). They are also heard on the first programs of All-India Radio stations or in roadway tea-stalls, as daily customers gather for their first cup of tea. Their circulation in multiple everyday contexts offers an example of what Dewey describes as “the continuity of esthetic (p.71) experience with normal process of living,” which has important cultural implications.3 The contemplative hymns of Narasinha are often categorized as “songs of knowledge and devotion” (jnān-bhakti-nā̃ pado) in Gujarati scholarship. Some of them are considered among the finest lyrics in the Gujarati language and have received much attention in the twentieth-century scholarship on its literary history. They have been praised as “utterances of the universal spirit,” presenting Upanishadic philosophy immersed in bhakti, and as offerings (prasādī) of mature intelligence (prajnā). Importantly, they have been described as poems that indicate Narasinha's ability to convey philosophical thought with rasa at their core (rasātmak).4 A number of these songs are translated into French in the work by Françoise Mallison referenced earlier.5 Along with receiving appreciation however, these songs have also been at the center of the debates about authorship discussed earlier. Briefly revisiting the debate is helpful in appreciating how saint-poet traditions are shaped by the performers of the songs attributed to them. Some scholars who raise issues about the authorship of Narasinha's contemplative songs argue that they convey monistic ideas associated with advaita Vedanta (the nondualistic school of thought based on the Upanishads) that are inconsistent with the ecstatic Page 2 of 30

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Lyrics of Awakening Narasinha lyrics expressing bhakti of love. These scholars also point out the fact that many of these songs appear in later manuscripts. There has even been a suggestion that there might have been more than one Narasinha in history, one a devotee of Krishna and another a follower of yogic mysticism.6 Many scholars however, believe that at least some contemplative songs do belong to the saintpoet. They identify strong links between contemplative and Krishna-līlā songs. Some of them view the contemplative lyrics as expressions of a more advanced understanding of bhakti, when Narasinha turned from emotion to reflection.7 Some argue that they are linked to the passages in the Bhāgavata Purāṇa that glorify Krishna's cosmic form.8 Some suggest that the contemplative lyrics are best understood not as statements of systematic theology but as the spiritual reflections of a poet who drew themes and symbols from diverse devotional currents in his milieu while keeping a focus on the human capacity for love.9 The views of the performers with whom I conversed in Gujarat and in the United States paralleled those of the scholars who see the Krishna-līlā and contemplative songs as reflecting complementary aspects of the saint's bhakti. In addition to seeing links among the lyrics, they associated the two categories of Narasinha's songs with two aspects of his hagiography—his bond of love with Krishna and his daily walk to a pond in the foothills of Mt. Girnar at dawn, absorbed in a reflective mood and singing his soothing morning hymns when he often interacted with the Dalits living there. Dattu Bhagat, the Dalit bhajan singer of Ahmedabad mentioned in the last chapter, for example, often sang Narasinha's morning hymns as he began to sweep the streets early in the morning. He told me that these songs of “Narasinha bhagat (colloquial of bhakta, meaning “devotee”)” appealed to (p.72) him because they convey deep thought and broad human sympathy. In his view, they reflect the maturing of the bhakti “seeds” found in the Krishna-līlā songs. By starting his day with those songs, he felt as if he was meeting Narasinha in his daily walks.10 It was easy to see that by referring to the saint-poet as bhagat, he also linked his own title with the saint's. The bhajan singer and scholar Niranjan Rajyaguru, who has also been mentioned, explained that the traditional performers in the region view Narasinha's Krishna-līlā and contemplative songs as reflecting different moments of spiritual inspiration experienced by a seeker.11 Perceptions of lay bhajan singers paralleled those of the above singers who have long followed devotional singing as their main spiritual practice. In a phone interview, Minaxi Patel, the president of the women's bhajan singing group of the Ramkabir sect (a regional sect based on Kabir's teachings whose members are known as Bhaktas) in Carson, CA, stressed that the Krishna-līlā and contemplative songs are complementary. In her group, women sing both types of songs with equal zeal. In Patel's view, the complete experience of bhakti requires both love and contemplation. She considers Narasinha a great devotee poet and emphasizes that even though he composed a smaller number of contemplative songs than did Kabir, Narasihna recognized the significance of reflection in Page 3 of 30

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Lyrics of Awakening bhakti.12 Seema Mandavia, a professor in Junagadh who often sings Narasinha bhajans, observed that the contemplative songs deepen the message of love found in Krishna-līlā songs. She additionally pointed out the meters and use of skillful alliteration that marks popular songs in both categories.13 The views of these scholars and performers indicate that Narasinha's contemplative songs are widely held as completing the understanding of bhakti presented in the Krishna-līlā songs. These views of performers, which associate an expansive understanding of bhakti to Narasinha, contribute significantly to the cultural sculpting of his tradition. In this chapter, we will examine three types of Narasinha's songs in the jnānbhakti category: some glorifying the ineffable and all-pervading divine, some focusing on the nature of spiritual paths, and those conveying moral teachings. We will look at the devotional and ethical messages they convey and the metaphors and devices they employ, while also paying attention to the dates of their appearance in manuscripts. This will allow us to consider the thematic and stylistic links they have with Krishna-līlā songs, offering the performers a basis for associating them with a single corpus.

The Sporting of the Ineffable Supreme Some of the most well loved songs from the Narasinha corpus convey a sense of wonder at the līlā of the all-pervading divine. In a few of these, the divine is still referred to as “Krishna”; but the stage of his līlā expands from the “tiny village of Gokul” to all of creation. His play now takes place in all forms of life, in the (p.73) cosmic bodies, and in the human heart. In songs with this interpretation of līlā, a mood of wonder and reflection replaces the vibrancy of activity and the intensity of emotion that mark the songs of Krishna-līlā. The main poetic devices here are paradox and metaphors of grandeur, rather than the dramatic irony and expressive soliloquies found in songs of Krishna-līlā. A large number of them are found in manuscripts that date from the late eighteenth century, but they share the core theme of the power of human love with the Krishna-līlā songs found in earlier manuscripts. A song about Krishna's cosmic form, found in a manuscript dated VS 1845 (1788 CE), provides an example. Look, who is strolling across the space, proclaiming “I am that, I am that!” I long for death at Shyam's feet. No one here compares to Krishna! The expanse of Shyam's beauty, is beyond the mind's reach. The intellect loses its way in His beauty's endless festival. Know the insentient and the sentient with rasa,

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Lyrics of Awakening holding the rejuvenating herb of love. Where the golden rim of the flame, radiating from a million suns emanates, there, the Supreme sports in bliss, rocking in a cradle of gold. Without wick, without oil, without a cotton thread, an unfluttering pure flame shines for eternity. See it without eyes, know it as formless, relish the delicious nectar (rasa) without tongue. Indestructible, unfathomable, He remains beyond grasp. Sporting everywhere between high and low, Narasaῖyā's Lord pervades the entirety. A saint binds Him with the fiber of love.14

The first line of the lyric, termed the “take-off” (upā ḍ) in Gujarati, is structured to evoke a strong sense of wonder. It begins with an imperative, directly addressing the listener, as seen in many Kabir songs.15 Yet the imperative is in the form of a gentle suggestion in Gujarati: nīrakh ne (look), instead of the plain nīrakh, which would suggest greater authority on the part of the speaker. The upā ḍ is an invitation that the poet extends to the listener to join him in (p.74) looking at something.16 The invitation stirs a sense of wonder in the listener to behold something, which is intensified by the following word, gagan, generally translated as “sky.” An equivalent of ākāś (sky, space) in many north Indian languages, it often symbolizes inner space in nirguṇa poetry.17 Makarand Dave, a renowned mystical poet of Gujarati, suggests that gagan refers to both outer and inner spaces in this lyric.18 The invitation, then, is to join the poet in looking at both of these spaces. By the end of the first line, attention is drawn to a being who is strolling across the inner and outer spaces. Instead of indentifying that being, the poet uses the interrogative pronoun koṇ (who), deepening the sense of mystery. This being keeps proclaiming, “I am that.” The pronouncement has a clear parallel to a well-known mahāvākya (great saying) from the Chāndogya Upanishad, “you are that” (tat tvam asi), which is widely interpreted in Hindu milieu as identifying the human spirit with the Ultimate. Here, the being spanning the spaces identifies himself with the Ultimate, intensifying the sense of mystery.19 The rarely used present continuous tense, for the verb ghūmavũ (to stroll), whose connotations include “pleasure,” conveys a sense of eternal līlā. The first line of the poem thus leaves the listener with a sense of deep mystery. The first word of the second line resolves the mystery of the subject's identity. The one strolling in the space is Shyam (Krishna), at whose feet the poet wishes to surrender his life. The expression of submission follows from the sense of Page 5 of 30

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Lyrics of Awakening wonder evoked in the first line. In the first two lines, the poet thus takes the performer or listener on a journey from wonder to surrender along with him. The next two stanzas employ two strikingly different devices recurrent in saguṇa and nirguṇa bhakti poetry traditions to lead the listener to relate to Krishna's universal, ungraspable form. One is the portrayal of Krishna's beauty. Description of a deity's beautiful form is a common trope for anchoring the visual imagination of a devotee in saguṇa lyrics, which make frequent use of similes and metaphors.20 But in this lyric, the poet's challenge is to describe Krishna's cosmic body and to lead the audience's imagination to its limits. After providing the immense visual image of “the golden rim of the flame, radiating from a million suns” in order to evoke unimaginable grandeur, the lyric employs a favorite device of nirguṇa poets. This is “upside-down language” (ulaṭbāṃsi), the absurd and paradoxical rhetoric often employed by Kabir, which, as Linda Hess puts it, “weaves in and out of impossible verbal and intellectual situations.”21 Here, the image of “an unfluttering pure flame” shining for eternity without oil or wick provides a clue to a form too subtle to perceive with senses. In the instruction to “see it without eyes,” the puzzle that began in the first line, with the invitation to “look,” reaches its climax. The tension is resolved in the last line by a reference to the central theme of the Narasinha corpus—love. All one needs to bind the ungraspable divine is a “fiber of love.” The juxtaposition of “fiber” with adjectives like “indestructible” (p.75) and “unfathomable” highlights the strength of a delicate feeling. Even though this lyric presents a conception of love that is radically different from the intense emotions conveyed in the lyrics of Krishna-līlā, it parallels the rās songs in stressing a sense of connectedness to all existence—“the insentient and the sentient.”—through love The lyric is considered a classic in Gujarati poetry for its dramatic interweaving of grand and delicate imagery.22 Because the lyric shows clear parallels with the Upanishads, some scholars give it a Vedantic interpretation and discuss it as conveying the experience of merging into the formless divine. But the lyric does not reject form. With an image like flames of a million suns, it celebrates the world of form on a grand scale. The poem presents the divine as present in all forms and at the same time beyond forms—having both saguṇa and nirguṇa characteristics. It leads the listeners to this understanding by first evoking wonder and awe, then stretching their imagination to its limits, and finally drawing their attention to their own capacity for love. The last line, with its focus on human love, links it thematically to Krishna-līlā songs in which the Vraj residents' affection for Krishna is celebrated. When it is sung in the tune based on the Bilāval rāga, which is associated with tenderness and affection, it leads the audience to a deep sense of wonder. Significantly, the lyric itself uses the

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Lyrics of Awakening term rasa twice, reinforcing its interpretation as a vital channel to relate to the ineffable form of the divine. Another popular song, found first in a manuscript from the early nineteenth century (VS 1867, 1810 CE), interweaves the themes of rasa and love in a different pattern (see figures 2.1 and 2.2). (p.76) In the entire universe, it is only you, Shri Hari appearing in endless different forms. You are the divine in a body. You are the inner substance of light. Becoming the word in the Void, You reside in the Vedas. You are wind, you are water, you are the earth, O Lord! You are the tree spreading to the sky. You created countless things to enjoy many rasas. From Shiva, you became a soul, only to fulfill that wish. The Vedas pronounce, and scriptures testify: “There is no distinction between gold and an earring. After they are molded, they have different names and forms. In the end, it is all gold.” The books created confusion; and did not tell the truth. Each worships whom he likes. What one accepts with thought, speech, and action, the mind sees only that as the Truth. You are the seed in the tree; you are the tree in the seed; I see the veils so close. Narasaĩyo says: He is what my heart is searching. Let me love. He will manifest himself with love.23

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Lyrics of Awakening This lyric shares with the previous one the predominance of the mood of wonder. It similarly employs upside-down rhetoric (the tree in the seed, the seed in the tree) and incorporates the Upanishadstyle metaphor of the gold and the earring to introduce the monistic idea of the fundamental unity of all existence. Yet it goes further in interweaving devotional currents and refers to a different dimension of rasa. The first line addresses Shri Hari (Krishna) as the all-pervading

Figure 2.1 “In the entire universe…” in B. J. Institute MS # 1377 (without date). Photograph: Neelima Shukla-Bhatt.

divine that appears in numberless forms. But the fourth line identifies Shiva as the Supreme who created these forms and entered them in order to enjoy many rasas. Here rasa constitutes the fundamental link between creation and the creator. Krishna and Shiva become interchangeable names for the Ultimate, a theme that resonates in the bhakti milieu of Gujarat, where a large majority

Figure 2.2 Eminent classical dancer Sonal Mansingh, who often performs “In the entire universe.”

of people integrate veneration Courtesy: Sonal Mansingh. of many deities in their religious life. With a simple replacement of names, the line suggests that even the names of the deities are a part of the ever-changing universe of forms. (p.77) Reflecting widely prevalent themes of nirguṇa bhakti poetry, the lyric expresses mistrust of scriptural orthodoxy and grants primacy to the experience of devotion. Even though the poem invokes the authority of sacred texts, it rejects textual debates that create confusion and mislead people. The poet stresses that people worship different forms of the divine according to their inclination. The realization of Truth is existential, engaging heart, body, and speech. The critique of confusing textual arguments is directed to the authority Page 8 of 30

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Lyrics of Awakening of Brahmins, who have a stake in the texts. But the critique is not the focus of the poem. Like the first, this lyric also ends with a reiteration of the theme of love, implying that love can lift the veils that separate the human from the divine. The lyric (p. 78) evokes a peaceful mood in the realization that the divine is close despite the veils that the multitude of forms has created.24 Forms, however, are not rejected as meaningless. Although it stresses the impermanence of forms, the poem suggests that forms are the source of rasa even for the divine. In that sense, the phenomenal world is appreciated for what it can do, rather than just rejected as a distraction. This is consistent with the portrayal of idyllic Vraj in Krishna-līlā songs. Another lyric—a favorite among connoisseurs of Gujarati poetry (and used by Gandhi in his Gītā discourses discussed later)—also highlights the significance of transient forms as the basis of rasa.25 It is found in a number of manuscripts, the oldest of which dates from the early nineteenth century (VS 1894, 1837 CE). When I awoke, the world disappeared. In sleep, there appeared bewildering pleasures. The mind is immersed in the sporting of Consciousness. Brahman dances gracefully before Brahman. The five great elements, emerged from Paribrahman holding one another in embrace. Know flowers and fruits as belonging to the tree; a branch too is not different from the trunk. The Vedas pronounce, and scriptures testify: “There is no distinction between gold and earring. After they are molded, they have different names and forms. In the end, it is all gold.” Through self-will, he became Shiva and the soul. He created fourteen worlds, making each one distinct. Narasaῖyo says: “You are that,” “You are that,” Many saints were saved, keeping this in mind.”26

Strikingly, this lyric does not mention Krishna but refers to the divine as Brahman, Paribrahman, and Shiva. The image of Brahman gracefully dancing before Brahman opens up many layers of meanings. The word translated as “dances gracefully” in the second line is the plural of Gujarati word laṭko, which signifies a graceful and pleasing movement of body, especially while dancing. It is closely related to rasa. In this lyric, the rhythmic movements of the universe are interpreted as the laṭko of the Ultimate, Brahman. The word readily brings to Page 9 of 30

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Lyrics of Awakening the performers' mind the rās songs and a very popular Narasinha lyric found in (p.79) manuscript dated half a century earlier (VS 1835, 1778 CE) that interprets every marvelous deed of Krishna as a laṭko, a graceful move: O beautiful Shyam*! I would give my life for a graceful move of yours. With a graceful move, you grazed cows in Gokul; with another, you played the flute. With a graceful move, you lifted the mountain; with another, you killed Kaṃsa. With a graceful move, you plunged into the Jamuna; with another, you subdued the snake.27

Here, the one who enjoys watching the graceful movement is the devotee. In the contemplative song, the enjoyer is also Brahman. The created world, an aspect of Brahman, appears as an independent entity only until one awakens to the awareness of the world as the graceful dance of the divine. Even though the first line of the poem hints that the poem rejects the world as an illusion, the lyric repeatedly stresses the sanctity of all forms and their interconnectedness as aspects of the divine. The appeal of the lyric derives both from its theme—the unity of all existence in the graceful sporting of the divine—and its use of simple diction with skillful alliteration. Although this lyric, with its reflective mood, neither portrays the bustling scenes of activity of the rās songs nor even makes reference to Krishna's līlā, it is linked to songs found in earlier manuscripts by its focus on graceful movement. It provides an excellent example of how a saintpoet's corpus can be shaped through links created by layers of interpretation of some core themes and motifs that are associated with him or her by performers. Through its use of a colloquial Gujarati word like laṭko, this lyric has the appeal of a regional folk song. Yet it also strikingly parallels the last two verses of the celebrated Marathi poem Anubhavamrut, by the Varkari saint Jnandeva (thirteenth century). Therefore in the Being of God There is no finger to point: Shiva is all over Shiva And so says Jnandev: With his immortal experience of Being Experience the celebration of this universe By celebrating its being.28

Commenting on these stanzas, Dilip Chitre, the translator, writes, “Anubhavamrut as I read it is not a philosophical discourse disguised as poetry, but poetry expressed (p.80) as a total worldview.”29 Jnandeva's poetic feat, Chitre suggests, is to fuse the emotional spontaneity of Vaishnavism with the Shaivite focus on asceticism and intuitive knowledge about the unity of being.30 Page 10 of 30

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Lyrics of Awakening With the allusion to Krishna's graceful dance, interpreted as the rhythms of the entire universe, and references to Shiva and the unity of existence, the Narasinha lyric reflects a similar poetic feat. As discussed in the introduction, the Varkari tradition—with its remarkable integration of Shaiva, Vaishnava, nirguṇa bhakti, and saguṇa bhakti elements—has long been known in Gujarat. The lyric from the Narasinha corpus suggests that the religious and poetic vision conveyed in Jnandeva's poem had been influential in the bhakti milieu of Gujarat. The prevalence of this vision is reflected even in the work of the seventeenthcentury Gujarati poet Akho, known as a staunch follower of a knowledge-based spiritual quest rather than emotion-laden bhakti. In one of his six-line long poems—chappā—he says with characteristic sharpness, “Without knowing that the Supreme resides in all existence, no one can advance spiritually.”31 The Narasinha lyric is a part of this general milieu. But with its use of a colloquial term like laṭko, it is also linked to songs of Krishna-līlā in the corpus attributed to him. Another lyric found in a manuscript dated VS 1894 (1837 CE), which mentions the complementary roles of Krishna and Radha and the illusory nature of the saguṇa-nirguṇa distinction, further reinforces the understanding of the manifest world as the sporting of the all-pervading divine. The beginning, the middle, the end. It's all you Shri Hari! The only, the one, only yourself. … Millions of suns and moons shine in his face, His face is beyond probing sight, just as darkness cannot be seen in the sunlight! About him, the Vedas say “not this, not this.” He is the Lord of a million universes. He is the holder of the earth. A million universes are but a cell in his body. Illusion will not shatter without grasping the essence. Saguṇa is the form of nirguṇa. He lives not in solitude; nor is he apart from the world. His energy pervades all. Perfect, Beginningless, Bliss Incarnate—Krishnaji. Beautiful Radhika is his bhakti!32

Like the lyric that addresses Krishna as “Shri Hari” in the first line, this one is about his all-pervading form. Yet while the lyric discussed earlier focuses on (p. 81) Krishna's presence across space, this poem celebrates it across time. It also identifies Krishna as both saguṇa and nirguṇa, pervading all existence as energy. Page 11 of 30

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Lyrics of Awakening The only way to relate to his blissful form is through Radha, the beautiful embodiment of bhakti. While this lyric is strikingly different in mood from the one about Radha discussed in the last chapter, the centrality of her figure as the one dearest to Krishna links the two in the corpus of the poet. The image of the ultimate reality that emerges from this song comes closest to the theology of the school of Vaishnavism founded by Nimbarka (ca. thirteenth century), in which Krishna is worshipped as the all-pervading Brahman and Radha is seen as inseparable from him. The school has a small following in Gujarat and Rajasthan.33 In stressing that Krishna is not separate from the phenomenal world and referring to Radha as representing the exalted form of bhakti, the Narasinha lyric intersects with this tradition. It also intersects with Krishna-bhakti traditions of Vrindavan in north India, where Radha reigns as the embodiment of love. Surdas's praise of Radha offers an image very similar to the one found in Narasinha's lyric: Rādhikā, jewel of joy and of form, a treasure, a sum of the finest gems, Those who bring to your lotus feet love through love attain Krishna too.34

John Stratton Hawley observes that the worship of Radha as the ultimate symbol of love in Vraj “acknowledge[s] symbolically that true religion is a matter of relation, of love.”35 The Narasinha lyric expresses this idea explicitly. Lyrics about the cosmic form of the divine in Narasinha's corpus do not provide exposition of a singular theological doctrine as expounded by the teachers of any Vaishnava sect. Rather, they draw from diverse currents of Hindu devotion and contain evocative expressions of wonder and joy at the realization of the unity of all existence through the divine sporting. Presenting this vision through simple diction, rich images, and poetic devices like the upside-down language, they draw listeners into a reflective mood and lead them to see themselves as a part of the divine play. Commenting on the lyrics' aesthetic appeal for listeners, Vishnuprasad Trivedi notes that when these hymns are heard in performance, Narasinha appears to lead the audience into poetic vision of Krishna's cosmic līlā in which he himself is absorbed.36 In these lyrics, which are mostly found in later manuscripts, the intensity of love and the dramatic expressions of love found in Krishna-līlā songs are missing. Yet, in the tranquil mood (śānta rasa) of bhakti that these lyrics evoke, love still appears as the highest spiritual value, which connects all of existence. The centrality of this theme along with its expression in an accessible poetic diction and meters popular in performance (discussed later) link these lyrics to the Krisnha-līlā lyrics found in earlier manuscripts. The ethical implications of these songs, as we will see later, were referenced recurrently by Gandhi in his writings.

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Lyrics of Awakening (p.82) Roads to Awakening A few popular Narasinha songs in the jnān-bhakti category do not capture moments of awakening. Instead, they describe effective pathways to that experience, which differ from established religious practices. Like the Krishna-līlā songs that question caste hierarchies, these songs also explore the potential of bhakti to articulate resistance to the establishment without a razorsharp rhetoric. Following a pattern in didactic poetry in north India, they are structured like logical arguments. The poet starts with a statement about a religious path, then presents supporting points, and finally ends with a concluding statement. The audience is drawn into the structure of the lyric through different devices. One of the most well-liked lyrics from this group, found in a manuscript from the early eighteenth century (1735 CE), begins with the word Premarasa (the rasa of love). Pour me the nectar of love, O Wearer of the Peacock Feather.* The beating of philosophy seems a trifle. Emaciated animals are drawn to dry husk. They do not yearn for four-fold liberation. … You liberated even demons through killing. Many pundits and yogis found liberation as well. But the gopīs of Vraj were bound to love, as were some rare devotee revelers. Charming is the way of love. Loving souls are happy only in love. If you sing praise of this nectar for many births, Vessels of joy arrive at your door. I have clasped the hand of the great Lord of the gopīs.* Nothing else is sweet to me. Narasaῖyo yearns for the ways of love. Of these, the ascetics and and virtuous women (satīs) can't even dream.37

In the first line, the poet urges Krishna, who wore a peacock feather as adornment, to pour him the rasa of love. The unusual epithet (Wearer of Peacock Feather) used for Krishna allows the poet to juxtapose the lightness and beauty of the peacock feather with the dry heaviness of philosophical debates. The rest of the poem is structured to expand on the theme of the superiority of love to other religious paths, which bestow great merit but do not offer the rasa that can fully satisfy loving souls. Several allusions to Hindu narratives serve to stress the point. The (p.83) poem concludes by highlighting the sweetness of love experienced by the gopī s in contrast to the dryness of asceticism and a virtuous life without joy.

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Lyrics of Awakening This lyric stresses love as the best religious choice. After listing a number of paths available to the religious seeker, the poet requests to be led in the path of love, which is full of rasa. The listener is drawn into the poet's address to Krishna with the friendly imperative pā ne (pour), which parallels the imperative nīrakh ne (look), found in the lyric discussed earlier. The poem moves swiftly like an argument, as the poet first presents the case for the superiority of love to Krishna himself, then stresses why other gifts like liberation through rebirths are trifles, and finally declares that he has chosen the path of bhakti and clasped the hand of gopī's Lord. The argument is given force by the use of colloquial words like tū̃paṇũ (instrument to beat) and rhyming. The desirability of love over liberation through rebirths—the highest goal according to the religious elite—forms the central theme of another popular song found in a manuscript dated VS 1892 (1835 CE): On the earth is the treasure of bhakti, not in the realm of Lord Brahma. Entering heaven with good deeds, one returns to the cycles of birth in the end. Hari's people don't seek liberation; they pray for endless rebirths, forever to serve, forever to sing, to rejoice in festivals, and to behold Nanda's son.* … Shiva knows the taste of that rasa, or knows sage Shuka; the women of Vraj know it somewhat, so says enjoyer Nararasaῖyo.38

The lyric starts with a statement about the glory of bhakti, next stresses its superiority over liberation, and then concludes with a personal testimony. In keeping with the characteristic humanism of the Narasinha corpus, this song's main appeal lies in its celebration of earth over heaven. It associates the earth with bhakti, celebration, and singing, which are not found in heaven. It is the rasa inherent to bhakti, expressed in singing, to which Narasinha makes a claim. Singers and audience members find a validation of their own lives, performance, and listening in the exaltation of repeated births—which other established paths teach them to avoid. It is not surprising that the second stanza of the song is heard frequently (p.84) not only in musical performances but also in conversations when speakers wish to stress the worthiness of life on earth.

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Lyrics of Awakening The above two poems parallel a popular song attributed to Surdas—Sab se Uncī Prem Sagāī (Of all relationships, that of love is the highest)—in both theme and structure.39 Surdas's song also begins with a thesis about the supremacy of love. It goes on to recount examples from sacred narratives in which Krishna places love above power and status. But there is an important difference between the two poets' songs. Surdas's lyric ends with an expression of his own limitation in praising Krishna; it is marked by immense humility.40 The two lyrics from the Narasinha corpus, by contrast, betray confidence. In the first, the poet boldly asks for the gift that is beyond the imagination of the ascetics and the virtuous. In the second, he declares that he is able to sing the praise of the rasa of love because, like Shiva and the gopīs, he too has enjoyed it. This self-assurance resonates with the confident tone of the Vraj residents in Krishna-līlā songs. An oft-performed song about the spiritual quest or journey overlaps with the poetry of nirguṇa bhakti saints and directs attention inward, stressing intuitive knowledge of the self as crucial to spiritual advancement. This song, found in an early nineteenth-century manuscript, dismisses all religious practices that do not lead to such knowledge as meaningless. Through a series of rhetorical questions, it challenges those who display external signs of religiousness: ritualists (who perform pūjā and pilgrimage), ascetics (with matted hair), Jain monks (who pluck their hairs), pundits (experts on the Vedas and followers of caste distinctions), and even those who proclaim bhakti but follow it only as a routine (the repetition of names). All spiritual discipline is in vain until the essence of the soul is known. Human life is wasted, like untimely showers of rain. What What What What

good good good good

are bathing, and pūjā, and rites? is donating for charity, sitting at home? is it to have matted hair or to smear ashes on the body? is plucking of hair?

What good are prayers, and austerities, and pilgrimage? What good is chanting God's name with a rosary? What good is a mark on the forehead or a basil-bead necklace? What good is drinking Ganga's water?41 What What What What

good good good good

is is is is

speaking on the Vedas and grammar? indulging in pleasures? knowing all nuances of the six systems? following the distinctions of caste?

(p.85) These are all gimmicks for filling up the belly, until one perceives Supreme Brahman. Narasaῖyo says: without contemplating on the essence, human life, precious like a wish-fulfilling gem, is lost.42 Page 15 of 30

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Lyrics of Awakening In the structure of this lyric, a series of rhetorical questions is framed between two strong declarations. The poet first makes an emphatic statement about selfknowledge as the key to spiritual advancement. He then presents several challenges with sarcastic rhetorical questions. These challenges are directed not only to the exterior signs of religiousness, but also to many types of power structures, including religious (rituals and asceticism), intellectual (study of grammar and the Vedas), and social (caste). It is significant that the reference to caste appears immediately before the declaration that the practices of the powerful are gimmicks for worldly gains. This lyric's emphasis on the meaninglessness of caste links its message to the questioning of caste consciousness in the Krishna-līlā songs. What appears in the Krishna-līlā songs in the context of a playful celebration of life appears here as part of a sharp challenge to external markers of religiousness. The poet's sharpness, however, does not aim just to censure. As in many Kabir songs, it has a therapeutic function. The warnings against hypocritical ways direct the audience's attention to what is fundamental in the end—selfknowledge. A song from Kabir, for example, begins with a stringent critique of the religious gestures of Hindus and Muslims who look for Hari and Allah in different direction; but then directs the listener to a meaningful way to seek God. Search in the heart, in the heart alone: there live Ram and Karim.43

In addition to sharing their central message, these two lyrics from the Narasinha and Kabir traditions also overlap in their structure. Both present a series of sharp questions that challenge listeners to see through the dishonest and ineffective ways, and then both direct them to search within. Linda Hess observes that Kabir's “rough rhetoric” aims “to jolt and shock people into facing things,” leading them to “the actual experience of a sudden, unifying insight in the midst of chaotic temporal events.”44 The same could also be said about a number of Narasinha songs. Certainly the above songs of Kabir and Narasinha do not evoke sweet feelings of love or a tranquil contemplative mood; rather, they lead the listener to recognize the need for introspection. They draw the listener's attention through rhetoric of challenge, which lead the listener to accept the direction to which he or she is led in the end. The parallels between these lyrics of Narasinha and Kabir are evident. Some other poems of Narasinha also stress an inner search, as does Kabir. But in the end, the ultimate goal of the two poets remains different. In Kabir's songs, the goal is to lead the listener to a realization of the formless divine residing in the human (p.86) heart. In the Narasinha lyrics, the goal is to lead the listener to a realization of Krishna's līlā in one's own being. They stress that such realization not only offers inner joy but also transforms the outer world into the idyllic land Page 16 of 30

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Lyrics of Awakening of Vraj. Lyrics containing such suggestions are poetically linked to the bāl-līlā song that illustrate how Vraj was turned into Vaikuntha by Krishna's presence. In Narasinha's poetics, the earthly world of activities remains a constant point of reference. The celebration of the phenomenal world reinforces one of the Narasinha corpus's central themes—the sanctity of earthly life. Another song found in an early nineteenth-century manuscript highlights the idea that the world is not a trap, but rather a site for inner and outer transformation through the devotee's agency: Meditate on him. Contemplate on him. The Lord is in the eyes; the singular focus of search within. He will be seen in your body, will touch you with love— the unique, unmatched, unheld form. With your heart filled with joy and karmas destroyed, the earth will appear like the woods of Vraj. Krishna will sport in the lovely bowers; the young woman and her friends will watch him with joy.45

The poem is in the form of direct address and asks the listener to turn his or her attention inward. What the poet projects as the aim of the inner journey, however, is a transformation of the perspective on the phenomenal world. The song's poetic appeal lies in the turn from the inner world to the outer world, which is transformed into an idyllic place because of the listener's changed perspective. As a group, the songs about the nature of the spiritual quest convey an understanding of bhakti similar to that expressed by the lay people quoted at the beginning of this chapter. Not only do they stress both love and self-realization as aspects of bhakti, but they also bring into sharp focus major themes of the Narasinha corpus—love as the core of life, the meaninglessness of external symbols of status, and the celebration of earthly life. Structured like arguments, they engage the listener's attention in a different way than the songs of Krishna-līlā or glorification of the ineffable Supreme. But they overlap with those songs in their style and consistent use of alliteration.

Counsel for Moral Perfection Complementing the lyrics about spiritual paths in terms of themes and structures is a group of popular songs that focuses on moral perfection. These songs (p.87) convey messages about transforming one's life through a clear moral stance. Here the poet assumes the role of a guru directly addressing the listener. Kind advice, conveyed largely through the use of gentle imperatives in the opening lines, replaces the rhetoric of challenging questions. Because of the Page 17 of 30

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Lyrics of Awakening universality of their moral appeal, these lyrics are among the most popular of the Narasinha tradition. Two songs in this group deliver a message about maintaining equanimity in all situations. Both start with the same claim—that happiness and misery are integral to life and beyond human control. They also end with an expression of faith in Krishna as the ultimate solace. Despite those similarities, however, the two are completely different in structure. As in other categories of songs, here too, links to diverse devotional currents are evident. One song, found in a manuscript from the late nineteenth century, which is very popular in performance, supports the message about equanimity through allusions to mythological characters (Nala, the Pandavas, Sita, Ravan, Harishchandra, and Shiva) who could not escape misfortune even with their special positions and powers.46 Do not take to heart happiness or misery. They are created along with the body. No one can avoid them. They are woven in life by Ram. Nala was a matchless king, whose queen was Damayanti. They wandered in forests in torn garments, finding no food or water. Five (powerful) brothers like Pandavas had Draupadi as their queen. They suffered in jungles for twelve years and lost their sleep. Sita, the virtuous woman without match, had Ram as her husband. She was kidnapped by Ravan; and suffered great misery. The mighty king Ravan had Mandodari as a queen. His ten heads were severed; and (his kingdom) Lanka was lost. King Harishchandra was a follower of truth and had Taralochani as the queen. (p.88) He faced great misfortunes and had to serve lowly people. An ascetic like Shiva, had Parvati as his queen. But he was deceived by a tribal woman.

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Lyrics of Awakening His asceticism was tarnished. Whenever gods faced calamities, they remembered inner-dweller. The holder of the earth (Krishna), Narasaῖyā's Lord, removed their pain.47

The invocation of sacred narratives, widely used in Hindu Puranas, is a popular poetic device among saguṇa bhakti poets. It adds force to the poem's message by linking it to a culture's deeply embedded mythical memory. The other song of counsel appeals to reason rather than cultural memory. It elaborates on the importance of equanimity by employing metaphors drawn from everyday life to stress the emptiness of egocentric thinking and greed. It is pointless to lament about what the divine Lord, and guru of the world, wishes. What we desire has no meaning. Only the one who knows this is saved. To think “I do this, I do this” is sheer ignorance; like that of a dog walking under a cart who thinks that it bears the burden. The universe is ordered in this manner. Only rare yogis understand it. If man had his way, then no one would be unhappy. Everyone would destroy enemies and keep friends. There would be no prince or pauper. Everyone would have a palatial home. Vine, leaves, flowers and fruits are freely given. Yet man craves foolishly [for more]. Whatever is destined for a person in a given moment, he gets only that in the moment. Know worldly happiness as illusory. Everything except Krishna is untrue. With folded hands, Narasaῖyo says: “I only pray for love for Hari in every birth to come.”48

(p.89) The main source of this song's appeal lies in its presentation of detachment as a pragmatic quality for happy living that allows one to see through the superfluous nature of worldly aspirations and success. Nature freely gives what is essential for a contented life, says the poet. To desire more is foolishness, as is the projection of one's ego onto the processes of the world. The association of the above songs with Narasinha is reinforced by hagiographic narratives that portray him as leaving everything to Krishna and emerging unharmed when he underwent severe persecution by the powerful members of Page 19 of 30

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Lyrics of Awakening his society. Worldly power proves no match for the saint-poet's faith-based contentment and lack of concern for markers of success. For singers and listeners who know the narratives, the memory of the stories in the backdrop serves to enhance the appeal of the songs. For the attuned performers and listeners (sensitive enjoyers in rasa terms), the narratives serve as the enhancing factors for these songs, an example of which will be discussed later. If equanimity is stressed as the quality that will lead an individual to contentment, active love for one's fellow beings is highlighted in a number of Narasinha lyrics as the key to social transformation and joy. A popular song in the voice of Vishnu himself, found in a manuscript from the early nineteenthcentury, provides such an example. I love Vaishnavas more than my own life, I think of them lovingly day and night. … I do not recognize high and low; those who have devotion for me are like me. … Where my saint walks, I walk in front of him. When he sleeps, I remain awake. … Where he sits and sings, I listen standing up. where he sings standing up, I begin to dance. I am not apart from such a Vaishnava, says Narasaῖyo truly.49

By inverting the familiar image of a devotee meditating on the divine, the first line establishes the significance of devotees. Vishnu's eagerness to serve them regardless of their status reinforces that significance. The lyric draws the listener to participate imaginatively in the reconfiguration of relationships, especially with the image of Vishnu standing up where the devotee sings seated and dancing where the devotee sings standing up. The perspective presented in the lyric closely parallels that of the Tamil Srivaishnava theologian Ramanuja (eleventh century), as discussed by John Carman. Ramanuja, Carman points out, recognized the (p.90) paradoxical mutual dependence between the devotee and the divine. This reversal of cosmic hierarchy had both spiritual and social implications.50 In Narasinha's corpus, the model provided by Vishnu himself is presented as an ideal in several other songs that stress love for the people of Hari (Krishna)— Harijan—regardless of their social status. In these songs, the term “Harijan” simply means “people of Hari.” But since it was later adopted by Gandhi to refer to the “untouchables” of the Hindu society, today the songs containing the term Page 20 of 30

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Lyrics of Awakening reinforce the cultural memory of Narasinha's close association with devotees from the lower castes. A song found in a manuscript dated VS 1700 (1643 CE), which contains a definition of true devotee in terms of love for Harijans, acquires an added layer of meaning for a contemporary listener for this reason. Hari's rasa is known to few, all others are arrogant, my friend! He knows the path of love and is always happy!! Know that only the person who loves Harijan, loves Hari. Otherwise it is pretense, and wasted effort! (p.91) Hari lives in the place where Harijans are happy. Only the līlā of Narasaῖyo's lord is changeless; everything else is superfluous.51

Defining a true devotee in terms of love for Harijans, without regard to social status, carries social implications and is reinforced by the repeated use of the terms “Hari” and “Harijan.” It brings into focus the aspect of sharing in bhakti, especially as rasa, suggested by the term līlā. Definitional statements about a truly religious person, referred to alternatively as Harijan or Vaishnava, appear recurrently in the songs of spiritual and moral counsel in the Narasinha corpus. The most famous song of the entire Narasinha tradition, and Gandhi's favorite hymn—“Call only that one a true Vaishnava” (Vaiṣṇavajana to)—is entirely in the form of a definition. The lyric is found in a manuscript dated VS 1892 (1835 CE) now in the B. J. Institute archives; but K. K. Shastri refers to an earlier manuscript he examined that dates to the early eighteenth century (in Figure 2.3, it is seen in an undated manuscript).52 Call only that one a true Vaishnava, who understands others' pain, who helps them in their suffering, but has no arrogance in his heart. The one who respects everyone in the world, and speaks ill of none, who is unwavering in speech, action, and thought, blessed, blessed is his mother! The one who sees everyone as equal, and has given up desires, who views another's wife as mother, whose tongue does not lie, who does not touch another's wealth, who is not bound by illusory attachments, whose detachment is firm, Page 21 of 30

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Lyrics of Awakening and whose heart is immersed in Ram's name, all places of pilgrimage are within his body. The one who is without greed or deceit, who has subdued anger and lust, on seeing that one, says Narasaῖyo: seventy-one generations are saved.53

(p.92) The structure of the song conveys as much as its words. It begins with the word Vaiṣṇavajana, a synonym of Harijan in the Narasinha corpus. Even though, in its literal sense, Vaiṣṇavajana refers exclusively to a worshipper of Vishnu, in the context of this song the term has long been seen as a reference to any religious person, as we will see later. Both the ethical focus of the lyric and Narasinha's image as an exemplar of nonexclusive bhakti contribute to this interpretation. The first line contains the verb “call,” giving it a structure of definition at the outset. With the gentle imperative form of the verb—

Figure 2.3 “Call only that one a true Vaishnava” in B. J. Institute MS # 754 (without date). Photograph: Neelima Shukla-Bhatt.

kahie (call, or, one should call)— the poet takes the listener into confidence. Yet, as Yashaschandra points out, the line carries immense emphasis as well through its use of the particle to (only). This indeclinable particle provides a strict boundary to the definition and conveys an emphatic rejection of all others.54 With the definitive nature of the description established in the first line, the rest of the song provides a list of virtues that characterize a truly religious person. Only one of these—being “immersed in Ram's name”—is a specifically Vaishnava reference; all the others are general moral qualities. At the top of the list is empathy—the ability to understand others' pain. But this empathy is not a matter of emotions alone. The lyric suggests that it must be accompanied by a readiness to help. Further, a truly religious person is also free of arrogance and humble in her interactions with others. Once a person makes active love the basis of his moral life, all other

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Lyrics of Awakening qualities follow. Such a person sees everyone as equal, has no greed, and becomes detached from all illusory forms of happiness. Although the lyric is structured like a definition and mentions a number of moral qualities, it is not simply a list. After drawing the listener into confidence in the first line, the poem carefully constructs an image of a religious person as someone who is ethical and has broad sympathies. The lyric ends with a statement about “seeing.” The word in Gujarati is darśan (sacred viewing), used generally to describe the sacred viewing of the image of a deity in the temple. The last two lines suggest that a person with all these qualities is divine-like. On seeing such a person, not only the viewer but the viewer's seventy-one generations are saved. The poet's imaginative insight (pratibhā) and the listener's imagination meet in the image constructed through words when the song is performed. As I will discuss in later chapters, while the definition of a religious person offered by the song perfectly matched Gandhi's understanding of religion, it was the appeal of the song in performance that led him to make it into an emblem of his moral vision. Unsurprisingly, Vaiṣṇavajana to has received a great deal of attention in scholarship. A number of Gujarati scholars have discussed it in terms of its contribution to Gujarati literature. Umashanker Joshi views it as Narasinha's greatest bhakti message for its emphatic declaration that devotion is not a matter of emotions alone, but rather consists in actively channeling the power of love to the service of humanity in a spirit of humility. Ishvarlal Dave stresses the universal appeal of the teaching despite the use of the word “Vaishnava” at the beginning. Meghnad (p.93) Bhatt links the song to Narsinha's association with the Dalits and views it as a message for awakening social conscience. Yashaschandra sees it as Narasinha's distinctive contribution, distilling the definition of a religious person in a regional language in a way that implies a clear rejection of older transregional definitions found in Sanskrit texts.55 Along with appreciation, the song's popularity has also led to close scrutiny about its authorship, since it is not found in the early manuscripts containing Narasinha's lyrics. At one time, it was attributed to Dalpatram (1820–1898), who is considered the first modern poet in Gujarati. But that claim was later rejected in view of the dates of the song's manuscripts. No conclusive evidence to associate it with any other poet has been found to date. But the inquiry has brought to attention the convention of defining a Vaishnava in ethical terms in premodern Gujarati poetry. The convention has clear links with earlier Sanskrit devotional texts. As H. C. Bhayani and Mallison have shown, however, the song also closely parallels some lyrics of sixteenth-century Gujarati Vaishnava poets who were influenced by the Jain tradition.56 The song is a part of a convention that arose in the religious world of common people, where devotional currents have freely crisscrossed for centuries. As Vaudeville suggests, more than any specific religious ideology, Vaiṣṇavajana to expresses, “in simple and moving Page 23 of 30

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Lyrics of Awakening words, … [the] lay ideal of sanctity.”57 It is not surprising that it appealed to Gandhi, who identified himself with the common person. Vaiṣṇavajana to is indeed the representative lyric of the ethical message of the Narasinha tradition. It leads the listener to reflect on what bhakti must involve at the level of human interactions.

Jnān-bhakti and Krishna-līlā Songs Formation of a Corpus As we have seen, popular Krishna-līlā and jnān-bhakti songs in the Narasinha corpus differ markedly in their appeal. Exuberant expressions of love mark the former; whereas the latter lead the audience to a peaceful, contemplative mood (śānta rasa). A majority of the popular jnān-bhakti songs are found in manuscripts belonging to the late eighteenth or early nineteenth centuries. The differences in moods presented by Krishna-līlā songs and the jnān-bhakti songs as well as the later dates of the manuscripts for the latter group have led to debates about their authorship. Based on available sources however, it is impossible to determine which of these songs indeed belong to Narasinha and were later put to writing; and which ones were attributed to the saint-poet by later writers and performers. A strong tradition of devotional poetry focusing mainly on self-knowledge and an ineffable Ultimate—with some poets following the north Indian poet Kabir—had been prevalent in Gujarat since the seventeenth century and was very much (p. 94) alive in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The most well known representative of this current in Gujarat is Akho (ca. seventeenth century).58 It remains unclear why the contemplative songs that may have been attributed to Narasinha but were not composed by him did not get associated with this poet or other important poets writing in his vein. This is striking because many contemplative songs attributed to Narasinha appear in manuscripts in the midst of songs by Akho and other poets focusing on jnān-bhakti. The only explanation for this seems to be that the poets who might have attributed their lyrics to Narasinha, and the collectors who included them in their manuscripts, did not see the saint-poet as an outsider to this current of bhakti. Similarly, Narasinha's songs also appear in sections of manuscripts with songs focusing on Krishna-līlā. Here, his songs are found among the songs of Surdas and other Gujarati poets of Krishna-līlā. The separation of saguṇa and nirguṇa bhakti is not watertight in the corpuses of popular saint-poets of north India, as many scholars have shown. A large number of manuscripts contain songs of both types, even though the collector may be more drawn to one or the other. In manuscripts found in Gujarat, Narasinha figures among both Krishna-līlā poets and contemplative poets. In popular understanding, Narasinha songs of the two categories belong to a single corpus because they share many thematic aspects and support each other in presenting the expansive understanding of bhakti associated with the saint. Songs in both groups extol love as the highest spiritual Page 24 of 30

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Lyrics of Awakening and moral value, emphasize human love in fulfillment of the divine līlā, celebrate the earthly life as an opportunity to enjoy love, and explicitly reject all exterior markers of religious and social status. They also share stylistic features, such as skillful alliteration, optimization of the internal rhythms of the Gujarati language, and integration of colloquial expressions with transregional bhakti vocabulary. These shared aspects link the songs together so well in the popular imagination that they are widely seen as complementing, rather than contradicting, one another. The jnān-bhakti songs offer a philosophical framework in which to appreciate Krishna-līlā songs because they examine the core themes from a wider perspective. The stress on love in the songs about the ineffable Ultimate sporting in the universe conveys a principle that is exemplified in Krishna's relationships with cowherds. The jnān-bhakti songs further offer an inclusive perspective for understanding Krishna's incarnation. If the Ultimate is known alternatively as Brahman, Paribrahman, Shiva, and Krishna, then his earthly incarnation in Vraj, however beloved, must be seen as one of many divine manifestations, leaving room for the worship of others. The songs conveying the teachings about active love for fellow beings and rejection of caste distinctions lead devotees to appreciate additional social dimensions of Krishna's relationships with the cowherds of Vraj. Conversely, the immediacy of the Krishna-līlā songs complements the grand metaphysical visions and the teachings about love presented in the jnān-bhakti songs. The joyful nature of Krishna's relationships with the Vraj residents provides (p.95) an example of a community based on love and equality, the values stressed in songs of moral teaching. The formal aspects of the lyrics in the two categories reinforce their complementarities. Popular lyrics in both categories are marked by the skillful use of alliteration, which creates internal rhythm in the refrain and other lines. Importantly, in both the Krishna-līlā and the jnān-bhakti songs, transregional and regional poetic elements have been interwoven. The songs in the first category draw from themes and imagery in Sanskrit texts of Krishna bhakti and integrate with them elements common in regional folk songs. Those in the second adopt poetic devices from diverse devotional and poetic currents. Shaiva and Vaishnava epithets for the divine intersect in a single song. An Upanishadic term like “Brahman” appears alongside the colloquial Gujarati word laṭko. The poetic devices used in nirguṇa bhakti songs, such as upside-down language and direct addresses to the listener, comingle with the references to divine beauty and līlā that are found widely in saguṇa bhakti lyrics. Like the themes, the structures of the lyrics reflect the integrative nature of the popular current of bhakti in Gujarat in the context of which the Narasinha tradition has flourished.

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Lyrics of Awakening The examination of lyrics in the Narasinha corpus shows that each popular song contains structures that can draw an attuned listener or performer to engage with its suggested meaning—the devotional or reflective content—imaginatively, offering a source of both bhakti and aesthetic delight, rasa. The lyrics themselves make recurrent references to bhakti as rasa, the blissful emotion of love often evoked in the context of dancing, singing, and playful exchanges. Rasa remains at the core of the bhakti that the lyrics convey. Some aspects of popular lyrics— the dramatic quality of Krishna's banter with Kaliya's wife or the moral appeal of Vaiṣṇava jana to, for example—may also have an appeal beyond the religious context of bhakti. They carry the lyrics to broader audiences and transform them into shared cultural forms for diverse communities in the region. In the broader context of a saint-poet's tradition, the appeal of the lyrics is also enhanced by hagiographic narratives in which the saint is portrayed as an exemplar of the interpretation of bhakti conveyed in the songs. The components of the tradition—lyrics, hagiographic narratives, and performances—serve as interrelated sources of bhakti that are also linked in their aesthetic appeal. In the next chapter, we turn to the contribution of hagiographic narratives about Narasinha as such sources. Notes:

(1) . “Paribrahma” is a poetic usage in Gujarati for “Parabrahman”—“the Supreme Spirit.” (2) . For various tunes of Narasinha's morning hymns in the Bilāval rāga and their musical notations, see Amubhai Doshi 1983: 164–166. For the association of a tender mood with the raga, see Alain Daniélou 1997 [1980]: 190. (3) . Dewey 2005 [1934]: 9. (4) . See Vishnuprasad Trivedi as cited on the back cover by Rasik Mehta and Anant Dave (1983); Umashakar Joshi 2006 [1976]: 166; and Ishvarlal Dave 1973: 4–15. (5) . Mallison 1986. (6) . Jayant Kothari, for example, sees Narasinha as a Krishna devotee and questions the authorship of many popular contemplative songs attributed to his corpus (Kothari 1994: 27; 1999 445–454). Jethalal Trivedi sees a possibility that there were perhaps two or more Narasinhas in history (Trivedi 1973: 139–147). (7) . In his comprehensive essay on Narasinha, Umashankar Joshi discusses the contemplative poems as expressing a more mature form of bhakti that the saintpoet may have experienced intermittently or in a later stage of life (U. Joshi 2006 [1976]: 181, 191).

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Lyrics of Awakening (8) . D. H. Shastri, 1977: 140; K. K. Shastri 2005 [1971]: 133–134. D. H. Shastri cites Bhāgavata Purāṇa 11.11.14., and K. K. Shastri cites Bhāgavata Purāṇa 11.12.9 and 11.14.20. (9) . Dave 1973: 17. (10) . Conversation with Dattu Bhagat, Ahmedabad, April 4, 2001. (11) . Conversation with Rajyaguru, June 5, 2001. (12) . Phone conversation with Minaxi Patel, June 27, 2011. (13) . Singing of and interview with Seema Mandavia, July 20, 2001. (14) . NKK: 385, BJ MS # 1070, VS 1845 (1788 CE). The word translated as “space” here could also be translated as “sky.” I have chosen to use the word “space” because it connotes limitlessness, which corresponds better with the rest of the poem. In their translation of Kabir, Linda Hess and Shukdev Singh translate the word as “sky.” See Hess and Singh, The Bījak of Kabir, p. 62. The word translated here as “Supreme” is saccidānanda. In Hindu Vedantic thought, the three aspects of the eternal and infinite formless Supreme (Brahman) are sad—truth, cit—consciousness, and ananda—bliss. In mystical union, these aspects are experienced also by a yogi. (15) . See translations of Kabir poems by Linda Hess and Shukdev Singh, Hess and Singh 1986: 44, 45. (16) . Parekh 1983: 194. (17) . See Dwivedi 2000: 126. (18) . Dave 1995: 74. (19) . Chāndogya Upanishad, VI.8–16. See Hume 1995: 246–250. There is also a section in the Bhagavad Gītā where Krishna identifies with various things in the cosmos (10.27–39, see Easwaran 2007: 187–189). But it has a specificity that is avoided in this lyric, which is close to the Chāndogya Upanishad. (20) . See, for example, Surdas's poem (Hawley and Juergensmeyer 1988: 106). (21) . For an excellent explication of ulaṭbāṃsi, see Linda Hess's Appendix A in The Bījak of Kabir (Hess and Singh 1986: 135–161). Here, Hess not only discusses the various functions this kind of poetic rhetoric serves but also analyzes a few Kabir poems that use it. This sentence is a good example of upside-down language: “A man without feet runs everywhere without eyes sees the world” (135).

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Lyrics of Awakening (22) . Umashankar Joshi, himself a well known poet in India, discusses this lyric not just as a classic in Gujarati poetry but one of the finest in Indian mystical poetry. See U. Joshi 2006 [1976]: 176–177. (23) . NKK: 383, BJ MS # 542, VS 1867 (1810 CE). (24) . The principle mood of the lyric, śānta rasa, is not a function of the theme alone. It avoids hard retroflex sounds like “ṭ,” “ṭh,” “ḍ,” “ḍh” and is profuse with vowels as well as soft sounds like “l,” “r,” “v.” (25) . Ishvarlal Dave discusses this lyric as presenting the mystical knowledge of the Vedas and Upanishads in simple Gujarati. He stresses that Narasinha's attainment in this lyric derives from both his creative genius and his experiential knowledge of the mystical insight he conveys (Dave 1973: 75–78). (26) . NKK: 387, BJ MS # 1730, VS 1894 (1837 CE). (27) . NKK: 242, BJ MS # 1035, VS 1835 (1778 CE), (28) . Chitre 1996: 220. (29) . Ibid., Introduction. (30) . Ibid., 7–8. (31) . Akho 1999: 272. The translation is mine. (32) . NKK: 386, BJ MS # 1730, VS 1894 (1837 CE). The parallel between the understanding of reality as conveyed in the first four lines of this song and the one expressed in the beginning verses of the Ishavasya Upanishad is striking. By the Lord (iśa) enveloped must this all be Whatever moving thing there is in in the moving world. See Hume 1992 [1921]: 362. (33) . For Nimbarka's theology, see Durgashankar Shastri's translations of and commentary on the ten Sanskrit verses that summarize his theology (Shastri 1939: 189–90). For the presence of a small community of Nimbarka followers in south Gujarat, see Acharya 1983: 47. (34) . Hawley 1984: 85. (35) . Ibid., 91. (36) . Trivedi as cited on the back cover by Rasik Mehta and Anant Dave (1983). (37) . NKK: 390, BJ MS # 689, VS 1792 (1735 CE).

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Lyrics of Awakening (38) . NKK: 359, BJ MS # 806, VS 1892 (1835 CE). (39) . This song is not found in the translations of Surdas's poems by Hawley (1988, 2009) or Bryant (1978). But it is very popular in performance. Several performances are available on YouTube. (40) . The last line translates as “Sur says: I am not worthy. How long can I sing [his] praise?” (41) . Ganga—the holiest of rivers for Hindus. Hindus believe that bathing in the Ganga washes away all sins. (42) . NKK: 386, BJ MS # 806, VS 1892 (1835 CE). (43) . Hess and Singh 1986: 73–74. (44) . Ibid., Hess: 21. (45) . NKK: 365, BJ MS # 1730 VS 1894 (1837 CE). (46) . There are several references to well-known narratives from mythology in this poem. King Nala's story, found in the epic Mahābhārata, recounts the many hardships he and his queen undergo in exile. The five heroes of the Mahābhārata were all married to Draupadi, the princess of Panchal. They lost their kingdom in gambling and were exiled to the forest for fourteen years. Sita, the heroine of the Hindu epic Ramayana, accompanied her husband, Ram, the virtuous prince of Ayodhya, in his exile. She was abducted by the mighty ten-headed king of Lanka. Ram looked for her and rescued her, killing Ravan in a battle. King Harishchandra was known for his truthfulness. He and his family had to be sold as servants after he donated his entire kingdom to a sage. He was sold to a lowly family. (47) . NKK: 391, BJ MS # 1348 VS 1920 (1863 CE). (48) . NKK: 390–391, BJ MS # 806 VS 1892 (1835 CE). (49) . NKK: 381–382, BJ MS # 806 VS 1892 (1835 CE). (50) . Carman 1983: 212–213. (51) . NKK: 381, BJ MS # 164 VS 1700 (1643 CE). (52) . K. Shastri 2005 [1971]: 181. (53) . NKK: 382, BJ MS # 806 VS 1892 (1835 CE). (54) . Yashaschandra 2003: 590. Umashankar Joshi has also remarked on the significance of this particle in the lyric (Joshi 2005 [1976]: 168).

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Lyrics of Awakening (55) . U. Joshi 2006 [1976]: 169; Dave 1973: 93–94; Bhatt 1983: 296–298; Yashaschandra 2003: 590. (56) . In his work on Narasinha, K. K. Shastri discusses an old manuscript in which he located the lyric. Shastri also refers to other similar lyrics found with Narasinha's name in the signature line, which are included in the 1913 edition by I. Desai (discussed later). He links the lyric to a section of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa canto 11 (K. Shastri 2005 [1971]: 181–183). Harivallabh Bhayani draws attention to two poems from the fifteenth and the sixteenth centuries by two Vaishnava poets, one of whom was clearly influenced by the Jain tradition and also used terminology of Nath Saiva ascetics. Bhayani comments on the inclusive nature of Vaishnava bhakti during the period under discussion (Bhayani 1986: 68–71, 75–78). Mallison stresses the Jain influence in evolution of this ideal of a Vaishnava in Gujarat's nonsectarian bhakti poetry (Mallison 2000: 295–296). (57) . Vaudeville 1987: 39. (58) . For Akho and subsequent poets associated with the current of bhakti focused on self-knowledge, see Joshi 2006: 381–431 and Trivedi 2006: 432–451.

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Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti

Narasinha Mehta of Gujarat: A Legacy of Bhakti in Songs and Stories Neelima Shukla-Bhatt

Print publication date: 2014 Print ISBN-13: 9780199976416 Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: November 2014 DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199976416.001.0001

Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti Narasinha Mehta in Narratives Neelima Shukla-Bhatt

DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199976416.003.0004

Abstract and Keywords The third chapter examines hagiographic narratives about Narasinha Mehta as found in regional and transregional sources from different historical contexts, looking closely at how the pan-Indian patterns of hagiographic narration get a regional coloring through references to local customs and cultural values. In particular, it examines the emphasis on financial success in the prosperous mercantile milieu of Gujarat, which is challenged by Narasinha's voluntary poverty. Special attention is given to narratives about Narasinha's association with the Dalits and his persecution by high-caste people as a consequence. Brief comparisons between regional and transregional sources highlight the different functions related to them. The transregional hagiographic texts point out Narasinha's gradual integration into the larger pan-Indian networks of bhakti. Within the region, the stories serve to enhance the appeal of the moral messages of the songs for their performers. Keywords:   hagiography, Dalit, untouchable, voluntary poverty, enhancing, caste, women, values

Hajo hāth kartāl ane citta cānak, taḷeṭī samīpe hajo kyā̃k thānak. May I have kartāl in my hands, and ardor in my heart May I have a place near the base of the hills.1 —Rajendra Shukla

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Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti This first couplet of a ghazal (a poetic genre) by Rajendra Shukla, a leading contemporary Gujarati poet and the 2006 recipient of the Narasinha Mehta award in poetry, expresses his wish for the next life or some future life, when life will acquire its full meaning.2 The aspiration expressed in the couplet alludes to Narasinha. Of innumerable tributes given to Narasinha Mehta in the Gujarati language, this is one of the finest. Here, in just two lines, the poet alludes not only to Narasinha's fame as a vāggeyakār (a poet who also sings his songs) through the image of the rhythm instrument kartāl (lit. “hand rhythm”), but also to his ardent bhakti—“ardor in my heart,”—and to his Spartan lifestyle, his residence close to poor neighborhoods near the base of the Girnar hills, as depicted in his sacred biography. The verse subtly evokes the popular image of the saint in Gujarat as a bhakta (devotee) who loses himself in singing the divine glory but remains bound to the world through his deep sympathies for the marginalized. Shukla's couplet mirrors a painting by the famous Gujarati artist Ravishankar Raval (1892–1977) at the beginning in this book, which portrays a lean and simply clad Narasinha sitting in his front yard with kartāls in his hands. Clad in a simple dhoti, the saint is absorbed in bhajan (devotional singing). The Girnar hills appear in the background, as if listening to the saint's singing. Raval's representation of the saint is so popular and is so widely seen in print that it has become the image of Narasinha for a large number of Gujarati speakers. The painting forms the basis of numerous sketches of the saint found in print and electronic media, including a commemorative postal stamp issued by the Department of Post, India, in 1967 (see figure 3.1). Both the couplet and the painting suggest that when Narasinha's image is retrieved from cultural memory, his singing surfaces first. But the image (p.97) becomes complete only with the recollection of his life—including his ardent devotion and his voluntary poverty. The saint's tradition thrives in both the musical performances of his lyrics and the memory of his life kept alive through narration. Without the hagiographic narratives, the songs would still be sung; but they would not make a cherished saint-poet tradition. In the context of the tradition, the songs and the narratives serve to enhance each other's appeal in stirring bhakti sentiments, like uddīpan vibhāvas in the classical theory of rasa.

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Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti Hagiographic narratives provide a uniquely powerful medium for religious teaching in all major religious traditions of the world because they emphasize, as John Stratton Hawley points out, “not precepts but personalities, not lectures but lives.” They present virtues not in abstraction, but in association with a life full of struggle and complexity.3 Importantly, they have aesthetic appeal as narratives. In sacred biographies, the saintly figure is severely tested but ultimately vindicated with a moral victory. In this movement from agony to triumph, the narrative components are arranged to lead the listener to an array of emotions—anxiety, sympathy, sometimes anger for the saint's

Figure 3.1 Narasinha Mehta postal stamp issued by Department of Post, India, in 1967. Courtesy: Department of Post, India.

opponents, and ultimately wonder (p.98) and adoration. Although inspiration remains the primary goal of hagiographic narratives, they achieve that goal through narrative structures that also offer aesthetic delight. As a result, they often appeal to people beyond the specific religious community to which the saint belongs. The dramatic conversion of St. Francis of Assisi from a life of luxury to one of intentional poverty, for example, makes his sacred biography both aesthetically appealing and inspiring far beyond the religious context of Catholicism. Sacred biography has been an immensely popular genre of religious literature in the Indian subcontinent since ancient times. As William Smith point out, no other genre of religious literature rivals its sheer bulk. From stories of Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain holy men of ancient India in Sanskrit, Pali, and Ardhamagadhi to narratives about bhakti, Sufi, and Sikh saints in regional vernaculars since the medieval period, hagiographic texts have circulated in oral and written forms in various parts of the subcontinent for millennia.4 Of these, the narratives about medieval saints in vernacular languages, termed santcarit in some of them, have enjoyed tremendous popularity in the past few centuries, not only because of their accessibility for lay people, but also because they effectively reflect regional cultures and provide fresh interpretations of regionally important values. Their hold over popular imagination is often greater than that of Page 3 of 40

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Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti authoritative scriptures. And it is greater than historical accounts, as Novetzke suggests.5 A large number of vernacular hagiographic texts and compendia have been produced in the Hindu-bhakti milieu since the spread of this devotional ideology in the medieval period. An important reason for their proliferation is the belief that God loves to hear the praise of devotees. Telling and listening to stories about exemplary bhaktas is, therefore, an act of service to the divine.6 Entering into imaginative good company (satsang) with the saints is also viewed as a meritorious act, as Rupert Snell observes.7 In addition, the medieval hagiographic compilations have provided an important avenue for building bhakti communities and linking them across regions. Since large compilations contain stories about saints from many parts of India, they help people see saints from their own region as belonging to a larger network of bhakti. Narratives about bhakti saints who were also poets have yet another function. They enhance the appeal and authority of the songs attributed to the saints in a number of ways. Exemplification of bhakti values in the saint's sacred biography reinforces the messages of the songs. The message of social equality in a saintpoet's songs, for example, acquires additional force upon the narration of a story in which he or she is portrayed as challenging caste hierarchy. Further, the narratives present the saint as the original performer of songs whose singing had the power to move the divine. This strengthens people's attachment to the songs by promoting the belief that their own singing is a re-enactment of a performance that has extraordinary spiritual efficacy. Furthermore, the narrative depictions of the saint's singing enhance the significance of the lyrics' signature lines, in which (p.99) the name of saint-poet appears. Discussing signature lines, Hawley argues that although they do not guarantee authorship (since songs may not have been composed by saints but attributed to them), they bestow the spiritual authority of the saints on the songs.8 The narratives about the saint-poets serve to enhance this authority. When heard without reference to songs, narratives about a saint-poet provide independent sources of bhakti. Their understanding as sources of imaginative satsang implies that the listener is drawn by the narrative into the world of the saint. Here he or she participates imaginatively in the incidents in the saint's life and grasps the bhakti meanings conveyed by the narratives, just as a sensitive enjoyer of performance or poetry does in rasa theories. The narratives are designed to lead the listener to such participation. In doing so, the narratives shape the image of the saint in cultural memory as a moral and devotional exemplar. This is the chief function of hagiography in transregional contexts, where the saint's songs are not always sung. But in the regional context, where the songs of a saint-poet are widely sung, narratives function to enhance the force of the songs. At times, a narrative may be recounted or referenced during the performance of a saint's songs. In some regions, integration of narratives Page 4 of 40

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Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti and even their interpretation is a regular feature during singing. Here, the singing tradition evolves into a multifaceted avenue shaping the image of the saint-poet.9 But even in contexts of devotional singing where no story is told, the image of the saint-poet that has been shaped by narratives and remembered by people provides a backdrop that extends the appeal of the songs. Conversely, during the narration of a story, allusions to songs are often interwoven in order to augment the force of the narrative. Here, the songs play the enhancing role in relation to the stories. This aesthetic reciprocity between the two performative genres is central to the enduring vitality of a regional saint-poet tradition through the centuries even as it circulates among diverse publics. In his recent work on the traditions of Christian saints, David Williams discusses similar links among their three aspects—hagiography, visual images, and rituals. In the Middle Ages, when illiteracy was the norm rather than the exception in Europe, hagiographies circulating in oral forms were enhanced by visual images and rituals. Williams argues that these aspects of a Christian saint's tradition together create a “living text” that contributes to his or her enduring legacy passed down from generation to generation.10 This idea of “living texts” is also applicable to the lyrics, musical performances, and hagiographic narratives of the saint-poet traditions of India. These interrelated forms enhance one another's appeal as aesthetically enjoyable sources of devotional sentiment and moral inspiration. Like the narratives about the other major regional saint-poets of medieval India, Narasinha's sacred biography serves a dual function. As part of the rich corpus of hagiographic literature about bhakti saints in India, it promotes this religious ideology. In this role, it shares many narrative patterns with the hagiographies of (p.100) other saints. At the same time, it also serves as the core of a regional tradition in Gujarat. In this role, it enhances the appeal of the songs in the vernacular language attributed to the saint by reinforcing their messages through narrative structures. In what follows, we will look at the role of hagiographic narratives about Narasinha within the living text of his tradition and their integration into the larger bhakti milieu through transregional texts. We will begin with a brief discussion of the multiple sources—oral narration and performance-oriented written texts—that have contributed to the shaping of the saint's image in the regional and transregional bhakti milieus. We will then look at the major events in Narasinha's sacred biography. Examining the treatment of major themes of his hagiography in important regional and transregional sources will allow us to see how these texts have contributed to the saint-poet's tradition. We will pay particular attention to the structures and strategies used by the narrators to draw their audiences in imaginative satsang with the saint.

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Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti The Oral and Written Sources As is generally the case with stories of saints in north India, anecdotal retelling constitutes an important source of Narasinha stories for most people in today's Gujarat. Narasinha's memory is so integrally embedded in the cultural landscape of the region—in songs by other saint-poets, in wall paintings in public buildings, on calendars, on television programs, in school prayers, and so on—that numerous contexts in everyday life offer an opportunity for recalling a story about him. These narrations do not follow a specific text, but consist of what Novetzke calls the “ephemeral archive of public religious memory.”11 Before I undertook an academic study of the Narasinha tradition, the saint-poet's image in my mind was constructed by the stories I had heard in this way. An important feature of anecdotal retelling is that what one hears is not the full biography of the saint, with all its developmental details, but rather narration of a single incident that highlights the aspect of his personality important to the narrator. Some narrators stress Narasinha's surrender to Krishna, some his egalitarian ideology, some his humility, some his ecumenical outlook, and some his generosity. The storyteller tries to draw the listener into the saint's world as he or she sees it. Like the lyric in a musical performance, a story is reconfigured in every narration. Oral narration of a story has a performative quality that revitalizes the saint's tradition by directly engaging the performer and the listener in a cultural space. Even though written records of such past performances are not available, contemporary retellings give us an indication of the role such performances have played in sustaining the tradition through the centuries. The popularity of Narasinha's hagiography in anecdotal oral narration is matched by its proliferation in textual sources during the past three centuries. As noted by Darshana Dholakia, more than fifteen long poems about the (p.101) saint are written between the mid-seventeenth and the late nineteenth centuries in Gujarat.12 Some poems, written in autobiographical style, are attributed to Narasinha himself.13 Most are in the genre of ākhyān, a long narrative poem meant for public performance. An ākhyān generally narrates a single event, developing various aspects of the plot fully for better enjoyment. Between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, it became a very popular medium for the circulation of stories in Gujarat. Even though the themes were drawn from religious texts, their performance was meant for enjoyment to a great degree and not simply for religious education. Most ākhyāns were based on popular Hindu myths from the Puranas and epics. The large number of poems about Narasinha in this genre therefore indicates that he had come to have a quasimythical stature in premodern Gujarat. Since ākhyāns were performed as a means of income, the main reason for proliferation of ākhyāns on Narasinha would seem to be the guarantee of a good reception from the audience. In turn, the performances added to the spread of the saint's popularity.

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Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti Many ākhyāns were performed by mā ṇ bhaṭṭs, the professional storytellers of Gujarat who traveled from village to village performing ākhyāns musically, using a mā ṇ (a metal pot) as the percussion instrument and playing it with rings on all their fingers.14 Narasinha is the only saintly figure whose sacred biography has attracted mā ṇ bhaṭṭs. Premanand (ca. 1640–1714), a mā ṇ bhaṭṭ recognized as the greatest of the Gujarati ākhyān poets for his ability to evoke a range of rasas, devoted two of his long poems to the saint. (See figure 3.2). Dharmiklal Pandya, the last well known and living practitioner of the mā ṇ bhaṭṭ tradition suggests that Narasinha's stories are so engrossing that one can listen to them repeatedly and still get completely absorbed in them. He specifically refers to their ability to lead a listener to the experience of rasa.15 It is easy to imagine the mā ṇ bhaṭṭs sitting in the town squares of premodern Gujarat, entrancing their audiences with musical performances of stories about Narasinha.16 The saint's popularity as a moral hero in the performative ākhyān genre in premodern Gujarat helps explain the recurrence of hagiographic narration about him in contemporary popular media. In my discussion of Narasinha's hagiography in this chapter, I will refer to three premodern Gujarati sources that are important for different reasons: several ākhyān-like autobiographical poems that have been attributed to Narasinha; two poems—Hundī and Māmerũ—by Premanand; and Narasaῑ Mehtā nũ Ākhyān (The ākhyān of Narasinh Mehta, henceforth NMA), which was written by an anonymous poet of the early eighteenth century.17 Parts of several long “autobiographical” poems attributed to Narasinha are found scattered through manuscripts since the midseventeenth century. Only some of these are considered authentic, as was discussed in the introduction. Yet they Figure 3.2 Ākhyān poet Premanand, possess a distinctive emotive painting by Shri Ravishankar Raval. force and form the basis of several modern narrations about the saint's life. Page 7 of 40

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Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti Premanand's poems, considered Courtesy: Kala Ravi Trust and Archer, among the best ākhyāns in the Ahmedabad. Gujarati language, were written during the Mogul reign in Gujarat and overlapped with its (p.102) (p.103) gradual decline. Perhaps because the period of Mogul rule was one of relative peace and prosperity in the region, Premanand's poems do not refer to the political context of their composition.18 Nevertheless, they vividly portray the social milieu of Gujarat two centuries after Narasinha's widely accepted lifetime and his stature as a saint within that milieu. A century later, NMA, which also does not refer to its historical context, presents all of the important episodes from the saint's hagiography in a single narrative, weaving together a number of earlier poems. Further, it is the first extant text to include episodes about Narasinha's association with low-caste devotees and his persecution because of it. The colophon of the manuscript clearly mentions that it was written as a means of education for a young man. These texts, which have circulated in performative traditions and are found in manuscripts from different points in time, share close thematic and aesthetic links with the lyrics of the Narasinha tradition. As noted earlier, although these hagiographic texts were composed in the larger Islamicate political culture of the Sultanate or Mogul empire in Gujarat, it is significant that none of them make any reference to Islam or to a Muslim ruler. Their silence suggests a general absence of turbulent interaction between the Hindu populace of the region and its rulers. Narratives about Narasinha also appear in hagiographic texts beyond Gujarat. Several popular long poems about Narasinha were composed between the seventeenth and the nineteenth centuries in Rajasthan, the neighboring region with which Gujarat shares close cultural ties and where many songs attributed to the saint are widely sung. Of these, I will refer to a poem—Narsī jī ro Māhero (Narasinha's gift [to daughter])—attributed to the most celebrated woman poet of the region, Mira, who is believed to have migrated to Gujarat in her later life.19 Additionally, I will refer to two transregional hagiographic compendia, meant for public performance, in which Narasinha appears as an important figure. One is Priyadas's famous commentary on Nabhaji's Bhaktamāl in Hindi (early eighteenth century), Bhaktirasabodhinī, composed in north India, most likely in the context of the Gaudiya Vaishnava community, which reflects a strong emphasis on Krishna's grace.20 The other is the Bhaktavijaya of Mahipati in Marathi (1762 CE), written in southern Maharashtra during the ascendancy of the Maratha power.21 Narasinha's appearance in texts that originated outside of Gujarat gives some indication of the extent of his integration into the larger circuits of bhakti as the region's representative, highlighted in use of the term “Gujjar” in the Bhaktamāl, from which the later texts drew. It also provides a glimpse into how the circulation of performative forms of bhakti can link

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Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti regional traditions to a pan-Indian network, creating the appearance of a movement, as I have discussed elsewhere. Before discussing specific hagiographic texts, let us look at broad outlines and major events of Narasinha's sacred biography, which are followed with some variations in oral and written sources composed in different historical and geographical contexts.

(p.104) Narasinha Mehta's Life in Traditional Sources Narasinha Mehta was born in Talaja, in Gujarat's Saurashtra peninsula. His family belonged to the Nagar Brahmin community, in which a large number of people worship Shiva as the preferred deity.22 Known for their attractive appearance, elegant manners, and musical skills, Nagars are considered high ranking even among Brahmins. During the medieval period, they occupied important positions in various royal courts of Gujarat. Narasinha's father held an administrative position in such a court. He and his wife died when Narasinha was still a child; consequently, Narasinha lived for years with his brother and sister-in-law. According to some oral accounts, Narasinha was born without the ability to speak. He gained his speech when he was eight, through the intervention of a holy man who made him utter the phrase “Radhe Shyam.” From that time on, the young Narasinha began to spend a great deal of time in the company of holy men and ascetics. When Narasinha came of age, his family arranged his marriage to Manek. Narasinha shared a loving relationship with Manek and had two children, a son and a daughter (whose names in many narratives are Shamaldas and Kunvarbai, respectively). But he still did not make a proper living and continued to wander around the city in the company of holy men. One day, his sister-in-law taunted him for being a burden on the family. Deeply hurt by her remarks, he left home and wandered aimlessly, eventually reaching a dilapidated Shiva temple. Initiation into Krishna-bhakti by Shiva

Upon arriving at the temple, Narasinha decided to end his life meditating on Shiva. He sat meditating in the temple without food or water for seven days. Pleased with his devotion, Shiva appeared before him and offered to grant any wish he expressed. Too overwhelmed by the divine grace to ask for anything, Narasinha simply said, “Kindly give me whatever is dear to you.” Shiva revealed to Narasinha his fondness for watching Krishna's rās-līlā. Then, placing his hand on Narasinha's head, he transported the new devotee to the heavenly abode, where Krishna eternally dances with the gopīs in the circular rās dance. There, Narasinha was given the duty of holding the torch that lit the rās-līlā grounds. Narasinha gladly accepted the task but became so engrossed in watching the celestial dance that he did not realize that the torch had begun to burn his hand. During his absorption in the dance, he also experienced a Page 9 of 40

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Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti profound “conversion”: his male consciousness transformed into that of a female friend of the gopīs (sakhī). Pleased with Narasinha, Krishna also asked him to select a reward. Narasinha asked for never-ending bhakti to Krishna and the vocation of singing his glory in every birth. Krishna not only granted his wish, but also gave Narasinha a constant vision of Krishna-līlā, along with the promise that he would forever be at Narasinha's beck and call. (p.105) Narasinha returned to earth and began his lifelong vocation of singing songs of Krishna-līlā. He also began his life as a responsible householder. He now lived in the city of Junagadh, where his popularity as a bhajan singer grew rapidly. The local Nagars were astonished to see him singing and dancing ecstatically in the company of other devotees, regardless of gender, class, and caste. Then began a series of events in which orthodox Brahmins, with a narrow understanding of religion and an arrogance born of high status, orchestrated situations that severely tested Narasinha's bhakti. Narasinha remained absorbed in singing Krishna bhajans, indifferent to the others' machinations. But he did not hesitate to remind Krishna of the promise he had given in the world of the rās-līlā. True to his word, Krishna came to his rescue at the critical moment every time, vindicating Narasinha's bhakti. Narasinha's Son's Wedding

When Narasinha's son, Shamaldas, was around twelve years old, the family priest of an influential noble—Madan Mehta of Vadnagar, in north Gujarat—came to Junagadh seeking an appropriate match for his patron's daughter. Despite meeting many families, he did not find a suitable boy. A mischievous Nagar, thinking that the priest would carry stories of Narasinha's poverty to other towns, suggested that he meet Shamaldas. Contrary to the expectations of the tricky man, the priest was indeed impressed with Shamaldas and immediately announced the engagement. But when the bride's parents came to learn that Narasinha was very poor, they were distressed and asked the priest to break it. The priest refused, threatening to commit suicide if he was pressured. So Madan and his wife proceeded grudgingly with the wedding. Unconcerned with the arrangements for the wedding, Narasinha went to Dwaraka (Krishna's city) to invite his beloved Lord. As the groom's wedding party departed from Junagadh, it included a band of mendicants and poor people. At the time of the wedding, however, contrary to the hopes of Narasinha's scheming relatives but to the great delight of Madan and his wife, the groom's family arrived with pomp, ceremony, and precious gifts beyond their expectations. Krishna had miraculously provided, in abundance, everything that was needed. Now it was Madan's turn to be concerned about whether he could match his daughter's in-laws in their glory. Humble Narasinha calmed his worries.

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Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti The Promissory Note

Narasinha's fame as a bhakta continued to spread. But many members of his community remained suspicious of his piety and took him to be a trickster. On one occasion, they tricked a group of pilgrims into obtaining a promissory (p. 106) note from Narasinha for seven hundred rupees. It was common for pilgrims passing through Junagadh on their way to Dwaraka to obtain drafts of money from local moneylenders that could be cashed at the destination for a small commission fee. The mischief-makers sent a group of pilgrims to Narasinha, explaining that though he looked like a poor saint, he was really a rich man. Narasinha saw through the trick but accepted the seven hundred rupees, writing a promissory note to the merchant Sheth Shamalsha (from Shyam, a name of Krishna) of Dwaraka. He then distributed the money among the holy men and the poor. Upon reaching Dwaraka, the pilgrims looked for the merchant Shamalsha in vain. Perplexed by the turn of events, they started to grow suspicious of fraud. But just then, Shamalsha came looking for them. While they had expected to pay a fee for the promissory note, to their amazement, the merchant paid them not only their principal but also substantial interest. When asked about his relationship with Narasinha, Krishna (in the form of Shamalsha) replied, “He is my master and I am his servant. Please tell him that I have plenty of funds at my disposal and that he is welcome to write promissory notes in my name any time he wishes.” The Ceremony for the Pregnant Daughter

Another trying incident occurred subsequent to the deaths of both Narasinha's wife and his son soon after the latter's wedding. This was a ceremony for his daughter, Kunvarbai, during her pregnancy. Since her in-laws were constantly insulting her on account of her father's poverty, she sent a message asking him to visit her with the customary gifts. When Narasinha arrived empty handed, Kunvarbai regretted sending the message. The next morning, Kunvarbai's in-laws gave Narasinha boiling water for his bath. When he asked for cold water to add to it, the mother-in-law said, “You are known for singing moving bhajans. Why don't you sing a bhajan in the melody associated with rains (rāga Malhār)? Your Krishna will surely send cold water for you.” As Narasinha began singing bhajans, it started to rain so hard that the streets began to flood. The in-laws had to urge Narasinha to stop. Despite the rain incident, Kunvarbai's in-laws still believed that Narasinha was a magician. When Narasinha asked for the list of expected gifts, his daughter urged him to return home before being humiliated further. Narasinha, however, remained calm. The in-laws prepared the list mockingly, asking for expensive things for a large number of relatives. Narasinha took the list and kept singing his devotional songs. Eventually, a “servant” of Narasinha—Krishna in the form Page 11 of 40

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Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti of a merchant—brought gifts in abundance. The beauty of the “merchant” and his wife convinced Kunvarbai's in-laws that they were divine guests and that Narasinha was no ordinary bhajan singer. (p.107) The Garland of Damodar

The most difficult test of Narasinha's devotion came when Ra Mandalik, the king of Junagadh, asked him to prove the power of his devotion. Instigated by Narasinha's opponents, who included orthodox Brahmins and the leaders of several religious groups, Mandalik challenged Narasinha to prove the truthfulness of his bhakti. The king asked the saint to sing bhajans in the royal court and move Krishna to send him the garland that had been put on the divine image in the temple of Damodar, which belonged to the royal family. If this miracle did not happen, Narasinha would lose his life. Narasinha began to sing in the evening. Hour after hour passed, but Krishna was not moved. The saint began to lose patience and started to get angry with Krishna. His main concern was not his own life; rather, he was worried that if he failed, people would no longer want to follow the path of devotion. As the sun rose, Krishna put the garland on Narasinha's neck. The king repented, and Narasinha forgave him. An additional component appears in some versions of this story. As Narasinha began to grow frustrated with Krishna's lack of response, a fellow devotee remembered that the deity loved to hear rāga Kedār sung by the saint and urged Narasinha to sing it. But Narasinha had mortgaged his singing of Kedār to a wealthy

Figure 3.3 (a) Narasinha at the community dinner. (b) King Mandalik bowing to Narasinha, frescos at Narasinha Mehta Choro, Junagadh.

patron; until it was released, he could not sing it. Krishna took Photographs: Neelima Shukla-Bhatt. the form of Narasinha, went to the patron's house in the wee hours of morning, obtained the rāga's release, and dropped the letter of release in the lap of the saint singing in court. Overjoyed, Narasinha began to sing Kedār, and Krishna offered the garland. (p.108) Narasinha's Association with the “Untouchables”

A narrative that has become increasingly popular in the past two centuries and receives a great deal of attention in modern retellings is that of Narasinha's association with devotees from communities that were considered by upperPage 12 of 40

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Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti caste Hindus to be polluted and therefore “untouchable” (now generally called “Dalits”). The narrative centers on Narasinha's acceptance of invitations to sing bhajans in low-caste and “untouchable” neighborhoods. For Narasinha, all who loved Hari (Krishna) were people of God (Harijan). Narasinha's attitude greatly offended members of his own Nagar Brahmin community. They harshly ridiculed him when he returned from his nightlong singing sessions in low-caste neighborhoods. Narasinha ignored the harshness of their comments and politely responded that all devotees were dear to him. Because of his disregard for caste boundaries, his community excommunicated him. As a result, he was excluded from a feast to which all Nagar Brahmins of Junagadh were invited. As the Brahmins sat down to eat, they saw worms in their food. Each also saw the person next to him as a Dalit. In the midst of the ensuing chaos, someone thought of inviting Narasinha. The saint-poet accepted the invitation. When he arrived, everything became normal. On that day, at least some in the community realized the meaninglessness of their vanity and arrogance. (See figure 3.3 for frescoes of (a) Narasinha at the community dinner and (b) Ra Mandalik bowing to him.) Unlike other narratives about Narasinha, those detailing his association with low-caste devotees appear in textual sources from only the eighteenth century onward. NMA narrates episodes about his singing devotional songs among the low-caste devotees, but it does not specifically refer to the untouchables. The specific reference to untouchables is in a very popular song, found in an early nineteenth-century manuscript. Yet the association with the untouchables fits well with the image of the saint emerging from the other episodes in his sacred biography. Even the early narratives suggest that the root of Narasinha's persecution lay in his selection of a lifestyle that was squarely at odds with the values of the powerful in his society. In spite of belonging to a high-status, privileged caste, the saint-poet led a life of poverty, associating freely with mendicants of uncertain caste status. His association with the Dalits only extends the theme. Narasinha's Last Days

Narratives about Narasinha's last days and his death are not widely told. Some say that he died in Junagadh at a ripe old age; others say that he left the city when it was annexed by the Sultan of Ahmedabad in 1469 CE to his Sultanate and died in Mangrol, a nearby town. These details do not concern most participants in his tradition.

(p.109) Narasinha in Regional and Transregional Performative Texts The narratives about Narasinha as found in compendia of hagiography and ākhyāns are linked with sacred biographies of other bhakti saints of north India through multiple layers of shared patterns. In the broadest pattern shared by a large number of narratives, a saintly figure is initiated into the path of bhakti Page 13 of 40

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Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti through the grace of a divine or human guru. The saint remains absorbed in devotion and indifferent to worldly matters and social norms. He or she is loved by the divine and is popular among devotees from all strata of society. But this disrupts the hierarchy and power structure of the society, and the saint faces severe persecution from the people whose power is challenged—generally priests, high-caste people, and kings. In a series of events, the saint demonstrates the steadfastness of his or her bhakti in the midst of persecution and, in the end, emerges victorious with gracious divine intervention.23 The divine intervention validates not only the saint's devotion but also his/her moral and social stance. Within the broader pattern, various types of subpatterns emerge. One is based on shared theological perspectives. The narratives about Kabir and Nanak, for example, share an emphasis on the worship of the formless divine. In this regard, Narasinha's hagiography intersects with the Marathi Varkari tradition in which Vishnu bhakti is intertwined with reverence to Shiva. Another type of subpattern is developed specifically along the theme of resistance to caste hierarchy by saints of low-caste and high-caste backgrounds. Saints with Dalit backgrounds, like Chokhamela of Maharashtra (ca. fourteenth century) and Ravidas of Banaras mentioned earlier, experience humiliation and challenge from high-caste Hindus; but, in the end, they are vindicated because of the purity and power of their bhakti.24 In a corresponding subpattern involving high caste saints, the bhakta poet is persecuted by his/her community members for associating with lower caste or “untouchable” devotees. Narasinha's hagiography shares this pattern with that of Saint Eknath of Maharashtra.25 Despite these subpatterns, the hagiographies of saints remain linked in a larger bhakti network through shared aspects of devotional ideology such as the emphasis on love as the basis of the human-divine relationship, the significance of sharing within the community of devotees, and the equality of all beings in relation to the divine. In addition to ideological aspects, they also share a recognizable aesthetics of bhakti. The various stages and contexts of testing lead the audience through the emotions of anxiety, anger, and sometimes even pity. The tensions are ultimately resolved through bhakti leading to admiration for the saint and increased faith in the ideology he or she represents, with all its religious and ethical implications. The plot of the story and the character of the saint provide the basis for the evocation of emotions (ālamban vibhāva), and a good narrator can effectively draw (p.110) the listener into the world of the saint. It is the familiar human world, unlike the mythological landscapes or the contemplative space to which a devotee is taken in saguṇa and nirguṇa bhakti songs. The central character is an idealized human being with whom a devotee can identify and in whose strife and moral victory a devotee becomes emotionally involved. The accentuating points provided by miracles reinforce the power of bhakti; but the emotional response

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Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti is directed primarily to the character in whose destiny the listener becomes keenly interested. Along with linking the saint to the larger bhakti network, the hagiography of each figure also marks him or her as an individual with a unique set of circumstances in the specific cultural milieu of his or her region. In that distinctive context, the central figure's struggle creates a narrative tension and underscores particular dimensions of bhakti, which relate not only to divinehuman relationship, but also to a distinctive set of moral and social values. The values upheld by the dominant groups of the region often get redefined by bhakti. In the cases of saint-poets, these distinctive aspects also relate to themes in the lyrics attributed to them and play an important role in shaping their traditions. The special circumstance of the woman saint Mira, for example, is that she was a princess in sixteenth-century Mewar, in present-day Rajasthan. She was expected to observe strict norms of behavior for a royal woman, follow the customs of her husband's family, and associate with the dominant classes in her society. The narratives that depict her rebelliously leaving her palace for the sake of her intense love for Krishna present a challenge to the values upheld by her royal family, as Parita Mukta points out.26 At the same time, in challenging the norms of dominance, Mira's bold resistance also offers a new bhakti interpretation of bravery, a core value in the cultural milieu of medieval Rajasthan. These narratives corroborate the defiance of social constraints expressed in many songs attributed to her. On hearing her story, a listener attuned to the type of bhakti Mira represents may get involved in her struggle and moral victory on the path of devotion. But even without a reference to bhakti, her bold reinterpretation of bravery and her defiance of the oppressive structures of her society can evoke an emotional response in a sensitive listener. In Narasinha's hagiography, his special circumstance is his position as a member of the influential Nagar Brahmin community in Gujarat, a region known since ancient times for its prosperity and mercantile culture. The norm for Narasinha would be to carry himself in an aloof manner, pursue financial success, and associate with the dominant classes of his society. Against this background, his bhakti of ecstatic singing and dancing, his voluntary poverty, and his association with the marginalized create narrative tension and provide the basis for Narasinha's persecution by the powerful. He is severely persecuted for his choices, which challenge the values of the dominant classes. Narasinha avoids altercation with his persecutors.27 His contentedness in poverty and Krishna's intervention on his behalf on all occasions, however, validate his ways and offer alternate definitions (p.111) of social status and abundance. His humble behavior also presents a new model for the religious elite, the Brahmins, known for their pride in piety. Mira is expected to be submissive to royal power; her bhakti frees her to be bold and articulate. Narasinha is expected to be financially Page 15 of 40

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Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti well off and to proudly associate with the dominant classes. He chooses poverty and affiliation with the marginalized in bhakti. In each of the regional and transregional textual sources of Narasinha's hagiography, the common patterns of north Indian hagiography and the distinctive aspect of the saint's biography are configured in different ways. All sources have three aspects in common. They highlight Narasinha's intense love for Krishna; they incorporate the theme of worship of both Shiva and Krishna; and they portray the saint as a high-caste man indifferent to social expectations and lost in bhakti. But each text presents them in a way that resonates with its author's own bhakti milieu and can lead their target audiences to imaginative participation in the saint's life. In addition to treatment of bhakti themes, the texts also differ in portrayals of scenes. Although Narasinha is presented in all sources as an exemplary devotee of Krishna from Gujarat, the transregional texts often incorporate local elements in the narration. Just as Narasinha's lyrics inscribe the landscape and culture of Gujarat on mythical Vraj, the retellings of his biography in other languages inscribe the local cultures of the authors on it for greater appeal for their audiences. The differences in the texts highlight their performative orientation. An examination of the treatment of important themes of Narasinha's hagiography in various textual sources sheds light on the ways in which each text uses the broad outlines of the story to portray an image of a devotee that would appeal to the author's audiences. Dual Grace and Ecumenical Bhakti

In a number of regional and transregional texts, the pivotal episode in Narasinha's sacred biography is his initiation into Krishna bhakti through Shiva's grace. There are, however, marked differences in the interpretations of the dual divine grace in the episode in various sources. The Gujarati sources greatly highlight Shiva's grace in Narasinha's initiation in Krishna bhakti. The theme resonates with the bhakti milieu of Gujarat, where most villages have temples of both Shiva and Vishnu's incarnations (Ram or Krishna), and where a commonly found name among men is Harihara, which combines one of Krishna's names (Hari) and one of Shiva's names (Hara).28 In the long “autobiographical” poem on Shamaldas's wedding, the first few parts narrate this story, focusing on Narasinha's gratitude for the dual divine grace. When Shiva places his hand on Narasinha's head in recognition of the devotee's meditation, it awakens his spiritual consciousness and his ability for poetic utterance. (p.112) Choking with gratitude I could not speak; [Shiva] placed his hand on my head, seeing my naiveté. The lifeless came alive, my primordial speech awoke from inertia. … Page 16 of 40

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Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti I received the grace of Uma's Lord [Shiva], see brothers, it was my great luck. I was like an ant but became an elephant; My mind became attached to Perfect Brahman.29

In the same part of the poem, Narasinha expresses gratitude for the “blessed destiny” that Krishna “placed his lotus hand” on his head and gave him the gift of singing about the deep rasa he had experienced upon seeing the celestial rās-līlā. The poem also stresses the mutual reverence between the two deities. As Shiva and Narasinha enter Krishna's celestial realm, Krishna shows his reverence for Shiva, saying, “Today all my good deeds have been rewarded.” Shiva responds, “Trivikrama (Krishna), you are ever gracious to your devotees.”30 Even though Narasinha comes out of the rās-līlā realm singing songs of Krishna devotion, when the two deities are together in that realm Shiva is not treated as subordinated to Krishna. This is a common pattern in the Hindu Puranas, which are followed widely in Gujarat as sources of bhakti. But it is not observed in some later bhakti sects of north India that focus exclusively on Krishna. Premanand's Māmerũ, one of the finest Gujarati ākhyāns, refers to the warm greetings between Hari (Krishna) and Hara, (Shiva) but extends the theme of mutual reverence further. Krishna's devotee gopī bows to Shiva. Narasinha, who accompanies Shiva, bows to Krishna.31 This further offers a model of behavior for devotees of different deities. Similarly, NMA contains several references to the grace of Gangadhar (Shiva) in taking Narasinha to the celestial Vraj in the “blink of an eye” and the blessings of Gokulpati (Krishna) in giving him the bhakti that made him absorbed in rasa. The poet emphatically declares that “the one who discriminates between Gangadhar (Shiva) and the Lord of Gokul (Krishna) is not a true Vaishnava but one without dharma.”32 The emphasis on reverence for both deities found in Gujarati hagiographic texts reinforces the references to Shiva's grace in Narasinha's lyrics about rās-līlā, such as the following. The play began in Vrindavan, where gopī and Govind were together. Joking with each other, they clapped their hands. … Blessed the gopī, blessed the līlā, flowers were showering there. With the grace of Uma's Lord [Shiva], Narasaῖyo saw that play.33

(p.113) The emphasis on dual grace in the regional texts further supports Narasinha's authorship of the Krishna-līlā and contemplative songs. Narasinha begins his spiritual journey with meditation on the Lord of yogis, Shiva, whose grace leads him to the world of rās-līlā. His bhakti journey involves both Page 17 of 40

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Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti meditative contemplation and impassioned singing of Krishna's līlā. His voice in both types of songs is, therefore, authentic. The Gujarati sources draw the audiences into the journey of the saint by projecting their own bhakti milieu onto it. A listener integrating bhakti of multiple deities in his or her religious life finds resonances of his or her practices in it. It is not that in Gujarat's bhakti milieu individuals who worship many deities do not have their preferred deity (iṣṭadevatā). Most worshippers do. But the preference does not lead them to exclusive bhakti of one deity. There is an eclectic element in their worship. This eclectic spirit of bhakti is reflected in the story of dual grace as told in regional sources of Narasinha's hagiography. As we will see in a later chapter, this theme is expanded by a modern narrator of Narasinha's life in Gujarati popular media to suggest that all religions (not just different bhakti currents) lead to spiritual realization. In their treatment of the theme of dual grace, the premodern regional narratives reinforce the messages of the lyrics attributed to the saint and have played a role in shaping his image as a representative of eclectic devotion, a bhakti orientation that has important implications in dealing with religious differences. Among transregional hagiographic narratives, Mahipati's Bhaktavijaya bears close affinity with Gujarati sources in synthesizing devotion to Krishna and Shiva. But its interpretation reflects the author's association with the Varkari sect of Maharashtra. Although this sect primarily worships Vishnu as Vitthala of Pandharpur, it also has a strong undercurrent of devotion to Shiva and stresses his grace in initiation on the path of bhakti.34 Mahipati's narration of the Narasinha story shows great reverence for Shiva, even though the deity himself is portrayed as a devotee of Vishnu. The author balances Shiva- and Krishna-bhakti with an ingenious device. In this compendium there is a frame story within which all hagiographic narratives are contained. Here, Vishnu asks his celestial devotees to descend to the earth in order to help people in the dark age (kali yuga). He asks Shiva to take birth as Narasinha and adds that in another region (Maharashtra), he himself will descend as Jnandeva.35 The Bhaktavijaya thus presents a narrative paradox, in which Narasinha is both Shiva's descent (avatār) and his disciple. Nonetheless, Mahipati succeeds in portraying Shiva as the divine guru of bhakti. This would draw his audiences, familiar with the stories of Shaivite teachers of Varkari saints Jnandeva and Namdev, to Narasinha's story.36 The story takes on a different form in its retelling by Priyadas, which reflects the milieu of the Gaudiya sect of Krishna worship in Vrindavan. Here, when Narasinha asks for what is dearest to Shiva, he debates with himself whether he should reveal that what is really dearest to him is his love for Krishna with the consciousness of a gopī, a secret he has kept even from his wife, Parvati. When he decides to take Narasinha to the world of rās-līlā, he first assumes his form as a (p.114) female friend (sakhī) of the gopīs and then transforms Narasinha into Page 18 of 40

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Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti that form. The emphasis here is on Shiva's ardent devotion to Krishna. A reciprocal reverence on the part of Krishna for Shiva is not indicated; rather, Krishna's supremacy is squarely presumed. In Vrindavan, Shiva is worshipped as a gopī. The Gaudiya sect stresses bhakti with the emotion (bhāva) of the sakhī or friend of a gopī.37 The reconfiguration of the narrative with an emphasis on Shiva's bhakti as a gopī would particularly appeal to audiences of Priyadas's performative presentation of his commentary on the Bhaktamāl in the Vrindavan area. “Sharing” and the Equality of All Devotees

As discussed in the introduction, “sharing” is an important meaning of bhakti, which is manifested in the formation of its communities.38 The genres and practices of all bhakti currents stress this dimension with important ethical implications in various ways. In Krishna bhakti traditions, for example, the circular rās dance in which a number of gopīs dance with Krishna in multiple forms symbolizes a shared emotional space that is open and expansive.39An important corollary of the emphasis on sharing that is common to all bhakti currents to varying degrees is a rejection of discriminatory practices in the context of devotion. The theme of sharing is integrated at multiple levels in Narasinha's biography. It is first introduced in Narasinha's initiation. Shiva shares with Narasinha his own love for Krishna and transports him to the celestial dance. In this realm, Narasinha sees Krishna sharing himself with numerous gopīs, who, in turn, share his love among themselves. Shiva and Krishna share a devotee and give that devotee the gift of devotional singing. When Narasinha begins his vocation of singing Krishna's glory, he emulates his divine models. The circle of the saintpoet's bhakti expands into a community as Narasinha wanders the streets of Junagadh sharing his songs and welcoming everyone who cares to join him. His journey from solitary meditation to building a bhakti community based on a free sharing of songs follows a common pattern in hagiographic narratives about saint-poets. Yet, against his high-caste background, the theme of sharing has a distinctive appeal. In different retellings, it is developed through narrative motifs that are appealing for their audiences. A narrative motif highlighted in an “autobiographical” poem is the transformation of Narasinha's consciousness from male to female in the world of celestial rās-līlā. The transformation reinforces the widely held belief that the most elevated form of Krishna's bhakti can be experienced only by sharing the emotions of a gopī. Male poets of Krishna-bhakti traditions often assume female personae in songs of love for Krishna. A. K. Ramanujan suggests that this poetic transformation represents a kind of conversion for high-caste males who have “temptations to overcome, inner blocks to resolve.” A male poet “drops his caste, wealth, intelligence, he finally drops his masculinity, becomes a woman, so that he can be open (p.115) to the Lord.”40 Since the male ego is the most difficult Page 19 of 40

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Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti thing to drop in a patriarchal society, it is the last to go. In Narasinha's hagiography, however, his masculinity is the first thing to be dropped as he enters the world of Krishna bhakti and gets absorbed in the rasa of his dance. In an “autobiographical” poem, the poet recalls the moment of bliss he experiences when he loses the consciousness of a man and acquires that of a woman, which allows him to join the gopīs in singing: With my aplomb and male ego dissolved, I joined singing as a female friend, having crossed the circumstance of body. … I understood the subtle distinction of rasa as I got absorbed in it. … Krishna said, “Blessed blessed are you. Narasaĩyo, as bhakta, is equal to me. The rasa enjoyed by women of Vraj because of their emotions, you have experienced through love.”41

The transformation of his consciousness in the context of experiencing the rasa of the rās dance offers an explanation for the saint's affinity with women once he returns to the earth. But this, of course, is not acceptable to the orthodoxy. Narasinha's close bond with women becomes a site of contestation between orthodox and bhakti perspectives on gender. In the series of “autobiographical” poems about the garland episode, jealous people accuse Narasinha of debauchery because of his association with women, stressing that Narasinha's ways threaten the moral fabric of their society.42 Premanand and NMA do not mention the transformation, but they both stress Narasinha's experience of rasa in watching rās and Krishna's association with the gopīs. NMA develops the theme of the saint's affinity with women more fully by specifically mentioning the participation of female friends in the garland episode. When Narasinha is summoned to the court on an accusation of debauchery, four women, including his daughter, accompany him. As the hours pass and Krishna is not moved, Narasinha's daughter, Kunvarbai, remembers that Krishna loved the saint's rendering of the rāga Kedār. So three female devotees of Narasinha's community start singing bhajans urging Krishna to help. Moved by their songs, Krishna obtains the letter of release from the mortgage, thereby freeing Narasinha to sing Kedār.43 NMA turns the narrative about the garland into a story of resistance and stresses women's contribution to defeating the powerful persecutors of the saint, including the king. It highlights the power of women's bhakti even over Krishna, whom they persuade to intervene. Narasinha's association with women as depicted in the regional sources underscores their praise in his songs. (p.116) The confident voice of the gopī in Page 20 of 40

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Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti his songs finds a correlate in the voices of women devotees in retellings such as NMA. Beyond the association with women, the sharing aspect of bhakti is found also in the rejection of caste discrimination in NMA. The text expands on early sources, which indicate that all Krishna devotees (generally called Vaishnavas in Gujarat), regardless of caste, were welcome at Narasinha's home.44 NMA first draws a picture of Narasinha's readiness to associate with low-caste devotees (even though it does not mention the word “untouchables”) in singing bhajans: With the sounds of his words, were blessed men and women of the town. With his songs, he spread the message of love. … Nagars began accusing him, “This is not the dharma of a Brahmin.” Surprised and jealous, they could not grasp the mystery of devotion. … If low-caste Vaishnavas (Krishna devotees), who had love for Harijans, invited him to sing bhajans, Mehta went instantly without delay.

The text then inserts a narrative in which Narasinha's stance is divinely validated. Narasinha is excluded from a feast for the Nagar community. But when the Brahmins sit down to eat, the food turns rotten. It is only when Narasinha is invited that things get back to normal.45 As seen above, Gujarati poems about Narasinha incorporate narrative structures referring to his association with groups who had little power in his society. NMA, composed later than other texts, goes furthest in taking the theme of sharing in this direction. But the other texts also draw their audiences through references to Narasinha's persecution because of his identification with these groups. Krishna's validation of his ways indicates that this aspect of his hagiography, with thematic links in his lyrics, was significant for audiences. Although these texts were composed in different historical periods, the issues of gender and caste hierarchies they treat were prevalent in all these contexts in the Hindu society of Gujarat. The texts offer alternatives to the hierarchical order through the saint's portrayal. Narasinha's close bonds with women and low-caste devotees are not highlighted in Mahipati's Bhaktavijaya, which was written around the same time as NMA. This text includes an allusion to Narasinha as a gopī: when Shiva brings Narasinha to the realm of celestial rās-līlā, Krishna inquires who the new gopī is.46 But this reference largely suggests the depth of Narasinha's bhakti. He is Page 21 of 40

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Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti not portrayed as being persecuted for his association with women. The text also makes (p.117) only a passing reference to Narasinha's association with lowcaste people: after his return from Krishna's rās-līlā, the saint keeps singing his songs in the Shiva temple in the forest; upon hearing the songs, cowherds invite him to sing among them.47 The reference is significant in that the cowherds become the first community to listen to the songs of the newly initiated Narasinha. But Mahipati's focus remains on the bond of love between Narasinha and Krishna rather than on social ideology. This is striking because Bhaktavijaya does highlight the theme of the irrelevance of caste distinction in bhakti. It contains narratives not only about the Dalit saints Chokhamela and Raidas but also about Brahmin Eknath, who gets persecuted by his community for offering ritual food to the “untouchables.”48 The text does not take advantage of the striking parallels between the Eknath and Narasinha stories, likely because Mahipati was unfamiliar with the narratives circulating in Gujarat by his time. His original source of the Narasinha story—the Bhaktamāl—does not refer to this theme with regard to the saint.49 Priyadas's portrayal of Narasinha differs significantly from Mahipati's with regard to the saint-poet's association with women. The Gaudiya tradition, the Vaishnava sect with which Priyadas was associated, has remained ambivalent toward women's status. Although feared for their sexuality, women are welcomed as devotees.50 Priyadas introduces two women singers into Narasinha's story. These women come to Junagadh looking for opportunities to make a living with their art. Upon meeting Narasinha, however, they undergo a conversion to bhakti and shave their heads as a sign of giving up the worldly ways. When Narasinha is summoned to court on the charges of debauchery, they go along with him. In the court, Narasinha argues that association with women in the context of bhakti is without blemish.51 Except for the reference to the women's profession, this narration closely parallels NMA, indicating that the saint's association with women had emerged as an important theme in his hagiography in north India by the early eighteenth century. There is however, no reference to Narasinha's association with low-caste people in Priyadas's narration. The author's treatment of Ravidas's birth in a cobbler family as a punishment an ascetic who associated with a cobbler in a previous birth suggests that the rejection of caste distinction was not important to him.52 Therefore, even if he had known about narratives in which Narasinha is portrayed singing with low-caste devotees, they would perhaps not have found a place in his text. The theme of sharing, beginning with Narasinha's initiation into bhakti upon watching Krishna's dance in a circle of gopīs and his subsequent absorption in it, appears as an important component in all versions of Narasinha's sacred biography. Narasinha shares this experience of rasa, which forms the basis of his relationship with Krishna, with others through his songs. His offering to Krishna also takes the form of songs. And Krishna is moved by Narasinha's and his Page 22 of 40

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Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti companions' bhakti expressed in singing. The victory at the end of various episodes of persecution is not just of a saintly figure, but also of a rasa-based religious ideology that (p.118) connects people across caste and gender boundaries. This ideology is validated by Krishna over the exclusive and narrow interpretation of religion used for dominance. The sharing of rasa-based bhakti with aspect of participation that Prentiss stresses is held up as the foundation of a community in which hierarchies of gender and caste are irrelevant. In the transregional texts of Mahipati and Priyadas, the theme of sharing largely adds to Narasinha's image as a model devotee. In Gujarati sources such as NMA ethical implications of sharing are explored through narratives such as saint's expulsion by his community for singing among low-caste devotees and validation of this social stance by Krishna. The theme as developed in these sources is also important for the Narasinha tradition in Gujarat in that it establishes the contemporary singing of the saint-poet's songs in communal settings as a continuation of the sharing of rasa that was initiated by the saint-poet. Abundance in Generosity

A facet of Narasinha's bhakti that is closely related to sharing is that of generosity. The saint-poet shares not only his songs, but also the rewards of his bhakti. In several incidents of his testing—including Shamaldas's wedding, the promissory note, and the ceremony at Kunvarbai's home—Narasinha shares with others the material gifts that Krishna gives him. He also shares the good fortune of having divine darśan (viewing) with his worst adversaries. John S. Hawley observes that the Narasinha story presents two contrasting types of economies. One is exemplified in the miserliness of orthodox Brahmins. The other is “that of God's musical fellowship (or rather sisterhood) in which there is infinitely much to give.”53 Narasinha's generosity is rooted in his bhakti, and Krishna ensures that ever-greater abundance accrues for his devotee. Against the backdrop of Narasinha's poverty, Krishna's gifts, described in great detail in many sources, effectively project the abundance of bhakti. Narasinha's generosity in giving them away completes the meaning of devotion. The presentation of gifts and Narasinha's generosity appear in all sources of the saint's hagiography. At the same time, the specific gifts brought by Krishna, along with the manner of giving, reflect local customs and carry particular appeal for audiences of the texts. The theme of material reward for spiritual merit in Narasinha stories has a particular resonance in Gujarat, where another popular legend recounts Krishna's bestowal of abundance on his childhood friend and devotee Sudama who was an utterly poor Brahmin before receiving these gifts.54 In both Narasinha's and Sudama's stories, an alternative interpretation of wealth arises from the stress on Krishna's love, which brings riches to devotees who are indifferent to material things. Narasinha's specific background adds to the dramatic potential of the theme. The dire poverty of a man from an influential caste appears conspicuous and becomes a source of recurrent and severe Page 23 of 40

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Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti humiliation in the prosperous mercantile milieu of Gujarat. In a number of narratives, members of Narasinha's (p.119) community ask him to produce proof of wealth to get respectable treatment from them. Against these social expectations, his choice to remain poor builds a narrative tension that resolves with Krishna's arrival with gifts. Gujarati sources explore the theme of voluntary poverty and the abundance of bhakti in great detail. In all of them, Narasinha's relatives and other members of the Nagar community make sarcastic remarks about his poverty. In the “autobiographical” poem about Shamaldas's wedding, the would-be bride's mother is horrified when she hears about the promise made to Narasinha by the family priest and exclaims, Honored priest, why did you bring us misery? Why did you betray us, even though you are like a parent to us? We will now be ridiculed by people and taunted among Nagars. How can a king look good with a pauper? A gem has been given in exchange for a cowrie.55

The rhetoric of business evident in the metaphor of a “gem” given “in exchange for a cowrie” reflects a strong mercantile ethos. The would-be mother-in-law's worry is not just about the prospect of misery for her daughter, but also about her own embarrassment at being associated with a pauper. The theme of embarrassing poverty also appears in the “autobiographical” poem about Kunvarbai's pregnancy ceremony. Here, Narasinha's daughter expresses the pain of humiliation that arises from the saint-poet's indigence. “Father, if you could not afford,” she says to Narasinha when he comes to her place, “why did you come here to get ridiculed?” Narasinha urges Krishna to help, saying, “To whom else could I go, being a pauper (nirdhan) in the Nagar community?”56 In Premanand's poem on the same theme, Kunvarbai's in-laws comment sarcastically, “Mehta will blow the conch and put a basil leaf in the gift basket; his companions will sing bhajans; and that will be the end of the ceremony.” Premanand also offers a humorous depiction of the pathetic bullock cart in which Narasinha travels, with one bullock stubbornly refusing to get up and each part of the cart falling apart.57 The embarrassment ensuing from poverty forms a crucial component of the narrative tension in Gujarati hagiographic texts from different historical contexts. Its resonance with the social milieu of the audiences allows them to enter the saint-poet's world imaginatively and sympathize with his predicament. The anxiety of the audiences is resolved with Krishna's arrival as a wealthy merchant, Sheth Shamalasha, to help Narasinha in the narratives about the promissory note and about Kunvarbai's ceremony. The appearance of Krishna as a merchant also grounds the stories in the mercantile ethos of the region. Significantly, Krishna's messages to Narasinha in these texts also use a Page 24 of 40

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Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti mercantile rhetoric, conveying a bhakti interpretation of business and wealth. In Premanand's narration of the promissory note episode, Krishna refers to himself as Narasinha's (p.120) assistant and says, “Write to me with millions of such tasks. Your brokerage will always work here…. My shop is that of faith.”58 In NMA, Krishna sends the message, “Continue your business of love, do whatever is needed to increase it.” Upon receiving the message, Narasinha exclaims, “I am blessed to have a master [Sheth] like this…. He has assigned to me many tasks in his business. He has given me the order to sing the glory and remember Krishna.”59 Lines such as these offer a reinterpretation of business and profit. They stress bhakti as the only true principle. When its profit is shared generously, it only multiplies, yielding rewards beyond measure. In addition to reinterpreting abundance as what is offered by bhakti, the texts evoke a sense of abundance through references to material things used the customs prevalent in medieval Gujarat. In the “autobiographical” poem about Shamaldas's wedding, the guests invited to the wedding canopy (manḍap) are fed regional dishes such as kansār, khājā, and daliyā lāḍvā. Narasinha's wife wears distinctive Gujarati jewelry (moḍ) on her head. And Narasinha gives his daughter-in-law jarakasī clothing.60 In Premanand's Māmerũ, the things provided by Krishna upon the demand of Kunvarbai's in-laws include special Gujarati saris, such as the paṭolā sari and the sāyal sari.61 The narratives mention many items of women's clothing and jewelry that are also mentioned in Narasinha's songs about the gopīs, especially the rās-līlā. These references create a link between the two genres and highlight Krishna's grace in bringing such exquisite gifts for his devotee. The emphasis the Gujarati hagiographic texts place on Narasinha's poverty as well as on the inexhaustible rewards of bhakti reinforce the messages of the saint-poet's songs, such as the one in which the poet conveys a teaching about detached contentment, referring to the many gifts already given by the Lord. There is a clear parallel in Narasinha's bliss in his bhakti and Yashoda's joy in the song where she refers to her bond with Krishna as “nine treasures” (see the song beginning “Queen Yashoda woke early…” in chapter 1). The transregional sources do not contain elaborate depictions of poverty or use the specifically mercantile rhetoric found in Gujarati narratives. Yet, similar to the Gujarati narrative, they stress the abundance associated with bhakti and ground the narratives in their own cultures by describing events in terms of local customs. In Mahipati's account of the promissory note, when the pilgrim begins to count the money given by Krishna in the form of a merchant, he finds it to be of “immeasurable quantity.” Overwhelmed by the realization that he had actually seen Krishna, he gives it all away.62 In order to make the narrative relatable for Marathi audiences, Mahipati incorporates local customs into the stories about Narasinha's son and daughter. During Shamaldas's wedding, the women of the groom's party—including Krishna's wife, Rukmini—wear flower Page 25 of 40

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Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti garlands, a popular Marathi adornment. As the wedding procession moves forward, “rockets” (a kind of firework) are “let off” and guns are fired, setting the scene in a manner resonant with the cultural milieu of eighteenth-century Maharashtra, rather (p.121) than fifteenth century Gujarat.63 The list of gifts in the ceremony for Kunvarbai includes a turban woven in Paithan (a town in Maharashtra) as well as fine clothing of various colors with golden borders, which was popular in the region.64 By evoking abundance through material and cultural references that the audiences of the text would recognize, these narratives increase the likelihood that the various audiences will identify with the character of saint and become involved in his struggles and triumphs. In Priyadas's commentary on the Bhaktamāl, the events of Shamaldas's wedding highlight the plenty ensuing from bhakti, furthering the theme found in the Gujarati sources and in Mahipati's account. Here, the priest of the bride's family suggests that her father's wealth would not suffice even to buy hay for the horses in the groom's party and states clearly that this abundance is a result of Narasinha's bhakti.65 But the context of abundance is given a regional color when female relatives put ornamental designs (citra) on the groom's face, as is common in the regions of north India. Similarly, in the narrative about Kunvarbai, abundant gifts are given not during pregnancy, as is customary in Gujarat, but after the birth of the baby, as common in northern India.66 Interweaving local customs with the evocation of abundance is prominent in Narsī jī ro Māhero, a poem attributed to Mira, the woman saint of Rajasthan. In this poem, the ceremony of gift giving takes place at the wedding of Narasinha's granddaughter, as is customary in Rajasthan rather than at the pregnancy ceremony of his daughter, as customary in Gujarat.67 Since the narrative portrays Kunvarbai's harassment at the hands of her in-laws in detail, the attribution to Mira, who experienced a great deal of persecution from her own in-laws, enhances its appeal. The list of gifts made by the in-laws also shows a regal touch, reflecting Mira's background as a member of a royal family. In Gujarati sources, the gifts seem excessive, with items demanded in twenty to fifty times the normal quantity.68 But in the Rajasthani poem, the in-laws demand items in the hundreds of thousands (lākhs), as in royal families.69 The references to the Rajasthani cultural milieu and the rhetoric of royalty make the attribution of the poem to Mira convincing for its audiences. As a result, the text emerges as an authentic tribute from one exemplary saint of western India to another, in the service of bhakti. The portrayal of abundance in terms of local customs in transregional sources such as Mahipati's Bhaktavijaya, Priyadas's Bhaktirasabodhinī, and Mira's Narsī jī ro Māhero not only render the narratives relatable and enjoyable for the texts' audiences, they also integrate Narasinha's figure into the cultural milieu of their regions. Since no narratives portray Narasinha traveling to other regions or meeting other saints—as we find in narratives about saints such as Namdev and Page 26 of 40

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Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti Mira—these texts have played an important role in integrating Narasinha into the larger bhakti network as an exemplary devotee. These premodern sources can be seen as precursors to the Hindi film versions, through which narratives about the saint circulated in the wider context of India.

(p.122) Popular Narrative Songs, Legends, and Monument In addition to the long Gujarati narrative poems discussed above, popular songs, legends, and the monument commemorating the saint have also served as different layers of his hagiography. Two popular songs, found in early nineteenth-century manuscripts, have contributed vitally to sculpting Narasinha's image as a champion of the marginalized in Gujarat. Both relate to his association with Dalits in bhajan singing. One makes a specific reference to “untouchables” and is heard recurrently in performance.70 In the foothills of Mt. Girnar is the Damodar pond where Mehta-ji went daily for bath. There was firm devotion to Hari among the Dheds [an “untouchable” caste]. They bowed to him with love. With folded hands they prayed and urged humbly: “Great sir! Sing bhajans in our neighborhood, (so that) we may get the essence of love and get out of the trap of births and deaths.” In the instance of their folding hands, compassion arose in Mehta-ji, a supremely kind Vaishnava. “God is not present where there is discrimination. All are equal for the even-minded. Coat the basil plant platform with cow-urine.” said the Vaishnava. Mehta-ji came at night; brought the food offering (prasād) and celebrated like a festival. They sang bhajans till dawn. All Vaishnavas felt content. He [Narasinha] came home singing Hari's glory, playing his kartāl, conch and drum. The Nagars laughed and ridiculed him saying: “What a style for a Brahmin!” Mehta-ji remained silent and thought, “Why should I respond to the immature [people]?” But women and men who had just woken up asked, “Mehta-ji, why are you like this? (p.123) You do not know caste rules or proper manners for a man of your birth, and you have no discretion.” Page 27 of 40

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Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti Folding his hands says Narasaῖyo, “Those Vaishnavas are my refuge.”

References to both Narasinha's high-caste background and the caste of the “untouchables” contribute to the narrative tension in the song and give it a distinct moral force. Another popular song (discussed in detail in chapter 6) on the theme is in the form of the saint's response to people who criticize him for transgressing the Hindu moral code based on caste and station in life (varnāśrama dharma). In this song, Narasinha refers to his bhakti companions as “Harijan” (God's people), a term later adopted by Gandhi to refer to the “untouchables.” It is significant that the saint refers to the Dalit devotees as his “refuge” in the above song and as his loved ones in the second. But his rejection of caste hierarchy is not articulated in a radical manner. Like Brahmin Eknath in Mahipati's Bhaktavijaya, who associates with the Dalits at the personal risk of being excommunicated but does not argue with Brahmins, Narasinha avoids any argument.71 They offer a model for resistance to caste hierarchy through disregard rather than radical questioning, an approach taken by a number of high-caste people today who do not believe in the system but who also do not wish to be radical. Support for the songs about Narasinha's disregard for caste hierarchy and the NMA narrative of the garland episode is found in oral narratives circulating around Junagadh. During my research in 2001, I found that an account of women's participation in the garland episode also appears in the hagiography of the woman saint Ratanbai, who is believed to have belonged to a Dalit community living in the Junagadh area.72 The overlap with the hagiography of Ratanbai, both a woman and a Dalit, serves to highlight Narasinha's musical companionship with marginalized, especially “untouchable” devotees, which has been the centerpiece of his sacred biography in modern times. Narasinha's openness in the context of singing also comes vividly to mind upon visiting the Junagadh monument called “the gathering place/platform of Narasinha Mehta” (Narasinha Mehta no coro see figure 3.4), where the saint is believed to have lived. Located in the northeastern part of the city, the monument was constructed in 1802 by Trikamdas Majmudar. A descendant of Parvat Mehta, believed to have been Narasinha's uncle, Majmudar is thought to have had a revelation about the saint's residence. It is believed to have been a Nagar neighborhood in Narasinha's time; today, the site sits on the outskirts of the city, in a relatively modest neighborhood.73 It includes a Krishna temple and a (p.124) platform open to the sky. Here, the saint is thought to have sung his songs in the company of devotees of all castes. The entire place looks similar to Kabir's caurā—the place of the nirguṇa saint-poet well known for his condemnation of the caste hierarchy. A poem by Dalpatram, a well-known

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Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti Gujarati poet of early modernity, expresses the cultural pride attached to the modest monument: There is no royal parasol covering it, only an ordinary roof. It is one of the smallest monuments. Yet its significance is like that of Mount Sumeru (meeting place of gods). This is the remover of sin, illuminator of merit— the platform of Narasinha Mehta.74

The road Narasinha is believed to have taken for his daily early morning visit to the Damodar temple also winds through outskirts of the city. The first listeners of Narasinha's popular morning hymns could have been the low-caste residents of these neighborhoods if this indeed was the road he took and the neighborhoods were similar to what they are today. Although the coro cannot be considered a historical monument in the strict sense of the term, its open

Figure 3.4 (a) Narasinha Mehta no Choro entrance, Junagadh. Courtesy: John Stratton Hawley. (b) Narasinha Mehta no Choro, rās platform, Junagadh. Courtesy: Vishal Rathod.

platform and its simple structure, compared to Junagadh's other landmarks such as Buddhist caves and medieval palaces that exude an aura of mystery and grandeur, lead a visitor to think of Narasinha's sharing of rasa-based bhakti with the poor and the marginalized. Like NMA, the popular songs and legends about Narasinha's association with the Dalits expand the questioning of caste hierarchy in the saint's lyrics and his affinity for the marginalized of his society in hagiographic texts. The monument serves as a visual symbol of this openness. Together, they sculpt the saint's image as a supporter of the Dalits in the religious context. The image is not of a radical social reformer but of a quiet non-conformist. Gandhi's affinity with Narasinha (p.125) and his engagement with the saint's figure in public life discussed later further expand on the image offered by these traditional resources.

Hagiography as a Source and Enhancer of Bhakti As we have seen above, whether in anecdotal retellings, regional or transregional textual sources, or popular songs, narratives about Narasinha have been circulated through performances. The effectiveness of each performance depends on the configuration of the broad outlines of the saint's

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Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti biography in the narrative structures of the presented text and the ability of the performers to convey the messages of the text in an appealing manner. Although the performances before the advent of film are lost to us, the regional and transregional texts reveal varying emphasis and narrative strategies that would resonate with specific bhakti audiences in performance and evoke expected emotive responses. The transregional sources stress aspects of bhakti important for their audiences. Thus, Mahipati elaborates on the synthesis of Shiva and Krishna bhakti, and Priyadas focuses on Shiva's bhakti of Krishna as a gopī. In depicting Narasinha's predicament in fulfilling the expectations of gift giving at various ceremonies, transregional texts inscribe local cultures on the narrative to draw their audiences into the story. Narasinha's sacred biography in each text offers a source for evocation of bhakti with a narrative force that can lead a sensitive listener to be sympathetically involved in the saint's situations. Narratives about Narasinha serve multiple functions among Gujarati speakers abroad. First, they are widely popular as inspirational stories about firmness in faith and devotion-based contentment. I heard references to Narasinha's devotion-based contentment repeatedly during my research. Even non-Hindu narrators of his stories stressed these aspects. During a casual conversation about the saint, Shirin Asani, a Gujarati Ismaili Mulsim woman in her seventies who has spent most of her life in East Africa and Canada, recounted the story about the promissory note with a stress on how the Almighty rewards the truly devout.75 Second, they offer redefinitions of cultural values that support oppressive hierarchies of caste, gender, and class. Since Narasinha is a member of a Brahmin community, his bond with the Dalit devotees and his distance from the oppressive dominant classes provides an alternative interpretation of social status and stresses the dignity of the marginalized. His close affinity with women, at the risk of being persecuted and defamed, offers a source for reinterpreting gender hierarchies. Similarly, the stories about abundance and generosity offer an alternate understanding of wealth as found in loving relationships with the divine and with fellow beings. In each narrative, the relatives demanding proof of prosperity are overwhelmed in the end not so much by the material gifts as by the abundance of love shown by the divine benefactor to the devotee. (p.126) Sitanshu Yashaschandra considers the Narasinha tradition's reinterpretation of the values of Gujarat's dominant classes from a literary history perspective. Discussing Narasinha's poems as relocating the figure of the poet in a transfigured economic matrix where he is dependent only on Krishna and not on patrons, he suggests that, through his poetry, the saint destabilized the power structure of his society.76 This argument regarding the literary culture

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Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti also underscores the aspect of the reinterpretation of dominant values in the Narasinha tradition as a regional current of bhakti. Another important function served by Narasinha's sacred biography in Gujarat, for which I found ample examples during my research, is to enhance the appeal of his tradition's songs in different ways. In the performances I observed, bhajan singers sometimes took a few minutes to link a song to an episode in Narasinha's hagiography. When a popular Narasinha song conveying a message on detachment—“Do not take to heart happiness or misery”—was about to be sung in a religious assembly (satsang) session I attended in Ahmedabad, the lead singer and preacher paused to recount the saint's advice to his daughter, Kunvarbai. The preacher stressed that the saint's advice was now available to all in the form of this song.77 The narration was appreciated by the audience members belonging to lower middle classes, whose daily lives are full of struggle in the metropolis. Many women nodded in assent during the narration and were later seen singing with zeal. The leader had succeeded in reinforcing the message of the song through his narration of the story. Actual narration of a story during performance is not common, however, probably because people know the stories by heart and have a certain image of Narasinha already in their memory. During bhajan singing, a tune, an image, or a line brings to mind one or more hagiographic episodes with which the message of the song could be associated. This may not happen every time someone sings a Narasinha song. But on a number of occasions during my research, the remarks of performers and listeners indicated that the image of the saint as shaped by hagiography plays a powerful role in underscoring the religious or moral message of his songs and helps people connect to them at a personal level.78 An Ahmedabad man whose primary form of worship is singing Krishna bhajans explained, “Actually, as poetry, I like the Krishna poems of some contemporary poets even better. These new poems have also been sung beautifully by top singers. But they cannot be enjoyed as bhajans like the songs of Narasinha, for they are not rooted in an experience of bhakti that was tested severely.” He then went on to allude to Narasinha's firm faith as reflected in the narrative about the garland episode.79 It was clear that, in his view, a bhajan had to be enjoyable. But the emotional content of the lyric can appeal to an audience only if it is rooted in the devotion of its writer. John S. Hawley writes, “In the Indian view, it is often the life that makes the word believable.”80 The above example suggests that in this view, the life also makes the word enjoyable. (p.127) For the scholar and bhajan singer Niranjan Rajyaguru, the connection to the songs and stories is more existential. Rajyaguru frequently sings the popular Narasinha song “O dear one, the eternal provision is in the hands of Hari” (He ji vahālā, akhanḍ rojī re hari nã hath mā̃).81 The song expresses faith Page 31 of 40

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Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti in Krishna as the ultimate provider and in the abundance of his grace. Narasinha is believed to have sung it as a form of reassurance to his companions and loved ones. Rajyaguru, who lives a simple life dedicated to research on bhajans and is known for his generous hospitality, indicated that this bhajan always brings to his mind the many occasions on which Krishna appeared as a provider for Narasinha. As one takes on Narasinha's voice in performance, he stressed, one draws inspiration from both the song and the episodes in the saint's hagiography.82 One of Rajyaguru's own recent poems, titled “Faith” (Bharoso), bears close parallels to the Narasinha song both in theme and vocabulary, including a reference to Krishna as Shamal and a reference to an abundance of gifts: There is no scarcity in the Lord's treasure, he will wake you up [with gifts] suddenly!83

The message of the song attributed to the saint becomes integrated in the singer's life because it is supported by the narrative. Beyond the devotional aspects of love for Krishna and faith in his grace, the narratives' treatment of gender and caste identities was also evoked by performers. The transformation of the saint's male consciousness was important for some performers. During my stay in Ahmedabad in 2001, I often listened to the bhajans of an old middle-class woman who followed the practice of singing regularly. In the month of Shravan (July–August), in which the festival of Krishna's birthday occurs, she often sang Krishna-gopī songs. One evening, after singing the popular Narasinha song about the flute (where the gopī leaves her daily chores to be with Krishna, discussed in chapter 1), she said, “Who else but one who had actually become a gopī could express the joy of dropping all womanly duties on hearing Krishna's call?”84 For this devout singer, who spent her days caring for a large family, the song and the Narasinha story were both linked to a longing for a devotional space free from the strain of daily chores. An invocation to Narasinha's association with the marginalized was made by a singer with whom I shared many conversations in Ahmedabad—Dattu Bhagat, the Dalit bhajan singer with a deep interest in mysticism whose responses to Narasinha songs I have discussed earlier. In 2001, Bhagat had an opportunity to go for a pilgrimage within Gujarat. When he returned, he excitedly reported that although he had always loved Narasinha's morning hymns (prabhātiyā̃), they acquired a special meaning for him when he visited Junagadh. He had walked on the road the poet is believed to have taken on his morning visits to the Damodar pond where he met the Dalits. Bhagat said that on this visit, he felt as if Narasinha's (p.128) morning hymns were composed just for him.85 In the cases of the old woman in my neighborhood and Bhagat, Narasinha's songs acquired existential resonances because they were connected to his hagiography. In the

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Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti memory of the listeners, the stories functioned to enhance the meaning and the emotional impact of his songs. Rajendra Shukla—the poet whose lines appear at the beginning of this chapter— connected with Narasinha not because of his treatment of caste or gender but because he was a poet. Shukla is a native of Junagadh and hails from a very different social background (Brahmin) than does Bhagat. When I mentioned to him that some of his ghazals reminded me of Narasinha, he indicated that often he was inspired to write poetry while walking early in the morning along the same route as the saint-poet had walked.86 “They were,” he said, “composed in what one may call my Narasinha consciousness.” He went on to suggest that many lyrics attributed to Narasinha may, in fact, have been composed by admirers in moments when they felt closest to him—as he had while walking that road. Such lyrics may meaningfully be called Narasinha's.87 No one can say with certainty whether Narasinha Mehta sang his morning songs walking on the legendary route or not. But such a belief undoubtedly enriches people's experiences of songs in his tradition. The emotive response, rasa, evoked by the songs is enhanced for attuned performers and listeners by the stories. In his work on the much-beloved hymn “Amazing Grace,” Steve Turner explains that he decided to begin with the biography of John Newton because he felt that there could be no real understanding of the song without it. “At every stage [of the songwriter's life],” he writes, “there are occurrences that illuminate the song.”88 While Narasinha's hagiography does not have the historical certainty of a biography, its memory certainly illuminates his songs among those for whom it is “real.” The recollection of a story in relation to a song in a specific performance brings into focus a particular meaning important to the performer. But the meaning is not sealed. The repertoires of both songs and narratives remain available for further performances and meaning making. The narratives and the songs of the Narasinha tradition stand in the interdiscursive relationship of oral texts preserved in performance that form a popular saint-poet tradition of South Asia of enduring legacy. They offer an example of Richard Bauman's argument that related performances are vital to cultural continuity.89 From a gradual layering of culturally coherent elements in interrelated performative genres—songs and stories—emerges the image of the saint cherished in the region. The implications of the image are not purely religious. The image also represents the social aspirations of people who have sustained his songs and stories in their own voices. They clearly express aspirations for social equality, even though it may never have become a reality. They offer a redefinition of prosperity that is not articulated exclusively in terms of material acquisition but in terms of (p.129) sharing and community building. Because of their broader ethical implications and their performative nature, which is Page 33 of 40

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Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti inextricably linked to aesthetic delight or rasa, they are portable to nonreligious contexts. The implications of this aspect of the Narasinha tradition, especially its circulation and interpretation in modern times, will be further discussed with regard to Gandhi's work and popular culture later in the book. Having discussed the hagiographic narratives of the Narasinha tradition, their various occurrences, and their interrelation with the tradition's songs, I will turn in the next chapter to the performances of the songs, where the lyrics and the memory of the saint come alive. Notes:

(1) . Shukla 2005: 49. The translation from the original Gujarati is mine. The rhythm instrument of choice for traditional bhajan singers, the kartāl is a small wooden rhythm instrument that can be carried in one hand. Its size allows the singer to play it even while walking or dancing. In all traditional narratives and popular portraits of Narasinha, he is depicted with a kartāl in his hands. This matches perfectly with the narratives in which Narasinha is depicted wandering in the streets of Junagadh while singing his bhajans. According to Dashrath Vaghela, one of the few skilled kartāl players today, the kartāl is the symbol of time controlled by the singer for the generation of bhakti-rasa (personal interview, July 7, 2001). (2) . Ghazal is a popular poetic form in contemporary Gujarati. It is originally an Arabic form of love poetry that traveled to South Asia via Persia and has been a popular form in Urdu/Hindustani since the seventeenth century. Ranjedra Shukla is one of the leading ghazal writers in Gujarati, known especially for his interweaving of Sanskrit and Urdu poetic devices. (3) . Hawley 1987: xi, xiii–xiv. (4) . For an overview of the expansiveness of hagiographic literature in Indic languages, see Smith 2000: 1–5. (5) . Novetzke: 2008. See especially the conclusion, 242–252. (6) . Mahipati, the author of the famous Marathi hagiographic compendium the Bhaktavijaya, devotes almost the whole first chapter to explaining that he undertook to compose it because God loves to listen to the stories of his devotees. The first verse in Nabhadas's Bhaktamāl stresses that a devotee, devotion, the Lord, and the guru together make bhakti. For Mahipati, see Abbott and N. R. Godbole 1988 [1933]: 2–8; for Nabhadas, see Rupakala 1969 [1914]: 1. (7) . Snell 1994: 2–3. (8) . Hawley 1988: 288–290.

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Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti (9) . The state of Maharasthra, for example, has a tradition of incorporating narratives into singing. See Christian Novetzke's discussion of the Marathi kīrtan tradition where he stresses the role of singing traditions in shaping the public memory of the saint (Novetzke 2008: 80–85). (10) . Williams 2010: 5–7. (11) . Novetzke 2008: 52. (12) . Many long poems treat a single event, or episode, in Narasinha's life. Among the Gujarati sources, the most celebrated are Visvanath Jani's and Premanand's long narrative poems about Narasinha's daughter's pregnancy ceremony. A large number of poems have also been written on the episode of the promissory note (discussed later). For a list of Gujarati sources, see Dholakia 1992, where the author discusses the ākhyāns in detail. For discussions of dates of manuscripts, see especially pp. 18, 19, 31, 33, 74, 118, and 119. (13) . See NKK: 4–63. A few of these are found in an early MS dated VS 1675 (1618 CE). But most are found in later manuscripts. (14) . For a lively picture of the performances of māṇ bhaṭṭs and their audiences, see Mahurkar 2004, available at http://www.indiatoday.com/itoday/20040112/ offtrack.html (accessed Jan. 11, 2011). (15) . Dharmiklal Pandya's lecture presented in the Sarjako (creators) series by the Gurjarvani cultural media center in Ahmedabad, available at http:// www.youtube.com/+watch?v=HG7gwKobULA (accessed on January 26, 2012). (16) . Iterant singers in premodern India are known for taking the poems of saint-poets across regions musically. The maṇ bhaṭṭs took the hagiographic narratives of Narasinha across various parts of Gujarat musically. (17) . Two other poems about Narasinha's life, one on his sons' wedding (Shamalsha no Vivaha) and one on the ceremony for his deceased father (Shraddha) were also attributed to Premanand. But more-recent scholarship has shown that these are later compositions (Dholakia 1992: 224–239, 245–253). Therefore, they are not referenced here. The details about the editions of regional and transregional sources to which this work refers have been given in a note in the introduction. The translations from all the Gujarati hagiographic sources here—NMA and Premanand's poems—are mine. (18) . Kothari 2005 [1976]: 71–72. (19) . For references to narrative poems on Narasinha in Rajasthan, see Dholakia 1992: 190, 197. The details of editions of the hagiographic texts used for this work have been given in the introduction.

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Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti (20) . For the dates of the Bhaktamāl and Priyadas's commentary, see Hawley 1987: 53–54. For Priyadas's Gaudiya background, see Gupta 1969: 57–70. For Narasinha's narrative in the Bhaktamāl and Priyadas's commentary, see Rupakala 1969 [1914]: 673–695. (21) . For the Narasinha narrative in Mahipati's Bhaktavijaya, see Abbott and Godbole 1988 [1933]: 415–466. Mahipati devotes four chapters to Narasinha, a much larger space than that devoted to any other non-Marathi saint. (22) . The sources on Narasinha differ with regard to the place of his birth. Gujarati sources say that it was a village called Talaja, near the city of Bhavnagar today. The pan-Indian sources only refer to Junagadh. (23) . For a detailed discussion of how Narasinha's hagiography follows the common patterns of north Indian hagiography in detail, see Dholakia 1992: 309, 321. For sacred biographies of major north Indian saints, see Hawley and Juergensmeyer 1988. A rich source for various Kabir legends is provided by Lorenzen 1991. (24) . In the story of Chokhamela, as contained in the Bhaktavijaya, the saint is harassed by high-caste people even for sitting at the door of the Pandharpur temple. The Bhaktavijaya also contains a story about Ravidas's humiliation by a Brahmin who accepts his superiority in the end (Mahipati vol. 2 1988 [1933]: 378, 401–402). (25) . A story about Eknath being outcaste by Brahmins because of serving the Dalits is contained in the Bhakavijaya, see Mahipati vol. 2 1988 [1933]: 177–182. (26) . Mukta 1997 [1994], chapter 2. (27) . In some poems about the garland episode that have been attributed to Narasinha (which are included in NMA), he gets into a bitter and crude exchange of accusations with leaders of other religious groups. Nevertheless, this debate is such an aberration from the saint's portrayal in all other sources that it does not figure into the public memory of Narasinha. Except for a few scholars engaged in the study of medieval texts, no one with whom I spoke knew about the exchange. For a discussion of these poems of debate, see Dholakia 1992: 136–142. (28) . Discussing the presence of temples dedicated to both deities, Navinchandra Acharya explains that the bhakti milieu of Gujarat has been rooted in mainly in the Puranas, Hindu sacred texts in Sanskrit written roughly during the millennium spanning 500–1500 CE. Each of the major Puranas focuses on one deity and speaks of him or her as the Supreme. However, other deities of the Hindu pantheon are also given honored places in the cosmic design (Acharya 1983: 3, 20). Page 36 of 40

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Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti (29) . NKK: 4. (30) . NKK: 5–7. (31) . Premanand 1998 [1978]: 299. (32) . NMA: 4–8. (33) . NKK: 153. (34) . The hagiographies of its two major Varkari leaders, Jnandeva and Namdev, portray them as having been initiated by Shaivite Nath yogis. Jnandeva is initiated by his elder brother Nivritti, a Nath yogi, and Namdev by the Shaivite yogi Visobā Khechar. See Charlotte Vaudeville 1987: 215–219. (35) . See Mahipati in Abbott and Godbole 1988 [1933]: 8–9. (36) . For the Jnandeva and Namdev stories, see the Bhaktavijaya, chapters 9 and 12. (37) . Rapakala 1969 [1914]: 676 For Priyadas's association with the Gaudiya sect and Vrindavan, see Hawley 1987: 53–54. For Shiva's worship as a gopī, see Haberman 1994: 20–29. (38) . For a discussion of “sharing” in bhakti, see Carman 2005: 858. (39) . Graham Schweig discusses the sense of community among the gopīs in dance and its broader symbolism for human kind (Schweig 2005: 139, 180). (40) . Ramanujan 1999: 290. (41) . NKK: 6. (42) . NKK: 45. (43) . NMA: 70, 73, 94–95. (44) . Premanand 1998 [1978]: 301, 304; NKK: 30, 38. (45) . NMA: 10, 13–15. (46) . Mahipati, Abbott and Godbole 1988 [1933]: 425. (47) . Ibid., 427. (48) . Mahipati 1988 [1933] vol. 1, chapters 23, and 25; vol. 2, chapters 45 and 46. (49) . For Mahipati's sources, see the introduction to the Bhaktavijaya.

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Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti (50) . For the ambivalent status of women in the Gaudiya tradition, where their sexuality is feared but they are considered equal as devotees, see Jan Brzezinski 1996: 59–62. (51) . Priyadas in Rupakala 1969 [1914]: 683–686. (52) . For Ravidas's story in Priyadas, see Rupakala 1969 [1914]: 471–472. (53) . Hawley 1987: 61. (54) . Mallison discusses this aspect in her work in some detail (Mallison 1986: 21). (55) . NKK: 12. (56) . NKK: 29, 30. (57) . Premanand 1998 [1978]: 304–306. (58) . Premanand 1998: 268. (59) . NMA: 23–24. (60) . NKK: 18–26. Manḍap is the ceremony of making the wedding canopy. Kansār and khājā are sweets made with wheat, and daliyā lāḍvā is a sweet made with gram (chickpea) flour. Moḍ is a type of jewelry worn on the head by important female relatives of both the bride and the groom. Jarakasī clothing is made with gold thread. (61) . Premanand 1998: 308. (62) . Mahipati vol. 1. 1988 [1933]: 455. (63) . Ibid., 438, 441. (64) . Ibid., 1988 [1933]: 460. (65) . Priyadas in Rupakala 1969 [1914]: 694. (66) . Ibid., 692, 681. (67) . Mira 1972: 4. (68) . In Premanand's Māmerũ, for example, six hundred saris and hundreds of dhotis (men's garments) are mentioned (Premanand 1998 [1978]: 308). (69) . Mira 1972: 6–7.

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Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti (70) . NKK: 64. The song is found in a manuscript dated 1824 CE. The song appears with scenes of Junagadh on a YouTube clip, http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=uC1gtxt-bzo, indicating its popularity. (71) . Mahipati vol. 2 1988 [1933]: 178. (72) . Four songs attributed to Ratanbai and associated with the garland episode are found in Harijan Lok-kavio ane Temnā̃ Pado (Harijan folk-poets and their devotional poems) edited by Dalpat Shrimali (Shrimali 1970: 20–23). Nathalal Gohil, a professor of Gujarati in Keshod, near Junagadh, arranged for me to meet with a group of low-caste devotees who also sang bhajans at my request in August 16, 2001. The story of Ratanbai figured large in their conversations. Some referred to her as Narasinha's disciple or bhakti comrade; others referred to her as Narasinha's guru. (73) . For detailed information on the establishment of the site, see Vaishnava 2005 [1940]: 170–172. As Françoise Mallison observes, even though the place is close to Shiva and goddess temples, it is far from the center of the city (Mallison 1986: 23). (74) . Dalpatram wrote this after visiting the place in 1873. The translation is mine (Vaishnava 2005 [1940]: 169). (75) . Communication with Shirin Asani, October 2002. (76) . Yashaschandra 2003: 586–587. (77) . On April 10, 2001, I attended a satsang session in the temple of Nilkanth Mahadeva, in the Naranpura area of Ahmedabad. Here, after the lecture, the preacher started leading the Narasinha bhajan “Let neither happiness nor pain perturb you” (Sukh Dukh Manmā̃ na āṇie). To stress the message of detachment, he told the story of Narasinha using this song to consol his daughter before her pregnancy ceremony, when she expressed concern about the insults her father had suffered and about what would happen at the ceremony. (78) . Here, I am relying to a degree on my own experience of having heard stories and sung Narasinha songs since childhood. I also conversed with a large number of people who sing Narasinha songs quite regularly. Their experience was similar to mine. (79) . Conversation with Shrenikbhai Shah, Ahemdabad, April 8, 2001. (80) . Hawley 1988: 1. (81) . This song is attributed to Narasinha in the popular tradition but is not found in critical editions of his lyrics. Narasinha's authorship, therefore, is doubtful. Page 39 of 40

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Exemplary Singing, Exemplary Bhakti (82) . Conversation with Rajyaguru during the time I spent (approximately four weeks) intermittently with Rajyaguru's family in Ghoghavadar between March 2001 and August 2001. (83) . E-mail correspondence with Rajyaguru, September 30, 2011. (84) . Remark by Vasuben Choksi, July 27, 2001. (85) . Conversation with Dattu Bhagat, in July 6, 2001. (86) . Shukla's ghazals are published in five parts in the Ghazal Sanhita (Collection of ghazals) in 2005. The poem cited at the beginning of the chapter is in vol. 5, subtitled Ghir Āyi Girnārī Chāyā (The shadow of Girnar gathered) contains many poems in which there are references to the kartāl, Narasinha's instrument. But a few poems titled Ghazal Prabhāti (pp. 95–100) have many allusions that remind one of the saint-poet. (87) . Conversation with Rajendra Shukla, Ahmedabad, June 14. 2001. (88) . S. Turner 2002: xix. (89) . Bauman 2004: 2–4.

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Singing as Bhakti

Narasinha Mehta of Gujarat: A Legacy of Bhakti in Songs and Stories Neelima Shukla-Bhatt

Print publication date: 2014 Print ISBN-13: 9780199976416 Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: November 2014 DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199976416.001.0001

Singing as Bhakti Narasinha's Lyrics in Musical Performances Neelima Shukla-Bhatt

DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199976416.003.0005

Abstract and Keywords The fourth chapter is based on participant observation and examines performances of Narasinha songs in different devotional and nonreligious contexts. It begins with a discussion of traditional tunes and rhythms that contribute to the wide and sustained popularity of the songs. It then shows that musical performances, in which the meanings of the lyrics are created anew each time, parallel abhinaya or presentation in the Indian aesthetic theory of rasa. The memory of the saint-poet's own singing described in hagiography plays an important role in re-creation of meaning. The analysis also points out the agency of the performer in reconfiguring the meanings in each context and making them resonate at more than one level. This chapter demonstrates how people claim cultural ownership of the songs by integrating them in different aspects of life. Keywords:   raga, melody, performance, tala, rhythm, garbi, morning hymn, bhajan, bhajanik

I sang of Brahman with the greatest of joy. —Narasinha Mehta Sing bhajans in such a way my brother, that the dead come alive. —Koya Bhagat, a Koli saint of Gujarat, (ca. eighteenth century ce)1

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Singing as Bhakti Due to his title of ādikavi (first poet) of the Gujarati language and his wide popularity, Narasinha Mehta has been a subject of extensive scholarship in Gujarati and has received much attention from publishers. In Gujarati bookstores, several scholarly and popular collections of Narasinha's lyrics can be found. Scholars read and analyze them as poems. But for most people, they are not poems to be read—they are bhajans to be performed. It is only in performance that their meanings are fully realized. As Philip Lutgendorf observes with regard to Tulsidas's Rāmcharitmānas, texts and performances are “inseparable” for audiences in saint-poet traditions.2 I had known this growing up in Gujarat, but during my yearlong research work, I also heard it clearly articulated by performers and audiences of Narasinha's lyrics.3 I spoke with numerous people about different aspects of saint-poet's lyrics and sacred biography and generally found them enthusiastic about responding. Yet it was in bhajan sessions that I found them most connected to the lyrics. The lyrics, the tunes, and the memory of the saint-poet came together in the singers' voices and the listeners' nonverbal gestures. It was in bhajan sessions that I found them alive and moving. It was in one such context that I heard the term ṭehaḍo, referring to enjoyment that made me alert to the use of the term rasa. In this chapter, we will look at the musical and performative aspects of the Narasinha tradition. The examination will show that, just like the lyrics and hagiographic narratives, the melodies, rhythms, and ways of performing the songs interweave elements from transregional and regional traditions of devotional singing. The interweaving links the songs to popular regional folk songs, on the one hand, (p.131) and to transregional traditions of bhajan singing, on the other, thus contributing to the intricate networking of saint-poet traditions. Let us begin with an overview of the significance of singing in the saint-poet traditions of north India and a discussion of some important musical aspects of the Narasinha tradition. We will then look at performances of a few Narasinha songs in different contexts that give us a glimpse into the multilayered ways in which the performances evoke bhakti.

Singing in Saint-poets' Traditions Narasinha Mehta is a part of a long tradition in which the musical sound is recognized as a powerful vehicle of religious experience. We find a clear assertion about the efficacy of musical sound in early Upanishads such as the Brihadāraṇyaka, composed a few centuries before the Common Era: Song (githa), verily, is speech… The tone (svara), is verily its gold. He comes to have gold who knows that gold of the Saman.4

By the early centuries of the first millennium, sound (nāda) had come to be identified with the Supreme Reality or Brahman in Hindu religious texts.5 And by

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Singing as Bhakti the mid-second millennium CE, music had become an integral part of communal religious practices, as expressed in the Padma Purāṇa: I do not dwell in Vaikuntha, nor in the hearts of yogis, O Narada, I dwell there, where my devotees sing.6

The centrality of music in that religious world is noted by Regula Qureshi in her work on Sufi music of South Asia, where she discusses how the early Indian Sufis justified the use of music in spreading Islamic mysticism in the Hindu environment because of its ubiquitous presence in that social setting.7 Emerging from such a religious milieu, saint-poet traditions of medieval north India have developed with musical performance at their core. The lyrics of the saint-poets make recurrent references to singing not simply as an expression of bhakti, but as the only activity in which bhakti is fully manifested. Surdas, for example, declares clearly, “Unless we sing to the Lord / we're camels and asses—that's what we are.”8 Similarly, a song of the saint-poet Namdev depicts Vishnu as declaring, “Bhaktas who sing my praises / are my being.”9 “Singing praise” is not just an idiom here; it also refers to the act of singing. Even Kabir, for whom spirituality is purely a matter of inner development, thinks of it in musical terms when he says, “Clarity comes / when the musician lives / in your heart.”10 In Narasinha's songs, singing about Krishna is consistently identified as (p.132) the purpose of his life. Indeed, in his lyrics, as in the lyrics of many saint-poets, the poetic act is referred to primarily as “singing,” and not as “writing.” The inseparability of music and lyric in the traditions of the saint-poets is also widely prevalent in popular understanding. A lyric of a saint-poet is most commonly called a bhajan (devotional song) or a pad (poem meant to be sung), and not a kāvya (poem). The verbs “to read” (vānchvū̃ in Gujarati, paṛhnā in Hindi) or even “to recite” (paṭhan karvū̃ in Gujarati, paṭhan karnā in Hindi) are rarely used in relation to a lyric of a saint-poet in north Indian languages. Singing is understood to be the most effective, or rather, the only way to tap into the emotional content (bhāva) of a lyric. If the poetic structure of a lyric forms the basis for evocation of bhakti as rasa, its musical rendering carries it to people. The function of the musical performance in the saint-poet traditions closely parallels acting (abhinaya) in a dramatic performance. The only difference is that in drama, acting is the function of the performers, and the emergent aesthetic delight or rasa is enjoyed primarily by the audience; whereas, in bhajan singing, especially in communal settings, the performer and the audience are not necessarily different. A very popular bhajanik (bhajan singer) stated emphatically in an interview that for an effective bhajan session, it is crucial that the performers personally enjoy the bhakti-rasa conveyed in the songs.11 Involvement in the sentiment of the lyrics through their poetic and

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Singing as Bhakti musical structures is a shared experience for both the performers and the listeners. In the traditional contexts, the performers model themselves after the saintpoets, who are remembered both as exemplary devotees and as singers who immersed their community in bhakti's rasa. The sacred biographies of a large number of saint-poets portray them as singers, and musical expertise is highlighted as an important aspect of their saintliness. Miracles indicating divine intervention are often a result of the power of their devotion expressed in singing. In a well-known narrative about the saint-poet Namdev, the temple of Nagnath changes direction in response to his singing. In a Surdas narrative as told in the Bhaktavijaya, the saint's singing so pleases the gods that many of them start playing instruments for him.12 Narratives about Narasinha similarly emphasize the role of his musical skills. Krishna himself asks the saint-poet to follow the vocation of singing. The garland episode—one of the most popular elements of Narasinha's hagiography—revolves around Krishna's fondness for his rendering of rāga Kedār and his adversaries' efforts to stop him from singing it. In the end, when Narasinha sings Kedār, Krishna sends the garland. Remaining in the background, the memory of a saint-poet's singing serves as an enhancing factor in a performance of his or her songs. A good bhajan singer aspires to emulate the saint-poet.13 Since the signature line (bhaṇitā) includes the poet's name, his or her presence is always evoked during performance, linking the present performance to its imagined archetype. In a way, a performer (and a participant who repeats the refrain) in a bhajan session becomes the voice of the (p.133) poet who might have sung the songs centuries ago. Further, since devotional singing events generally include songs of a number of saintpoets, which overlap in bhakti themes, poetic images, and tunes, a number of bhakti figures from different regions and time periods get linked in the devotional memory of participants in a single event. Devotional singing events lead us to see that a community of bhakti is not based just on shared devotion but also on a shared poetic and musical heritage. Traditions of saint-poets are linked not simply though devotional ideology; they are connected in a performative network too. Musical Aspects of Narasinha's Songs

All of Narasinha's songs belong to the genre called deśī in Gujarati. A close equivalent of the more widely used term pad in north Indian languages, deśī denotes a medieval Gujarati lyric written primarily for singing that uses traditional meters and is often based on popular tunes and rhythms. The term deśī is derived from Indian music terminology, where marg sangīt (classical music) is distinguished from deśī sangīt (folk music). Deśī employs words and meters in ways that would maximize their appeal in musical renderings.14 In preNarasinha Gujarati literature, long narrative poems called rāsos formed a popular genre. By Narasinha's time, it had become customary to interweave a Page 4 of 27

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Singing as Bhakti few deśīs into rāsos to break the monotony.15 Narasinha's songs are among the earliest independent deśīs of a subjective nature that have been preserved in traditions of singing. The sustained popularity of these songs derives as much from the tunes and rhythms in which they are sung as from their poetic structures. Melodies

Like the songs of most medieval saint-poets, the songs in the Narasinha corpus are associated with specific Indian classical rāgas in most handwritten manuscripts, especially in the early ones. A rāga in the Indian classical music system provides a basic melodic framework, from which innumerable tunes are generated. Each rāga is associated with a particular time of day, and its notes are traditionally associated with various moods.16 Beginning with the earliest manuscripts, the rāgas most frequently associated with Narasinha's songs are morning rāgas—Rāmagrī, Prabhātī, Bilāval, and Āsavarī; rāgas associated with springtime and the rainy season—Sārang, Vasant, Malvā, Māru, Deśākhya, and Malhār; and evening rāgas such as Kedār.17 Of the rāgas indicated in manuscripts of Narasinha's lyrics, those associated with the beauty of various seasons and playful moods are used widely (but not exclusively) in musical traditions of Krishna devotion. Early manuscripts of the Gītagovinda mention rāgas Vasant, Malvā, and Deśākhya.18 These rāgas also feature repeatedly in the repertoire of a prominent sect of Krishna devotion, the (p.134) Pushtimarg. According to Champaklal Nayak, a historian of Pushtimarg music, Narasinha's use of these rāgas for Krishna-līlā songs predates their use in this sect. He suggests that Narasinha was among the earliest saint-poets of north India to compose vernacular Krishna-līlā songs in appropriate rāgas.19 Along with the rāgas found commonly in the repertoire of Krishna bhakti sects, numerous Narasinha songs are also found in Rāmagrī, Bilāval, Āsavarī, and Kedār—the rāgas frequently found in manuscripts of the songs of nirguna saintpoets Namdev, Kabir, Nanak, and Ravidas.20 The lyric shown in figure 4.1, from a manuscript dated ca. 1701 CE, specifies rāga Kedār as the melody for that song. Like the corpus of lyrics, the broad patterns of rāga distribution in the manuscripts of Narasinha songs also reflect the integration of diverse moods and currents of bhakti in his tradition.

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Singing as Bhakti The traditional melodies in which Narasinha songs have been performed may be loosely based on the rāgas mentioned in the manuscripts. But the rāgas are not used in their purely classical forms in these melodies; elements of Gujarati folk music are freely intermixed with them.21 As in the lyrics, the integration of pan-Indian and regional elements remains an important source of the appeal of the melodies. Narasinha songs are regularly performed in popular genres of (p.135) Gujarati folk music such as garbī, a genre also associated with dancing; dhoḷ, a genre associated with women and auspicious occasions (loosely linked to ancient dhavalgīt); and prabhātiyā̃, or morning

Figure 4.1 A leaf of B. J. Institute MS # 2240 (ca. 1701 CE) indicating rāga Kedār as the melody for a song. Photograph: Neelima Shukla-Bhatt.

hymns.22 Garbī and dhoḷ are celebratory in mood and use melodies evoking pleasant settings. The third type—prabhātiyā̃ (and related genres of rāmagrī and prabhātī)—evoke deep peacefulness and contentment. They are loosely based on the morning rāga Bilāval, whose expression is often soft, gentle, and affectionate.23 Even though some variations of melodies prevail even within this regional genre, Gordon Thompson's essay on the understanding of a ḍhāḷ (fixed tune) in Gujarat indicates that the various ḍhāḷs remain related to their respective rāgas, forming a part of a “cultural continuum” between the classical melodic frameworks and their regional manifestations.24 In popular understanding, Narasinha composed the traditional tunes for his own singing. It is not possible to confirm this claim or even to reconstruct the melodies that were used by the compilers of early manuscripts, since musical notation is not written out in them and the rāgas themselves have changed over time. However, research by H. C. Bhayani and Hasu Yagnik, which is based on interviews and recordings of performances by elderly singers, shows that some popular tunes of Narasinha songs can be traced back more than 125 years. These scholars suggest that if the strong resistance to new tunes in recent times indicates a historical trait, there is a possibility that these melodies have been in vogue for centuries.25 In explaining the popularity of some tunes, Kanubhai Jani Page 6 of 27

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Singing as Bhakti suggested that in folk music, to which bhajans are linked, the melodies are perhaps even more important than words in evoking specific moods, because the same tune is used for a number of songs. Each melody is firmly associated with a specific mood and is used effectively by a folk poet-composer like a saint-poet to evoke that mood.26 In my own observation of bhajan sessions, the tunes of Narasinha songs carried great importance for performers and listeners alike, suggesting that they may have been popular for a long time. Structures of Rhythm

Along with melody, rhythm plays an important role in bhajan singing. In Indian music, the rāgas are associated with the creation of the mood, and the tālas (rhythm cycles), with the temporal frame within which the mood is evoked. The first is concerned with emotions, and the second with their ordered movement for aesthetic appeal.27 In the performance of a song, the effectiveness of the tālas is enhanced if the lyric also has a strong internal rhythm created by its meter. Since the lyrics of the saint-poets were written primarily for singing, their meters were chosen with a keen awareness of their rhythm potential. Thus, meters and tālas together provide the rhythmic structures for the songs in performance. One of the best appreciated aspects of Narasinha's lyrics is their use of meters. Asit Desai, an internationally known Gujarati singer and music arranger, stated that of all the (p.136) medieval poets' songs he has sung and arranged, Narasinha's present the least difficulty in rhythm arrangement because of the perfection in their use of meters and their compatibility with the tālas popular in north India.28 Meters. Narasinha's lyrics use meters that have traditionally been popular for deśīs in Gujarat. These meters, which are based on the organization of the beats (mātrā), are called mātrāmeḷa chanda in Gujarati. These are different from the meters derived from classical Sanskrit syllabic meters (akśarmeḷa), which follow fixed arrangements of long (guru) and short (laghu) syllables. In mātrāmeḷa meters, the beats are organized with great flexibly into measures (sandhis). The stress falls on the first beat of each measure, giving each line an internal rhythm.29 These features make mātrāmeḷa meters match up with the various tālas of north Indian music, which are also structured with divisions of beats. Mātrā-based meters were widely popular in the regional poetry of medieval India. Barbara Stoler Miller suggests that, since the early medieval period, even Sanskrit poets like Jayadeva had begun to use these meters for a broader appeal.30 Three meters used frequently in Narasinha's lyrics are: Savaiyā (32 mātrās), Harigīt (28 mātrās), and Jhulaṇā (37 mātrās).31 Each of these meters is fairly long and offers scope for expressing a complex idea fully in a single line. Each of them is also compatible with a widely popular tāla for bhajan singing in north India. Savaiyā, with its four-beat sandhis, is compatible with the most popular tāla, Keharvā, which also has four-beat divisions. With its large number of Page 7 of 27

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Singing as Bhakti sandhis, this meter also makes it possible to stress many words important for the meaning of the line. In a popular song, Nārāyaṇ-nũ nāma ja letā̃ vāre tene tajīe re (Sever relations with those who dissuade you from taking God's name), the stress falling on every important word—nārāyan (God), nāma (name), letā̃ (taking), vāre (dissuade), and tajīe (sever)—keeps the listener's attention focused on the song's message and does not allow him or her to be distracted. On the other hand, Harigīt has only four sandhis of seven mātrās, making it compatible with the seven-beat tāla Rupak or fourteen-beat Dipchandi. A line moves faster in this meter, which makes it effective for dramatic irony. Although Savaiyā and Harigīt have been used skillfully in Narasinha songs, it is in the Jhulaṇā meter that some of the most popular songs of the tradition are found. Jhulaṇā is considered one of the finest mātrāmeḷa meters and is also the longest of the three, with seven sandhis of five mātrās and an additional long beat at the end. The long line is broken by internal pauses.32 True to its name, which means “swing,” the meter is characterized by a soothing swing-like movement, and its internal pauses reinforce its reflective mood. A number of Narasinha's morning hymns are in this meter. K. K. Shastri points out that Jhulaṇā bears a close similarity to the meter used by Marathi Varkari poets for their famous devotional songs—abhangas—which are also of a contemplative nature.33 In light of the thematic parallels between the Narasinha songs and the lyrics of the Varkari saints, especially those of Namdev, this similarity is noteworthy. It draws (p.137) attention to the multiplicity of ways in which the songs of regional saint-poets are woven into overlapping bhakti networks. Even while being distinctively regional, they were intricately linked through panIndian religious themes as well as structural components related to their aural appeal. T ā las. While the meters create the internal rhythm in a lyric, it is a tāla that provides the rhythm in a musical performance. A tāla is the cyclical rhythmic pattern used in north Indian music performances. Its basic unit is the mātrā (beat), as in mātrāmeḷa meters. Each tāla has a fixed number of beats divided into sections. The first beat is highlighted with the heaviest stress in each cycle. The tāla is often called the heartbeat of a song in India. Like heartbeat, it is continuous and provides its “body's” driving force. A tāla played in slow, medium, or fast tempo for different sections of a song regulates the intensity of emotions evoked by the song. In bhajan singing especially, tempo plays a particularly important role. When a bhajan begins, a few repetitions of the refrain (dhruvā or ṭek) in slow tempo allow the devotional mood to develop. Toward the end of the performance, the dhruvā is repeated several times in fast tempo, reinforcing the message of the song with intensity.34 With their use of mātrāmeḷa meters, popular lyrics in the Narasinha corpus lend themselves well to arrangement in the popular tālas for bhajans in north India: Keharvā (8

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Singing as Bhakti mātrās), Dadra (6 mātrās), Zaptal (10 mātrās), and Rupak (7 mātrās). The repetition gives a sense of continuity that holds the songs together. In addition to having tāla-compatible meters, the Narasinha songs are full of innovative modifications of words. These not only enhance the appeal of the rhythmic patterns but also add to the visual appeal of the song because in performance the sounds of the words mimic the movement of the lyric. For example, in a lyric that depicts gopīs rushing to see Krishna, the word latkāḷī (graceful) is changed to latakataḍī and followed by the word āhirḍī (cowherd woman), adding a sense of movement that can be effectively manipulated in performance. Harikrishna Pathak notes a number of such modifications in the Narasinha corpus.35 Such attention to the aural quality of the lyrics makes the songs in this corpus especially attractive to singers. Narasinha's Lyrics in Performance

The rāga-based tunes and structures of rhythm provide the map for evocation of devotional sentiment in musical performances in saint-poet traditions. But the evocation rests to a great degree on the quality and context of bhajan—the singing of a devotional lyric. Bhajan is often translated as “devotional song.” But the expert bhajan singers (bhajaniks) with whom I communicated often stressed that bhajan is a process rather than merely a song or event that is bound by time.36 Rajyaguru, whom I have cited earlier, articulated this view succinctly when he indicated that bhajan is the process of turning a pad into bhakti-rasa that touches the heart in a transformative manner.37 Rajyaguru's view resonates with S. Brent (p.138) Plate's stress on artistic activity (rather than art) with the “inventive” and transformative quality as discussed in the introduction. The commonly used Gujarati verb for bhajan singing, bhajan karavũ (to do bhajan, or, to engage in bhajan), also confirms its understanding as a process rather than as a song or an event. But what does this mean? Who is qualified to engage in this process? How does bhakti-rasa become manifested in a bhajan performance? What are the implications of it for a community of sharing? A story alternatively associated with two saints highlights the traditional understanding of the qualifications of a singer. In the story, a musician draws the attention of the saint to the fact that his or her singing was off-key (besūrā). The saint replies, “As long as it is not without emotion (bhāva), it will be heard by God.”38 The response implies that any person with devotion in his or her heart is a qualified singer. Musical skills, of course, render the performance more appealing, but they are of secondary importance to bhakti. With regard to the context of bhajan, the bhajaniks I interviewed indicated that it can be performed by an individual as religious practice. The community context, however, is often more powerful. But here, too, they suggested, the participants' hearts have to be in tune. When the participants in a bhajan gathering are attuned to the singing

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Singing as Bhakti of bhajanik or sing together in tune, the shared experience of bhakti as rasa creates a strong bond among them.39 The remarks of the bhajaniks paraphrase in simple language the understanding of the aesthetic experience in the rasa theories, where it is viewed as a dynamic encounter between a work of art and the sensitivity of an appreciator (rasika). If either is inadequate, the quality of the experience suffers. In bhajan singing, this interactive dimension has a distinct immediacy. More often than not, the audience joins the bhajanik(s) in singing as the song advances. With the boundary between the performers and the audience blurred, what one enjoys is one's own participation in performance and connection with others. In the end, a bhajan of this type is a communal singing event in which the message of lyric, the meter, the tune, the tāla, and the involvement of the participants combine to lead to evocation of both devotional sentiment and aesthetic delight for a participant. When the session is effective, their experience is at once individual and communal, or rather it is an experience of an individual in a deeply connected way with a musical and ethical community. A review of a few performances of Narasinha songs in different genres gives a glimpse into this dynamic process. Garbī

A very popular Narasinha song, which expresses a gopī 's emotions upon hearing Krishna's flute—Ā ruḍī ne rangīlī re vhālā tārī vānsaḷī re (Melodious and beautiful, it is your flute Kahān!)—is often sung in the garbī style. Its traditional tune is based loosely on rāga Vrindāvani Sārang.40 A rāga of springtime, its expression (p.139) is associated with “a young woman, passionate, pleasing, loving, and tender.”41 When percussion is provided, the song follows the everpopular tāla Kaharvā. But even without percussion, the clear stress pattern of the lines makes it easy for singers to use clapping for rhythm. The two contexts in which I have observed its performance are devotional singing by women in Krishna temples and in homes, and traditional dance performances during the goddess festival Navarātri. I have vivid memories of this song's being sung in the Radha-Krishna temple of my native village, Olpad, in south Gujarat, where I often went with my grandmother as a child. The last time I observed it was on an afternoon in early March 2001, when the relatively short spring of Gujarat was in bloom and the scorching heat of summer had still not set in.42 The doors of the inner sanctum had opened, and people had begun to have their darśan (viewing) of the image. I had not gone with an expectation to observe bhajan. But when I saw women slowly moving to the temple courtyard, I stayed on. The women wishing to sing bhajans (mostly middle-aged and from a variety of castes) gathered, facing the image of the deity. They were not expert singers, but they knew the tunes of popular bhajans, and many had good voices. Each Page 10 of 27

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Singing as Bhakti bhajan was led by one woman, and others repeated the lines after her. The women took turns leading songs in an impromptu manner. Without percussion or instrumental accompaniment, they sang their bhajans keeping the beat by clapping, which, in fact, is the primary connotation of tāla in Sanksrit. After a few bhajans had been sung, a woman began to lead the Narasinha song about the flute, and there was a surge of enthusiasm in the women's voices. The singing began in a slow tempo. On the first, most heavily stressed beat of the opening line, the ru of the ruḍi, every participant clapped her hands. On the second stressed beat, the gī of rangīlī, however, each woman clapped one hand with the woman sitting next to her. Even though the women were sitting, and they did not form a circle, the hands linked in clapping made an unmistakable allusion to Krishna's dance with the gopīs—the rās-līlā in Vrindavan—to which he invited the gopīs with the sound of his flute. The image of Krishna in the temple made an imaginative link to Vrindavan easy. The first line was repeated a few times, first by the leader and then by others. Without breaking the rhythm, the women added to each line a distinctive expression of Gujarati folk music, lol, which has no specific semantic content but expresses joy.43 The emotional world of the gopīs was accessible in the lyric through simple language and familiar images of the Indian woman's world—the waterpot on the river bank and the pot holder on the mango tree. The tune was familiar and joyous, and the community of women was an appropriate setting for the expression of the gopīs' emotions. Although many of these women were unlikely to read this poem in print, they were connecting to the content of the song through their own performance. They had begun to gently sway their bodies while still sitting. (p.140) As the song progressed, the tempo began to get faster and the volume increased. At the end of the song, the clapping was done at a rate twice as fast as the increased tempo. The vibrancy of clapping and singing reinforced the image of rās-līlā. The facial expressions of joy and the rhythmic movements of the bodies in the group gave an indication of joy emerging from a bhakti song. Vraj, the region in north India associated with Krishna's childhood is far from Gujarat. Sitting on the plastered floor of the temple courtyard however, the women had performatively recreated its forest, Vrindavan, and a mythical moment when the gopīs danced joyously with Krishna. As the tempo reached its peak and the emotion intensified, the last line, the bhaṇitā or signature line, brought Narasinha into the moment, serving as the traditional reminder that each performance of the song is a reenactment of his singing. In that moment of performance, Krishna, Narasinha, the lyric, the melody, the women's voices, and the clapping rhythm had all come together to stir an aesthetically relishable devotional sentiment in which all participants had become engrossed, temporarily forgetting their personal lives outside of it. It was a moment of the emergence of rasa. When I asked what the women felt as they sang, Niranjana Desai, a middle-aged woman with a good voice, said, “This is such a good bhajan to get into Krishna's world. Narasinha went there. His song gets you there.” Her Page 11 of 27

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Singing as Bhakti comment corresponded to the imaginative participation referenced in both aesthetic and devotional theories of rasa. This flute song is also performed in the context of traditional dancing during Navarātri, the festival of the goddess. While a majority of the songs performed during the festival are about the goddess, some songs of Krishna-līlā are also sung in the open-air dance arena. In this context, rās is thought of as a reenactment of Krishna's rās-līlā. I heard the Narasinha song about the flute in this context during the 2004 Navarātri in the Rabari (cattle herders) neighborhood of Vastrapur village, near Ahmedabad. There were two layers of performance—the music and the dancing. In the music, which was playing on a recorded cassette, each line was repeated by professional singers, with variations in the traditional tune to bring out the emotional content of the song. It was difficult to say whether the dancers were involved in the emotions conveyed in each line of the song, however, because they were completely absorbed in the movements of their bodies. Their response was not self-consciously religious. But in their enjoyment of dancing, they did reenact Krishna's rās-līlā with the gopīs. In his exploration of musical performances of the Rāmcaritmānas, Philip Lutgendorf notes that for performers in Banaras, its singing is both a pleasurable activity and a religious practice. He argues that for them “pleasure” and “intoxication” are not “categories to be excluded from the realm of religious experience.”44 The absorption of the dancers in the movements was certainly a manifestation of pleasure and a type of intoxication. The rasa of the song had been configured in a different way than in the Radha-Krishna temple. It appeared that the dancers were responding to the melody and rhythm rather than to the lyric. But the embodied (p.141) response to the melody associated with Narasinha recreated the rās-līlā-like atmosphere. The pleasure derived from it by performers or observers cannot be considered purely secular; but it cannot appropriately be described as purely religious either. When I asked the young people who were dancing to describe their experience, they did not do so in religious terms. Instead, they referred to it as a pleasurable cultural form. That is, it had to do with rasa. A performance of dance to this song in a US college, discussed in the context of popular culture (chapter 7), indicates that the melody and the rhythm have carried the song to nonreligious contexts, where it circulates as a folk song from Gujarat suitable for dance. Dhoḷ

Found in an early manuscript, Nanda ne āngane nirghosha vaje (Nanda's front yard resounded with five kinds of instruments, discussed in chapter 1), is a lyric about celebrations around Krishna's birth.45 The lyric depicts cowherd women who to congratulate Krishna's foster parents with gifts of milk and curds and sing auspicious dhaval (dhoḷ) songs. The lyric itself thus suggests the appropriate musical genre for its performance. A dhoḷ is an old literary genre in Page 12 of 27

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Singing as Bhakti Gujarati, which has flourished in a variety of performance contexts. Even though today it thrives primarily as a musical genre in Pushtimarg Vaishnavism, as Mallison notes, it has been an important genre of women's auspicious songs.46 The Narasinha song referring to dhaval is often sung in a happy tune conveying affection. The melodic structure reflects the emotions of the residents of Vraj— affection and joy—as they celebrate Krishna's birth. The song is heard in a variety of contexts—bhajan-singing sessions, temple festivities on Krishna Janmaṣṭami (the day of Krishna's birth), and often in celebrations for a newborn baby in a family. In 2005 I heard a performance of the song far away from Gujarat, in USA, at a celebration of Krishna's birthday in the house of an immigrant family.47 The small image of Krishna usually kept in the household shrine had been placed in a small cradle in the family room. A number of offerings had been placed near the cradle. About twenty women and men had gathered for the celebration. As the celebration began, first there was the enthusiastic chanting of Nand ghar ānand bhayo, jai kanaiyālāl kī (There is joy at Nanda's home, hail to Krishna) by both men and women. Then one by one, the participants approached the cradle to rock the Krishna image. Some also made offerings of sweets and fruits in front of it. As this routine continued, one woman began to sing the Narasinha song in a tune in which I had heard it in India in a Janmaṣṭami celebration. Men did not sing, but other women began to repeat the words after the performer. Two women accentuated the stressed beats of the seven beat tāla with hand cymbals. The tempo remained relatively slow for the whole song, but the energy of the group's singing was felt. An old man later said, “There is so much rasa in Narasinha's songs. Right? You can sing them in so many different ways.” (p.142) During the entire performance of the song, which lasted for about five minutes, there were two parallel celebrations taking place. The birthday of the couple's son, away at college, was approaching. He was not around for the celebration, and the family was not planning a big birthday party. As the references to gifts in the song occurred, close friends of the family put their gifts for the son next to the gifts of sweets they brought for Krishna. One woman said later that the coming year for the son will begin with divine blessings. At one level, the song was part of recreating the landscape of mythical Gokul and the moment of Krishna's birth in a festival. At another, it linked the approaching birthday of the couple's son with that mythical moment in parallel gift giving. Unlike the experience of dancing described above, where the blurring of the sacred and the secular occurred spontaneously, there was intentionality in linking the religious to the “secular” in the celebratory mood evoked by the song. The meaning of an aspect of human life was enhanced through its association with Krishna. This performance brought home the centrality of the role of the participants in bringing out the meaning of the lyrics in performance.

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Singing as Bhakti The performers brought out the emotive content of the song at multiple levels through gestures accompanying the singing. Prabhātiyā̃

The morning hymns of Narasinha are considered his distinctive mark. These songs of peaceful mood are associated with his early-morning visit to the Damodar pond. Three types of regionally popular melodies are used for these hymns—rāmagrī, prabhātī, and prabhātiyā̃. Each tune is associated with a different part of the morning and evokes a specific aspect of the contemplative mood.48 The melodies of the first two types are associated with twilight (sandhiprakāṣ), the period of transition between dense darkness and sunrise. Rāmagrī songs, expressing a mix of hope and perplexity, are sung just before dawn. Prabhātī songs, with their mood of deep contentment, are sung at dawn, as the first rays of the sun touch the earth. Associated with early morning, songs of the third type, prabhātiyā̃, are sung soon after sunrise and musically express hope for the new day.49 The tune for these songs is loosely based on rāga Bilāval. They evoke a peaceful mood at the beginning of a new day. Prabhātiyā̃ are heard in a wide variety of contexts. Individuals—a farmer walking to his fields, a woman sitting at a grinding stone or cleaning her house, an old man sitting in his porch—sing them as they begin their day.50 On radio stations, recordings of prabhātiyā̃ are recurrently played in the first program of the day. A culturally significant context in which the appeal of the morning hymns is powerful is that of “morning circulation” (prabhāt-pherī), when groups of people walk through the streets of their village or town singing devotional hymns around six in the morning. The singing in prabhāt-pherī is not loud, as sometimes is the case in processions of other types; it is gentle and soothing, intended to wake people (p.143) up gently. The morning hymns of Narasinha are well loved in this context. But the context in which I found a performance notably powerful was a traditional setting—the end of a night-long bhajan session. All-night bhajan sessions are very popular in rural Gujarat, especially the peninsular Saurashtra region, where I had an opportunity to attend some.51 They were held inside homes or in village squares around platforms built in the shades of trees. The singers used a minimum of instruments and depended mostly on their voices to evoke emotions. Once in a while, they also alluded in a sentence or two to a story about the poet. The sessions began around nine-thirty in the evening with popular hymns to Lord Ganesha and Sarasvati. After the first tea break, from midnight until three-thirty in the morning, songs of nirguṇa devotion were sung. These quietest and darkest hours of the night, when no form is visible, are considered especially appropriate for nirguṇa songs, which praise a formless divine.52 Often through the prolongation of a note or the repetition of a single important phrase, the expert singers led sensitive listeners

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Singing as Bhakti into a type of musical meditation that made the meanings of the nirguṇa songs manifest. After three-thirty, the journey from the formless (nirguṇa) to the world of forms (saguṇa) began. No song of Narasinha would appear until that point. But from the early morning until the bhajan session ended at daybreak, Narasinha songs in rāmagrī, prabhātī, and prabhātiyā̃ tunes were heard repeatedly. Narasinha's position as a figure of the early morning was evident. With expressions of peacefulness, contentment, and hope, the audiences were gradually brought back to their daily world, refreshed by a night of bhajan. A participant once explained to me that Narasinha's songs appear at this time because they celebrate the world of forms. Further, in traditional understanding, they are closely linked to women, whose participation in nightlong bhajan sessions is limited. But when women wake up early in the morning for daily chores, they can begin their day by singing these songs.53 As we shall see in chapter 7, Internet browsers remark on their memory of Narasinha's songs being sung early in the morning by their grandmothers. One such nightlong session I attended was at Anand Ashram in Ghoghavadar, Saurashtra, in June 2001.54 It was not a big group, but the participants were from diverse class, caste, and religious backgrounds. Around six o'clock in the morning, Niranjan Rajyaguru (see figure 4.2), my host and the bhajan singer, began to tune the drone instrument ektāro, while humming the first line of a song in the prabhātiyā̃ genre, Akhil bhrahmā̃d mā̃ ek tũ shri hari, jūjave rūpe anant bhāse (In the entire universe, it is only you, Shri Hari, appearing in endless different forms). The smile on the faces of those present was visible in the soft light of the rising sun. This very popular song, as discussed in chapter 2, glorifies the all-pervasive Supreme in numberless forms and refers to Krishna and Shiva interchangeably as the Supreme. The traditional tune of the song, based loosely on rāga Bilāval, evokes a peaceful mood, moving evenly without very high or very low notes. And the song is (p. 144) often sung in the six-beat tāla Dadra that enhances the swing-like movement of its meter, Jhulaṇā. Its performance at the end of the bhajan session had a particular appeal because, after a long night of intense devotion to the formless divine, the song was now shifting attention. It was suggesting

Figure 4.2 Niranjan Rajyaguru singing prabhātiyā̃ in his yard on a summer morning. that even though formless, the divine also

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Singing as Bhakti permeates all existence and is Photograph: Neelima Shukla-Bhatt. present in all forms. It was a solo performance in the soothing voice of Rajyaguru. Listeners were not repeating the lines, but many sang along softly with a gentle swing of the body. The only instrumental accompaniments were the drone ektāro, a softly played tablā (two-set drum), and the tinkle of a hand cymbal accentuating the stress. As the first stir of morning activity began to be visible in the sunlight, the bhajan session was coming to an end with a song stressing the sanctity of all existence. When the song was over, the participants sat in silence for a few moments and then dispersed. In this performance more than in other performances described above, the listeners' attention was directed to words and sound. There was no other frame of reference as in the dance or ritual. The lyric, glorifying the world of forms and referring to it as a source of rasa for the divine, corresponded with the time of singing when forms became visible after darkness. The melody and singing were soothing. Importantly, the participants humming along were attuned to the performance and were familiar with the narratives associating the song with Narasinha's early morning activities. The silence at the end of the performance provided an instance of the quiet mood (śānta rasa) associated with prabhātiyā̃. (p.145) The time of day that the songs are sung is of crucial significance for this genre. Prabhātiyā̃ heard at any other time do not have the same appeal; moreover, there is a general cultural consensus that they should be sung only in the morning. Vaiṣṇavajana to

I heard the internationally famous Vaiṣṇavajana to (Call only that one a true Vaishnava) on several occasions during my research trip in 2001, in devotional singing sessions and in secular contexts. But the one that resonated with me at more than one level occurred in the months after the massive earthquake in Gujarat on that occurred on January 26, 2001. The earthquake had devastated the Kutch area. Ahmedabad, the city where I was at the time, was also badly affected. After two months, the city had regained normalcy, but many people still were living in shelters. The performance I observed occurred on the morning of April 7 at a prayer meeting of Manav Parivar (lit. “human family,” a term closely linked to the Sanskrit vasudhaiva kutumbkam—“earth family”) in Navrangpura, Ahmedabad. The group is a volunteer organization associated with Shri Baldevdas Charitable Trust (est. 1968) with members from many layers of the society. Their stated mission is “to bring about social reform by improving the quality of life of the underprivileged in our society.” The group expressly rejects sectarian association and (p.146) defines itself as a platform for “religion of selfless service.” It describes its prayer meetings as “a time when early mornings take Page 16 of 27

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Singing as Bhakti on a new meaning, as you lose yourself to the rhythm of the prayers and the chanting.” The group's motto as it appears now on its website—Maanav je peed paraayi jaaṇe (He is a human, who feels the sorrow of others)—is a direct quote from the first line of Vaiṣṇavajana to with the word vaisṇavajana replaced by mānav (human). The group was actively involved in earthquake relief service when I attended the prayer meeting.55 The performance took place in a big hall at the group's center in an uppermiddle-class area. When we arrived, around six-thirty in the morning, the prayer had already started (see figure 4.3). The performers took turns singing into microphones, with accompaniment on harmonium (a key board instrument similar to an accordion), tablā (Indian drums), and cymbals. Others repeated the lines after them. The atmosphere was peaceful. We first heard a few Sanskrit chants, which were followed by Gujarati devotional songs. One of these was the very popular Sarva dharma prarthanā (All-religion prayer) written by a Gandhian leader, Vinoba Bhave, which addresses the Almighty with various terms used in different religions and is widely heard in school assemblies in Gujarat. After two or three songs, a group member made an appeal for charitable donations and service for earthquake victims. Vaiṣṇavajana to was sung after that, in the nowpopular tune in rāga Mishra Khamāj, set by Pundit Narayan Khare and popularized by Gandhi (discussed in detail in chapter 6). People were clapping and repeating the refrain after the performer. The stress on compassion in the refrain and the song's association with Gandhi linked it to the appeal for charity. Madhavi Joshi, who is not an official member of Manav Parivar but has long been familiar with the group and is a regular participant in their prayer meetings, told me that they sing Vaiṣṇavajana to frequently as their representative song to evoke the emotion of compassion. As the volunteers moved around after the performance, people were seen giving them checks or cash. It cannot be said with any certainty that they were responding to the song. But the song was a part of the overall meaning of the event and was linked to the appeal of charity, just as it was in the earthquake-relief fundraising event cited at the beginning of this work. The group drew on the song's message of active love made alive in performance.

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Singing as Bhakti Narasinha in an Urban Underprivileged Community

On Lord Rama's birthday in 2001 (April 2, 2001), I attended an all-night bhajan session in the compounds of the L. D. Engineering College, in Ahmedabad. The gathering consisted of devotees from lower-income groups, many of whom were Dalits and were related to Dattu Bhagat (Kaka), who had invited me. I did not expect to hear a Narasinha song because I had been told that the performers were going to sing new bhajans. Several of them

Figure 4.3 A group singing Vaiṣṇavajana to at Manav Parivar, Navrangpura, Ahmedabad. Photograph: Neelima Shukla-Bhatt.

were poets themselves and would sing their own compositions. I had gone to see Dattu Bhagat sing and to observe the (p.147) effect of the poets' own singing at such an event, which would contain clues for imagining what the medieval gatherings of saint-poets might have looked like. The event was well organized, with a wooden stage for singers plus lights and microphones. The instruments included the single-stringed drone ektāro, cymbals, two types of drums, and a harmonium. Among the singers there were men and women. But generally only the singers on the stage repeated the refrain after the elad singer; the audience did not join in singing. Around midnight, Bhagat sang a few bhajans, which were very well received. He was wore a white attire and an ochre turban for the occasion (see figure 4.4). The third song he sang was one of his own compositions, in which he referred affectionately to exemplary devotees of the past as gānḍā (crazy) because of their indifference to worldly matters for the sake of bhakti. Narasinha was chief among them because he cared neither for money nor for caste status and sang ecstatically in the company of those rejected by his society. The tune, Bhagat's own, was not traditional. In each of the song's lines, Bhagat put stress on the words gānḍo or gānḍī (masculine and feminine forms of the adjective), which had two paradoxical levels of meaning. In the eyes of powerful people in the social settings of the exemplary devotees, the devoteees were crazy. But Bhagat's audience could see that in reality, it was the powerful people who persecuted the devotees that were crazy. Bhagat repeated each line several times, bringing into focus both meanings. In his low-income neighborhood with many Dalit families, Narasinha's “craziness” was well appreciated. With (p.148) its mood of both humor and admiration, this song stimulated a greater degree of involvement from the audience than they had shown for Bhagat's other songs. In this context, Page 18 of 27

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Singing as Bhakti it was not a song by Narasinha but a song referring to his hagiography that connected the performer and the audience to the saint-poet. Bhagat did not narrate any stories; the audience seemed to know the stories in which the saint's singing is depicted as rooted in his ecstatic and inclusive bhakti. This performance brought attention to the involvement of the performer and his audience in different ways. In my conversations with Bhagat, which took place almost daily during my stay in Ahmedabad, he referred to us (himself and me) as “crazy” because we conversed on topics like saints and meanings of devotional songs, which did not interest a large number of people. He associated the word “crazy” with behavior that did not conform to social expectations.

Figure 4.4 Dattu Bhagat, center, holding an ektāro, singing a Narasinha-related song at community bhajan gathering, Ahmedabad. Photograph: Neelima Shukla-Bhatt.

The use of the same word for Narasinha in his song suggested that he identified with the saint-poet in indifference to social norms. In his case, poverty was a fact of life. Even though his family lived in a government apartment and did not starve, his income and status were fairly low compared to the people he served. But he did not lack confidence. He was strikingly indifferent to people's perceptions. And he associated with the saint in this indifference. It was not clear whether his audience knew about his use of the word “crazy” to describe himself, and I did not think it proper to ask anyone if they did. But the audience did appreciate the word's use for Narasinha. The saint's association with the marginalized, indicating his indifference to social norms, had an existential meaning in this neighborhood. Through performance, Bhagat's song had evoked the memory of that indifference and its social correlate, bringing an ethical community together. A Bharatnatyam Medley

In addition to the contexts of devotional singing, a performance that brought the aspect of rasa into sharp focus was a solo performance in a secular context. This was the annual cultural show of the music college of the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda (Vadodara) in March 2001. A professor of dance, Juthika Mahen, performed to a medley of Narasinha's Krishna-līlā and contemplative songs in the Indian classical dance style of Bharatnatyam (see figure 4.5). Stressing the abhinaya (expression) aspect more than footwork and body movements, Mahen conveyed the meanings to a large audience of diverse Page 19 of 27

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Singing as Bhakti linguistic and religious backgrounds with mudrās (gestures) of the classical dance style. The dance was performed to live singing by students of the music department. The audience applauded with clapping several times during the performance (as is common in India). The most appreciated pieces were the song about subjugation of the serpent Kaliya and the morning song Jāgīne joũ to jagat dīse nahī̃ (When I awoke, the world disappeared). Sitting in the audience in the open-air theater, I heard people in the back row commenting in Marathi that the music, the aural appeal of the lyric, and the dance mudrās made the story of Kaliya's subjugation come alive. (p.149) When I asked Juthika Mahen later why she chose to perform on a Narasinha medley, she responded using rasa terms. She indicated that the lyrics, tunes, and rhythms of Narasinha's songs give a dancer tremendous scope to convey emotions that will strike a chord with a diverse audience. The dramatic element in his Krishna-līlā songs, especially the playful banter between him and the Vraj residents, she stressed, allows the dancer to depict scenes that lead the audience to be involved in the presentation irrespective of their religious background.

Figure 4.5 Juthika Mahen performing in the classical Bharatnatyam dance style to Narasinha's song about the Kaliya serpent, Faculty of Performing Arts, The M. S. University of Baroda, Vadodara. Photograph: Neelima Shukla-Bhatt.

Similarly, the motifs of sleep and spiritual awakening conveyed in the soothing tunes of prabhātiyā̃ have a broad aesthetic appeal when a dancer can communicate them effectively in mudrās, movements, and facial expressions. Mahen's goal was not devotional. For her, the art of dance and the rasas it can evoke are sacred. She wanted to present a dance that would appeal to a diverse audience of the university, with students and faculty from various parts of Gujarat, India, and many parts of the world. She found Narasinha's songs appropriate for that purpose.56 The long applause she received at the end of her performance indicated that through the use of these songs, she had been able to evoke rasa in the sense of aesthetic delight for a number of people in this diverse audience. The performance's nonreligious context suggested the songs' potential as resources to which people of various backgrounds can relate.

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Singing as Bhakti (p.150) Mahen's observation about the appeal of Narasinha's songs beyond the traditional bhakti milieu was confirmed in my conversations with individuals who did not belong to the Hindu community. During my time in India, I did not find non-Hindu communities singing Narasinha's songs in their devotional session. But I did meet many individuals who found Narasinha's songs and narratives morally and aesthetically appealing. It is fitting to end this overview of performances with the words of such an individual. When I visited the late Arvind Macwan of Vadodara, a devout Christian, a singer, and a professor of English at the Maharaja Sayajirao University whom I had known for long, he played his two favorite Narasinha songs, Vaiṣṇavajana to and Jyā̃ lagī ātmā tattva cinyo nahī̃ (All spiritual discipline is in vain until the essence of the soul is known) on his guitar and softly hummed the songs along. As a Christian, he did not relate to the songs religiously. But they appealed to him morally, poetically, and musically. He especially found the definition of a religious person as a compassionate being and the stress on self-knowledge in these songs morally inspiring. He was also fond of both melodies. He stressed that when one is moved by such poetry and music, the experience is sacred, whether it is religious or not.57 The ethical and moral messages of the Narasinha songs resonated with him. As we shall see in chapter 7, a Gujarati Catholic priest also finds in Vaiṣṇavajana to a poetic definition of a religious man that closely parallels his own understanding of a good Christian. Such songs, as we shall see, generate conversations among persons of diverse backgrounds.

Performative and Poetic Meanings Performances of Narasinha songs in a variety of contexts throw light on the dynamics of lyrics and musical structures in evoking emotional responses that are often referenced in terms bhakti-rasa or just rasa. As discussed in chapters 1 and 2, the lyrics themselves can be interpreted on more than one level. Popular Krishna-līlā lyrics convey expressions of devotion. But they also use the bhakti framework to stress the power of human love in its many shades and to explicitly point out the meaninglessness of gender and caste discrimination. They depict Vraj as an imaginative landscape for exploring human love. The contemplative songs of mystical awakening stress the principle of love in a different way. Some explore moral aspects of that principle, which have important social implications. They are poems both about Krishna bhakti and about love as the fundamental human value. This allows their use in different contexts to evoke a range of meanings, some purely religious and others relating to human experience. The appeal of the poetic motifs and themes is conveyed in performance through melodies and rhythms that draw from both transregional and regional musical traditions and are associated with specific time periods and moods. The moods (p.151) evoked by the tunes are not purely devotional but represent a range of human emotions. Both the lyrics and the musical structures thus contribute to the appeal of performances at more than one level. Performances of Krishna-līlā Page 21 of 27

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Singing as Bhakti songs in a devotional context, as we have seen in the case of dhoḷ, can be linked to human situations. But beyond a bhakti context, they can be used for communicating human emotions, as in the dance performance of Juthika Mahen. The performances of the morning hymns and contemplative songs, in devotional (by Rajyaguru and Bhagat), semi-devotional (like Manav Parivar), and secular (dance) contexts can be associated simultaneously with spiritual and moral awakening as well as with empathy for the marginalized. Like the qawwālis performed to Sufi lyrics of love, which are interpreted at many levels and enjoyed by people across religious boundaries in South Asia, performances of Narasinha's songs offer multiple entries into their meanings. Even though hagiographic narratives are generally not told during performances of a saint-poet's songs in Gujarat, the image of the poet, which is stored in the cultural memory of a large number of performers and listeners, enhances their appeal. The remarks of the participants about the flute song and dhoḷ indicate that they link the present performance to what they know about Narasinha. At times, as in Bhagat's performance, the singing is about invoking the saint's memory and linking it to the present moment. In the generation of meanings, the participants—both singers and listeners— play a key role. The lyrics and musical structures of songs have the potential to evoke devotional and other moods. But it is only when the singers lend their voices to them and relate them to specific contexts that their meanings and emotional appeal become manifest in new configurations. In the introduction, I discussed Ayyapa Paniker's idea of the reconfiguration of meanings of lyrics in every performance and Novetzke's idea of “corporate authorship,” which refers to three layers of authorship of a song—the poet, the originator of the musical form, and the performer/participant in a specific performance. As we have seen, the singers and the participants do reconstruct a song in ways that not only convey the meanings of the songs but also extend them. The continuous re-authoring of songs, I suggest, also reinforces their “cultural ownership” and gives clues to understanding their enduring popularity. A song that circulates in performances for centuries does not belong to the poet alone (who may or may not be the saint-poet to whom it is attributed). It belongs to people who make it their own by singing and reconfiguring its meanings, some of which may not be devotional. Similar reconfiguration and expansion of meanings is also seen in the retelling of narratives about a saint. A sense of ownership is the key to transmission and enduring popularity of songs and hagiography through time and space. Such a sense is developed because the appeal of their performances is not just devotional (at times it may not be devotional at all); it is also aesthetic, involving poetry, music, and narratives. Aesthetic delight or rasa is at the core of it.

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Singing as Bhakti (p.152) Our examination of lyrics and hagiographic narratives in the Narasinha tradition has shown that they convey an understanding of bhakti in which love for Krishna is interwoven with other currents of Hindu devotion and a message about love as the fundamental principle of spiritual life. These lyrics and narratives focus on many aspects of love, including its moral and social implications. They contain clear expressions of dissent against oppressive and discriminatory ways. In them, bhakti provides a frame in which ethical themes of broader human significance are conveyed. The themes are presented in poetic and narrative forms that draw from transregional conventions and regional cultural milieus. The tunes and rhythms for musical performances also follow this pattern. The process of vernacularization, which marked the second millennium in South Asia, with its democratizing cultural implications, was vitally manifest in these devotional traditions of songs and narratives. The messages and the structures of lyrics, narratives, and melodies make them appealing beyond the specific milieu of Krishna bhakti. They offer sources of devotion and inspiration that are also aesthetically appealing. It is the weaving of broad moral appeal and rasa that draws performers and listeners to them in a variety of contexts and contributes to their enduring popularity and circulation even in modern media of transmission. In the following chapters, we will look at their dissemination in devotional communities and their circulation in modern times with new interpretations—many of which are deeply influenced by Gandhi's engagement with them. Notes:

(1) . For Narasinha Mehta's line, see NKK: 360; for Koya Bhagat's verse, see Moṭũ Bhajan Bhanḍār (n.d.): 50. (2) . Lutgendorf 1991: 2. (3) . For this chapter, in addition to textual sources, I have drawn on my personal experience of singing Narasinha's songs since I was a child, my training Indian music, and my participant observation in bhajan gatherings in urban and rural areas in 2000–2001. Some of them were videotaped if electricity and lighting arrangements cooperated. I have drawn here on Regula Qureshi's ethnomusicalogical study of qawwāli, a Sufi musical form of South Asia, in which she explores the significance of the musical sound of this genre and its cultural function as a conveyor of religious meaning (Qureshi 1995[1986]). (4) . For the Brihadāraṇyaka Upanishad 1.3.23–27, see Hume 1992: 79–80. (5) . The Brihadāraṇyaka and the Chāndogya, the early Upanishads, contain many passages that uphold the spiritual merit of the melodious chanting of the Sāma Veda verses. A clear identification of sound with Brahman however, is found in the Maitri Upanishad 4.22 (see Hume 1992: 79–80, 177–178, 191–199, 437). For a detailed discussion of the relationship between music and spirituality Page 23 of 27

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Singing as Bhakti in Hindu practices, see the articles by S. S. Paranjape, Manohar Harkare, and Tulsiram Devangan, and Vrajarani Varma in Sangeet, Vol. 36, January 1970: 9– 35. Guy Beck's Sonic Theology: Hinduism and Sacred Sound (1995 [1993]) presents an excellent overview of the history of philosophical thought on the “sacred sound” in Hinduism. (6) . Padma Purāṇa, Uttara Khanda (ca. sixteenth century CE) 94.21–25. The Padma Purāṇa verse is quoted by Tulsiram Devangan in Sangeet (January 1970: 22). (7) . Qureshi 1995: 83. (8) . Hawley 1984: 169–172. (9) . Callewaert and Lath 1989: 201. (10) . Hess and Singh 1986: 64. (11) . Interview with Karsandas Meswania, July 2001. (12) . For the narrative about Namdev, see chapter 12 (vol. 1), and for the story about Surdas, see chapter 33 (vol. II) of Bhaktavijaya in Mahipati 1988 [1933]: 1. (13) . Conversation with Niranjan Rajyaguru, June 4 2001. (14) . R. V. Pathak discusses the distinguishing features of a deśī succinctly in his Bruhat Pingal. See Pathak 1992 [1955]: 574–576. (15) . For a discussion of deśīs within rāsos, see Shastri 2005 [1971]: 5–11. (16) . Even though there have been debates about the validity of associating a note with a specific mood, the general idea of music evoking rasa is accepted by music experts. For an overview of the debates, see Martinez 1997: 303–334. (17) . See Shastri 1965: 9. Shastri's compilation, Narasaĩ Mehatānā Pad, is based mainly on three early manuscripts and lists these rāgas. In my examination of manuscripts at the B. J. Institute in Ahmedabad, I also found recurrence of these rāgas. The times of the rāgas and the moods associated with them are presented in an accessible tabular format by “Vir” Ram Avtar in Theory of Indian Rāgas 1980: 9–68. (18) . See Jayadeva in Miller 1997. Miller mentions the rāga assigned to each song in the title line. (19) . Nayak 1983: 60–62. (20) . For the distribution of rāgas in the songs of Nanak, Kabir, Namdev, and Ravidas, see The Ādi Granth, trans. Ernest Trumpp 1997 [1877]: x–xi; Winand Page 24 of 27

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Singing as Bhakti Callewaert with Sharma and Taillieu 2000: 81–108; Callewaert and Lath 1989: 88–90; Callewaert and Friedlander 1992: 44–47. Winand Callewaert's works contain helpful listing of rāga distributions in various manuscripts. (21) . Rajyaguru 2011: 37–46. Rajyaguru points out that the traditional tunes of bhajans do not conform to the number of notes specified for a rāga and are sung in the formats popular in the region. (22) . According to Khodidas Parmar, the folk tunes contribute to the enduring popularity of Narasinha's songs (Parmar 1983: 176). (23) . Daniélou 1997: 191. (24) . Thompson 1995: 417–432. (25) . H. C. Bhayani and Hasu Yagnik have compiled a collection of traditional tunes that have remained popular at least for 125 years. These include the tunes of songs sung by Bhayani's grandmother, who learned them in the late nineteenth century. They are compiled with musical notations in two collections (see Bhayani and Yagnik 1988, 1989). A notable exception is the well-known tune for Vaiṣṇava jana to, which was set in the evening rāga Mishra Khamāj by Narayan Khare, the resident musician at Gandhi's ashram in Ahmedabad. (26) . Conversation with Kanubhai Jani in Ahmedabad, June 14, 2001. (27) . For a brief discussion of tālas, see Lavezzoli 2006: 35–36. (28) . Interview with Asit Desai, August 12, 2011. (29) . For Gujarati prosodic terminology, see Trivedi 1955: 14–17. (30) . For a discussion of syllabic and beat-based meters in Indic languages, see Miller 1997: 11–13. (31) . K. K. Shastri discusses the meters of Narasinha's deśīs in detail (see K. Shastri 2005 [1971]: 118–124). (32) . R. V. Pathak claims that because of both its length and its last syllable, which breaks the pattern of sandhis, it is one of the finest mātrāmeḷa meters (see Pathak 1992: 448). (33) . For a comparison of abhangas and Jhulaṇā meters, see Shastri 2005 [1971]: 93–96. (34) . For a discussion of popular tālas in devotional singing and the variety of ways in which they are played, see the list given by Vedamani Thakur, Sangeet, Bhakti-sangeet issue (January 1970: 191–196).

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Singing as Bhakti (35) . Pathak 1983: 82–83. (36) . Conversations with Karsandas Meswania of Junagadh (July 2001), Becharkaka at Keshod (June 2001), and Dattu Bhagat in Ahmedabad (December 2000–August 2001). (37) . Personal conversation during my two-week stay at Anand Ashram, Ghoghavadar, Gujarat, India, June 2001, to learn about the nature of bhajan. Niranjan Rajyaguru has written several books and articles on the nature of bhajan and bhajan traditions of Gujarat. Notable among these are Bhajan Mimāṃsā (Gujarati, Bhajan—A tudy, 1990) and Sat nī Sarvāṇī (The stream of truth, 2000). (38) . This story is heard associated with the Marathi saint Tukaram and with Mira. In the Mira story, the musician is none other than Tansen, the legendary court musician of the Mogul emperor Akbar. The story is incorporated in the 1980 film Mira directed by Gulzar. (39) . I have heard this from a number of bhajan singers. Makarand Dave discusses this understanding in depth in “Bhajan Rūpa Darśan” (M. Dave 1996: 25). (40) . Notations of this and a few other traditional tunes are provided by Amubhai Doshi in his essay on the musical aspects of Narasinha's songs (Doshi 1983: 164–168). (41) . Daniélou 1997: 212. (42) . I observed this performance on March 7, 2001. This was not a planned observation; I just happened to visit the temple and was delighted to hear the song. (43) . For the use of the expression lol in Gujarati folk songs, see Parmar 1983: 174. In Ismaili gīnans (devotional songs) in Gujarati, expressions such as lol and he ji are regularly found at the beginning and at the end of lines (personal conversation with Ali Asani, Harvard University). (44) . Lutgendorf 1991: 111. (45) . NKK: 131. See the discussion in chapter 1 of the lyric beginning, “Nanda's front yard resounded with five kinds of instruments.” (46) . Mallison 1989: 87–98. (47) . Celebration on August 28, 2005, in the home of Nautama and Niranjan Sandesara, Freehold, NJ.

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Singing as Bhakti (48) . For a discussion of differences among the three morning tunes, see Rajyaguru 2011: 32–41. The differences in the moods evoked by these tunes were explained to me by Rajyaguru in June 2001. (49) . For a discussion of prabhātiyā̃ with remarks on its musical structure in French, see Mallison 1986: 38–42. (50) . Several persons of Gujarati origin, who posted their responses to a YouTube video of a Narasinha prabhātiyā̃, nostalgically referred to their grandmothers' singing. Their responses can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=EkZEyLs3Qyg (accessed on November 20, 2010). (51) . I had attended bhajan sessions of this type before 2000, but the conversations with several bhajaniks mentioned here helped me understand the various techniques used by singers for the evocation of bhāvas during the sessions I attended between April 2001 and August 2001. (52) . In Gujarati bhajan-singing traditions, there are a number of genres. Like the rāgas of Indian classical music, each genre is assigned an appropriate time of day. Good bhajaniks try to follow them (see Rajyaguru 1990: 35–36). (53) . Conversation with Rajendrasinh Rayjada and Nathabhai Gohil, August 10, 2001. (54) . The event took place on June 3, 2001. (55) . This information given to me in April 2001 by Madhavi Joshi of Ahmedabad, who frequently attends the group's prayer meetings, is now available on their website, http://www.+manavparivar.org/index.htm (accessed on January 11, 2012). (56) . Conversation with Juthika Mahen, March 4 2001. (57) . Conversation with Arvind Macwan, March 2001.

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The Saint of the Threshold, the First of Poets

Narasinha Mehta of Gujarat: A Legacy of Bhakti in Songs and Stories Neelima Shukla-Bhatt

Print publication date: 2014 Print ISBN-13: 9780199976416 Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: November 2014 DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199976416.001.0001

The Saint of the Threshold, the First of Poets The Narasinha Tradition in Gujarat and Beyond Neelima Shukla-Bhatt

DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199976416.003.0006

Abstract and Keywords Chapter five focuses on the reception of Narasinha's songs and hagiography in Gujarat and beyond it, examining their gradual integration into public life and popular culture through mass media. After a discussion of Narasinha's place and influence in the religious (Hindu and non-Hindu) world of Gujarat and Rajasthan, this chapter focuses on the change in his status brought about by the introduction of printing and Western-style education in the British colonial context of the late nineteenth century, when he was recognized as the ādikavi or the first poet of the Gujarati language. It considers how, with this change, the songs and stories in his tradition, which had circulated as popular devotional and inspirational resources, entered the secular world of scholarship, turning a devotional figure into a literary icon. Yet, even this new dimension of his image has remained integrally linked to the moral and aesthetic appeal of his lyrics. Keywords:   first poet, Pushtimarg, Swaminarayan, Ismaili, Mira, colonial rule, Christian hymns, literary history

My heart was at first attached to home. Now it goes house to house, singing. —Narasinha Mehta

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The Saint of the Threshold, the First of Poets In the preceding chapters, we have focused mainly on the content and structures of the songs and stories associated with Narasinha Mehta that have circulated in performance in Gujarat for centuries. We have also considered the saint's wide recognition as a representative devotional poet of Gujarat as evident in transregional hagiographic compositions. Our examination has shown how the interrelated poetic, musical, and narrative structures, drawing on broader Indian and regional traditions, offer sources of bhakti and rasa in performances. What emerges from these forms for performers and listeners is the voice of a saint-poet that conveys their own religious, moral, and social aspirations. The diverse backgrounds of the performers give an indication of Narasinha's popularity among the followers of devotional practices in different strata of Gujarat's Hindu society. Yet in order to examine the circulation of his songs and hagiography in modern popular media, which suggests their potential to be used as shared cultural resources in contemporary times, a consideration of his reception in the larger religious and cultural context of Gujarat and beyond it is necessary. In this chapter, we will consider responses to Narasinha's tradition in bhakti sects of Gujarat, the circulation of his songs and hagiography beyond the region's Hindu milieu, his poetic legacy, and his emergence as a pivotal figure in histories of Gujarati literature written since the late nineteenth century—factors that have contributed to the saint-poet's emergence as an important cultural icon of the region. We will begin with an overview of Narasinha's place in the religious world of Gujarat and his poetic legacy in the region since medieval times. We will then discuss his recognition in the late nineteenth century as the first poet of the (p.156) Gujarati language, a landmark in the saint-poet's tradition as it entered the modern era. Even though the songs and narratives associated with Narasinha have continued to flourish in their traditional contexts, the attention given to the saint-poet in literary histories of the region since the advent of the printing press and modern secular education in India has contributed greatly to their interpretations and circulation in modern times and demands attention. This forms a current within the tradition of the saint-poet that is closely linked to regional identity since the colonial period. Our examination here will offer us helpful background for the examination of Gandhi's engagement with Narasinha's songs and hagiography as well as their circulation in modern media with new layers of interpretations.

Narasinha Mehta and the Sectarian bhakti Milieu of Gujarat Narasinha Mehta has remained a figure of the threshold in some important bhakti sects of Gujarat. His songs do not form an integral part of the liturgies of sectarian temples, and his sacred biography does not form a part of their core hagiographic literature. Narasinha remains an outsider in the context of distinctive practices of these sects. Yet his songs and biography figure frequently in informal performances by followers of these sects, and his position as a saintpoet of Krishna bhakti in Gujarat is given recognition in different ways. Page 2 of 24

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The Saint of the Threshold, the First of Poets Narasinha stands on the threshold of these sectarian traditions but does not quite enter the center of their worlds. The two prominent Vaishnava sects in Gujarat are the Pushtimarg, founded by Vallabhacharya (ca. 1478–1531), and the Swaminarayan sect, founded by Sahajanand Swami (1781–1830). The sect in relation to which Narasinha's position often finds reference in scholarly works is the Pushtimarg (the path of grace [lit. nourishment]), an extremely successful sect of Krishna bhakti in Gujarat since the sixteenth century. This sect is dedicated exclusively to Krishna and stresses the principle of divine grace. It originated in north India (Vraj area) but found immense response in Gujarat during the time of Vallabhacharya's son Vitthalnathji (1516–1586) and has flourished especially among the mercantile communities of the region since the date.1 In the devotional practices of the sect, which are centered on the idea of service (sevā) to Krishna, devotional singing (kīrtan) has great significance. The sect has a well developed and refined musical tradition with specific songs and melodies associated with various services in the temples. The performers of musical services at the temples are extensively trained.2 The lay followers of the sect also take a keen interest in learning the intricacies of their music, often called Havelī Sangīt (music of the Haveli, “divine residence,” which in the sect's terminology signifies a temple).3 The establishment and spread of Pushtimarg as the most successful sect of Krishna bhakti in Gujarat (p.157) has run parallel with the development of the tradition of Narasinha (who is also believed to have been a great musician) as a popular current of Krishna bhakti since the sixteenth century. Narasinha's position vis-à-vis this sect therefore, often draws attention. Narasinha has been a liminal figure in the Pushtimarg sect. The sect's two major hagiographic compilations composed in the seventeenth century Chaurāsi Vaiṣṇavan kī Vārtā and Do Sau Bāvan Vaiṣṇavan kī Vārtā contain narratives about disciples of Vallabhacarya and Vitthalnath respectively. Since Narasinha predates both in the traditional view, he does not appear as a direct disciple of either of them. But in Do Sau Bāvan Vaiṣṇavan kī Vārtā he appears in the narrative about Gopaldas, a prominent disciple of Vitthnathji. According to the narrative, Gopaldas did not have the ability of speak until he was blessed by his teacher in their first meeting. Narasinha appears in the explanation for the disability. The narrative tells us that Gopaldas was Narasinha Mehta in his previous birth. Since he troubled Krishna with pleas for help several times and the deity had to rush to help him, he was punished in his birth as Gopaldas. With Vitthaldas's grace he was released from the punishment. On receiving the gift of speech, Gopaldas's first utterance was praise of his guru and Vallabhacarya.4 Narasinha also appears in a seventeenth-century text written by Vallabhacharya's great-grandson Kalyanraiji, who lived in north India. This text mentions the saint as a well-known bhakta of high caliber, even though his bhakti was not perfect.5 In the oral traditions of the Pushtimarg communities of Gujarat, Narasinha has been known as the vadhaiyo (herald) of Vallabhacharya, Page 3 of 24

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The Saint of the Threshold, the First of Poets almost like John the Baptist, who appeared before a greater teacher to pave the way for him.6 In these traditions, the saint-poet, is also said to have incarnated later as the greatest Gujarati poet of Pushtimarg, Dayaram.7 Thus, in Pushtimarg Narasinha is recognized as a bhakta (devotee) of limited merit whose bhakti was perfected only in a later incarnation when he accepted this path of grace. It is important to note that even with the representation of Narasinha as a limited devotee, the definition of an ethical Vaishnava as laid out in Vaiṣṇavajana to is widely accepted by Pushtimarg followers.8 Like Narasinha's hagiography, his songs of Krishna-līlā are also not recognized formally in the sect. As Mallison points out, even Gujarati devotional lyrics or prose texts written by the followers of the sect have not had the halo that the sacred texts written in Sanskrit and Braj by teachers and the officially recognized eight poets (called aṣṭachāp) have in this tradition.9 Narasinha's songs are not included in the liturgical cycles of Pushtimarg temples, with the exception of one song sung in the temple of Surat discussed below. Yet, they are often included in anthologies of Gujarati Pushtimarg dhoḷs (devotional songs) sung outside of temple liturgies by lay people. Often, sectarian leaders also sponsor events in which Narasinha's songs are sung, giving recognition to their popular appeal.10 The notable exception of the song sung in the liturgy of the Surat temple is linked to an incident related to the recognition of Narasinha's popularity by a leader of the sect. This (p.158) incident, which was related to me by the well-known musician of the Purshtimarg in Gujarat, Vitthaldas Bapodara, occurred at the beginning of the twentieth century, during a celebration of the renovation of the Pushtimarg center in Surat. A celebration of this magnitude called for the singing of an auspicious song, or dhoḷ, but no one present knew any appropriate song from the sect's formal repertoire. A ninetyyear-old woman remembered Narasinha's song Padhāryā hari kumkum ne pagle (The dear one arrived with footprints of vermilion color) and sang it to fulfill the tradition. The song has since been incorporated in the liturgy of the temple.11 In other liturgical contexts, Narasinha does not have a place. Narasinha has remained an outsider to the Pushtimarg for several reasons. Theologically, the kind of synthesis of the worship of Shiva and Krishna that is found in the Narasinha tradition goes against the Pushtimarg principle of exclusive dependence on Krishna.12 Further, the kind of mutual dependence in divine-human relationship emphasized in Narasinha's songs and hagiography is not compatible with the Pushtimarg. The saint-poet's demand for help from Krishna on several occasions differs radically from the understanding of bhakti in the Pushtimarg with its marked emphasis on sevā. The saint also does not fit in the lineage of bhakti associated with the sect since his sacred biography has no direct link to its teachers. Yet the sect does not ignore his popularity in the regional bhakti milieu.

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The Saint of the Threshold, the First of Poets As in the Pushtimarg, in the Swaminarayan sect, which was established by Sahajanand Swami in Gujarat in the early nineteenth century, Narasinha does not occupy a central place. The celebration of the erotic in Narasinha's songs differs greatly from Sahajanand Swami's teachings about spiritual discipline.13 His songs on the nature of bhakti and moral contemplation, however, are found scattered in the anthologies of kīrtans published by Swaminarayan centers.14 In the Vachanamritam (The nectar of sayings), a collection of Sahajanand Swami's religious discourses, there are records of the teacher recommending Narasinha's songs to his followers for deepening their bhakti.15 Contemporary monks of the sect include Narasinha's biography in their teachings and refer to Sahajanand Swami's recommendation to sing the bhajans of this exemplary devotee.16 Narasinha's position as a respected figure in this sect further reinforces his stature as an iconic devotee and popular saint-poet in the region, though his recognition as such is not formal in its two main Vaishnava sects. For a small Vaishnava group in Junagadh, Narasinha is not only an exemplary devotee, but a guru figure similar to Shiva in the saint's own sacred biography. This group was established by Radheshyamji (1898–1991), who, like Narasinha, came from the Nagar Brahmin community. According to Radheshyamji's biography, in 1933 he had a conversion experience in which he received a divine command to accept Narasinha as the guru. He proceeded to move to Junagadh and adopted the lifestyle he associated with Narasinha.17 Like Narasinha, whose bhakti fellowship remained within Junagadh, Radheshyamji also gathered followers within the city. He praised Narasinha as the true knower of rasa (rasajna) and composed (p.159) devotional songs with the saint-poet's name in the signature line. A compilation of his teachings by his disciples, Param Bhāgavat Mehtā Narasinha nũ Sācũ Darśan (The true philosophy of great Vaishnava Narasinha Mehta), suggests that he was seen by them as representing the spirit of the saint-poet. Interaction with him is also described by a follower as relishing of rasa (rasāsvād).18 While stressing rasa, Radheshyamji did not associate Narasinha's bhakti with the emulation of the gopī 's consciousness. He interpreted Narasinha's songs and biography as exemplifying the teachings of the Bhagavad Gītā and saw in them a message for integrating devotion and social responsibility. He rejected the miracles in Narasinha's biography as legends. He also critiqued sectarian Krishna devotion as inferior to absorption into the Ultimate as found in Narasinha's bhakti and stressed the significance of worshipping Shiva to become a true Vaishnava.19 His message to his disciples at the time of his death explained how to interpret Narasinha's songs: Do not simply sing these bhajans. But follow their message and bhakti. Those who come to this place should not accept a guru who gives kanṭhi [the basil-bead necklace used in sectarian initiations such as that of Pushtimarg] but has to consider Narasinha Mehta as the sadguru [true Page 5 of 24

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The Saint of the Threshold, the First of Poets guru] and have faith in him. He or she should see all living beings as Krishna's creation and be especially kind to the poor and the suffering. He or she should see the divine in animals, birds, and trees. Narasinha Mehta's path of devotion with love at its core (premabhakti) is above sectarian boundaries and selfish narrowness.20 While stressing kindness to the needy, Radheshyamji did not subscribe to the popular belief about Narasinha's disregard for caste hierarchies. In fact, he stressed Narasinha's identity as a Nagar Brahmin and associated with it his inclination for spiritual knowledge. He further rejected the belief that Narasinha was persecuted by Nagar Brahmins for singing bhajans in the company of lowcaste people and instead suggested that the community did not prohibit association with low-caste people in the context of bhakti.21 Even though in glorification of Narasinha's Brahmin identity Radheshyamji's interpretation of the saint-poet's legacy sharply contrasts with Gandhi's interpretation as discussed in the next chapter, it overlaps with the latter's in rejection of the element of the miraculous and stress on the idea of social service. In associating Narasinha's bhakti with service and rasa, it further parallels Gandhi's and that of the Manav Parivar group discussed in the last chapter. This interpretation aligns with the modern interpretations of Hinduism in the colonial period, adding a new layer of meaning to the tradition of Narasinha Mehta. Thus, varied interpretations of Narasinha's tradition prevail in the Vaishnava milieu of Gujarat. While none of the sects ignore his iconic image as a devotee in the region, they interpret his bhakti in ways that allow them to promote their sectarian beliefs. (p.160) Beyond the Vaishnava milieu of Gujarat, a large number of Narasinha songs are found in the anthology of devotional songs of the Ramkabir sect, which has flourished among the agrarian communities in south Gujarat since the seventeenth century and now flourishes in some cities in the United States. This community, generally known as Bhaktas (lit.” devotees”), follows saint-poet Kabir as the true guru and does not engage in Brahminical rituals. But they have not forsaken faith in Ram and Krishna; in fact, they worship Kabir as being identical with Ram and Krishna. Their core religious practice is communal singing of devotional songs.22 A large anthology of their bhajans, Nādabrahma (The divine as sound), containing more than nine hundred songs, has gone through several editions since 1958. The preface to the first edition indicates that the anthology is based on old manuscripts, notebooks, and oral traditions collected by community members for many years and was prepared with consultation from the noted scholar Vishnuprasad Trivedi for the dispersion of bhakti-rasa. In this collection, organized in the traditional style with classification by rāgas, many bhakti saints of north India including Tulsidas, Surdas, and Mira, have a place along with Kabir. But the number of songs attributed to Narasinha is second only to those of Kabir. Several of these stress Page 6 of 24

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The Saint of the Threshold, the First of Poets the meaninglessness of caste distinctions. In the morning hymn (prabhātiyā̃) section, almost all the songs belong to Narasinha.23 Minaxi and Indubhai Patel [Bhakta], who now reside in California and lead an active Ramkabir bhajan community, indicated that the anthology corresponds to the actual bhajan performance sessions. The small selection from Nādabrahma compiled by Minaxi for community gatherings (especially those for women) is also titled Nādabrahma. Out of 117 lyrics contained in it, 34 are attributed to Narasinha. Although the cover of the anthology features Kabir at the top right, Mira and Narasinha also appear, respectively, at the top left and at the bottom right.24 As in Vaishnava sects, in the Ramkabir sects, too, Narasinha is not the central figure. But the appeal of his songs in performance is evident in the anthologies put together for singing communities, which have the clearly stated mission of evoking bhakti-rasa.25 The term rasa in relation to bhakti occurs recurrently in sectarian anthologies, as in the responses of the performers examined earlier. Narasinha's appearance in these anthologies indicates his emblematic association with rasa in the region's bhakti culture. Narasinha is a linking figure among diverse groups for that reason. People from rival sects following completely different singing practices in their liturgies find a common platform in Narasinha's songs.

Narasinha beyond Hindu Gujarat Outside of Gujarat's bhakti world, Narasinha's popularity is observed in many parts of Rajasthan. Jethalal Trivedi's critical edition of Narasinha's lyrics, based on premodern manuscripts found in the Jodhpur, Pali, and Bikaner archives, (p. 161) contains more than 150 songs.26 The songs are found in modified linguistic forms, reflecting performative translations occurring with the circulation of popular songs that I have discussed elsewhere.27 But a large number of them are the same songs—both about Krishna līlā and moral contemplation—as those widely circulating in Gujarat.28 Only the melodic frames (rāgas) indicated for the songs differ. A song generally performed in the Prabhātī tune in Gujarat, Nārāyaṇ nũ nāma ja letā̃ vāre tene tajīe re (Sever relations with those who dissuade you from taking God's name.), for example, is given rāga Bhairu in the Rajasthani version.29 Even though old Gujarati and the language of southern Rajasthan were closely related in premodern times, the circulation of Narasinha's songs many hundred miles away from his city of Junagadh suggests that his message of devotion marked by love (premabhakti) and his lyrics had a broad appeal. Performances of Narasinha's songs and narratives in Rajasthan have endured in modern times, even though the linguistic closeness between Gujarati and Rajasthani that existed in the medieval period had faded by the seventeenth century. When the cultural historian Manjulal Majmudar was traveling in Marwar, Rajasthan, in 1928, he heard a number of morning hymns attributed to Narasinha in linguistically modified forms. He also found several of them in Page 7 of 24

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The Saint of the Threshold, the First of Poets bhajan notebooks at Ramananda temples.30 Growing up in northern Gujarat close to the border of Rajasthan, I had heard Narasinha's morning hymns in homes of my Rajasthani friends and remember being amused by the linguistic variations. But the saint-poet's popularity in Rajasthan was brought home to me in 2001, when I heard a song related to the episode of Māhero being played loudly from a roadside stall as our bus to Nathdwara (a pilgrimage site of the Pushtimarg sect in Rajasthan) passed a town. That same year, a Rajasthani friend gave me a poetic biography of Narasinha by Himmatlal Trivedi, published in 1991 in Banswara, Rajasthan. The title of this Hindi work, Varṇasamatā ke Pakṣadhar evam Mānavīya Guṇõ ke Prerak, Narasinha Mehta (Supporter of caste equality and inspirer of human qualities, Narasinha Mehta), is self explanatory. The poem, divided into thirteen parts, contains all the important narratives about Narasinha and incorporates some of his songs in their Rajasthani versions. The poet elaborates especially on Narasinha's egalitarian ways and portrays the saint as affirming the equality of all castes in response to accusations from the Nagar Brahmins. The narration of the garland episode highlights Narasinha's close bonds with women. The text highlights the rasa that Narasinha experienced upon watching Krishna's dance as the source of the saint's inclusive bhakti and compassion. In the preface, the poet explains that it was his mother's suggestion that he write about a saint's poetic biography. Since he had heard traditional narratives about Narasinha Mehta as well as his songs sung by women in his community, he decided to write on this Gujarati saint. In the foreword, the Rajasthani educationist N. C. Yagnik praises the poet for bringing alive the moral teachings of the noble protagonist Narasinha Mehta by engaging the (p.162) reader with the evocation of proper rasas.31 The poem is not well known. But its publication as a way of fulfilling a parental obligation, its links to the songs sung in a Rajasthani community, its stress on Narasinha's rasa-based inclusive bhakti and teachings of compassion, and its praise in terms of rasa give an indication of the saint-poet's living memory in the region as an exemplar of devotion. Narasinha's presence in Rajasthan's performative devotional genres is also confirmed by Antoinette Denapoli's recent research on female sādhus (holy persons) in the region. A performance by an elderly female sādhu recorded by Denapoli is particularly telling about the appeal and image of Narasinha in Rajasthan. On January 16, 2006, this sādhu, Ganga Giri, communicated her teaching about having firm faith in God by using a song attributed to Narasinha. In the process, she also told a story about Narasinha. Here, as in the Rajasthani film we will discuss in chapter 7, Narasinha is not penniless from the beginning. Rather, his poverty results from the generosity he extends to everyone, without discrimination for caste, class, or gender. Narasinha is imprisoned by the king, who sees the saint's glorification of God as a threat to his authority. The story of Narasinha's having mortgaged his favorite rāga, Kedār, is also interwoven in the tale.32 The image of the saint is slightly modified here, interpreting his poverty Page 8 of 24

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The Saint of the Threshold, the First of Poets as a result of his extraordinary generosity rather than a sign of his indifference to wealth. Whereas in Gujarat, with emphasis on financial success in the region's culture, this story redefines wealth; in Rajasthan, the story redefines what is an important value there, namely heroism here defined as generosity. Yet the story retains the themes of disregard for caste distinctions, challenge to power structures, and musical acumen that were associated with Narasinha in Gujarat.33 Narasinha's incorporation in performative genres and related textual sources in Rajasthan not only indicates the reach of his appeal beyond Gujarat, but it also forms a part of the cultural ties between the people of the two regions. His songs and narratives appear as a part of Gujarat's contribution to those ties, just as Mira's songs form a part of Rajasthan's.34 The two saints form devotional, poetic, and performative channels that have contributed to intercultural communication between these two regions of north India. Narasinha (along with Mira, Kabir, and some other poets) also appears in an anthology that has an interreligious aspect. A collection of eight booklets of Ismaili devotional songs (gināns) written in the Khojki script and published in the late nineteenth century begins with a section titled Nandmāḷ (songs of joy) found in the first five booklets. Based on hymns sung in Ismaili households, and the collection contains popular genres such as morning hymns by a number of bhakti and Ismaili poets. The first song in the entire series of booklets is Narasinha's morning hymn that depicts the encounter between the child Krishna and the serpent Kaliya's wives, discussed in the first chapter—Jaḷ kamaḷ chānḍī jā (Drop the water lilies). As we shall see in the chapter 7, this song still remains popular across religious lines in Gujarat. The second booklet also starts with a Narasinha (p.163) song.35 Aziz Esmail associates the heterogeneity of this collection with the robust interculturalism that marked the religious ethos of the subcontinent in premodern times, where poetic borrowing was not uncommon.36 In this heterogeneous environment of devotional songs, for a Muslim community of inherently intercultural spirit, Narasinha's popular morning hymn had the pivotal place. A recent conversation with a devout Ismaili woman from Saurashtra, Roshan Jivani, who now lives in Madagascar, suggested that Narasinha is still an inspirational figure for many in her community. When Narasinha was mentioned, she recalled her years in India, where she shared Narasinha narratives with her Ismaili and Hindu friends. On my request, Jivani wrote down Narasinha's sacred biography as she remembered it and sent it to me via e-mail.37 Her account, which began with the customary Ismaili greeting Yā Ali madad (May Imam Ali help us), stressed Narasinha's absorption in singing Krishna's glory, his ethical qualities of honesty and compassion, and his disregard for social hierarchies in spite of severe persecution. Even though she follows a different faith, she found Narasinha inspiring because of his exemplary devotion and close bonds with Page 9 of 24

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The Saint of the Threshold, the First of Poets people from all strata of the society. A similar attachment to Narasinha's figure was expressed by many non-Hindus with whom I had occasion to talk in Gujarat. For them Narasinha was not a figure associated with a specific religious path but a figure representing a broadly shared ideal of sainthood, sculpted through centuries of performance in diverse communities.

Narasinha's Poetic Heritage With the reach of Narasinha's songs and sacred biography through several layers of society in Gujarat and more broadly in western India, the poetic style associated with him enjoys a paradigmatic status and has influenced both religious and secular poetry in Gujarati. As discussed earlier, the issue of authorship remains unresolved with regard to the Narasinha corpus, making it impossible to speak of a singular poet's style. Further, the explicit eroticism of a large number of lyrics found in manuscripts has not met with popular approval and has been censured by critics, complicating the issue of legacy.38 Yet some thematic and stylistic aspects, which mark popular lyrics attributed him are viewed as the legacy of the saint-poet and form an important part of Gujarat's poetic heritage. These include an interpretation of bhakti with a stress on love and sharing, dramatic presentation of emotions in simple colloquial words, effective use of meters such as Jhulṇā, and skillful alliteration that enhances the appeal of lyrics in musical performance.39 The most profound influence of Narasinha is found in the area of religious poetry, predominantly in bhakti poetry, but also in some hymns of other religious groups. Echoes of Narasinha's phrases and lines can be heard in the Krishna-līlā songs of Gujarati poets since his time. His most famous successor was Dayaram (p.164) (1777–1852), a follower of Vallabhacharya's Pushtimarg sect.40 Dayaram's poetic heritage came from both his sect's Hindi poets, such as Surdas, and popular Gujarati lyrics of Krishna bhakti. He follows the Braj poets in his dedication to Vallabhacharya. But in some distinctively Gujarati expressions and in some interpretations of bhakti, his poems closely parallel Narasinha's lyrics. A good example is provided by a song in the form of a message to Kubja, a maid and an ardent devotee of Krishna in Mathura after he left Vraj. In a number of Krishna-līlā songs in Gujarat and north India, gopīs are jealous of Kubja. But Dayaram closely follows a Narasinha song in having the gopīs ask Kubja to take good care of Krishna. The gopīs' message in these songs reflects the spirit of sharing rather than jealousy. Here are the opening lines from the lyrics of the two poets: Odhav, Tell Kubja: “You've got a diamond in Hari! My advice to you is to take good care of him!” (Narasinha) O honey-bee, tell Kubja, “Pamper the beloved. We will be indebted to you if you take care of the gem.” (Dayaram)41

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The Saint of the Threshold, the First of Poets Even in contemporary poetry using Krishna themes, parallels to Narasinha's songs are found. In the following lines from a poem by Suresh Dalal (1932– 2012), a parallel to a Narasinha song can be clearly seen. Tonight the flute played in Vrindavan. I heard and lost my heart, dear friend, and woke up from deep sleep. (Narasinha) You kept playing the flute the whole night, and kept waking me up in my dreams.(Suresh Dalal)42

Umashankar Joshi suggests that it is impossible to imagine how Gujarati Krishna-līlā poetry would have developed without Narasinha's foundational corpus.43 Parallels to Narasinha's morning hymns in the Jhulṇā meter and the prabhātiyā̃ tune are more wide ranging. In several morning hymns by the Swaminarayan saint Muktanand (1758–1830), echoes of Narasinha's lyrics can be heard. The opening lines of one (in Jhulṇā meter) closely parallel Narasinha's song rejecting all external markers of religiousness, both starting with the words jyā̃ lagī (until). All spiritual discipline is in vain until the essence of the soul is known. (Narasinha) Consciousness cannot be awakened until the heart is entangled in worldly things. (Muktanand)44

(p.165) Striking parallels to the aural appeal of Narasinha's prabhātiyā̃ are found in Protestant Gujarati hymns in Jhulṇā meter found in a collection titled Bhajan Sangrah, first published in 1936 (expanded from a 1909 collection).45 Although Jhulṇā is a popular meter for devotional songs in Gujarati, the skillful use of alliteration in many of these hymns brings to mind Narasinha's morning hymns.46 Two lines from a song about Christ's love (in transliteration below) give an indication of their aural appeal. Dev nā kāyadā te bahu pāḷatā, kām kīdhā̃ badhā̃ shuddha rīte. Mānavī kāraṇe jīvane arpiyo, pāpīne tārvā pūrṇa prīte. (He followed the laws of the Lord, and performed all deeds with purity. He gave his life for mankind—offering sinners salvation with perfect love.)47 Here, the use of words containing da, ka, and dha in the first line, and ṇa and pa in the second line gives these lines an internal rhythm. This closely parallels Narasinha songs. The phrase pūrṇa prīte is also found recurrently in Narasinha's lyrics. These striking parallels do not establish any historical connection. But Page 11 of 24

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The Saint of the Threshold, the First of Poets they do provide pointers to the influence of a popular poetic style, which has long been associated with Narasinha. In 2001 I was told by Yoseph Macwan, who contributed to the section on Psalms in a Gujarati translation of the Bible, that he translated the first psalm, about the blessed person, following the lyric Vaiṣṇavajana to.48 In a long interview in 2001, Rajendra Shukla, whose work has been mentioned several times earlier, recited a number of his mystical poems for me. While discussing how his poems parallel Narasinha's songs in terms of themes, phrases, and style, he confirmed the view expressed by the literary critic Jagadish Shah that for a Gujarati poet writing in the mystical vein (regardless of religion), Narasinha's songs heard in various contexts provide a hidden source of inspiration.49 Lines from a ghazal by Shukla, in which he alludes to Narasinha's walks to the foothills of Girnar at dawn, his morning hymns, his singing of rāga Kedār, and his place in people's hearts as their own bhakti voice, acknowledge the poet's legacy and contribute to the continued shaping of his image in a genre popular in performance: Call me any way you like, you will surely find me. You will find me in any layer of time. If you walk to the base [of Girnar hills] early one morning, you will find me in the tune of prabhātī. If you still keep longing for me, sing Kedār. I will instantly come and meet you in your heart.50

(p.166) The “First Poet” of the Gujarati Language While centuries of circulation of Narasinha's songs and hagiography through performance have contributed greatly to the gradual shaping of his image as a saintly figure in western India, important aspects of his image in contemporary Gujarat derive from scholarly works since the latter half of the nineteenth century. These works have added new dimensions to the saint-poet's image that are associated with regional linguistic identity. They have contributed to his integration into the broader cultural milieu of Gujarat in modern times in important ways. First, they have established Narasinha as a central figure in Gujarati literary history, indeed as the “first poet” (ādikavi) of the Gujarati language, and drawn attention to the literary quality of his lyrics. Second, many scholars have offered interpretations of his songs and hagiography that have resonances beyond purely devotional contexts. The image of the saint-poet that emerges from the scholarly works remains that of an ecstatic singer of devotional songs; but, it is also of a literary artist who gave a definite turn to Gujarati poetry by switching from a predominantly narrative mode of earlier times to poems of a subjective mode using the framework of bhakti. This new phase in the Narasinha tradition began when the influence of the British presence began to be felt in the region's intellectual and cultural life. Two main vehicles of the British influence were the printing press and WesternPage 12 of 24

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The Saint of the Threshold, the First of Poets style secular education, which first reached Bombay (now Mumbai), the capital of the bilingual Bombay Presidency, and gradually reached Gujarat.51 The establishment of printing presses was a landmark event in the broader context of India because it introduced a radically new technology that, for the first time, made textual materials easily available to a large number of people. But the British colonial context in which it occurred rendered its implications even more far-reaching. The printing presses proliferated at a time when Indians who had received Western-style education under the British began to look at everything familiar in a radically new way. This new perspective was informed by an admiration for Western social ideologies as well as intellectual and literary achievements. It led to a zeal for reform in social and religious spheres and to the development of new modes of expression emulating European models in literature and research in various fields. At the same time, it was marked by a growing pride in national and regional cultures, which generated fervor to preserve them and to develop them adequately for modern times. As Partha Chatterjee points out, language was one of those areas of culture in which the transforming effect of nationalistic pride was acutely felt, as regional communities strove to develop their languages for modern times.52 This process, occurring at the end of the second millennium, can be seen as the high point of the vernacularization that began in its early centuries. An important aspect of the cultural project during the British colonial period also had a historicizing aspect. With regard to language, it involved the establishment of a literary history of the language through the retrieval and classification (p.167) of premodern literature. The songs and hagiographic compositions from premodern vernacular saint-poet traditions became a major focus in this endeavor.53 It is in this context that the Narasinha tradition began to be seen in a new light from the mid-nineteenth century. Early support for the retrieval of Gujarati literature came from an East India Company official, Alexander K. Forbes (1821–1865). Forbes not only established the first literary society of the Gujarati language—the Gujarat Vernacular Society—in 1848 in Ahmedabad but also greatly supported the collection and publication of premodern literary works in Gujarati. In collaboration with his friend Dalpatram Kavi (considered the first modern Gujarati poet by many), Forbes encouraged the retrieval of premodern literature.54 In his Rās Mālā (1856), in which he documents the history and folklore of Gujarat, Forbes notes that Narasinha was “the poet of Joonagurh,” whose “compositions are still among the most popular in the language of his native country.”55 Nine years after Forbes referred to Narasinha as a poet rather than as a devotee, an early reference to him as the ādikavi is found in Narmadashankar Dave's Gujarati work Kavicarit (“Lives of poets,” 1865), considered to be one of the first regional literary histories in India containing biographical information about poets.56 In this work, Dave (1833–1886), better known as Narmad, writes, Page 13 of 24

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The Saint of the Threshold, the First of Poets “Like Valmiki in Sanskrit, Chaucer in English, Narasinha Mehta is called the first poet (ādikavi) in Gujarati.”57 Narmad does not clarify the date from which Narasinha had enjoyed this title. However, by likening him to Valmiki and Chaucer, Narmad clearly recognizes him as the pivotal figure in the history of Gujarati poetry.58 Another important remark by Narmad with regard to Narasinha as a poet is about the profusion of rasa in the saint-poet's lyrics. Even though Narmad does not give Narasinha recognition as the greatest poet of the Gujarati language, he stresses that in the saint's poetry, rasa is “spontaneous, light, pure and stable—like the fragrance of a basil plant.”59 Narmad's remarks, which offer an early estimation of Narasinha as a poet, have since been echoed in much scholarly writing about the saint. Since Narmad's time, the epithet ādikavi has been consistently used for Narasinha, and his lyrics have been praised in Gujarati scholarship for their ability to evoke rasa. In later writings of the nineteenth century, as scholars attempted to interpret literature in terms of its social impact, secular ideals also came to be associated with Narasinha's songs. To many late nineteenth-century scholars, who held European secular literature as the ideal, the devotional nature of much of premodern literature appears to have been somewhat disconcerting. In his Classical Poets of Gujarat and Their Influence on Society and Morals, Govardhanram Tripathi, a major novelist and intellectual of the time, apologizes for not being able to draw “a glowing picture as may be drawn by one dealing with poets of any of the great languages of the world.”60 Yet Tripathi discusses medieval Gujarati poets as representing a socially liberal current within the indigenous culture.61 This current, (p.168) Tripathi suggests, had the potential to provide a resource for building a healthy society, even though it had not reached fruition in the past. Indeed, in Narasinha's songs of devotion, Tripathi sees not only a “nucleus of all subsequent literature on the subject” but also themes of secular love treated through the metaphors of Krishna and the gopis, which allowed their singers to experience those emotions freely without social constraints. Tripathi also specifically stresses Narasinha's association with the marginalized of the society—in particular, women and Dalits.62 The trend of drawing attention to the secular aspects of Narasinha's devotional songs, especially in the area of romantic love, continued even in the twentieth century. For K. M. Munshi (1887–1971), a major literary figure in Gujarati in the early twentieth century, the important aspects of Narasinha's poetry were a clear shift from narrative to subjective mode as well as his “voluptuous imagination,” which expressed itself in the forms sanctioned by the literary conventions of his time.63 Thus, during the colonial period, Narasinha came to represent not just a devotional but also a secular poetic voice of pivotal significance in the literary history of Gujarat. The social implications of Narasinha's songs, especially for women, still remain an important aspect of his poetry in the view of many scholars. During an interview in 2001, Chimanlal Trivedi, a leading scholar of Gujarati, suggested that in premodern times, Page 14 of 24

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The Saint of the Threshold, the First of Poets Narasinha's lyrics on gopīs provided a channel for women to express their emotions of love, of boredom with household chores, and of longing to be in the company of friends, free of responsibility. Trivedi stressed that the secular implications of Narasinha's bhakti songs in the poet's own times should not be overlooked.64 Along with interpreting Narasinha's poetry with a focus on secular implications, the scholars and writers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century were also eager to apply the standards of historical scrutiny in examining his tradition. As discussed in the introduction, a rigorous debate of a historical nature ensued about Narasinha's dates in the early twentieth century, beginning in 1905 and lasting for decades. Scholars also engaged in extensive discussions about the authenticity of songs attributed to Narasinha and took great pains to explain or deconstruct the miraculous elements in his sacred biography.65 While these intense debates demystified the elements of miracles from his sacred biography, they also helped establish him firmly as both a historical personality and a central figure in Gujarati literary history. Scholarly writings did not alter Narasinha's popularity among the masses as a devotee whose songs had the power to move Krishna. But for the educated, they created a more concrete image of the saint as a historical being. In addition to scholarly works on Narasinha's tradition, anthologies of his lyrics also appeared during this period of extensive research on the saint-poet.66 These compilations differed radically from the handwritten manuscripts by making a wide dispersion of the lyrics possible. A reader did not have to sing them as devotional songs; he or she could read them as poetry. The landmark 1913 compilation (p.169) by Iccharam Suryaram Desai (1853–1913) contained more than a thousand lyrics collected from all corners of Gujarat. In introducing these lyrics, Desai is not apologetic about Gujarati poetry like Tripathi. He refers to his own endeavor as “the business of cleaning dust” off gemlike poems that might disappear from the public view in the modern age. Desai does not claim authenticity for all lyrics in the compilation, but he refers to attachment performers felt for them because of the sweet rasa they offer.67 While Desai's collection is not a standard critical edition of Narasinha poems like Jesalpura's (NKK) is, it remains a landmark in the tradition of the saint because it throws light on the magnitude of the corpus of lyrics that had gathered around this figure by the end of the nineteenth century. The late nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century scholarship on Gujarat's literary history thus turned a new page in Narasinha Mehta's tradition. By focusing on the literary dimension of his lyrics, deconstructing the element of the miraculous in order to stress the moral dimensions of the saint's hagiography, conducting historical research on the saint's tradition, and compiling his lyrics in anthologies, the scholars of this period established Narasinha as a crucially important literary figure of the region. Along with the Page 15 of 24

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The Saint of the Threshold, the First of Poets legendary devotee-singer of the tradition, Narasinha was now viewed also as “the first poet” of the Gujarati language and as a morally inspiring historical figure. To a large extent, this was a matter of regional identity construction. But in the special attention that was paid to Narasinha's association with women and Dalits there was also an effort to retrieve from Gujarat's cultural heritage a voice of dissent to oppressive power structures, which could provide a resource for building a better society. Such a sense emerges clearly from a creative work published in the early 1930s. In 1933 Kanaiyalal Munshi published Narasaĩyo Bhakta Harino (Narasinha, Hari's devotee), which he presented as a portrayal of Narasinha as it emerged from his reading of the saint-poet's lyrics. Munshi describes this work as an effort to present dramatic, historical, and psychological aspects of Narasinha's life that would make the saint come “alive.”68 Mushi portrays a young man passing through various phases of inner cultivation through bhakti. Munshi's Narasinha begins his spiritual journey with the emotion of passionate love, which gradually develops into compassionate love for all and culminates in an experience (or at least a perception) of mystical union. The author devotes an entire chapter to Narasinha's association with the Dalits and his indifference to the criticism of Nagars, interpreting this phase in his life as the maturing of his bhakti. The last sentence of the work suggests the prescriptive nature of the portrayal: “For his whole life he [Narasinha] saw a true dream; until his death he lived a true dream; and in his death, he taught the art of making true dreams real [alive].”69 In scholarship on Narasinha since independence, the trends of historical research, the compilation of critical editions of Narasinha's lyrics, and the efforts at literary interpretation have continued. Following the creation of the new linguistic state of Gujarat, which was carved out of a Bombay State that had both (p.170) Gujarati- and Marathi-speaking populations, the title of ādikavi has an added significance. A large number of scholarly works on Narasinha have appeared in the Gujarati language in the latter half of the twentieth century. This scholarship has thrown light on links between the Narasinha tradition and diverse religious currents prevalent in the region, including the Jain tradition. The musical and mystical dimensions of the tradition have also been extensively explored. But the aspects of Narasinha's life and poetry that have received special attention in a number of works remain: his association with the marginalized groups of the society, the stress on love in his lyrics, and the poet's ability to evoke rasa.70 An important creative work of the late twentieth century, Param Vaishnav Narsinh Mehta (1983), a novel by Pannalal Patel, one of the foremost novelists of Gujarat and the 1985 winner of the prestigious Jnanpith Award for literature in India, also focuses on love for the divine and for the community in Narasinha's bhakti. Presented as a biography with details about the development of Page 16 of 24

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The Saint of the Threshold, the First of Poets Narasinha's personality, the novel (on which the television serial discussed in chapter 7 draws) provides a dramatic portrayal of the tension between Narasinha's egalitarian ways and the power structures of his society. The author expresses hope that the work will inspire its readers and give them strength to fight in “the terrifying battles of life.”71 Even more recently, in 2007, the internationally respected literary history scholar and creative writer Sitanshu Yashaschandra (whose essay has been referenced earlier) wrote a musical play on Narasinha. The play Jagine Jou to (When I awoke) takes its title from Narasinha's popular lyric discussed in chapter 2. It was commissioned by the well-known actor-director Utkarsh Mazumdar for the annual festival of the Prithvi Theater, one of the most prestigious theaters in India, which presents plays from diverse national and international groups. The theme of the festival was musicals, and Mazumdar was asked to produce a Gujarati play for it. In recent communications, Mazumdar indicated that he saw this as an opportunity to produce a play he had long wished to direct, and that he worked closely with Yashaschandra in writing the script for this one-character show. The play is presented as the aspiration of an actor to keep Narasinha alive in his own life and in the cultural life of Gujarat, from where his message of human dignity and voluntary poverty is heard only faintly now. Narasinha is portrayed in the play as an ordinary man who grows in his poetic and ethical vision through bhakti. Interwoven with Narasinha's songs, Yashaschandra added his own lyrics written in the Jhulṇā meter, which is used extensively in the saint-poet's songs, to convey how the gentler current of Gujarat's culture is inspired by and integrally linked to Narasinha's memory.72 Written only five years after the tragic riots, when the very name of Gujarat had come to be associated widely with the hatred and violence that had occurred there, this well-received play aimed to retrieve from its history the notes of soothing songs full of rasa. It was meant both as an articulation of the regional identity and as a reminder to the region's populace of their heritage. (See figure 5.1 for a poster of the play.)

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The Saint of the Threshold, the First of Poets (p.171) This brief survey of the writings and scholarship on Narasinha since the late nineteenth century suggests that they have definitively added to the cultural significance of the saint and his image as a moral exemplar. The nature of their contribution differs from that of traditional performances and texts, but it has played an important and complementary role in shaping the image of the saint-poet as an inspirational figure in modern times. This process, like the circulation of his songs and narratives since the medieval period, is a part of the larger processes taking place in many parts of South Asia, through which the voices and sacred biographies of regional saintpoets have become integrally linked to articulation of regional identities. Narasinha's figure has provided for Gujarati

Figure 5.1 Poster of the play Jagine Jou to, actor-director Utkarsh Mazumdar, author Sitanshu Yashaschandra. Courtesy: Utkarsh Mazumdar.

speakers a vital (p.172) channel through which their devotional, moral, social, and literary aspirations could be articulated. A Gujarati for whom Narasinha became a vital source of moral inspiration in personal and public life, and who, in turn, became an inspirational figure for innumerable people around the world was M. K. Gandhi. It is to Gandhi's journey with Narasinha that we turn next. Notes:

(1) . For the establishment of Pushtimarg in Gujarat, see Majmudar 1965: 213– 218. (2) . For the musical heritage of the Pushtimarg at their main shrine in Nathdwara (Rajasthan), see Gaston 1997.

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The Saint of the Threshold, the First of Poets (3) . Vitthaldas Bapodara, an eminent musician of Havelī Sangīt in Gujarat runs his famous center of Pushtimarg music, Ashtachap Sangit Vidyalaya, in Ahmedabad. I visited his center several times in 2001 and found that a large number of the students were lay women and men who wanted to learn proper ways to sing kīrtans. (4) . For the narrative of Gopaldas, see Do sau Bāvan Vaiṣṇavan kī Vārtā (The stories of two hundred and fifty-two Vaishnavas) edited by Dwarkadas-ji Parikh, 1992: 146–155. I am grateful to Shandip Saha for this reference. (5) . For Kalyanraiji's mention of Narasinha, see K. K. Shastri 2005 [1971]: 65. (6) . Dave 1980: 15. Dave is critical of giving this title to Narasinha and stresses that his tradition has not benefited from it, even though the sect has gained from association with a popular figure. (7) . Bhogilal Sandesara discusses two alternate figures seen as Narasinha's incarnation—Gopaldas and Dayaram (Sandesara 1966: 254); Francoise Mallison also mentions Gopaldas (Mallison 2000: 294). (8) . Mallison 2000: 294. (9) . Mallison 1996: 25. (10) . See, for example, Plus Communications, Puṣti Mārgiya Dhoḷ-Pad Sangraha (Collection of Pushtimarg dhoḷs), Part 2, n.d.: 167–168, 187–188, 196–198. Asit Desai, a noted Gujarati singer who has several records of both Pushtimarg and Narasinha devotional songs to his credit, indicated in a personal interview on August 12, 2011, that he sings many songs by the saint-poet in events presided over by Indirabeti ji, a leader of the sect in Gujarat. (11) . Communication with Vitthaldas Bapodara, March 2001. For the song, see NKK: 241. (12) . For the exclusive dependence on Krishna in Pushtimarg, see Barz 1976: 87. (13) . For Sahajanand Swami's views on erotic imagery, see Williams 2001: 148. (14) . See, for example, Kīrtan Muktāvali, which was published by Swaminarayan Aksharpith (1991: 285–287, 370, 434). (15) . Vachanamritam translated by H. T. Dave 1989: 513, 515. (16) . An interesting example of such a hagiographic narration in English is found in an essay in an e-journal posted on the website of the Bochasan Akshar

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The Saint of the Threshold, the First of Poets Purushottam Sanstha branch of the sect by the swami Sadhu Mukundcharandas, at http://www.baps.org/Article/2011/+Narsinh-Mehta-2116.aspx. (17) . In 1993 Radheshyamji's followers published Param Bhāgavat Mehtā Narasinha nũ Sācũ Darśan (Jamnagar: Radheshyam Satsang Mandal). This small book contains his biography as well as his teachings as compiled by the followers. For Radheshyamji's biography, see pp. 1–6. (18) . Ibid., 11. (19) . Ibid., 55–58. (20) . Ibid., 10, 118. The translation of the text is mine. I visited Radheshyamji's center in 2006. At that time, the group was small but active and stressed that their main practice was singing Narasinha songs together and following his spirit in social service. I was not able to communicate in depth with any member because they were busy with preparations for an event. But the treasurer gave me the books and indicated that all their beliefs and practices are described in them. (21) . Ibid., 6, 20. (22) . For the Ramkabir faith and practice, see K. B. Bhatt as cited by Bhakta 2002: 21. (23) . Nādabrahma, published by Shree Ramkabir Bhakta Samaj, Alhambra, CA, 2001. The anthology, first published by Ramkabir Mandir, Surat (1958), has gone through three editions in India (1958, 1984, 2001). For the preface to first edition, see Nādabrahma 2001: 13–16. (24) . Conversation with Minaxi and Indubhai Bhakta, June 27, 2011. The selection by Minaxi was printed in Annaheim, CA, and distributed in November 2011. (25) . Nādabrahma 1982: 13. (26) . These are included under the title Narsī jī ke Pad (Narasinha's lyrics) in Narsī jī ro Māhero, discussed in chapter 3 (J. Trivedi 1972). (27) . For a discussion of such translations as “performative translations,” see Shukla-Bhatt: 2007. (28) . See Trivedi 1972: 126, 127, 128, 130, 150. (29) . NKK: 367; Trivedi 1972: 128. (30) . Majmudar 1937: 273–278.

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The Saint of the Threshold, the First of Poets (31) . H. Trivedi: 1991. Narasinha's emphatic statements about equality are found throughout the poem. For Yagnik's remarks in foreword, see pp. 4–6. (32) . I am very grateful to Antoinette Denapoli for sharing this information with me (e-mail correspondence, December 14, 2011). (33) . Narasinha's popularity in premodern Maharashtra is noted by scholars. In the Maharashtra State Gazetteer, M. D. Paradkar notes that during the time of Saint Tukaram, Narasinha Mehta's songs were popular in Maharashtra (Paradkar 1971.:268, Novetzke notes the association made between Saint Namdev and Narasinha in Maharashtra (Novetzke 2008: 165, 182, 236). But I was not able to find a living tradition of Narasinha's songs among the Marathi speakers I interviewed in Mumbai, Vadodara, and Thane. (34) . For the influence of Mira in Gujarat, see Shukla-Bhatt: 2007. (35) . For the index of songs in the booklets, see Asani 1992: 177–179. (36) . Esmail 2002: 32. (37) . Conversation with Roshan Jivani, January 6, 2012; E-mail communication January 10, 2012. (38) . A large number of erotic lyrics included in NKK are never heard in performance. For a discussion of the limitations of Narasinha's poetry, see U. Joshi 2006 [1976]: 190. (39) . Of several excellent studies of Narasinha, a comprehensive discussion of poetic aspects is found in Umashanker Joshi's essay in Gujarātī Sāhitya no Itihās. See Soni 2006 [1976]: 104–197. (40) . For Dayaram, see Dwyer 2001. (41) . For Narasinha's lyric, see NKK: 255. Odhav (Uddhav) is the name of the messenger who had been sent by Krishna and takes the gopīs' message back. Dayaram's lyric is from Dayaram Rasasudhā, as quoted by Jagadish Shah (Shah 1983: 236; translation is mine). Dayaram, following Surdas, addresses Uddhav as “honey-bee.” (42) . Gopīgīt, Dalal 1998: 111. The translation is mine. (43) . U. Joshi 2006 [1976]: 191. (44) . For Narasinha's poem, see NKK: 386; for Muktanand's poem, see Kīrtan Muktāvalī: 59. (45) . Bhajan Sangrah, published by the Gujarat Draft and Book Society, Ahmedabad, 1996 [1936]. Page 21 of 24

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The Saint of the Threshold, the First of Poets (46) . Ibid., 17, 18, 22, 30, 60. (47) . Ibid., 60. (48) . Conversation with Yoseph Macwan, March 2001. See Sampūrṇa Bible (Complete Bible) published by Gujarat Sahitya Prakash, Anand, 1998: 1306. (49) . Shah 1983: 243–244. (50) . R. Shukla vol. 5 2005: 92. The translation is mine. (51) . Deepak Mehta has explored the early influence of the printing press and Western education on Gujarati literature. For a discussion of the early phase of modern Gujarati literary history, see Mehta 1992: 120–124. (52) . P. Chatterjee 1993: 6–7. (53) . The translation of the Marathi Bhaktavijaya, for example, was such an endeavor. For a brief review of late nineteenth-century and early twentiethcentury Gujarati intellectual history, see Isaka 2002. (54) . Nanalal Kavi, the son of Forbes's dear friend Dalpatram and a poet himself, gives an interesting portrayal of Forbes's initial belief that Gujarati, as just a dialect, lacked a literary heritage and the British officer's change of heart after listening to his father reciting Gujarati poems. Once his interest was aroused, Forbes left no stone unturned in the collection and publication of premodern Gujarati works (Shukla 2005 [1976]: 25). (55) . Forbes 1856: 219. (56) . Yashaschandra 2003: 583; Mehta 1992: 127. (57) . N. Dave 1996 [1865]: 169. (58) . Narmad refers to the classification of Gujarati poets by his contemporary Dalpatram. Although their preferences in poetry differ, the reference gives an indication that the history of Gujarati poetry was a part of contemporary intellectual discourse (N. Dave 1996 [1865]: 162). (59) . Ibid., 175. (60) . Tripathi 1958 [1894]: 1. (61) . Sudhir Chandra discusses this aspect of Tripathi's writing in some detail in an essay in a volume on competing nationalisms. Chandra sees in Tripathi's work a growing sense of Hindu nationalism (Chandra 2002: 29–36). Yet, in discussing the early bhakti poets, Tripathi's stress is on their secular implications more than anything else. Page 22 of 24

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The Saint of the Threshold, the First of Poets (62) . Tripathi 1958 [1894]: 17–22. (63) . Munshi 1967 [1935]: 191. (64) . Conversation with Chimanlal Trivedi, January 20, 2001. Even though a bhakti framework and the metaphor of the gopī are no longer used by young women as the channel to articulate an aspiration for freedom from household chores, occasional remarks from older women do make such a connection with Narasinha's songs, as was seen in the conversation discussed in chapter 3. (65) . In his introduction to Narasinha Mehta krut Kāvyasangraha, Iccharam Desai gives an account of the combination of rational and theosophical explanations scholars gave for the miraculous help Narasinha had received. He also details the debate about the authorship of a series of poems known as Hārmālā (I. Desai 1913: 47–75). (66) . Among these, Prācin Kāvya vol. 1 (1885), edited by Hargovinddas Kantawala, Brihad Kāvya Dohan (1915 [1890]), edited by Iccharam Desai, and Narasinh Mehta Krut Kāvyasangraha (1913), also edited by Desai, are important. Deepak Mehta indicated in an e-mail correspondence that the first publication of Narasinha's Prabhātiyā̃ is dated 1852, but I have not been able to locate it. (67) . I. Desai 1913: 7–16. (68) . Munshi 1933: Back matter. (69) . Ibid., 114. The translation is mine. (70) . The historical approach has remained vibrant, with extensive work by scholars like K. K. Shastri (1971), H. C. Bhayani (1986), Jayant Kothari (1999), Narottam Palan (1985) and Darshana Dholakia (1992). A major critical edition by Shivlal Jesalpura (1981) and a smaller compilation by Ratilal Dave (1983) have contributed much to manuscript research. Another approach that has led to substantial scholarship on Narasinha is that of literary and philosophical interpretation. In this area, the notable work of Umashankar Joshi (2005 [1976]), Ishvarlal Dave (1973, 1980), Makarand Dave (2000) have drawn attention to the subtleties of Narasinha's mystical thought and the aesthetic structures in his poetry. Two volumes of essays on a number of aspects of Narasinha's life and work were published as part of the fifth centenary celebration from Junagadh and Mumbai. Two notable poets in Gujarat have also translated popular Narasinha lyrics into English (Bhagat 1998, Ketkar 2001). (71) . Patel 2009 [1983]: 6. (72) . Communications with Mazumdar: e-mails June 13–14, and August 13, 2013; telephone conversation August 13, 2013.

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The Saint of the Threshold, the First of Poets

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A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma

Narasinha Mehta of Gujarat: A Legacy of Bhakti in Songs and Stories Neelima Shukla-Bhatt

Print publication date: 2014 Print ISBN-13: 9780199976416 Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: November 2014 DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199976416.001.0001

A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma Narasinha Mehta and Gandhi Neelima Shukla-Bhatt

DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199976416.003.0007

Abstract and Keywords The sixth chapter examines Narasinha's songs and hagiography as a vital source of moral inspiration for Gandhi and their constructive use by him in public life. Looking closely at Gandhi's writings and speeches, the chapter discusses how he provided a model for engaging with songs and stories from the Narasinha tradition as inspirational cultural resources for social reform. A special consideration is given to the song Vaiṣṇava jana to, which became internationally popular as an inspirational song because of Gandhi, and to the term “Harijan” (people of God), which he adopted from a Narasinha song to refer to the “untouchables” of Hindu society, leading to bitter debates. This chapter illustrates the potential of the songs and sacred biographies of popular saintpoets of India to serve as inspirational cultural resources beyond devotional contexts. Keywords:   Gandhi, satyagraha, social reform, Dalit, harijan, Vaishnava jana, Ambedkar, moral inspiration, public life, ashram

The greatest homage to truth is to use it. —Ralph Waldo Emerson On October 1, 2009, the eve of Gandhi's 140th birthday, the India-based news service Mid-Day and many others uploaded a clip of their news broadcast on the video-sharing website YouTube. The clip contains a recording of US President Barack Obama's conversation with a group of students. Here, a student asks the Page 1 of 42

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A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma president, “If you could have dinner with anyone dead or alive, who would it be?” The president first exclaims that “dead or alive” is a big list. But, he then says thoughtfully, “I think it might be Gandhi, who is a real hero of mine…. He inspired Dr. King. So, if it hadn't been for the nonviolent movement in India, you would not have found the civil rights movement in the United States.”1 President Obama's response referred to a chain of inspiration that links him to his two heroes, one from across the world and the other from home. Perhaps, it was also meant to inspire the students to be a part of that link. The Indian news channels had tapped into the unique appeal of this tribute to Gandhi for those young Indians who regard President Obama as a hero. Although President Obama has evoked Gandhi on several occasions, his response in the school context can be viewed as a moment of what Marshall Ganz, the well-known activist and an expert on grassroots movements, terms “public narrative.”2 Ganz defines “public narrative” as “a leadership practice … for enabling others to achieve purpose” that can be used to link one's own calling to that of one's community. He suggests that through such “narrative we learn how to make choices in response to challenges of an uncertain world—as individuals, as communities and as nations.”3 In responding to the student's question, the president had seized an opportunity to engage in a narrative of this type. If asked the same question as President Obama, Gandhi perhaps would have mentioned Narasinha Mehta. Like President Obama, Gandhi also had a long list of people from human history to whom he pays glowing tributes in his writings— Jesus Christ, the Prophet Muhammad, Leo Tolstoy, John Ruskin, his Jain mentor (p.174) Raichandbhai, the Indian political leaders Gopalkrishna Gokhale and Dadabhai Naoroji, the poet Rabindranath Tagore, and many saint-poets of medieval India such as Tulsidas, Surdas, Mira, Kabir, and Narasinha.4 Among the saint-poets, Tulsidas (sixteenth century), the author of the Hindi epic Rāmcaritmānas, which Gandhi praised as the greatest book in all devotional literature, has the largest number of references in the voluminous Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (CWMG).5 Yet the spontaneity with which references to Narasinha appear in Gandhi's personal letters and public communications suggest his distinct affinity with this saint-poet of his native Gujarat (see figure 6.1).6 The references to Narasinha in Gandhi's writing indicate that the saintpoet's songs formed an (p.175) integral part of Gandhi's inner world and that the saint's sacred biography, with its marked stress on voluntary poverty and empathy for the downtrodden, offered him a model to emulate as well as to invoke in public life. Gandhi also found in these songs and narratives valuable resources to support his social and political ideology. He adopted the term “Harijan” (children of God) from a Narasinha song to refer to the Dalits, the “untouchables” of Hindu society—formerly called achūt (untouchable) or antyaja

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A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma (last born)—and recurrently alluded to the saint in public debates about untouchability in Gujarat. While Gandhi drew considerably from Narasinha's songs and sacred biography, he also contributed to the shaping of the saint's tradition in modern times. The way he related to Narasinha's songs and sacred biography on secular public platforms contributed greatly to their recognition as inspirational resources for constructive relationships and the creation of a just society. His use of Vaiṣṇavajana to (Call only that one a true Vaishnava) in public prayers and events transformed it into a globally performed song of compassion and moral integrity. His references to the saint's tradition in social and political debates drew attention to its ethical relevance beyond religious contexts. His recommendation led to the production of a Hindi film on Narasinha—Narsi Bhagat made by Vijay Bhatt in 1940

Figure 6.1 “The True Vaishnava” painting by Kanu Desai. Source: Mahatma Gandhi by Kanu Desai, 1932. Courtesy: Kartik and Shweta Desai.

(discussed in detail in the next chapter)—that highlighted the saint's association with the Dalits. Even though his use of the term “Harijan” generated debates about self-representation by Dalit groups that raised sharp questions with regard to the political leadership of caste Hindus, in relation to the Narasinha tradition, it reinforced the saintpoet's image as an exemplar of egalitarian social ideology, especially in Gujarat. Gandhi engaged with the Narasinha tradition in Ganz's sense of public narrative. As he did so, his approach both related to and deviated from the two social circles with which he closely identified—the educated Gujarati intellectuals of the early twentieth century and the traditional society of peninsular Gujarat. As an educated Gujarati, Gandhi began to associate pride in the Gujarati language with the figure of Narasinha early in his public career. Speaking at a meeting of Gujaratis in support of the third literary conference of the language Page 3 of 42

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A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma (Gujarati Sahitya Parishad) in October 1909 in London he said, “As the basis of my pride as an Indian, I must have pride in myself as a Gujarati…. Gujarati is not a language of little worth. No limits can be placed to the growth of a language that has been served by poets like Narasinh Mehta….”7 Thus, he shared with Gujarati intellectuals admiration for Narasinha as a representative poet of his language. Yet, as he later explained in his presidential address at the Gujarati Sahitya Parishad annual conference in October 1936, his literary ideals, focusing on the social relevance of literature, were different from theirs. Critiquing the concurrent literary scene in Gujarati, he suggested that literary works should be accessible to people in all strata of the society, including illiterate villagers, and should be usable as a tool for spreading literacy.8 In his view, Narasinha's songs, along with those of other Gujarati poets of devotional lyrics, fit this ideal. (p.176) Gandhi most closely identified with the villagers of India and was deeply attached to the traditional milieu of Gujarat. Margaret Chatterjee suggests that Gandhi's moral journey was guided to a great degree by a rootedness in “the world of the common man, that of poor villagers he knew so well and whose way of life he shared.”9 Narasinha found a special place in Gandhi's writings and public life because the tradition of this saint-poet as a whole—both songs and hagiography—offered him accessible and popular sources with which to share his moral and social vision with the people among whom he worked. Here too, while sharing an enthusiasm for Narasinha's songs and hagiography with a large number of people in Gujarat, he emphatically advocated moral engagement with them for social reconstruction beyond the traditional context of devotion. Gandhi pushed for new boundaries of meaning in his interpretation of Narasinha as both a literary figure and a saint. Since his interpretations are well documented, his relationship with Narasinha provides a rich site for examining the shaping of a saint-poet tradition in a historical context with new interpretations. The detailed documentation available in CWMG makes it possible to look closely at a process in which a saint-poet tradition acquires new layers of meaning. It also allows us to see how the potential of saint-poet traditions of India to serve as religious and cultural resources can be actualized through the mediation of persons with moral imagination. In this chapter, we will examine how Gandhi related to the Narasinha tradition both as a common person and as an influential leader. Yet his life and works will serve only as sites to explore the potential of the Narasinha's tradition to serve in constructive agenda. The chapter is not about Gandhi as a moral or political leader. We will trace how Gandhi came to appreciate Narasinha's songs and sacred biography for their spiritual inspiration and moral content, how he communicated his interpretations to others at a personal level, and importantly, how he engaged with the songs and hagiography of the saint-poet in public life so as to found his social reconstruction programs on a spiritual basis. Our Page 4 of 42

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A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma examination will show how this engagement in the first half of the twentieth century offered a model for tapping into the potential of Narasinha's songs and narratives as appealing cultural resource for building a just community. Such a model of basing activism on traditional devotional resources, which was also followed by Martin Luther King Jr., is generally suspect in contemporary discourses on social justice because of the rise of often destructive politicized forms of religious movements. Yet, as mentioned earlier, the feminist political scientist Leela Fernandes points out that in an atmosphere of a loss of “transformative understanding of the links between spirituality and social transformation,” the potential of spiritual resources is manipulated by conservative religious and political forces.10 The examination of Gandhi's engagement with Narasinha's songs and hagiography, with its strengths and limitations, will provide a basis for the later consideration of their potential as cultural resources for community building in (p.177) Gujarat today. It is important to note that while our focus here will remain on Gandhi, our examination is concerned with his engagement with a saint-poet tradition. It does not aim to support or deconstruct Gandhi's arguments about any issue in public debates.

Gandhi's Quest—Devotional Aesthetics and Moral Fervor Gandhi's attachment to the Narasinha tradition is best understood in relation to his conception of rasa, the poetic sensibility and devotional aesthetics that formed a current of his moral and religious life. This current has largely remained overshadowed by the stress on truth and on nonviolent action for greater good in Gandhi's writings.11 As a result, it has also remained overlooked in scholarship on Gandhi. Discussions about the sources of his moral inspiration have remained focused on texts that explicitly or subtly convey messages about following the path of action in service to humanity—the Bhagavad Gītā, the Sermon on the Mount from the New Testament, Tolstoy's The Kingdom of God Is Within You, and Ruskin's Unto This Last.12 Yet, some recurring patterns and themes in his writings point to another current of his inner journey, the source of which lay in the appeal of poetry, songs, and narratives. Even though it is not widely discussed, this current has been noted by some Gandhi scholars who have engaged extensively with his writings. In an essay on Gandhi's contribution to Gujarati literature, C. N. Patel draws attention to the qualities of his prose (including a self-deprecating humor) that reveal his poetic sensibility (kavicetanā). This sensibility, Patel suggests, was the source of Gandhi's ability to enjoy all aspects of life (jīvan-rasa)—political action, mundane activities, and meditative prayers. Even Gandhi's reading of the Bhagavad Gītā, he stresses, is not that of philosopher but that of a man who deeply appreciated poetry.13 Verrier Elwin, the Anglican priest turned anthropologist who had spent time with Gandhi in his early years in India, wrote the introduction to the collection of Kanu Desai's Gandhi drawings and paintings (one of which appears at the beginning of this chapter). Here, Elwin notes that Page 5 of 42

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A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma even though Gandhi did not appreciate artistic freedom fully, any art, especially poetry and music, that stirred the soul, was dear to him.14 Gandhi's remark on reading Ruskin's Unto This Last—that the one “who is able to stir the latent goodness in our hearts is a poet”—corroborates Patel's observation about the inseparability of the moral and the poetic for him.15 Margaret Chatterjee's study of Gandhi's religious thought brings to attention the centrality of imagination and emotions in his moral journey by looking closely at homely metaphors in his writing.16 Patel's and Chatterjee's insights lead to an important lens for understanding Gandhi's inner journey, that of rasa. (p.178) Terms related to beauty and rasa indeed appear recurrently in conjunction with those about religion and truth in Gandhi's writings. In an article written in 1924, Gandhi refers to Jesus Christ and the Prophet Muhammad as “supreme artists” who “strove for truth.”17 In a letter written in 1940, echoing John Keats's famous line, he refers to firm faith as “a thing of beauty and joy forever.”18 A few months before his death, he writes that “anybody who makes a distinction between truth and beauty knows neither.”19 He often describes the beauty associated with the search for truth in terms of rasa. At the Akhil Bharatiya Sahitya Parishad (All India Literary Conference) in 1936, he stated that the rasa emerging from a passionate search for meaning is the sustaining force of life and is, therefore, inseparable from it.20 In the concluding lines of his autobiography, he describes his own striving for truth as strenuous, yet full of rasa: I have enjoyed rasa in conducting my experiments with Truth, and I am enjoying it today. But I know that I still have to tread a difficult path. For it, I have to become śunyavat [egoless]. Until a person willingly puts himself last, there is no liberation for him. Ahimsa [noninjury] is the furthermost limit of humility. And it is proven by experience that liberation can never be attained without that humility. Praying for such humility, and urging for the world's support in it, for now, I bring these chapters to a close.21 These references to beauty and rasa in Gandhi's writings and speeches suggest that in his view, the human quest for meaning, whether directed inward or toward social engagement, derived its force from aesthetic sensitivity. For him, the moral quest was essentially a quest for beauty. (Re) discovering Devotional Roots

Gandhi's autobiography indicates that the foundation of his moral understanding was laid by devotional genres that were a part of his environment as a child.22 He was born in Porbandar, the city traditionally associated with Krishna's childhood friend Sudama. This city and Rajkot, where he spent his formative years, are located on the Saurashtra peninsula, the land of Krishna's legendary capital, Dwaraka, and Narasinha's city of Junagadh. The area is known in Gujarat as the Land of Saints (santbhūmi) because of its rich saint traditions. Page 6 of 42

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A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma Growing up in this region in a devout Vaishnava family, Gandhi regularly heard devotional songs and stories. Bhajans were woven into the daily practices of his mother, Putlibai.23 Gandhi indicates in his autobiography that one of his cherished memories of childhood was listening to the melodious recitation of Tulsidas's Rāmcharitmānas by his father's friend Ladha Maharaj; another was of reading inspirational stories from mythologies and watching plays based on them. His first lesson in (p.179) nonviolence came from a popular Gujarati sixline poem (chappā) he had learned by heart. The stories and devotional lyrics appealed to him in ways that orthodox temple rituals and authoritative texts did not. They shaped the core of his moral being.24 The indelible impression these songs left on his mind may be seen as leading to the inclusion of devotional songs from diverse traditions in prayers at his various communes (ashrams) and his involvement in the compilation of those songs in Ashram Bhajanavali, which was first published in 1922.25 Gandhi's understanding of the effect that the rasa of bhakti songs (bhajans) and narratives had on individuals and groups is evident in two writings from the mid-1920s. In a letter written in 1925, alluding to the well known Upanishadic aphorism linking the divine with rasa, he advises a friend to meditate on the bhajans performed at the ashram as a source of that life-sustaining rasa. In a response to a letter from a teacher asking about the propriety of telling mythological narratives to children, he stresses that the rasa contained in the stories that symbolically convey moral lessons would be useful in teaching children about good conduct.26 He clearly saw the rasa emerging from bhakti songs and stories as having moral epistemic value. Gandhi most likely heard Narasinha songs and stories during his early years in Saurashtra. But they seem to have begun to resonate more deeply with him during another formative phase of his life—his years in South Africa, when he was making his early experiments in nonviolent resistance (Satyagraha) and simple communal living. Specific references to Narasinha begin to appear regularly in his writings from this period on. The timing is significant. It had been many years since Gandhi's student days in London (1888–1891), when he first read the English translation of the Bhagavad Gītā; Edwin Arnold's inspiring biography of the Buddha, Light of Asia; and the New Testament. It had also been a long time since his close friendships with devout Christians and Muslims had led to “religious ferment” in which he had studied their scriptures and reflected upon their teachings. He had read Tolstoy's Kingdom of God Is Within You and Ruskin's Unto This Last. Jesus's sacrifice, the Buddha's purity of character, the Prophet Muhammad's firmness in faith, Tolstoy's message of nonviolence, and Ruskin's views on the dignity of labor had long impressed him. But he had also looked more deeply into his own

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A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma religious and cultural heritage following the counsel of his Gujarati friend and mentor Raychandbhai.27 Raychandbhai, better known as Srimad Rajchandra, was a poet who, in Gandhi's view, was a “rare being” because of his spiritual attainments and knowledge.28 Though an ardent follower of the Jain tradition, he extolled bhakti as the best path for spiritual advancement and recurrently invoked Gujarati saint-poets, especially Narasinha, in his writings.29 Gandhi regularly sought his counsel and read much of his work when he was going through a phase of troubling questions about Hinduism in his early South Africa years (1893–1894). Raychandbhai not (p.180) only advised him to continue his study of the Gītā but also recommended practices in accordance with his “early family influence.”30 He thus steered Gandhi back to his religious roots in saint-poet traditions such as Narasinha's. During Gandhi's later South Africa years, another factor that likely strengthened his devotional and cultural ties with Narasinha was the arrival of his many friends and relatives from Gujarat, who became members of his first multifaith commune, the Phoenix Settlement, established near Durban in 1904 (see figure 6.2). In the hymns sung at this commune, Narasinha's Vaiṣṇavajana to figured prominently.31 After meaningful encounters with diverse religious traditions, Gandhi was reconnecting with a saint of his homeland whose song stressed the moral values he had come to cherish as the basis of religion and in whose sacred biography those values he found amply exemplified. References to Narasinha begin to appear in his Gujarati writings from this time on. The early references to Narasinha in Gandhi's writings in South Africa reflect his growing attachment to the saint as an exemplar of the virtues he admired in the well-known spiritual heroes of human history. In a 1907 article in the Gujarati section of his weekly Indian Opinion, where Gandhi praises participants in the Satyagraha movement for their firm resolve, Narasinha appears along with the Prophet Muhammad as a model of

Figure 6.2 Gandhi's Multifaith Community at the Phoenix Settlement. Source: Gandhi Smarak Satyagraha Samiti.

unshakable faith.32 Letters from the period include elaborate tributes to Narasinha, reflecting a personal bond. In one, Gandhi expresses his ambition to “share honors” in voluntary poverty with Narasinha who “rose to the presence of Shri Krishna, but never desired to be Page 8 of 42

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A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma delivered from his poverty.”33 Even though Ruskin's book had provided the immediate impetus for (p.181) adopting simple living at his commune, it is clear that the experience also stirred in Gandhi the memory of the saintly figure of his homeland, with whose sacred biography he was so familiar.34 In another letter from this period, in which Gandhi expounds to a young friend his conception of God and divine incarnations, the tribute to Narasinha is even more striking. Here, Gandhi starts by saying that God does not exist in any literal sense except in the form of individuals who attain spiritual perfection and realize identity of the self (ātman) with the Ultimate (Brahman). True bhakti therefore consists in striving for self-realization. While Rama, Krishna, the Buddha, and Jesus are discussed as divine incarnations who had fully realized ātman, only Narasinha is mentioned as the model of bhakti. No other devotee or saint-poet is mentioned by Gandhi. The letter goes on to make a reference to compassion as a sign of true devotion and ends with an emphatic statement that every individual must first “gain a mature understanding of one's own religion and then study others.”35 That Gandhi singled out Narasinha as the model devotee in this letter suggests that by the end of his stay in South Africa, he had come to regard the saint as a paradigm of religiousness rooted in compassion. After Gandhi's return to India in 1914, Narasinha's songs and stories acquired further significance in his public work, especially in Gujarat. He cited Narasinha songs and stories in numerous personal letters; alluded to them in explaining the moral basis of his political ideology and constructive programs; and evoked the authority of the saint in debates with the Hindu orthodoxy of Gujarat on the issue of untouchability. He had begun to explore the potential of the Narasinha tradition as a valuable cultural resource for positive social change in Gujarat, and at times, beyond it. In some ways, Gandhi played a role similar to that of the medieval hagiographers and performers by taking the stories and songs from Narasinha's tradition to ever-wider audiences. But there was an important difference. Whereas the medieval hagiographers highlighted Narasinha's relationship with Krishna, Gandhi, with his focus on morality, minimized the centrality of Krishna-līlā in the saint's tradition. The image of Narasinha that emerges from Gandhi's writings is that of a contemplative nirguṇa bhakti saint rather than that of an ecstatic singer of Krishna's glory. Gandhi's references to the saint are thus selective, but they are interesting in the ways in which they engage with the tradition, stressing its moral content for individual growth and social reconstruction. The Saintly Paradigm for Personal Piety and Social Reform

Gandhi's affinity with Narasinha was based to a large degree on his familiarity with the saint's hagiography. As we have seen in chapter 3, the moral appeal of Narasinha songs for their performers is integrally linked to the exemplification Page 9 of 42

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A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma of virtues in his sacred biography. For Gandhi this link was very important. Quoting (p.182) a Narasinha poem, he writes, “This also is a statement of experience. All who read this bhajan can see that the poet did not write this simply to make a good song.”36 Gandhi saw Narasinha's songs as authoritative statements about moral truths because they were rooted in a life worthy of emulation. The aspect of Narasinha's devotion that Gandhi found especially inspiring for individual cultivation was detachment from worldly affairs rooted in a firm faith in God. In several letters of condolence as well as in his discourses on the Bhagavad Gītā, Gandhi refers to Narasinha's legendary detachment at the deaths of his wife and son. He quotes a verse from a hagiographic poem in which the saint is depicted coping with his loss by viewing it as God's will and as a “snapping [of] the bonds.”37 In a letter to his secretary and co-worker Mahadev Desai, who was like a dear family member to him, he advises that he remain detached and “depend on Him” who answered Narasinha's prayers in moments of crisis.38 Characteristically, Gandhi emphasizes the striving of an individual to become detached, shifting the focus away from the dynamics of divine grace and devotion as stressed in traditional contexts. Although this limits the appeal of the saint's figure as a devotee, it distills from the saint's sacred biography a moral quality relevant beyond the Hindu bhakti fold. While Narasinha's biography was a great a source of personal inspiration for Gandhi, it was in the area of social reform that he found it to be an invaluable cultural resource. He saw the saint's association with the “untouchables,” at the price of being excommunicated, as the centerpiece of his sacred biography and strove to emulate it in one of the most important battles of his life—the one against the practice of untouchability in Hindu society. This was an especially difficult battle for Gandhi because much of it was waged against people with whom he shared identity and sometimes close personal bonds—Hindu society broadly, Gujarati Vaishnava Hindus in particular, and at times members of his own family. The fight remained fraught with paradoxes and severe disappointments. But Gandhi continued to speak and write about the evils of this practice until the end. Allusions to Narasinha's hagiography in his Gujarati writings in the context of this struggle form the most vital part of his engagement with it as an inspirational cultural resource. Some of Gandhi's contemporaries, including the most articulate representative of the Dalits, B. R. Ambedkar, were of the view that even though the bhakti poets of medieval India propagated equality in the realm of religion, they did not provide models for the eradication of untouchability, since they had not been able to effect substantial changes to Hindu social organization.39 Gandhi's writings indicate that he did recognize the persistence of the practice of untouchability despite the popularity of saint-poets like Narasinha. But he held that the modern context provided a better opportunity for practical Page 10 of 42

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A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma implementation of their teachings. This view finds a parallel decades later in Eleanor Zelliot's essay on two saints of the Marathi Varkari tradition— Chokhamela (thirteenth to fourteenth (p.183) century) and Eknath (sixteenth century)—where she suggests that even though the bhakti sect does not act as “a force of change” in current times, its literature and figures remain “a reservoir of living ideas.” Chokhamela may become “a theme of inspiration” and Eknath can be an “enabling force” if interpreted with “imagination and skill.”40 Gandhi sought to engage Narasinha's tradition in this manner. As discussed earlier, the narratives about Narasinha's association with the “untouchables” in the context of devotional singing at the cost of being thrown out of his Brahmin community have been in circulation in Gujarat since the late eighteenth century. Narrative songs about this theme have also been popular in the region for a long time. Yet, Narasinha is not known to have led a social reform movement. As seen in the song in the chapter on hagiography, when confronted with sharp questions by his community members, the saint is believed to have ignored them, thinking, “What do I say to the immature?” His was an open but quiet protest, through personal example, against an age-old system. Like other saint-poets of the medieval period, he is remembered as an exemplar of an egalitarian ideology in the context of devotion rather than as a social reformer. Gandhi followed Narasinha's example in associating with Dalits. But his protest was not that of a quiet devotee. He had the zeal of modern Hindu reformers and had known the power of the press and public opinion in South Africa. During the early years after his return to India, through subtle allusions and explicit references in his articles and speeches, he consistently reminded the Hindus of Gujarat that there was a cultural contradiction in regarding Narasinha a great saint-poet of the region and, at the same time, following the practice of untouchability. An allusion to the saint's hagiography is found in the narration of an incident that occurred a few months after Gandhi founded his ashram in Ahmedabad. At the recommendation of a social worker, he admitted a Dalit family into the ashram. This led first to some grumbling and to the possibility that some of his closest associates since the South Africa days, including some of his family members, might leave. When this “internal storm” had subsided after much debate, the financial support to the ashram from the Gujarati business community of Ahmedabad stopped. At the moment when the institution was on the brink of disintegration, help arrived from a wealthy donor who wished to remain anonymous. In narrating this incident in two works—his autobiography and the history of the ashram—Gandhi alludes to Narasinha. In his autobiography, the allusion is subtle. Referring to the unexpected help, Gandhi writes, “This was not the first time I was faced with a trial. [But] Shamalsha has sent me help at the last moment every time.”41 The reference to Shamalsha has Page 11 of 42

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A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma a clear echo of Narasinha's hagiography, where Krishna comes to his rescue disguised as a merchant by that name in every instance of his persecution by the powerful in his community. In Gandhi's history of the ashram, there is an explicit reference to Krishna's help to Narasinha in the promissory note incident.42 Both allusions draw attention to the parallels between the saint's hagiography and the incident at the ashram. In both (p.184) cases, a high-caste man invites the censure of his community by associating with “untouchables.” The financial difficulty he faces as a result is relieved at the critical moment by unexpected help from a wealthy benefactor. The allusions reflect Gandhi's aspiration, expressed years earlier in South Africa, to emulate the saint's life and perhaps also to establish his lineage with the saint. In addition to alluding to Narasinha when recounting his experience in the area of social reform, Gandhi argued publicly that Narasinha should be accepted as a model of social interactions. An important debate during his early years in India was with the journal Gujarati, which critiqued Gandhi's views from an orthodox Hindu perspective. In response to some remarks in this journal on his participation in an antyaja (“untouchable”) conference in 1917, Gandhi refers to Narasinha's devotion as having greater validity for Hindu society than the injunctions of the Manusmriti, the sacred text cited by the orthodoxy: It is no good quoting verses from Manusmriti and other scriptures in defense of this orthodoxy. A number of verses in these scriptures are apocryphal, a number of them are quite meaningless…. A critic has made the prophecy that, in course of time, my views will change. On this I shall only say that, before such a time comes, I shall have forsaken not only Hinduism but all religion…. It is altogether impossible for the feeling of untouchability to survive in a religion which produced devotees like Narsi Mehta who saw all men as equals.43 In a 1922 issue of his own Gujarati weekly Navajivan, Gandhi invokes Narasinha to reproach people of his native region, Saurashtra (Kathiawar), where the practice of untouchability was reported to be more rampant than in other parts of Gujarat: I feel ashamed of the land of my birth. That Kathiawar, the home of a lover of God like Narasinh Mehta … if the wise people of that very same Kathiawar regard adharma as dharma, cherish prejudices about touching and not touching as if they were sacred and hold human beings in contempt, can anything but degradation be the result?44 Gandhi invokes Narasinha's authority even more forcefully in relation to Vaishnavism, which he claimed as his heritage. At a 1925 public meeting where antyaja girls had been asked to sit separately, he challenged Vaishnavas in the audience through a reference to Narasinha. If they claim a bond with the Page 12 of 42

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A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma Vaishnava saint, he stresses, it is meaningless unless they follow his example of compassion: There is a limit to a man's patience and I, too, have reached mine…. It is neither human nor clever nor wise … to think that those who consider (p. 185) untouchability sinful and abominable are foolish men, thus closing one's eyes to the truth. I advise you to have some practical wisdom. Vaishnavas claim that they are full of love. What love did they show to antyaja in this meeting? … It [untouchability] is no part of Vaishnavism, nor of the teaching of the Bhāgavata. If it is proved that any of the scriptures teach this thing, I shall have nothing to do with that Vaishnavism or that Hinduism…. We follow these practices and still claim to be descendants of Narasinh Mehta…. Your claims will avail you little till your hearts have become compassionate.45 The speech indicates that by this time, Gandhi was becoming disillusioned regarding the outcome of his efforts to remove untouchability from the Hindu society in his own region. Yet he retained faith in Narasinha's appeal in Gujarat, confident that an allusion to the saint-poet would strengthen his moral argument. When writing in Gujarati, Gandhi refers to Narasinha's biography even in his arguments about noncooperation as an ideal method of political resistance. In 1920, Gandhi faced a severe challenge when critics described that method as unsupported by history or scriptures. In his response to this critique, he cites many examples of the use of noncooperation against evil in the religious traditions of the world. Here, Narasinha's noncooperation with his caste members with regard to untouchability appears as one of the three examples from the Hindu tradition. The important examples cited from other world religions are Jesus's noncooperation with hypocritical leaders of his time and the Prophet Muhammad's noncooperation with authorities in Mecca who wrongly used their power.46 Thus, Gandhi interpreted Narasinha's association with the “untouchables” as a practice of noncooperation in relation to orthodoxy, again linking his ideology with the saint. The references to Narasinha's biography in Gandhi's writings draw on and reinforce the saint's authority as a moral exemplar for both the individual and society. As will be seen in the next chapter, Gandhi's interpretations of Narasinha's biography have greatly influenced the representation of the saint in the popular media, an important avenue through which the legacy of the saint endures today. Songs of a Saint in the Making of a Mahatma

If Narasinha's sacred biography provided Gandhi a model to emulate in personal and public life, popular morning hymns (prabhātiyā̃) from the saint's tradition Page 13 of 42

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A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma offered him guidance for reaching moral perfection. As he conveys in a letter to a close Gujarati friend, some of them held for him the authority of scriptures. Referring to the song “It is in vain to lament about what pleases the divine Lord,” he writes, These lines of Narasinh Mehta I have been chanting to myself since 1893. I have also tried to the best of my ability to live according to them (p.186) looking upon them as holy words of the Vedas. Such utterances are included in my definition of the Vedas. My God who inspires the Vedas speaks through all languages.47 Narasinha's songs were authoritative for Gandhi not only because of their profound messages, but also because of their accessibility for Gujarati speakers. They were utterances of the divine who speaks through all languages. His faith in Narasinha songs as sources of moral guidance to native speakers is also reflected in his advice to his son Ramdas during a period of restlessness: You must sing Narasinh Mehta's morning hymns and understand their meaning. Therein you will find the remedy for your restlessness…. You want that kind of peace which can pass through the severest test. Ordinary things cannot give you that peace.48 This advice comes from Gandhi's own experience. In a letter written during a time of turmoil, he conveys how a Narasinha song taught him to retain his equanimity in such times: I will go where Rama leads. He has not yet spoken clearly…. I don't even think about what will happen. Vain is it to lament What pleases the Master of the world at the moment, Nothing happens as we wish, Thus shall we save ourselves from worrying over things. These lines of Narasinh Mehta I have been chanting to myself since 1893.49

Gandhi frequently shares such lines from Narasinha with his close friends as an expression of his caring for their emotional and moral well-being. In two letters written many years apart, he consoles friends in distress with a line from a Narasinha morning hymn: “Let not thy mind be affected by suffering or happiness, for they were created with the body.”50 Gandhi's references to his endeavor to follow the messages of Narasinha's songs are comparable to his references to his efforts to put the teachings of the Bhagavad Gītā in practice.51 References Narasinha's songs in his counsel to friends and family indicate that he considered them as sources of moral and spiritual inspiration much like the Bhagavad Gītā. It is not surprising, then, that Page 14 of 42

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A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma in his famous Gītā discourses delivered for the residents of his ashram, several references to Narasinha are found. He explains the state of a realized person (sthitaprajna) quoting a line from a Narasinha morning hymn (“When I awoke, the world disappeared,” discussed in chapter 2), which identifies the self (atman) with the Ultimate (Brahman): (p.187) The state in which the self abides in itself in serene content is the same as described by Narasinh Mehta in this line in a poem of his: “The Brahman dancing in sportive play in front of the Brahman. “The poet here expresses the very same truth. The Brahman has all its joy through the Brahman in the company of the Brahman.52 In the pursuit of self-realization—the highest goal of life according to Gandhi—as in the area of social ideology, Narasinha's testimony was authoritative for him. In Gandhi's understanding, for full self-realization, inner experience of identification with the Ultimate had to be accompanied by moral action in all spheres of life including political activity and social service. Gandhi refers to Narasinha in a number of places to explain this understanding of religion, sometimes effectively, at others not so. In a tribute to his political guru Gokhale, a Narasinha song provides a frame of reference to stress the purity of means in politics, which according to him, was the proper mode of spiritual effort in his times: In these difficult and degenerate times, the pure spirit of religion is hardly in evidence anywhere…. In one beautiful phrase, Narasinha Mehta, best among the lovers of God, has shown in what that spirit consists: Vain, vain is all spiritual effort Without meditation on the Self.

I have not the least doubt that Gokhale was wise in the truth of the Self. He never pretended to observe any religious practice but his life was full of the true spirit of religion. Every age is known to have its predominant mode of spiritual effort…. In this age, our degradation reveals itself through our political condition … but … only a change brought about in our political condition by pure means can lead to real progress. Gokhale not only perceived this right at the beginning of his public life but also followed the principle in action.53 In an article in his weekly Young India, where Gandhi further elaborates on his understanding of religion and links all traditions of the world under the category of truth, he quotes yet another Narasinha song for support: The spinning-wheel, the rosary and the Ramanam are all the same to me. They subserve the same end, they teach me the religion of service…. And Page 15 of 42

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A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma there is no religion other than Truth. Truth is Rama, Narayana, Ishwara, Khuda, Allah, God. As Narasinha says, ‘The different shapes into which gold is beaten gives rise to different names and forms; but ultimately it is all gold.'54 (p.188) The above references to Narasinha songs that link morning hymns to politics and a spinning wheel appear contrived and ineffective. However, they suggest that Gandhi sought from Narasinha songs a validation for his choices in all areas of life. It is as if he needed to draw a parallel between his political ideology and Narasinha's songs. Narasinha's morning hymns also played a key role in Gandhi's efforts to build inclusive communities. Margaret Chatterjee suggests that a search for togetherness formed a core component of Gandhi's “religious thought” or “something even deeper than thought.”55 The intensity of this search can be seen in Gandhi's innumerable personal letters, his ceaseless efforts to involve the masses in political campaigns, and above all, in his founding of various ashrams, where people from diverse religious and social backgrounds resided. In all these avenues for community building, he made notable use of Narasinha morning hymns. In the multifaith prayer sessions at his ashrams, Narasinha's hymns were performed in conjunction with songs and passages drawn from diverse religious traditions. These performances departed from the ones in the traditional bhakti context of a singular religious group and contributed vitally to the building of an inclusive community. Narasinha is believed to have gathered an inclusive community of bhakti around his songs in the fifteenth century. Gandhi used these songs in the twentieth century, redefining the circle of inclusiveness. Whereas Narasinha's community had been multicaste, Gandhi's was multifaith. In the latter, shared moral inspiration rather than shared religious tradition brought people together (see figure 6.3). Several Narasinha songs of a contemplative nature, which focus on the moral and spiritual quest, provided this inspiration and were included in the Ashram Bhajanavali, which, according to the performer and researcher of sacred sound Cynthia Snodgrass, deserves much greater attention than it has been given as a source that nurtured the spirit of satyagraha.56

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A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma One song in the Ashram Bhajanavali, Vaiṣṇavajana to, gradually emerged as Gandhi's musical symbol, just as the spinning wheel had become his visual symbol. Over time, the visibility of the spinning wheel as a Gandhi symbol has faded; Vaiṣṇavajana to, by contrast, has traveled to many parts of the world in performance as a song inspiring compassion, humility, and integrity. Vaiṣṇavajana to—From a Popular Bhajan to a Gandhi Anthem

Of all the devotional songs Gandhi knew, Vaiṣṇavajana to, a song that has occupied an important place in this work, remained his favorite. “That hymn is enough to sustain me,” he once said, “even if I were to forget the Bhagavad Gita.”57 This statement is particularly significant in view of Gandhi's

Figure 6.3 “The Prayers” by Kanu Desai.

attachment to the Gītā, the Hindu sacred text that he

Courtesy: Kartik and Shweta Desai.

Source: Mahatma Gandhi by Kanu Desai, 1932.

regarded as his “mother.”58 Vaiṣṇavajana to had become such an integral part of Gandhi's life that Mahadev Desai, his secretary and the translator of many of his works, termed it “almost as life-breath of Gandhiji.”59 It (p.189) finds recurrent references in his writings; its first stanza appears on the title page of the Ashram Bhajanavali; and it was regularly performed in his ashrams as well as at all important moments in his public and personal life. Traditionally sung in the morning-hymn tune popular in Gujarat, it was set to a new semi-classical tune—rāga Mishra Khamāj—by Pandit Narayan Khare in the 1920s, enhancing its appeal for people across India. Gandhi made his attachment to it well known, lifting it out of its traditional context of Vaishnava devotion in Gujarat to the national platform as a song of moral inspiration. Why did this song so resonate with Gandhi? His writings indicate that its appeal lay largely in the lyric that lays out in simple words a pathway for moral perfection. (p.190) Narayan Desai suggests that this bhajan was special for Gandhi because he found in it his favorite teachings from diverse religions Page 17 of 42

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A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma conveyed in a simple and appealing way.60 The first quality listed in the song is compassion, which Gandhi had identified as the most important criterion for evaluating a religion in a letter written during his South Africa years, discussed above.61 A comparison of the song with the Sermon on the Mount from the New Testament (Matthew 5–7:27), his favorite Christian text, shows striking similarities in terms of content and form. Both Vaiṣṇavajana to and the Sermon on the Mount highlight the virtues of compassion, humility, truthfulness, purity of heart, and firmness in righteous behavior. Both have structures of definition. Vaiṣṇavajana to is entirely in the form of a definition; and the Sermon begins with beatitudes that define “the blessed” (Matthew 5:1–12). Further, the definitions offered by these texts are not mere abstractions. Both are direct addresses of teachers to their audiences, exhorting them to undertake actions associated with a list of qualities. In both, active verbs are crucially important. Vaiṣṇavajana to begins with a gentle imperative—kahie (call)—and then defines a Vaishnava with a stress on actions: understanding, helping, bowing, seeing, not touching, immersing, and so on. In the Sermon on the Mount, the beatitudes focus on qualities, but the rest of the text elaborates on them with a series of imperatives. Both texts inspire the listener to lead a life of compassion and moral integrity. An incident related to Vaiṣṇavajana to, which Gandhi later recalls, gives an indication of how he came to realize its universal appeal. The song had been a regular part of prayers at his commune Phoenix Settlement in South Africa. Joseph Royeppen, an active participant in the Satyagraha movement and a devout Christian, used to visit the Phoenix ashram frequently. He was very fond of Vaiṣṇavajana to and on one occasion requested the participants to replace the word “Vaishnava” with “Christian.” When the group complied, he was deeply touched.62 A Muslim imam (teacher) also often requested a similar replacement with the word “Muslim.”63 Gandhi noticed the song's appeal to devout Christians and Muslims along with attachment to it among his Gujarati Vaishnava companions. With what Chattterjee describes as his “rare gift of picking on symbols” with wide appeal, he must have recognized that the song could provide a powerful vehicle to convey to larger publics his idea of a moral person.64 Even as Gandhi took Vaiṣṇavajana to to the wider public sphere, it remained an integral part of his personal world. It was sung at both happy and sad occasions in his life, an honor not accorded even to authoritative Hindu chants. At his son Devdas's wedding in 1933, for example, he began his blessings with a reference to the song: You have just heard our familiar hymn of “The True Vaishnava.” I hope you both will ponder over it, and try to live as the true Vaishnava described by the poet-saint Narasinh Mehta. Devdas, you know my expectations about you.65

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A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma (p.191) The song was also sung at the cremation of his wife, Kasturba. In a tribute paid a few years later, stressing her love for the Dalit girl they had adopted, he described her as “a living image of the virtues of a Vaiṣṇavajana described by Narasinha Mehta in his bhajan.”66 For Gandhi, the song had become a measuring rod of a worthy life. Not surprisingly, Gandhi used Vaiṣṇavajana to in his fight against untouchability. In 1920 Gandhi faced severe opposition from orthodox Hindus in Gujarat for admitting Dalits to the national schools, which he had helped establish in the region and elsewhere in India. Orthodox Hindus, including some Vaishnavas, spoke out against him in the journal Gujarati. They questioned his claim to be a Vaishnava and threatened to boycott his movement for independence. In response, Gandhi wrote a series of articles in his weekly, Navajivan, using Vaiṣṇavajana to as the basis of his argument. The first, titled “To Vaishnavas,” is an exegesis of the song. In this article, after presenting the entire song and discussing all the qualities it specifies, Gandhi stresses that those who do not follow this definition are not Vaishnavas: Here Narasinh, the best among the Vaishnavas, has given pride of place to non-violence. This means that a man who has no love in him is no Vaishnava. One who does not follow truth and has not acquired control over all his senses is not a Vaishnava.67 Gandhi then proceeds to link Narasinha's definition to the issue of untouchability, the significance of which would be clearly understood by Gujarati speakers who knew the saint's sacred biography: I invite everyone's attention to these principles, since I still continue to receive letters regarding Antyajas. The advice I receive from one and all is that, if I do not exclude Antyajas from the national schools, the movement for swaraj will end in smoke. If I have even a little of the true Vaishnava in me, God will also vouchsafe me the strength to reject the swaraj which may be won by abandoning the Antyajas.68 Here, Gandhi turns the allegation of impiety on his opponents by insisting that his identity as a Vaishnava was defined by Vaiṣṇavajana to and that eradication of untouchability is a fulfillment, rather than a violation, of the Vaishnava dharma. The discussion of the song continues in the next issue of Navajivan in an article titled “Vaishnavas and Antyajas.” This article ends with references to a verse in the Gītā and a line about equality from Vaiṣṇavajana to: The Gita says the same thing: “To the man who looks on all with an equal eye, a Brahmin, a dog and an Antyaja—all are the same.” ‘Narsainyo' says in his poem that a Vaishnava should have the same eye for all.69

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A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma (p.192) In this article, Gandhi reiterates his claim to Vaishnava identity on the authority of the Gītā and the song, challenging those who question it on the basis of the shastras, the authoritative texts of the orthodoxy. Importantly, he concludes with a declaration that the antyajas who have the qualities listed in the song should be revered: I do not know the shastras, have no experience, am obstinate—by asserting all this I cannot be disqualified from being a Vaishnava. So long as I hold that the test of being a Vaishnava lies in moral conduct and not in debating or the gift of clever speech or in determining the meaning of the shastras, I do not wish to give up my claim [of being a Vaishnava]. … I have seen a number of Antyajas who were of an open frank heart, were upright, were men of knowledge and lovers of God. I look upon such Antyajas as worthy of all reverence.70 The declaration of reverence for antyajas who have the qualities of a Vaiṣṇavajana here can be seen as a precursor of Gandhi's later adoption of its synonym “Harijan” from another Narasinha song to refer to the “untouchables.” It closely parallels the message of that song. Gandhi found in Vaiṣṇavajana to a source to redefine his hereditary faith in terms of the moral vision he had developed over years. It was a song that represented him. Gradually, along with verses from the Gītā and short prayers from world religions, the performance of Vaiṣṇavajana to became an integral part of important public events in Gandhi's life. For each event, a different part of the song bore relevance. The ceremonies at the beginning and breaking of Gandhi's several fasts included Vaiṣṇavajana to. As he explained to the young boys of his ashram, for whose mistakes he had undertaken a fast in 1925, the song sustained him in a way nothing else could.71 During his famous Salt March, which he undertook as a sign of noncooperation with the British government, it was sung by Narayan Khare at the beginning, several times on the way, at the time of the actual breaking of law in collecting salt, and even in the moment of his arrest. On these occasions, not the lines about compassion and equality but the lines about firmness and detachment carried a deeper meaning.72 With repeated performances at Gandhi-related events, the song drew immense media attention and began to circulate beyond his ashrams and communities of followers in Gujarat. In 1946 it was performed by Tamil-speaking schoolgirls at a prayer meeting in Madras as a gesture of honor to Gandhi.73 The renowned South Indian classical singer M. S. Subbulakshmi (1916–2004) began to sing it toward the end of her concerts.74 Within Gandhi's lifetime, the song had moved beyond the sphere of traditional religion as an inspirational cultural resource.

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A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma (p.193) Gandhi's engagement with Vaiṣṇavajana to in a variety of contexts can be examined in light of some aspects of his understanding of Hinduism and religiousness that the philosopher Akeel Bilgrami discusses. Bilgrami argues that Gandhi's understanding of religion and his attachment to the popular form of bhakti Hinduism were closely linked to his view of the world as a sacralized ground where the divine was accessible and gave all human beings a right to work out their own moral journey. Essentially democratic and eclectic in nature, this conception of religion depended on interpretation and on examples set by individuals rather than on doctrines. It was opposed to elitist and authoritative models of religion and to the very idea of canon (like his view of literature discussed above).75 Gandhi's convictions were such that, despite—somewhat perversely— calling himself a sanatani (an orthodox Hindu), he was very sceptical of the idea that there was a high or canonical Hinduism. The appeal of Hinduism for him was precisely that there was no such thing, by way of neither doctrine nor authoritative institutions, allowing him to make of it what his temperament wished, while allowing others to embrace it in quite other forms deriving from the many influences available in a diverse land and its history.76 This assessment of Gandhi's understanding of religion has interpretation, moral example, and public service at its core. Vaiṣṇavajana to, itself an interpretation of the term “Vaishnava” by Narasinha who offered an example of empathy and inclusiveness rather than a doctrine, offered Gandhi a perfect text in accessible language to convey his ideal of what it means to be religious and fully human. It allowed him to challenge the orthodox definition of “Vaishnava.” It fit with the inclusive spirit he strove to foster in his communes and with the public life of service he saw as integral to religion. Additionally, and importantly, it provided him with a performative text full of rasa that he knew would appeal to people in India who were used to relating to devotional and moral messages through musical performance. He explored the potential of the song effectively to circulate his ideal of a religious person and, in the process, added new layers of significance to it. Today, Vaiṣṇavajana to continues to be performed as a tribute to Gandhi in multiple contexts. Often, it forms a part of celebrations related to the Mahatma or the Indian nation.77 It was played on the flute as a laser image of Gandhi emerged before an international audience at the inauguration of the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi in October 2010. Perhaps more fittingly, the song is often performed in the contexts of peace-building projects inspired by Gandhi. Two recent peace marches had the song interwoven in their formats. One was a journey of a group of Gandhians (October 2010–February 2011) to spread the message of peace across India, from the southern tip of Kanyakumari to the troubled (p.194) territory of Kashmir in the north. Their peace building Page 21 of 42

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A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma involved gathering communities around Gandhi's favorite songs, among which Vaiṣṇavajana to was the most prominent. The marchers instantly bonded with people in a remote place in Chhattisgarh, central India, where the song is sung daily at a county office.78 The other peace march, described as an “international Dandi March” emulating Gandhi's Salt March, was undertaken by political activists from India and Pakistan who traveled to Gaza via Iran, Syria, and Egypt (December 2010–January 2011). The group, composed of Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, atheists, and followers of other religions, sang Vaiṣṇavajana to at important meetings on the way, including one with Iranian lawgivers.79 The song continues to reverberate as a message of peace inspired by Gandhi in remote corners of India and the world. Many performers may not know about Narasinha Mehta; but they get moved by a song that had the power to inspire a man like Gandhi. At the same time, the song has taken such a life of its own that direct inspiration from Gandhi is no longer requisite for the song's performance at service-related events. In India's public culture, it has become so deeply associated with service to the underprivileged that its performance recurs at such events organized by people of Indian origin in all parts of the world. On April 2, 2011, the Boston (USA) chapter of Nanhi Kali, an organization promoting the education of poor girls in India, held a benefit concert. The concert's main event featured the Mt. Auburn String Quartet. However, the organizers thought it fit to begin it with pieces of Indian music. Vaiṣṇavajana to was the only song performed, along with short pieces of instrumental classical music.80 A charity event for people with disabilities held in March 2011 in Kolkata was advertised with a clip of the song on the Internet-based social network Facebook.81 In the above instances, peace marchers and humanitarian groups working outside of religious contexts identify at some level with the ideals presented in the song and bring to public attention its universal moral appeal. Gandhi's ideological identification with Vaiṣṇavajana to in twentieth-century India has played a pivotal role in its journey from the traditional devotional milieu of Gujarat to international peace- and service-related events. It has also formed the basis of the song's rendering by well-known and little-known artists on hundreds of audio and video recordings, through which it circulates around the globe as a form of inspiring popular culture. As has been suggested earlier, the journey of Vaiṣṇavajana to is strikingly similar to that of the most widely sung Christian hymn in English, “Amazing Grace.” Written by John Newton, an Anglican clergyman who was earlier involved in the slave trade, “Amazing Grace” has traveled from a small parish in late eighteenthcentury England to many parts of the English-speaking world and has overflowed from religious to nonreligious contexts as a song of hope and renewal. It has been sung in venues as diverse as demonstrations during the civil rights movement led by Martin Luther King Jr., a concert honoring Nelson Page 22 of 42

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A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma Mandela, and ceremonies after September 11, 2001, in New York City, connecting people (p.195) in a bond of hope. A number of popular singers in America who have sung it have described it in glowing terms as “a talisman,” “written at a heart level,” which leads to a deep “calm.”82 In its power to touch the deepest chords of people's beings, it is, as Steve Turner notes, “America's most beloved song.”83 With Gandhi's engagement with it, Vaiṣṇavajana to has emerged as such a song for people of Indian origin. It offers an image of a person with whom people dedicated to service and peace can identify. Its association with Gandhi only enhances its appeal.

What Is in a Name? “Vaiṣṇavajana” and “Harijan” The reception of the term “Harijan,” which Gandhi adopted for “untouchables” from another Narasinha song, has been strikingly different from the widespread appeal of the song Vaiṣṇavajana to. As discussed earlier, the terms “Vaishnava” and “Harijan” are synonymous in the Narasinha tradition, meaning “person or people of God (Krishna).” But they have met with starkly contrasting destinies as parts of the Gandhian legacy. One enjoys immense popularity across religious, regional, and national boundaries as the centerpiece of the song Vaiṣṇavajana to. The other generated bitter debates about representation during Gandhi's lifetime that continue in some form in public and academic discourses even today. What has led to the contrasting destinies of the terms? An examination of the context of the occurrence of the term “Harijan” in the Narasinha tradition and its adoption by Gandhi leads us to see that the main difference between the two terms is in the nature of their adoption. The song Vaiṣṇavajana to remained rooted in devotional aesthetics and participation as it was taken to wider audiences. The term “Harijan,” by contrast, became disassociated from its narrative and performative contexts when it was adopted.

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A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma The origins of the term “Harijan” in association with the “untouchables” are found in a Narasinha song that has been popular in Gujarat at least since the early nineteenth century. The song is found in a manuscript dated VS 1881 (1824 CE) and several other manuscripts without dates. It is in the voice of the saint himself in the form of a response to rebukes from his community about his association with the Dalits. The situation described in the song is this: Narasinha returns to his neighborhood after a nightlong bhajan session with Dalits and is called bhraṣṭa (fallen) by members of his Brahmin community because he has polluted himself by being in close contact with them. He responds to the allegation with equanimity, indicating that he dislikes the orthodox understanding of moral code (dharma) and the principle of inevitable consequences of deeds (karma), which supports inequality in society. For him, all who love Krishna, whether high-caste or Dalit, are “Harijan.” (p.196) “I am like that; just as you call me. If you call me “fallen” for following bhakti, I will only serve Damodar [Krishna]. One's heart gets attached to what one likes. Earlier, mine was bound to family. Now it is drenched in Hari's rasa; and goes house to house singing. I do not like the talks about karma and dharma. Nothing can compare to the Lord who gave me all I have. I am the wicked one of the world; the most wicked of all. Call me what you like. My heart is deeply in love. I am Narasaῖyo of small karma. To me Vaishnavas are dear. Those who distance themselves from Harijans, their rounds of birth are in vain.”84

Two aspects of the song immediately draw attention. First, the terms “Vaishnava” and “Harijan” are used as synonyms in the last two lines of the song, in keeping with popular usage in Gujarat since medieval times. Along with “Vaishnava,” “Harijan” is a recurrently used term in medieval Guajarati devotional songs. A Narasinha song found in an early manuscript declares, “Krishna resides where Harijans are happy.” Another, included in the Ashram Bhajanavali and quoted by Gandhi, praises “Hari nā jan” (Harijan).85 The term also occurs in a song by the poet Dayaram (1777–1853) sung regularly in Gandhi's ashrams, where its equivalence with “Vaishnava” is even clearer: You have not become a Vaishnava; you have not become a Harijan. Why do you move around in pride?86 Page 24 of 42

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A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma The second and more important aspect of the song with regard to the term “Harijan” is that it is used here in a marvelously inclusive sense. The last stanza implies that both high-caste and “untouchable” worshippers of Krishna are included in the category of “Harijans.” They are people who follow the path of love. Narasinha stresses that whether high caste or low caste, he loves those who love Hari. He is indifferent to the accusations of the orthodox people who talk about karma and dharma but distance themselves from “Harijans” based on a misconceived notion of purity. He declares that the rounds of birth (reincarnations) of such misguided people are in vain. Thus, in the song, the poet uses the term (p.197) “Harijan” in the sense of devotees who are dear to him and may be high-caste or low-caste people. He does not use it exclusively for Dalits or low-caste people. Gandhi was closely familiar with the Gujarati songs containing the term “Harijan” included in the Ashram Bhajanavali. As he later explained repeatedly in his writings, however, adoption of the term for “untouchables” had not occurred to him before the early 1920s. Until then, when writing in Indian languages, he used the prevalent term antyaja. In English, he often used “suppressed classes” in place of the official government term “Depressed Classes” in order to convey the sense of atrocities to which the “untouchables” were regularly subjected in Hindu society. In an article in Young India in early 1921, he makes this connotation explicit: There is neither nobility nor bravery in treating the great and uncomplaining scavengers of the nation as worse than dogs to be despised and spat upon. Would that God gave us the strength and the wisdom to become voluntary scavengers of the nation as the ‘suppressed' classes are forced to be.87 The term “Harijan” began to appear in Gandhi's writings a few years later. In 1924 it appeared in a telegram and a statement in English.88 From this time to the early 1930s, when he adopted the term on a much wider scale, Gandhi used it occasionally in his speeches and writings. Yet he does not explain in these places the usage or the context of the term's occurrence in the Narasinha tradition. Detailed explanations for the adoption of “Harijan” are found in various writings in 1930s, many of which were given in response to questions about the term. Two early explanations given to Gujarati audiences appear in August 1931. They are significant in that they precede the challenges to the term at the national level following the Poona Pact discussed below. In a section titled “Notes” in Gandhi's Gujarati weekly, Navajivan, dated August 2, he indicates that he had asked its serious readers to suggest a substitute for “antyaja” and that one of the suggestions he received was “Harijan.” Here, he quotes from a letter by Jagannath Desai, who had stressed that the word was “not new” but a “beautiful Page 25 of 42

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A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma one used by the father of Gujarati poetry” with the meaning “men of God abandoned by society.”89 Yet the “notes” make it clear that the word was not suggested by Desai; it was only enthusiastically endorsed by him. In the same week, Gandhi explained what the term meant to him in a speech made at the opening of a temple for “untouchables” in Ahmedabad, which was managed by a Nagar Brahmin family. It [Harijan] was a word used by the great saint Narasinha Mehta, who by the bye belonged to the Nagar Brahmin community and who defied the whole community by claiming the ‘untouchables' as his own. I am delighted to adopt that word which is sanctified by having been used by (p.198) such a great saint, but it has for me a deeper meaning than you may imagine. The ‘untouchable', to me, is, compared to us, really a ‘Harijana'— a man of God, and we are ‘Durjana' (men of evil). For whilst the ‘untouchable' has toiled and moiled and dirtied his hands so that we may live in comfort and cleanliness; we have delighted in suppressing him. We are solely responsible for all the shortcomings and faults that we lay at the door of these untouchables. It is still open to us to be Harijana ourselves, but we can only do so by heartily repenting of our sin against them.90 The meaning Gandhi associates here with the term remains rooted in the Narasinha tradition. But he builds on its connotations to strongly reproach highcaste Hindus. First, he reminds the family in charge of the temple that the originator of the term “Harijan” was from their own community, suggesting that the family should model themselves after Narasinha in firmly defying their community should opposition arise. Second, he puts the upper-caste Hindus— the inclusive “we”—in the category of “Durjana” (men of evil), in contrast to “Harijana.” He stresses that Harijana have taken pains so that others may live in “comfort and cleanliness.” By contrast, the Durjana have delighted in “suppressing” them. The only way he leaves open for upper-caste Hindus to move from the category of “Durjana” to “Harijan” is to atone for their sins. Gandhi's explanation, which was clearly directed to upper-caste Hindus and not to the Dalits, thus set up a dichotomy that was not present in the Narasinha song. The song uses the word “Harijan” to refer to both high-caste and “untouchable” worshippers of Krishna. It provokes thought about the meaninglessness of caste, but it does not exhort repentance. With his reformist zeal, Gandhi created a dichotomy in using a contrasting term for upper-caste Hindus and exhorting them to repent. Even with this censure of the upper castes, his use of the term “Harijan” is not known to have met with much criticism in Gujarat. The reception of the term “Harijan” in the region, as indicated by the response of Desai cited above, perhaps led Gandhi to adopt it widely on the national platform in the months following his initial explanations for it, a period that Page 26 of 42

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A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma coincided with the beginning of his disagreements with B. R. Ambedkar, the most articulate and outspoken representative of the “Depressed Classes,” who belonged to a Dalit community himself. At the Round Table Conference in London in late 1931, Gandhi represented the Indian National Congress. There, he opposed a proposal for a separate electorate for the “Depressed Classes” that was supported by Ambedkar and argued that it would prove disastrous for those classes. Both Gandhi and Ambedkar contended that their respective proposals protected the interests of the “Depressed Classes.” The British government upheld the separate electorate bill, following which Gandhi undertook a fast unto death in protest from the Yeravada Jail in Poona in September 1932. The fast forced Ambedkar to sign a pact (called the Poona Pact) with Gandhi and (p. 199) to forgo the separate electorate award, which, in the view of many Dalit leaders, would have given their communities political agency. This bitter experience of Ambedkar created a permanent gulf between him and the Congress. The events also clearly brought to light the mistrust among many Dalit groups not only of the Hindu upper castes, but also of secular institutions such as the Congress, which were dominated by them.91 As Ramnarayan Rawat's recent work on Chamars of north India indicates, the Poona Pact led to widespread protests against the Congress by Dalit groups in north India.92 For many, the Poona Pact put a question mark on Gandhi's sincerity in pursuing the cause that he had held dear for several years. Some contemporary scholars like Rawat and Bilgrami acknowledge Gandhi's commitment to the cause of the “untouchables.” But they also rightly point out that the Poona Pact remains a problematic event in his fight against untouchability because it was laden with inherent contradictions.93 Gandhi himself appears to have been keenly aware of the implications of the pact for his fight against untouchability. Narayan Desai indicates that the events surrounding the fast and the opportunities they provided for communication with Ambedkar led Gandhi to recognize the urgency of the abolition of untouchability as a social practice.94 For the next several months, Gandhi made the struggle against untouchability his focus. The term “Harijan” became entangled in these web of events. In early 1933, Gandhi launched three weeklies —one in English (Harijan), one in Gujarati (Harijan Bandhu), and the third in Hindi (Harijan Sevak)—all with titles containing the term “Harijan.” He had begun to use the term almost exclusively for Dalits even prior to his fast. But in the charged atmosphere of the events surrounding the Round Table Conference, the use of the term in the broader national context had not gone unquestioned. Gandhi therefore thought it necessary to explain his use of the term in the first issues of each of his weeklies. Here he indicates that the suggestion to adopt the term had actually come from an “untouchable” person, even though he does not give the person's name:

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A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma Many people have asked me why I have used the name ‘Harijans' for people whom we commit the sin of regarding as untouchables. Years ago a Kathiawadi Antyaja had written to me that names like Antyaja, achhoot, asprishya hurt his community. I could appreciate their feelings. For me they were neither Antyajas nor untouchables. It was this correspondent who had pointed out to me that the poet-devotee Narasinh Mehta in one of his bhajans had referred to the Antyajas as ‘Harijans.' … ‘Harijan' means a devotee of God, beloved of God. It is God's promise that He is the Protector of the oppressed … the strength of the weak, the Refuge of the helpless…. One may therefore expect Him to bestow especial grace on the oppressed. Looked at from this point of view, I am sure the name ‘Harijan' is appropriate in every way for the Antyaja brethren.95 (p.200) Later in the article, Gandhi reiterates the need for reform, stressing how the upper-caste Hindus had “crushed” the Harijans for centuries. In Gandhi's view the term “Harijan,” suggested by an antyaja and drawn from a song of a beloved saint-poet of Gujarat, had positive connotations. He was aware, however, that the term did not change the condition of the oppressed people. It only removed “the offense to the ear,” as he expressed in an interview with a deputation of the Depressed Classes.96 Gandhi also recognized the paradox of having a separate term for “untouchables” while trying to abolish the practice of untouchability; but he stressed that a separate term was meaningful until the goal of abolition was reached: Your argument that all Hindus, whether touchable or untouchable, should be known as Hindus is correct. But so long as untouchability is not wiped out, why should not our brethren who are regarded as untouchables be addressed by a sweet rather than a bitter name?97 Many among the Dalit communities of India were not convinced by Gandhi's explanations. They saw it as reflecting upper caste Hindus' patronizing attitude toward the “untouchables” out of a concern for the stability for their own society. Ambedkar succinctly presents their objections to the term in “Gandhi and His Fast”: The Untouchables simply detest the name Harijan…. In the first place it has not bettered their position. It has not elevated them in the eyes of the Hindus…. Everybody knows that Harijans are simply no other than the old Untouchables…. With the new name they are damned as much as they were with the old. Secondly the Untouchables say that they prefer to be called Untouchables. They argue that it is better that the wrong should be called by its known name…. It is better for the wrong doer that the wrong is there still to be redressed…. The new name in so far as it is a concealment is fraud upon the Untouchables and a false absolution to the Hindus. Thirdly, there is also the feeling that the name Harijan is indicative Page 28 of 42

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A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma of pity. If the name meant ‘chosen people of God' as the Jews claimed themselves to be it would have been a different matter. But to call them ‘children of God' is to invite pity from their tyrants by pointing out their helplessness and their dependent condition.98 As Gandhi's remarks above indicate, he was in agreement with the objection that a change in term alone could not lead to a change in the social status of the Dalits. But Gandhi did not see “Harijan” as camouflaging the wrong or as an invitation to pity, but rather as a reminder to upper-caste Hindus of their “Durjan” nature and an exhortation to them to repent. The difference in the approaches of the two men, as D. R. Nagaraj points out, was that Gandhi's focus was on “self-purification” by (p.201) upper-caste Hindus, whereas Ambedkar's was on “self-respect” for the victims of prejudice and oppression through political rights.99 While the latter had a legitimate urgency that the former did not, in the battle as complex as the one against untouchability, both the acquisition of rights through political processes by the victims and an expression of remorse by the victimizers are necessary. Unless the victims acquire rights as equal members of a society and as members of a democratic polity, remorse from the victimizers is ineffective. And unless the victimizers have remorse and become open to change, the political gains of the victims will fail to give them equal social status. Despite Gandhi's inability to articulate his position on caste hierarchy in a single unified argument and Ambedkar's severe skepticism about his approach and intentions, both leaders were ultimately on the same side. Eleanor Zelliot notes that despite the sharp differences between the two leaders that prevented them from working together, “each was conscious of the other's necessary place in the final solution of the problem of untouchability.”100 As Ramachandra Guha suggests, in the debates between the two leaders on the subject, both emerge as heroes.101 Gandhi continued to explain his use of the word “Harijan” throughout the 1930s. Although it did receive acceptance in some intellectual and social circles, it remained controversial and suspect in others and was later replaced by another term, “Dalit” (oppressed), which has now gained wide acceptance. Used in early twentieth-century Punjab and Maharashtra, the word “Dalit” was revived in the 1970s by a group called the Dalit Panthers, whose members belonged to the oppressed communities.102 As a term of self-representation, “Dalit” has come to replace “Harijan” in public discourses and academic writings. Interestingly, however, an article in Navajivan dated June 7, 1931, indicates that Gandhi had discerned a dislike for the term among Gujarat's antyajas: I think the term ‘Dalit' was first used by the late Swami Shraddhanand. Now it seems that name also is not liked. The real explanation is that as long as the poison of untouchability exists in our society, any name that may be given will probably come to be disliked after some time…. Atonement for one's sin need not depend on any condition being fulfilled. Page 29 of 42

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A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma But however sincere the efforts of Hindus to atone for their sin, the evils which have crept into the lives of the untouchables because of the sin of Hindus can be eradicated only by their own efforts…. After taking all this into account, ultimately the Antyajas will have to rely on their own efforts.103 Following the conversations with his readers, Gandhi did recognize that unless the problem of untouchability itself were solved, no term would remain popular for long. It was also becoming clear to him that in efforts to alleviate the damaging effects of untouchability, the main role would have to be played by the antyajas themselves. Accordingly, he adopted “Harijan” at the suggestion of “an antyaja (p.202) friend” as a replacement for the terms for which the suppressed classes expressed dislike, including “Dalit.” Ironically, and confirming Gandhi's prophecy about the eventual rejection of any term until the practice of untouchability was removed, “Harijan” lost its status again to “Dalit” among a number of Dalit communities in a few decades. The checkered history of the term “Harijan” has generally been examined against the backdrop of the Gandhi-Ambedkar debates and in relation to the issue of self-representation.104 These explorations have certainly provided insights about the issue and advanced the discourse on self-representation. Yet an important aspect of the term's reception has remained unexamined. This is the cultural and performative aspect, which becomes especially clear when one compares it to the reception of Vaiṣṇavajana to. Such a comparison draws attention to the different ways in which these two elements from the Narasinha tradition entered the public sphere. Vaiṣṇavajana to became popular through performances, first in Gandhi's ashrams and gradually in public events associated with him. It was popularized in its entirety, and its appeal was both moral and aesthetic. The tune and the contexts of performances added to its appeal. The term “Harijan” was picked from a song with a narrative context that was popular in Gujarat but not outside of it. The term was introduced into the national public life disassociated from both the song and the narrative. Even with Gandhi's explanations about its suggestion by an antyaja friend, the introduction of the term had an air of imposition rather than participation. Further, the term's exclusive use for the “untouchables,” however well-meaning, took away from it the sense of brotherhood it evoked in the song. Separated from its rich performance and cultural context, the term became a patronizing label in the view of many, as indicated by Ambedkar's remarks. Gandhi's explanations about its adoption reached only the readers of his weeklies and remained largely ineffective in changing the views of those who opposed it.

Gandhi's Narasinha—A Cultural Resource In spite of the problems with the adaptation of the term “Harijan,” overall Gandhi's engagement with Narasinha's songs and stories gives us a glimpse into the rich potential of the saint-poet traditions of India to serve as resources for Page 30 of 42

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A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma personal cultivation, socioreligious reform, and the construction of a pluralistic public. Gandhi related to the Narasinha tradition as both a common man and an extraordinary leader. He shared with ordinary Hindus of Gujarat his attachment to Narasinha songs and narratives as sources of inner sustenance. These songs and stories, with their devotional and aesthetic appeal, formed a part of the Gujarati Vaishnava religio-cultural heritage to which he was attached. Yet his attachment to them was not just a matter of inheritance. It was influenced greatly by his meaningful encounters with other religious traditions, which provided him with (p.203) a broader lens of interpretation. In the Narasinha tradition, Gandhi found teachings about moral values—compassion, detachment, courage, voluntary poverty, and social equality—that he had come to regard as the universal bases of religion. He saw in these popular bhakti forms the vitality to provide moral guidance to individuals and society comparable to the exalted scriptures of the world's diverse religious traditions. In public debates and private correspondence, he drew on both their moral content and their popularity, rooted in rasa, in order to advance his arguments for social reform. Gandhi was well aware that for centuries, the traditions of regional saint-poets had exerted a greater hold on the religious imagination of the populace than the authoritative Sanskrit texts to which they did not have access. In his debates over untouchability with the orthodox Hindus of Gujarat, he recognized the messages of Narasinha songs and stories as more authoritative than the injunctions of elite texts. Unlike the reformist Arya Samaj movement of the early modern period, which advocated for the removal of untouchability on the authority of the Vedas, Gandhi drew on popular devotional forms associated with a regional saint-poet for the purpose. In doing so, he shifted religious authority from pundits to common people. At the same time, he drew the attention of common people to the moral challenge of the Narasinha tradition. In Indian Christian theologian S. K. George's view Gandhi's challenge to Christianity was that he followed the law of love taught by Jesus more closely than do many Christians, demonstrating its applicability in modern times.105 Gandhi presented Narasinha as such a moral challenge to the Hindus of Gujarat. According to him, the saint-poet exemplified in his life and conveyed in his songs authoritative teachings of Hinduism and Vaishnavism. A meaningful claim to Hindu and Vaishnava identity could be made only by the person who followed his example and the messages of his songs. The songs and narratives of the Narasinha tradition, Gandhi insisted, were not meant simply for evoking devotional sentiment in the traditional religious contexts; they demanded transformation of individual and social life in all its aspects. Beyond the Hindu milieu of Gujarat, Gandhi used a number of Narasinha songs in his experiments to bring people together across various types of boundaries. He used the songs in his program to build pluralistic moral communities at his various ashrams and included them in the Ashram Bhajanavali. Here, they were found in the midst of verses and songs from multiple religious and linguistic Page 31 of 42

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A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma sources. Vaiṣṇavajana to became a part of public culture beyond the religious sphere as an anthem of compassion and moral integrity. It continues to serve as such in peace efforts and humanitarian work undertaken by South Asians in many corners of the world. Gandhi's effectively used the rasa-based bhakti of Narasinha songs and narratives in public life beyond the devotional context. Yet his adoption of the term “Harijan,” which became dissociated from the performance context, did not meet with equal success. In this instance, he failed to see that the appeal of a saint-poet tradition is integrally linked to performance, participation, and (p.204) cultural memory. In the region to which a saint-poet tradition belongs, an allusion to a song or a story alone suffices to evoke a religio-aesthetic response. But beyond it, even repeated explanations of the cultural associations of a reference by an influential man like Gandhi himself may fail to generate the desired response. The difference between the reception of Narasinha songs in multifaith prayers at Gandhi's ashrams and the history of the term “Harijan” underscores that the devotional and moral appeal of the saint-poet traditions is integrally linked to aesthetic delight, rasa. It cannot be generated through expository writing. Even with its limitations, Gandhi's engagement with Narasinha songs and stories forms an important chapter in the history of the saint-poet's tradition. His distinctive contribution to this history lies in his recognition that the rasa of the songs and stories of the tradition could be harnessed for constructive programs in public life. He consistently drew attention to the relevance of the tradition's moral content for important issues of modern times and put the tradition in conversation with similar resources from around the world. Like the Nobel laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore, who recognized the inspirational potential of the vernacular songs of Bengal's wandering mystics (Bauls), Gandhi saw the Narasinha tradition as Gujarat's enduring moral and cultural heritage that had similar potential.106 A significant parallel to Gandhi's use of popular songs from the Narasinha tradition and other saint-poet traditions—especially Vaiṣṇavajana to—in India's freedom movement is found in the civil rights movement in America led by Martin Luther King Jr. The civil rights leader, who was inspired by Gandhi's ideology of nonviolent resistance, also shared his understanding of the power of inspirational music to move people at all layers of their beings. Like Gandhi, King was a deeply religious man who knew the power of music to touch the deepest chord of a person's heart. He effectively integrated songs that people could easily sing into his programs, believing they played “a vital role” in the movement by giving people courage, a sense of unity, and the strength “to keep alive faith and a radiant hope in the future.”107 A number of these songs, such as We Shall Overcome, were rooted in folk or gospel music. Their appeal and continued circulation through new media of transmission rests on their association with the civil rights movement, which revitalized them as inspirational popular culture. Gandhi's use of Narasinha songs and stories in Page 32 of 42

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A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma personal and public life provides an example of a similar elevation of devotional resources in a different historical context before King. In an insightful essay on recent religious developments in Latin America in the late twentieth century, Daniel Levine discusses how they created a “popular subject,” “a set of confident, and articulate men and women,” who were earlier dispirited and silent. This popular subject had the potential to rework the general cultural and religious norms about authority and democratize the structures of the society.108 Gandhi's appreciation of the inspirational potential of popular cultural (p.205) forms had similar implications in India. He drew attention to both the richness of the popular cultural heritage and the necessity of recognizing the “popular voice” in public discourses as a means of challenging the exclusive authority of the elite, both religious and secular. Although Gandhi's critics often describe him as preferring outdated religious resources over modern rational thought, the way he used Narasinha's songs and narratives in various social reconstruction programs departed radically from their traditional use.109 His interpretations served to link moral ideals relevant for modern public life with the devotional forms to which people were greatly attached. He was not always successful; but he pointed to a new direction for engaging with Narasinha's tradition. The extent to which his interpretations have influenced public life in India was evident during the recent protest against corruption in India led by social activist Anna Hazare, which was supported by millions across the country. In the final days of Hazare's Gandhi-style fast in Delhi, Sonu Nigam, a popular singer in the Indian film industry and the one who sang Vaiṣṇavajana to at Harvard, visited the venue of the fast and sang inspirational songs (see figure 6.4). The first piece Nigam chose was Vaiṣṇavajana to, which is Hazare's favorite. A video clip of the performance shows that as the song advances, Hazare and literally thousands of people gathered at the venue begin (p.206) clapping.110 The participants in this event might have identified the ideal person described in the song with Hazare. The clip gives a glimpse into how a saint-poet tradition acquires new meanings through performance in specific contexts and how profoundly Gandhi's mediation has influenced the representation of this Narasinha song as inspirational popular culture in modern media, to which I now turn.

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A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma Notes:

(1) . The video clip is available at http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=kpDoYBpUn_o. The same clip also formed a part of a Telugu news broadcast on the satellite television channel of Andhra Pradesh—TV5. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?

Figure 6.4 Sonu Nigam singing Vaiṣṇavajana to in support of Anna Hazare at Ramlila Medan, Delhi. Source: TV9 Gujarat News.

v=ywz9ULdMUo4&fea+ture=fvwrel. Both clips accessed on May 5, 2011. (2) . Obama evoked Gandhi in a speech during his reelection campaign. See, https://www.you+tube.com/watch?v=-QrmQBcfu0s (accessed on August 18, 2013). Obama evoked Gandhi again in 2012 in a United Nations speech against violence erupting against Americans in the world (https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=2z6A7lGxBfM, accessed on August 18, 2013). (3) . From the syllabus for Marshall Ganz's course titled “Public narrative: Self & Us & Now” that was taught at Harvard in fall 2012, available at http:// marshallganz.usmblogs.com/+files/2012/08/MLD-355-Fall-2012-FinalSyllabus.pdf (accessed on August 18, 2013). (4) . For the references to these figures in the Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (CWMG), see its volume 99 (1992). (5) . For references to Tulsidas's Ramayana (Rāmcaritmānas), see Gandhi 1957: 32. There are over a hundred references to Tulsidas in the CWMG. The print version of CWMG was published between 1958 and 1994 by the Publications Division of the Government of India; in 1999, CWMG was published in electronic form as Mahatma Gandhi—Interactive Multimedia—Electronic Book in 1999 also by the Publications Division, Government of India. This version generated a controversy over errors and omissions and was recalled. However, after checking the parts cited in this work in the printed original version for accuracy, I have chosen to cite the electronic version as reproduced on http:// www.gan+dhiserve.org/cwmg/cwmg.html as CWMG (E) so that a reader

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A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma interested in seeing the larger context can do so. Citations also have dates in text or notes so that an interested reader can refer to the print version. (6) . Even though Narasinha is not mentioned in the Gandhi's autobiography, there are numerous references to him in the Collected Works. In Gandhi's Religious Thought, Margaret Chatterjee stresses Gandhi's special relationship with Narasinha. See, for example, Chatterjee 1983: 15, 178; Majmudar 2005: 24, 125. (7) . CWMG (E) 10: 144–146. Akho (seventeenth century) and Dayaram (eighteenth to nineteenth century) are well known poets of Gujarati who composed popular devotional songs. (8) . For Gandhi's speech at the Gujarati Sahitya Parishad, see CWMG (E) 70: 25–35. (9) . M. Chatterjee 1983: 1. (10) . Fernandes 2003: 8–9. (11) . There are innumerable expressions of Gandhi's thoughts on nonviolent action for greater good in his writings. But in responses to direct questions or messages, its articulation is clearer. See, for example, the answers to Drew Pearson's questions in February 1924 (CWMG [E] 27: 7–9) and his statement linking nonviolence and faith in the truth with constructive programs in a message to Satyagrahis in 1940 (Hitavada, December 18, 1940, CWMG [E] 79: 442). Margaret Chatterjee notes that in Gandhi's religious thought, action toward loksamgraha (welfare of all) forms the culmination of moral insight and spiritual practice (Chatterjee 1983: 31). (12) . In his foreword to The Bhagavad Gita according to Gandhi, Michael Nagler, for example, insists that the Bhagavad Gītā is the key to understanding Gandhi (Strohmeier 2009: vii); Robert Ellsberg points out the influence of Christian ideals and Tolstoy's writings on Gandhi (Ellsberg 1991: xi–xiii). (13) . Patel 2006: 280–329. Gandhi is known to have intimated his love for English poetry to Dattatreya Kalelkar (better known as Kaka Kalelkar) when he told her that if he had sacrificed anything for his country, it was the leisure to read English poems. (14) . Elwin in Desai 1932: 11–12. (15) . Gandhi 1980[1927]: 301. The translation from the original Gujarati is mine.

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A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma (16) . M. Chatterjee 1983: 13, 158, 178. The exploration of metaphors runs throughout Chatterjee's book. But she specifically refers to their significance in understanding Gandhi at the end of the introduction (13). (17) . Young India, November 20, 1924 (CWMG [E] 29: 270). (18) . CWMG (E) 77: 253. Letter to Amrit Kaur, January 24, 1940. (19) . CWMG (E) 96: 17. The letter is dated July 9, 1947. (20) . Harijan, May 5, 1936 (CWMG [E] 68: 382). (21) . Gandhi 1980 [1927]: 501–502. The translation from the original Gujarati here is mine. (22) . Gandhi 1980: 32–35. A number of scholars note that Gandhi's moral life remained rooted in the devotional songs and stories of saint-poets of Gujarat and India, which had stirred him deeply since childhood (Chatterjee 1983: 15, 178; N. Desai vol. 3 2003: 91; Majmudar 2005: 42–43). The former Indian prime minister Narasimha Rao (1991–1996) discussed in detail the contribution of the traditions of saint-poets, especially Narasinha Mehta, in shaping Gandhi's religious imagination in his memorial lecture titled “Gandhi in the Global Village” given in Paris during the United Nations' celebration of the Year of Tolerance in 1995. The lecture is now available at http://unesdoc.unesco.org/ +images/0010/001013/101367eb.pdf (accessed on May 8, 2011). (23) . N. Desai (Vol. 1) 2003: 14. (24) . Gandhi 1957[1929]: 31–35. (25) . Ashram Bhajanavali 1994 [1922]. (26) . The letter was written to Punjabhai on December 10, 1925 (CWMG [E] 33: 293). The response to the teacher appeared in Navajivan, July 18, 1926 (CWMG [E] 36: 63). (27) . Gandhi 1957 [1929]: 67–70, 135–138, 297–299. For a reference to the inspiration for nonviolence in Tolstoy's Kingdom of God Is Within You, see Young India, September 20, 1928 (CWMG [E] 43: 4). (28) . Preface to Srimad Rajchandra, November 5, 1926 (CWMG [E] 36: 466). (29) . See Rajchandra 1976 [1951]: 279, 733; Mehta 1987 [1970]: 159. (30) . Srimad Rajchandra, November 5, 1926 (CWMG [E] 36: 477). (31) . N. Desai (vol. 1) 2003: 391. For Gandhi in South Africa also see Bhana and Shukla-Bhatt 2011. Page 36 of 42

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A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma (32) . Indian Opinion, July 13, 1907 (CWMG [E] 7: 61). (33) . The other figure mentioned in the letter is Sudama, Krishna's childhood friend in Hindu mythology, who was very poor. The letter was written in September 1911 (see CWMG [E] 12: 50–52). (34) . For reference to Ruskin, see Gandhi 1957[1929]: 298–299. (35) . Letter to Jamnadas, written on July 2, 1913 (CWMG [E] 13: 191–193). (36) . Harijan Bandhu, April 14, 1933 (CWMG [E] 60: 390). (37) . For the personal letters, see CWMG (E) 43: 326; 56: 247. For the Bhagavad Gītā discourses, see CWMG (E) 37: 185. (38) . Letter dated December 23, 1921 (CWMG [E] 25: 330). Gandhi took great interest in all aspects of Desai's life because, as he mentioned in a letter to his own estranged eldest son, Harilal, Desai had come to take Harilal's place. See the letter dated May 1, 1918 (CWMG [E] 17: 15). (39) . N. C. Kelkar, the editor of the Marathi magazine Kesari (est. 1881), for example, held this view (see Cashman 1975: 11–12). For Ambedkar's views, see “A Reply to the Mahatma by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar” 2004: 44. Also available at Columbia University's digital archive, http://ccnmtl.columbia.edu/projects/mmt/ ambedkar/web/index.html. (40) . Zelliot 1982: 153. (41) . Gandhi 1980: 402. The translation from the original Gujarati is mine. (42) . For the history of the Satyagraha Ashram, see CWMG (E) 56: 178. Gandhi wrote this history in Gujarati in 1932 while he was in prison. It was published in 1948 by Navajivan Press in Gujarati; its English translation by Valji Govindji Desai was published in 1955 by this press as Ashram Observances in Action. The reference here is from that translation as reproduced in CWMG (E). (43) . The letter was published in Gujarati on December 30, 1917 (CWMG [E] 16: 137–141). (44) . Navajivan, February 26, 1922 (CWMG [E] 26: 236). (45) . Navajivan, Aril 19, 1925. For this speech, which focused on the issue of untouchability, see CWMG (E) 31: 128–132. (46) . The other two Hindu examples are Mira's rejection of her husband's religious views and the mythical Prahalad's refusal to obey his father's command to stop worshipping Vishnu. Navajivan, August 8, 1920 (CWMG [E] 21: 128).

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A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma (47) . Letter to Prabhashankar Pattani, October 19, 1934 (CWMG [E] 65: 198). (48) . Letter to Ramdas written in 1928 (CWMG [E] 43: 479–480). (49) . Letter to Prabhashankar Pattani, October 19, 1934 (CWMG [E] 65: 198). (50) . Letters to Saraladevi Sarabhai written on September 26, 1937, and to Vijaya Pancholi written on January 9, 1948. The translation in the letter to Sarabhai is slightly different (CWMG [E] 72: 246; 98: 205). (51) . For references to the long endeavor to put the Gītā's teachings into practice, see Strohmeier 2009: xvi. (52) . The quote is from Gītā discourse given on March 20, 1926. Gandhi explains the meaning of several verses with references to Narasinha. See CWMG (E) 37: 108, 123, 142, 185, 189. (53) . From “Foreword” to the Gujarati translation of Gokhale's speeches, written in 1918 (CWMG [E] 16: 268). (54) . Young India, August 14, 1924 (CWMG [E] 28: 461). (55) . M. Chatterjee 1983: 136–137. (56) . Ashram Bhajanavali, the compilation of hymns sung at Gandhi's ashrams, was translated into English by Gandhi in between 1928 and 1930 (CWMG [E]50: 323–406). It was published as a collection by Navajivan Press, Ahmedabad in 1947 and has gone through several editions. It contains nine songs attributed to Narasinha. For Cynthia Snodgrass's remarks, see her unpublished thesis at University of Stirling, UK, titled “The Sounds of Satyagraha: Mahatma Gandhi”s Use of Sung Prayer and Ritual” available at https://+dspace.stir.ac.uk/bitstream/ 1893/555/1/Sounds%20of%20Satyagraha.pdf (accessed on August 22, 2013). (57) . Young India, December 10, 1925 (CWMG [E] 33: 273). (58) . See Gandhi's Gita: My Mother (1962). (59) . Harijan, June 3, 1933 (CWMG [E] 61: 480). (60) . N. Desai (vol. 3) 2003: 391. (61) . Gandhi loosely translated the first line as, “He is a Vaishnava who identifies himself with others' sorrows” (see CWMG [E] 50: 376). (62) . Letter to Narandas Gandhi, September 25 and 30, 1930 (CWMG [E] 50: 101–102). (63) . N. Desai (vol. 3) 2003: 391.

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A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma (64) . Chatterjee 1983: 3. (65) . For a reference to the blessings at Devdas's wedding, see CWMG (E) 61: 167. The song was also sung at Prabhudas Gandhi's wedding in 1933 and at the weddings of Gandhi's granddaughters in 1937 (see CWMG [E] 62: 47; 71: 196). (66) . Desai (vol. 4) 2003: 136; CWMG (E) 95: 234. (67) . Navajivan, Dec. 5, 1920 (CWMG [E] 22: 57). (68) . Ibid. (69) . Navajivan, Dec. 12, 1920 (CWMG [E] 22: 83). (70) . Navajivan, Dec. 12, 1920 (CWMG [E] 22: 81–82). (71) . For references to Vaiṣṇavajana to in relation to fasts, see CWMG (E) 33: 273. (72) . For the performances of Vaiṣṇava-jana to on the Salt March, see chapters 41 and 42, Desai (vol. 2) 2003. (73) . The Hindu, February 2, 1946 (CWMG [E] 89: 339). (74) . See the article “Her Hymn, Singer MS Subbulakshmi's Gift to Gandhi” by Samarth Subramanian in the e-paper livemint.com, dated January 29, 2009, at http://www.live+mint.com/2009/01/29185202/Her-hymn.html?h=B (accessed on January 13, 2012). (75) . Bilgrami 2011: 93–116. (76) . Ibid., 93–94. (77) . For example, on October 2, 2009, at a grand celebration of Gandhi's birthday, it was performed in Chennai by non-Gujaratis for a South Indian audience (see The Hindu, October 10, 2009). (78) . Article by Akila Kannadasan, The Hindu, January 23, 2011, at http:// www.thehindu.com/+news/cities/Coimbatore/article1111557.ece (accessed on May 22, 2011). (79) . Article by Subhajit Roy, Indian Express, January 11, 2011, at http:// archive.indianexpress.com/news/gandhigiri-with-hamas-ahmedinejad/735905/1. (80) . See http://nanhikaliboston.org/nanhi-kali-benefit-concert-by-the-mt-auburnstring-quartet (accessed on May 22, 2011). (81) . See http://www.facebook.com/goddessdurga/posts/129785757091277 (accessed on May 22, 2011). Page 39 of 42

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A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma (82) . An excellent source on the depth and breadth of the appeal of “Amazing Grace” as a hymn and inspirational song in America is Amazing Grace with Bill Moyers, an outstanding film produced by Elena Mannes. Here, the journalist and public commentator Bill Moyers takes viewers on a journey through the country, interviewing its singers from a range of social backgrounds. Tributes to the song come from the well-known singers Judy Collins, Johnny Cash, and Jessye Norman. (83) . Steve Turner's book Amazing Grace: The Story of America's Most Beloved Song (2002) narrates the story of the song's composition and dissemination. (84) . NKK: 65, BJ MS # 1731, VS 1881 (1824 CE). (85) . NKK: 381, 359. (86) . Ashram Bhajanavali 1994 [1922]: 168. The translation is mine. (87) . Young India, January 19, 1921 (CWMG [E] 22: 226). (88) . The following telegram was sent in relation to a temple-entry issue before March 10, 1924. A statement about Sriramulu's fast made on March 15, 1924, in Bombay also contains the word “Harijan.” SRIRAMULU FASTING AT NELLORE UNDER MY ADVICE FOR OPENING A TEMPLE TO HARIJANS. PLEASE GO IF PHYSICALLY ABLE OR SEND SOMEONE AND DO WHAT IS PROPER. I HAVE CONFLICTING WIRES.3 WIRE POONA. See CWMG (E) 27: 47, 57. (89) . Navajivan, August 2, 1931 (CWMG [E] 53: 166). (90) . Ibid., 170. (91) . For an overview of the Second Round Table Conference in London, the Poona Pact, and later debates, see Coward 2003: 41–66. (92) . Rawat 2011: 169–170. (93) . Rawat writes, “There is no doubt about Gandhi's personal commitment to ending the practice of untouchability.” But he points out that Gandhi's program of uplifting the Dalits was fraught with contradictions and did not have the wholehearted support of upper-caste Hindus—a fact that became increasingly clear to the Dalit leaders of north India after the Poona Pact (Rawat 2011: 167– 169). Bilgrami writes, “It has to be said in fairness, that he [Gandhi] was as opposed as anyone among the political leaders of India, to the hierarchical aspects of caste, and wrote with fervent passion in direct and eloquent prose against it.” But he further argues that for Gandhi, caste (not untouchability) Page 40 of 42

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A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma represented a heterogeneity inherent to Hinduism. He wanted heterogeneity without hierarchy—a notion not fully worked out—leading to events like the Poona Pact, which was, “confused, confusing, and highly problematic” (Bilgrami 2011: 104–105). (94) . Desai (vol. 3) 2003: 160. (95) . Harijan Sevak (Hindi) February 23, 1933. A similar article in English appeared in Harijan, February 11, 1933. In the first issue of the Gujarati Harijan Bandhu on March 12, 1933, Gandhi exhorts Gujarati Hindus to take up atonement (CWMG [E] 59: 344, 234; CWMG [E] 60: 27–29). (96) . “Replies to the Depressed Classes Deputation,” Madras, December 22, 1933, as reported in The Hindu, December 23, 1933 (CWMG [E] 62: 327). (97) . Harijan Bandhu, April 2, 1933 (CWMG [E] 60: 243). (98) . Ambedkar (vol. 5) 1989: 363. The essay is also available in the Selected Works of B. R. Ambedkar, p. 963, at http:// drambedkarbooks.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/+selected-work-of-dr-b-rambedkar.pdf. (99) . D. R. Nagaraj as cited by Desai 2003 (3): 155. (100) . Zelliot 1992: 173. Here, Zelliot notes Ambedkar's statement at the time of his conversion to Buddhism (1956) that he had kept his promise to Gandhi that he would choose a path that would be “the least harmful” for the country. On the other hand, it is widely believed that Gandhi wanted Ambedkar to be the prime minister. (101) . See Guha's article titled “Heroes in Their Own Right, Gandhi and Ambedkar,” Indian Express, July 24, 1997. (102) . The term “Dalit” appears to have been used first by reformer Jyotirao Phule of Maharashtra to refer to lower castes suppressed by the Brahmins. The term “Dalit” was popularized by the group “Dalit Panthers” in the 1970s (see Zelliot 1992: 267–271). In the early twentieth century, two Dalit organization, the Dalit Uddhar Mandal (Organization for the Uplift of Dalits) and the Dalit Pratinidhi Sabha (Assembly of Dalit Representatives) formed in Punjab. A weekly titled Dalit Bandhu was published from Poona in Maharashtra in the early 1930s (see CWMG [E] 41: 48; 66: 156; 59: 268). (103) . Navajivan, June 7, 1931 (CWMG [E] 52: 298). (104) . D. C. Ahir, for example, refers to the meaning of “Harijan,” “children of God,” and contrasts it with Ambedkar's efforts to win for his people their rights as “children of the soil” (Ahir as cited in Coward 2003: 41). Eleanor Zelliot Page 41 of 42

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A Saint-poet in the Making of a Mahatma discusses its replacement by the term “Dalit” as the chosen term of self-identity with a sense of “inclusion in the Ambedkar movement” (Zelliot 1992: v). (105) . George 1947: xii-xiii, 6–7. (106) . For Tagore and the Bauls' songs, see Dimock 1959: 33–51. (107) . See Choral Arts Society of Washington, Voices: Reflections on an American Icon 2007: 4. (108) . Levine 1990: 718–719. (109) . For a critique of Gandhi from the perspective of modern rational thought, see the introduction and Robert Baird's essay “The Convergence of Distinct Worlds: Nehru and Gandhi” in Indian Critiques of Gandhi, edited by Harold Coward (Coward 2003: 1–15, 19–39). (110) . See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc3dVkFfQGI (accessed on November 15, 2011).

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Songs and the Saint in Modern Media

Narasinha Mehta of Gujarat: A Legacy of Bhakti in Songs and Stories Neelima Shukla-Bhatt

Print publication date: 2014 Print ISBN-13: 9780199976416 Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: November 2014 DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199976416.001.0001

Songs and the Saint in Modern Media Narasinha Mehta in Popular Culture Neelima Shukla-Bhatt

DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199976416.003.0008

Abstract and Keywords This chapter considers the circulation of the songs, narratives, and image of the saint-poet through modern media as forming inspirational popular culture. Briefly engaging with different views of popular culture in scholarly debates, it points out that in the wide circulation of Narasinha's songs and hagiography through mass media and their association with business, they have aspects of popular culture. Yet they form a site of popular culture where socially important meanings have been articulated by its producers and consumers (who in the case of YouTube, are also its co-producers). Focusing specifically on a 1940 Hindi film made at Gandhi's suggestion, a 1991 Gujarati television serial, and several popular clips on YouTube, this chapter shows that these products of mass media serve as sites for creating socially relevant meanings for producers, actors, and viewers from diverse backgrounds. They form platforms for pluralistic conversations. Keywords:   popular culture, mass media, meanings, devotional films, YouTube, immigrant experience, cultural identity

I got sold for you (Krishna), for free. —Popular bhajan The figures of major regional saint-poets of India have acquired significance beyond the sphere of religion in modern times since many of them are also important figures in literary histories of their regions. As discussed earlier, Page 1 of 44

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Songs and the Saint in Modern Media Narasinha Mehta's songs and sacred biography have formed a major focus in literary and cultural history of Gujarat since the late nineteenth century. Today they also feature regularly in school textbooks, literary events, and cultural shows. While they continue to be a part of the popular religious practices of Hindus in Gujarat, they no longer fit exclusively within any of the prevalent scholarly definitions of popular religion.1 Literary scholarship and Gandhi's use of them in his public life have contributed greatly to their recognition beyond strictly religious contexts since the late nineteenth century. But a vitally important factor in the process since the 1930s has also been their circulation in popular media—film, radio, audio cassettes and CDs, television, and now Internet-based portals like YouTube. The songs and narratives circulating in these media are professionally or commercially produced (except in a percentage of YouTube videos) and are based on an estimation of their broad appeal among people as sources of not only moral or devotional inspiration but also of aesthetic delight. In these contexts, they can properly be seen as forming parts of regionally based popular culture that targets ever-larger audiences.2 In this chapter, we will look at the circulation of Narasinha's songs and hagiography in popular media focusing on selected instances. This will show how, in these media, they provide sites of articulating meanings that are not strictly bhakti oriented and sometimes generate conversations among people from diverse (p.208) backgrounds. As such, they show potential for constructive use in public life. Let us begin with a brief discussion of the term “popular culture” and its applicability to Narasinha's songs and sacred biography as disseminated through contemporary mass media. We will then turn to a consideration of instances of such dissemination and their implications.

Popular Culture Popular culture has been an area of lively debates within cultural studies, where it is discussed in many different senses.3 The lack of consensus about a precise definition of “popular culture” may partly result from the “implied otherness” in terms of which it is often discussed.4 Since the late nineteenth century, when serious consideration of it began, popular culture has been seen as the “other” of a desirable alternative in many scholarly perspectives. In early discussions, it appeared as the disruptive “other” of the high elite culture.5 Later, when socioeconomic dominance and resistance to it became central issues for some major schools in cultural studies such as the Frankfurt school, popular culture circulating through mass media came to be seen as representing oppressive capitalism that turns people into passive consumers.6 Some American scholars of communication and cultural studies like John Fiske and Paul Willis, however, have viewed popular culture as a site of meaning making, including the expression of resistance. They argue that even though audiences do not manufacture mass media products, they exert cultural agency in selecting, highlighting, re-creating, and appropriating meanings from these Page 2 of 44

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Songs and the Saint in Modern Media products. Making a distinction between “financial economy,” which relates to production and consumption and “cultural economy,” which relates to emergence of meaning, Fiske argues that audiences play a crucial role in the latter. He also distinguishes between “social power,” related to developing a socioeconomic system and “semiotic power” related to meaning making, which audiences possess. This power, he suggests, gives them the capacity to resist dominance.7 Willis stresses the aspect of interpretation, selection, and reselection by audiences in particular contexts and terms it “grounded aesthetics,” which is not simply a quality of beauty in a thing, but a result of symbolic activity of creating meanings.8 Thus, these scholars see audiences as co-producers of meanings rather than as passive consumers. In the case of YouTube videos, the distinction between producers and consumers of popular culture, in effect, becomes blurry. From this perspective, songs and stories of saint-poets like Narasinha Mehta that circulate in popular media, especially in YouTube videos, can be seen as forming instances of popular culture through which people articulate meanings important to them. These include expressions of devotion, moral values, linguistic identity, and interestingly, both commercial aspirations and resistance to (p.209) dominance. Narasinha's songs and stories, as we have seen, are associated with devotion as well as with Gujarat's cultural identity. The more popular ones among them have a broad appeal and provide a platform for conversations among people from diverse backgrounds. In mass media, the songs and stories are necessarily associated with commercial interests. Yet they have also been used to support egalitarian social ideology and the dignity of the marginalized. Gandhi's favorite hymn, available in a large number of formats and innumerable versions, serves internationally as his message of love and compassion. In their new roles, the songs and stories of Narasinha do not belong to a single religious community but to the people who relate to the Gujarati language and, more broadly, to all who may create meanings out of them. As briefly mentioned earlier, the theologian Gordon Lynch has discussed the need for developing what he terms “theological aesthetics of popular culture.” Following John Dewey's pragmatist aesthetics, he recommends making aesthetic judgments about popular culture from the perspective of ethics, an area traditionally associated with religion. He proposes examining whether specific products of a popular culture are “honest, challenging, and redemptive,” and whether they can help in building “just and peaceable communities.” In other words, popular culture components should be judged not merely in terms of their enjoyability, but also in terms of their potential to inspire people to achieve different aspects of what it means “to be fully human” morally, spiritually, and socially.9

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Songs and the Saint in Modern Media Narasinha's songs and hagiographic narratives circulating in popular media provide meaningful sites for the kind of exploration Lynch suggests. The meanings constructed by people out of them give evidence of their ability to inspire and to create platforms for individuals from diverse communities to engage in meaningful exchanges, seen especially in the interactive YouTube video comments. In what follows, we will look at the circulation of Narasinha's songs and narratives in different popular media and the way they have served as sites of meaning making in recent history and current times.

Narasinha's Songs in Recorded Form Recorded music is a major avenue of circulation for Narasinha's songs today. Their recorded circulation began with the establishment of All India Radio stations, first in Mumbai (1936) and then in Gujarat (1956).10 People who had access to radio in the 1940s remember listening to some Narasinha songs on the Mumbai radio station's Gujarati programs, often in the voice of Mathuriben Khare, the daughter of Narayan Khare, who set the popular tune of Vaiṣṇavajana to.11 But since 1956, when Akashvani (the Indian name for All India Radio adopted in 1956) became a household name in Gujarat, and radios started being played in the markets in small eateries, tea stalls, and betel leaf (pān) stalls, they also could be heard in (p.210) these unconventional places with people humming along. Today Narasinha's morning hymns, which may be heard at daybreak in rural areas sung by women cleaning their courtyards or farmers walking to their fields, are also associated with the early-morning programs of Akashvani for a large number of people.12 They are so popular as parts of these programs that an announcer for a radio station once jokingly said, “If deceased poets had to be paid royalty, the radio stations of Gujarat would have to pay the highest royalty to Narasinha Mehta.”13 Since the 1980s, audio cassettes and CDs of Narasinha's songs have also circulated in Gujarat. A large number of popular renderings may be heard in cabs, tea-stalls, or small eateries. The best known of them, Narasinha Mehta, Uttam pado (Narasinha Mehta, the best lyrics) by Asit Desai, his wife Hema Desai and group first came out in cassette form and then in CD.14 In their concerts, Asit and Hema Desai often incorporate Narasinha's songs of Krishna-līlā and contemplative mood, especially Vaiṣṇavajana to (see figure 7.1). It was produced with the aim of preserving the literary and musical heritage of Gujarat associated with Narasinha Mehta in a more permanent form. The recording, which began as a collaborative project with the literary scholar and poet Jawahar Baxi, has sold thousands of copies and now has individual numbers available on such Internet stores as Amazon.15 The album is prized for its selection of lyrics, authenticity of tunes, and renderings by well-known singers and for the accompanying booklet containing an evocative introduction and lyrics. It is found widely in the homes of educated (p.211) middle-class Gujarati

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Songs and the Saint in Modern Media speakers. For some diaspora Gujaratis, it also forms a channel for educating children in their regional culture. Although the audio recordings of the songs form an important way for people to carry the songs along, here we will focus on the media with both audio and visual aspects in which Narasinha's songs and hagiography are interlinked. These give a glimpse into various types of meaning making around the songs and stories at different points in recent history—the Hindi film Narsi Bhagat (1940), the

Figure 7.1 Asit and Hema Desai, singing Vaiṣṇavajana to. Courtesy: Ashit Desai.

Gujarati television serial Narsaiyo (1991), and a few YouTube videos (since 2007). The film and television representations bring the sacred biography and the songs alive with interpretations by producers and directors at important junctures in pre- and post-independence India. The film was made in the heyday of the freedom movement, and the television serial in the early years of Gujarati television and economic liberalization in the country. These productions reflected the sociopolitical concerns of their times and presented interpretations relevant to them through the character of Narasinha.16 The YouTube videos and the comment boards associated with them serve as important venues for sharing and conversations among individuals in different parts of the world in contemporary times. They allow us to see meaning making around Narasinha's songs and sacred biography in the process.

The Saint in Celluloid—The Hindi Film Narsi Bhagat (1940) The first Hindi film on Narasinha Mehta was Narsi Bhagat (1940) made by the noted Gujarati producer-director Vijay Bhatt (1907–1993). It was produced during the heyday of India's independence movement, in which Gandhi had emerged as the towering figure. It was also a time when the Indian film industry was beginning to tap into the power of cinema to address contemporary issues, using religious themes. Film, with its appeal to the imagination and ability to evoke powerful emotions, has long provided a medium for conveying religious themes and concerns about human existence in both of its thriving centers in the world—Hollywood and Bollywood (Bombay film industry).17 In early twentiethcentury India, the symbiosis between religion and cinema was particularly strong. As Rachel Dwyer's study shows, in this context, films with religious

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Songs and the Saint in Modern Media themes also played a pivotal role in shaping public culture as well as national and community identities.18 The film industry took roots in India in the early twentieth century in the context of British rule. The colonial presence provided an important (though not the only) motivational force for using the cinema to articulate Indian identity and cultural values. Religion played a crucial role in this cultural project. Traditional myths and legends as well as narratives about saints provided rich resources for projecting Indian culture as timeless and, therefore, both ancient and modern. (p.212) They therefore formed the basis of the two foundational genres of Indian cinema, the mythological and the devotional. The first dramatic film made on an Indian subject, produced by Indians in collaboration with the British in 1912, was on a Marathi saint, Pundalik. In 1913, Dadasaheb Phalke, known as the father of Indian cinema, produced the first indigenous silent film about the truthful king Harishchandra of Indian mythology. After the coming of talkies in 1931, Hindi and regional-language films based on saints' lives, which were replete with songs, became popular. Some of these were bilingual, in Hindi for national reach and in the regional language of the saint-poet for better appeal for the people of his or her region.19 Film as Hagiographic Scroll

The medium of film is particularly suitable for hagiographic narration about the saint-poets of India because it allows the incorporation of songs. In some traditional retellings of hagiographic narratives, the narrator incorporates song but the narrative remains in the third person and the audience recognizes the song performances as a reenactment. A film, however, creates a celluloid reincarnation of the saint. The figure of the saint is portrayed in a medieval background singing devotional songs in melodious tunes. The moments of the songs' composition are manifested on the screen. If the film is in the original language of the saint-poet, the incorporation of songs reinforces their authenticity. If it is not, the songs included in loose translations but popular tunes still offer the audiences a taste of the devotional and musical fervor of the regional songs. Further, even though the film experience is not generally considered participatory, ethnographic research by film scholars indicates that singing along or cheering is not uncommon in Indian cinema halls.20 People may be heard singing along with the refrain of popular songs in saint-poet films.21 With visual recreation of the saint's milieu, professional musical performances, and controlled narration, a hagiographic film allows the devout to be imaginatively transported to the saint's world and be absorbed in the emotions being portrayed. Such an experience can be an evocation of devotion for the attuned. For those to whom the saint is not a devotional figure, the moral interpretations conveyed through his or her figure in a dramatic manner along with the music still have much to offer. As Dwyer notes, a devotional film may produce a “feeling of community … bound to the film by songs and emotions.”

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Songs and the Saint in Modern Media But the community thus formed is not exclusively devotional, because “saint films” often portray the protagonists as moral heroes and social reformers.22 The saint films of the 1930s and 1940s took advantage of the possibilities offered by the medium to create a popular devotional genre, which also conveyed ideas about reform as put forward by Hindu leaders like Mahadev Govind Ranade (1842–1901) of Maharashtra and Gandhi, who had found in the saint-poet traditions inspirational sources for egalitarian social organization. Some of the most (p.213) successful hagiographic films made by Marathi producers— Dharmatma (on Eknath, 1935, in Hindi and Marathi), Sant Tukaram (1936, Marathi), and Sant Dnyaneshwar (1941, Marathi and Hindi)—depicted the lives of popular Varkari saint-poets of Maharashtra with messages challenging Brahminical authority and advocating social equality.23 Unsurprisingly, Gujarati producers and directors turned to Narasinha Mehta. The first film on Narasinha, which was also the first film in the Gujarati language, was Narasinh Mehta (1932) directed by Nanubhai Vakil (1904–1980). The film is known for its exclusion of miracles, often seen as the result of Gandhian influence.24 A bilingual film by producer and director Vijay Bhatt (1907–1993) that is more widely known in the devotional genre appeared eight years later. The Vijay Bhatt Film

Vijay Bhatt's film on Narasinha was made in Hindi (Narsi Bhagat) and in Gujarati (Narsi Mehta) and did incorporate miracles. Even though in its inclusion of the miraculous the film was not Gandhian, it was made as a tribute to Gandhi because the suggestion to make it had, in fact, come directly from him. In the late 1930s, Bhatt was a young filmmaker who had already produced over thirty films and was turning to direction. On a visit to south Gujarat, Bhatt went to have darśan (sacred viewing) of the Mahatma with friends. When Gandhi asked him about his profession, he said, “I make films.” The only other question Gandhi asked was whether he had considered making a film on Narasinha Mehta. The filmmaker, who was turning from thrillers and social drama to a nationalist phase in his own career, took up this suggestion with enthusiasm and began work on the script, in which he closely engaged with Gandhi's interpretations of the saint.25 The leading role went to Vishnupant Pagnis, who had been acclaimed for playing Tukaram in the above-mentioned Marathi film. Durga Khote, a veteran actress of Hindi cinema, played the role of his wife. Pagnis was a well-known singer of devotional songs in Marathi. He and the famous female singer Amirbai Karnataki sang the songs set to tunes by Shankar Rao and Vyas. The lyrics used in the Hindi version are not the original Narasinha songs. Some are loose translations; others are by Pundit Anuj, emulating moods of Narasinha lyrics for non-Gujarati Page 7 of 44

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Songs and the Saint in Modern Media audiences. The film was well received and celebrated a “silver-jubilee” (twentyfive weeks of consecutive running) in many places. The Filmshow Annual 1941 published from Karachi and Lahore noted that it proved to be a “veritable gold mine … doing topping business in every station.”26 The film's success paralleled the popularity of Narasinha's story in the premodern musical narrations of māṇ bhaṭṭs. Yet Gandhi, the single most important potential viewer from director Bhatt's point of view, unfortunately did not watch it.27 If Gandhi had seen the film, he would have found that Bhatt had opened in it a space for debate about Narasinha and more generally about sainthood. The (p. 214) film incorporates Gandhian interpretations of sainthood in stressing the inseparability of bhakti from sympathy for the marginalized and in depicting Narasinha as a gentle resister. It also draws many parallels between the saint and Gandhi through visual and narrative devices. Yet it departs clearly from Gandhi's views on miracles and erotic poetry, and endorses the popular perspective on them. It therefore offers an important site for an examination of meaning making around the figure of the saint in modern popular media. The narrative structure of Narsi Bhagat closely follows Narasaῖ Mehtā nũ Ākhyān, the hagiographic text discussed earlier. However, it makes important innovations in order to stress the theme of active love as an aspect of bhakti, and to draw parallels between the saint and Gandhi. An important innovation is the character of Sarangdhar, who represents the oppressive power structures of the society. Sarangdhar is Narasinha's sister-in-law's brother, the dharmādhikārī (the officer in charge of moral order [dharma]) in the city of Junagadh, and a leader of its Nagar Brahmin community. He initiates every incident of Narasinha's persecution in the film. His misuse of authority as a leader of the Brahmin community and as an officer in the state machinery of Junagadh adds to the dramatic tension in the film. Narasinha's resistance to his authority parallels Gandhi's resistance to both Hindu orthodoxy and the British government. The first two scenes frame the main theme of the film—loving kindness to fellow beings as the core of bhakti and sainthood. The film opens on the exterior of a temple, and the camera slowly moves toward the inner sanctum. The visual recreation of the experience of a temple visit is completed with a Krishna image appearing on the screen for a few seconds. Then, devotees are shown repeating a Krishna chant led by a holy man. The child Narasinha is sitting in the front engrossed in the chant. As people begin to leave, Narasinha's grandmother arrives to look for him. The holy man learns from her that Narasinha cannot speak. He puts his hand on the child's head and gently makes him chant “Radhe Govind.” Narasinha gains his speech with the blessings of this devout man. The scene fades with the child repeating the chant and the adult Narasinha appearing on the screen. The holy man's kindness establishes empathy for the suffering and readiness to help as core aspects of religiousness.

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Songs and the Saint in Modern Media In the next two scenes, before Narasinha's departure from home, the theme of active love is carried forward. In the first, his sympathy for the poor is pitted against the arrogant ways of Sarangdhar. Narasinha is shown distributing grains among the poor while singing a devotional song. Sarangdhar comes with his subordinates, and in his capacity as the dharmādhikārī of the city, reprimands Narasinha for wasting the grains meant for sādhus (holy men). Narasinha gently submits that in their experience of hunger, the poor and the sādhus are the same. This angers Sarangdhar, and he instantly dismisses Narasinha from the job. The jobless Narasinha is reprimanded further by his sister-in-law. As we have seen, in traditional narratives Narasinha leaves home hurt by the sister-inlaw's taunts. (p.215) The film, however, introduces yet another scene to reinforce empathy as the core of religiousness. Late that night, a widow in the neighborhood loses her son and has no one to help her with the funeral. Narasinha rushes out to help her, with his wife's assistance. When he returns, the sister-in-law does not allow him to enter the house, and Narasinha leaves home. The scenes expand on the theme of empathy and suggest that taking personal risks forms a part of following the path of humane religiousness. The theme of active love is further developed in the next few scenes about Narasinha's initiation into bhakti and his building of an inclusive devotional community. These scenes also draw close parallels between the saint and Gandhi. The episode of Narasinha's initiation in Krishna bhakti broadly follows the traditional narrative. He meditates on Shiva, who takes him to Krishna's celestial realm. Narasinha's absorption in the celestial dance is followed by the transformation of his consciousness into that of a gopī. He does not want to return to the earth, but Krishna gives him the gift of songs and asks him to return home and spread the ideology of bhakti. In depicting this scene, the director keeps the visual focus on the equal partnership of Krishna and the gopīs in dance. An innovation is introduced in the next scene. When Narasinha returns to the world, the first person he meets is his wife, Manek. He now accepts her as a sakhī (female friend) and makes her his partner in the vocation of spreading bhakti. But he clearly asserts that from that day on, they would live together not as husband and wife, but as two gopīs. In the traditional narratives, Manek is a cooperating wife, but not his partner in bhakti. Nor there is any mention of radical changes in their conjugal life after Narasinha's return from the realm of Krishna. The innovation in the film creates a parallel with the biography of Gandhi, whose wife was his constant companion in his public service, but who embraced celibacy with increasing involvement in this service. Narasinha welcomes poor devotees in his community. As he walks toward home with Manek, singing devotional songs, large crowds begin to join him, singing and dancing along. His companions are poor women and men living on the outskirts of the city. They move through the city streets making their voices Page 9 of 44

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Songs and the Saint in Modern Media heard in bhajans. As the wealthy look from their windows at the singing crowd, men frown; but women watch with admiration, regretting their inability to join. This is one of the most powerful scenes in the film, portraying people's excited response to a participatory form of devotion. The large crowds following Narasinha convey the power of bhakti; but they also serve as a visual reminder of Gandhi's Dandi march and demonstrations involving the masses. When the procession reaches Narasinha's house, the sister-in-law refuses to allow Narasinha to come back home. His social status is stripped completely. Manek and children Kunvar (Kunvarbai) and Shamal (Shamaldas) also leave home. Narasinha and Manek establish a household in a poor neighborhood on the outskirts of the city, adopting the lifestyle of their neighbors. Mendicants (p. 216) and sadhus become members of his family. The scene offers a visual parallel to Gandhi's ashram on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, where he established a community of simple living on his return from South Africa in 1915. With Narasinha's identity with the poor established, his association with Dalits is introduced in the next sequence. Manek is worried because it is time to send Kunvar to her husband's house with customary gifts for a daughter. Sarangdhar and his cohorts among the Nagar Brahmins are gleeful about the prospect of Narasinha's failure and his loss of prestige. But Narasinha is saved when the merchant Dharnidhar delivers the money he owed to the family. Sarangdhar discovers that Narasinha had not only managed to give his daughter the customary gifts, he had also invited all his low-class and low-caste neighbors for a feast following the installation of an image of Krishna in his household. The Brahmin dharmādhikārī rushes to Narasinha's house and questions Manek about their sense of dharma. He accuses the couple of corrupting the varnāśrama dharma (rules of caste distinction) by inviting low-caste people. Manek responds, “What dharma? For me, dharma is to feed the hungry. I had to serve food to those who came to have darśan of Krishna.” This incident is not found in premodern narratives. Even the narratives that focus on Narasinha's association with “untouchables” depict him as going to their neighborhoods, not inviting them to his own place for a feast. The innovation closely parallels the incident from Gandhi's life in which he faced difficulties after inviting a Dalit family to live in his ashram.28 The next stage of active love involves taking a public stand against discrimination. This is articulated in the next two scenes in Narasinha's rejection of untouchability without getting into bitter conflicts. The first depicts the narrative about Narasinha's visit to the Dalit neighborhood to sing bhajans. His hosts are overwhelmed with gratitude. But Narasinha asserts that social discrimination is manmade; there is no such thing in God's eyes. The one who

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Songs and the Saint in Modern Media worships Hari belongs to him. Even though the term “Harijan” is not used, the sense is clearly conveyed. The second scene depicts another popular story about Narasinha's association with the Dalits. In order to insult Narasinha and make his excommunication official, Sarangdhar invites all the Nagar Brahmins of Junagadh to a meal except Narasinha. When the Brahmins sit down to dine, however, each sees an “untouchable” sitting next to himself, and chaos follows. Finally someone suggests inviting Narasinha. He readily agrees to come if it would help. When he arrives, all is back to normal. A few variations to the traditional story are introduced. There is no mention of the host's name in the original story. But in the film, it is Sarangdhar. As guests arrive, he greets them as jātigangā (the Ganga of the caste), acknowledging their purity. When the feast is about to start, unlike the traditional narrative where the Brahmins see “untouchables” in the file some of them are actually transformed into “untouchables.” In the chaos that ensues, the Brahmins start calling one another “untouchable.” Sarangdhar interprets this as Narasinha's trick. But a wise Nagar asserts that it was their faulty perspective (p.217) (dṛṣṭidoṣa) that had caused it. Narasinha is not bitter; nor does he deny his membership in the community. The parallel with Gandhi's identification as a Hindu despite his opposition to untouchability is clear. Having established a deep concern for the poor and the low-caste “untouchables” as the core aspects of Narasinha's bhakti, the film moves rapidly to project Narasinha's sympathies as extending also to the suffering of the rich and powerful through innovations at both ends of the narrative about Narasinha's son's wedding. As the wedding party is about to leave, Narasinha learns that Sarangdhar's wife, Ratan, is infected with the plague. Sarangdhar is out of town, and his sister (Narasinha's sister-in-law) is not ready to take care of Ratan. Narasinha brings Ratan to his place and is worried about who will attend to her in their absence. Manek instantly cancels her plans to join the wedding party. As the wedding is accomplished in Vadnagar with miraculous help from Krishna, at home, Manek nurses Ratan back to health. The incident ties in the Gandhian theme of service with the repeated use of the term sevā (service, care) in the conversation between Narasinha and Manek. Around the same time that the film was made, Gandhi was nursing a leprosy patient shunned by the community in his ashram near Wardha.29 Bhatt possibly heard about this and incorporated the theme in the film. The second innovation takes the theme of active love for the community at personal cost to its logical extreme in the sacrifice of Narasinha's son's life. After the wedding party returns, the family awaits the arrival of the bride, which would take place a few months later. On the day of the bride's arrival, the queen of Junagadh visits Narasinha and asks him to save her only son from the curse of a powerful woman. She has been told by Sarangdhar that only Narasinha has the Page 11 of 44

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Songs and the Saint in Modern Media magical power that can prevent the prince's death. Narasinha responds that the only thing he knows is bhakti and that he has no knowledge of magic. The queen reveals that the only alternative to saving the prince's life is the readiness of a young man with thirty-two auspicious marks to sacrifice his own life. After the queen leaves, Narasinha recalls that the priest who had arranged his son Shamal's engagement a few months earlier had declared that the son had those marks. He asks Shamal if he would be prepared to sacrifice his life for the sake of the king and his heir, the concurrent and prospective protectors of the city. Shamal readily agrees. It is at this point that Narasinha first sings Vaiṣṇavajana to for his son. As Narasinha convinces Manek of the necessity for this ultimate sacrifice, he presents it as the last test for his son's bhakti, and asks her to show detachment. Heartbroken, Manek finally accepts the decision. The young man meets his wife once and then walks into the darkness of the night as Krishna takes him into his embrace in a nicely presented scene. Shamal's early death is mentioned in several narratives about Narasinha. But its interpretation as a sacrifice for the sake of others is radically new. The influence of Gandhi's ideology of religion is evident.30 The later part of the film follows the traditional narratives more closely, with incorporation of the miraculous. The incidents about the promissory note, the (p.218) daughter's pregnancy ceremony, and obtaining the garland from the image of Krishna are presented without much change to their premodern forms. In the first two, Krishna appears at the critical moment disguised as a merchant but gives a clear indication of his supernatural power. The climactic episode about the garland projects the miraculous more fully, with special effects. The garland is shown flying across the city from the temple to the royal courtroom where Narasinha is singing. Circumventing Gandhian skepticism, the film supports the popular belief in miracles. This might have helped the film's circulation among the masses, some of whom associated miraculous power even with Gandhi's movement, as Shahid Amin has shown.31 The film also upholds the traditional perspective on the erotic mood in devotional songs rather than the Gandhian opposition to it. Gandhi's stress on celibacy is well known. But in his speech at the All India Literary Conference in 1936, he explicitly expressed his disapproval of the erotic mood even in literature.32 As we have seen, in his allusions to Narasinha, he completely overlooked the erotic songs. To support the traditional position, the film incorporates a segment from the premodern narratives. A major accusation against Narasinha in the royal court is about erotic songs. The saint explains that his songs follow a long tradition established by great saint-poets like Jayadeva, and insists that they actually convey a message of love to serve the society. Narasinha sings devotional songs all night, urging Krishna to validate his bhakti (see figure 7.2). Narasinha's form of devotion is validated when the garland arrives flying and settles on his neck. (p.219) The repentant king and even Sarangdhar apologize. The ever-humble Narasinha assures them it was not Page 12 of 44

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Songs and the Saint in Modern Media necessary. The film ends with Narasinha leaving Junagadh singing Vaiṣṇavajana to and dying in the temple in Dwaraka. The last shot of the film, like the first, takes place inside the temple. But now Narasinha is also in the sanctum sanctorum, breathing his last at Krishna's feet. The shot visually conveys that a Vaishnava whose love for Krishna is inseparable from his active love for fellow beings is next to the divine.33 In addition to the focus on active love, the film has a great deal to offer to the traditionally devout. Two scenes presenting Krishna in his celestial form are especially important. The celestial dance, which runs for several minutes, leads the viewer to Krishna's world, with the gopīs enjoying his tender attention. The scene where Shamal is taken into Krishna's embrace powerfully conveys divine grace for the devotee with an effective use of light. A devout viewer is also invited to

Figure 7.2 A captive Narasinha praying to Krishna to send the garland, Pagnis in Narsi Bhagat. Source: Film Narsi Bhagat directed by Vijat Bhatt (1940).

imaginatively join the bhakti community of the saint, where the participants are depicted absorbed in its rasa. The scene in which Narasinha sings and dances with the “untouchables” in his neighborhood, and the one where Ratan (Sarangdhar's wife) leads a large gathering of devotees in Narasinha's home are well produced to project many layers of the bhakti milieu of Gujarat. Vijay Bhatt's film thus engages both Gandhi's interpretations and the popular understandings of the Narasinha tradition. On the one hand, in highlighting the saint's close bonds with the marginalized of his society—women, the Dalits, and the poor—and in introducing the themes of celibacy, service, and sacrifice, the film pays homage to Gandhi. At the same time, it supports the traditional belief in the miraculous and celebration of the erotic in devotional songs over the Gandhian perspective. Appearing at a time when Gandhi's thought and image were influencing the lively debates among filmmakers and critics about representations of saintly virtues and miracles in this medium, Bhatt's interpretation in Narsi Bhagat made a contribution to the dialog.34 The film however, cannot be seen as only as a part of that debate. It continues to generate interest among contemporary viewers and music lovers. I first saw it in 2002 on Zee TV, USA, and was struck by the message of resistance against Page 13 of 44

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Songs and the Saint in Modern Media oppressive structures of the society represented by the character of Sarangdhar. In a review posted in 2008 on a film-lovers' forum on the Internet, a young viewer remarks that “the movie is mythological but there is a lot to learn from this movie.”35 In another review, the writer focuses on Narasinha's poverty and his persecution by Sarangdhar for his “divergent beliefs” in empathizing with the “plight of the untouchables.”36 For both reviewers, the core of the film is its moral message; but neither refers to Gandhi. Even though both allude to its traditional content—the first describes the film as “mythological,” and the second refers to “praise of Krishna”—the specific devotional content does not get much attention in them. The film is watched as inspirational rather than as devotional.

(p.220) Narsaiyo—Gujarati Television Serial Exactly fifty years after the film by Vijay Bhatt, Narsaiyo (1991), a 27-part television serial in Gujarati was telecast by the Ahmedabad center of Doordarshan (lit. “distant viewing”), the national public television broadcast service under the government of India. This was a time when television was at last becoming a common household entertainment medium for the middle classes in India. After color television was introduced in India in 1982, Doordarshan had aired some extremely successful programs that had millions of viewers glued to their screens. These included such blockbusters as Ramayan, which set a world record in viewership, and Bharat Ek Khoj (based on Jawharlal Nehru's Discovery of India), which conveyed messages of cultural and national pride.37 The success of the national Doordarshan offered a model for its regional branches. When Doordarshan Gujarat began its transmission in Gujarati, one of the first serials to be telecast was Narsaiyo. The title is the diminutive found in the signature lines of Narasinha songs. It was produced by Nandubhai Shah and directed by the late Mulraj Rajda, a veteran actor of Gujarati cinema well known for his portrayal of Janak (the father of the heroine Sita) in the national Doordarshan's Ramayan (1987). Rajda also wrote the screenplay. The lead role was played by Darshan Jariwala, a noted theater and TV actor who has recently won the National Award for his role as Gandhi in the internationally acclaimed Gandhi, My Father (2006). The music was composed by Gaurang Vyas, who revitalized traditional melodies with innovations, and the songs were in the voice of the acclaimed Gujarati singer Asit Desai, whose successful audio CD is discussed above. The serial was an instant success. In two or three weeks of airing, it earned the nickname “Gujarati Ramayan.” Just as life used to come to a standstill in Indian cities and towns at the showtime of Ramayan a few years earlier, on Tuesdays at 8:00 p.m. when Narsaiyo was aired, streets in Ahmedabad were empty and people gathered in large groups to watch the serial.38 Some businessmen closed their stores early so as not to miss the show. Although I was in the United States Page 14 of 44

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Songs and the Saint in Modern Media when the serial was aired, I heard soon about it from excited friends who watched it religiously. In the late 1990s, video recordings of the serial were circulating in the United States, through which I watched it a few years later. During my 2001 trip I met some viewers who referred to it in talking about Narasinha. In 2010, when I reviewed the serial for this work in its new DVD format and contacted Rajda and Jariwala, both responded promptly and with enthusiasm, making time from their very busy schedules to talk about a work that has great personal significance for them. Rajda indicated that in the early years of Gujarati television, a serial on Narasinha was guaranteed an eager audience. But the task was also challenging. The challenge was not only to retell the story with regional cultural specificity but also to make it appealing for audiences of the 1990s.39 This was during the early phase of economic liberalization in India. Gandhi's writings and speeches were (p.221) not a part of daily news; and his interpretations of the Narasinha tradition, stressing values such as voluntary poverty and detachment, were no longer a regular part of the public discourse. The Gujarat of the early 1990s was not just a cultural region, as it was when Vijay Bhatt made his film. It was also a state that had seen rapid industrial growth and had been a leading participant in the processes of globalization, with a large number of its people emigrating to various parts of the world. Narasinha's cultural memory had to be evoked with an interpretation that would resonate with the viewership of such a region. Rajda's serial, like Bhatt's film, remains focused on the intertwining of faith in Krishna and sympathy for the marginalized in the saint-poet's bhakti. But the trajectory by which Narasinha arrives at this synthesis is markedly different. The rhetoric of the serial is more in tune with the discourses of individual choice and human dignity. Gandhi's memory is evoked in a few scenes through allusions, but the serial is not Gandhian. It incorporates miracles, but it also provides clues to see them as human interventions. Rajda radically humanizes Narasinha and presents him as a deeply spiritual but complex personality. In his serial, the source of Narasinha's moral choices is his bhakti. But the source of his bhakti is an intense personal quest of purpose articulated in intellectual rather than devotional terms. The saint shows detachment with regard to social status but is very deeply attached to his family; he is indifferent to wealth but has ambition to spread his interpretation of bhakti. Importantly, he is an articulate political resister, polite but firm and outgoing. He is not the soft and introverted saint presented by Vijay Bhatt. With Darshan Jariwala's sensitive portrayal of this Narasinha, the serial is fairly successful in its humanizing thrust. This serial draws considerably on the novel Param Vaiṣṇav Narasinha Mehta (1983)—by Pannalal Patel discussed earlier and adds several new elements to the traditional biography to support its interpretations.40 It begins with Narasinha's birth in a small village, Talaja, in Saurashtra. As in the film, Page 15 of 44

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Songs and the Saint in Modern Media Narasinha is shown as mute at birth but gaining his speech with the blessing of a holy man. Before the scene with the holy man, however, an innovative incident is introduced. One morning, the child Narasinha is moved with pity upon seeing a Dalit man who is about to collapse due to thirst. In order to quench the old man's thirst, the child snatches a silver jug with sacred water from a Brahmin passing by. The child is penalized by the father for violating his Brahmin dharma (moral code) in touching the Dalit. But the mother pleads with him on the child's behalf, and suggests that Narasinha had, in fact, observed the superior Mānavdharma (the moral code or religion of humanity). From this point on, the narrative remains focused on defining this dharma in its spiritual, social, and political aspects, with Narasinha as its exemplar. One of the most original aspects of the serial, which grounds its humanism, is its interpretation of the divine-human relationship and spirituality. Narasinha's bhakti is presented here as result of a quest for self-fulfillment and inner cultivation (p.222) and not exclusively as a result of the divine grace. In a scene prior to his departure from home and initiation into bhakti, he expresses to his wife, Manek, his restlessness about finding a clear path in life. When he returns home after being initiated into Krishna bhakti by Shiva, he recounts his experience, reciting lines from his “autobiographical” poems. He suggests that the experience had stirred his poetic sensibility. Narasinha's brother asks him if he really saw Shiva, Krishna, and Radha. Narasinha responds, “Yes brother, my inner experience had that form of reality.” Thus, the visit to the celestial realm is presented as poetic truth conceived by human imagination and not as reality. The humanizing of bhakti is taken to its logical end in the demystification of Krishna in the scene after Shamal's death, set in the cremation ground. Narasinha is sitting alone in deep despair. Krishna walks up to him and says that he has come to console him as a friend. Narasinha is furious and asks why, even with a friend like Krishna, he lost his only son. Krishna responds, No one has control over death; not even me. I saw deaths of all my relatives in front of my eyes and could not prevent my own death. Krishna died shot by a hunter. The form you see in front of you is the manifestation of your own faith. It is your faith that bestows on me a form and eternity. I am; because you are.41 With the existence of the divine interpreted as the manifestation of human faith, all miracles are demystified. In view of this understanding, help received in all incidents of testing has to be seen as intervention by a human benefactor. Further, if the divine is not eternal except in human faith, then the human soul has to be the same. The serial makes such a suggestion. In the same scene in the cremation ground, Krishna assures Narasinha that Shamal lives on; but he does not mention the soul. He stresses that Shamal is alive in his wife—her memory and her very existence. Human quest, faith, and memory thus become the Page 16 of 44

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Songs and the Saint in Modern Media grounds of spiritual reality in Rajda's interpretation. This interpretation resonates with lines from a well-known lyric in Narasinha's tradition—“You are, because I am. / When I go, you will go also.”42 The social aspect of religiousness is linked to the understanding that human consciousness is the ground for spirituality. Just as spiritual reality is ultimately a human creation, so is social order. Healthy social order can be maintained only through loving relationships without regard for caste, gender, class, or sectarian distinctions. Narasinha advocates this understanding in a variety of ways. The Narasinha of the television serial takes the critique of untouchability as presented in the film Narsi Bhagat forward. He rejects it in a matter-of-fact manner. The tone for treatment of the theme is established in an early episode, which is a modification of a popular narrative about a ceremony for Narasinha's deceased father.43 In the serial, Narasinha goes out to buy ghee (clarified butter) (p.223) for preparing the feast for the Brahmin women who are invited to a ceremony to honor his departed mother. On his way, he is invited by his Dalit friend Premji to sing a bhajan at his place because he too is honoring his mother. Narasinha forgets about the ghee (for the moment) and goes with Premji. When Narasinha arrives home, he brings with him both ghee and a few Dalit women as guests. On seeing them, the Brahmin women leave. This is when the sister-in-law taunts him bitterly, and he leaves home apologizing to the Dalit women for being instrumental in their humiliation. In the depiction of the incident, Narasinha defends his association with the “untouchables” in a matter-of-fact manner. The Dalits have a similar view. When Premji asks Narasinha to come and sing at his place, it is because of his sweet voice and not because of his reputation as a devotee or because of his high-caste status. The invitation is made and accepted in a casual manner. Premji's family is not overwhelmed with gratitude when Narasinha arrives. They join him in singing a bhajan. The casual interactions between Narasinha and the Dalits and their shared faith in singing bhajans establish his relationship with them as not one of sympathy, but one of equal friendship. The theme of equality is explored further in the following scene. When Premji comes to know about Narasinha's leaving home, he feels guilty and takes a vow to fast until his friend's return in front of the goddess Meladi, worshiped widely in the underprivileged strata of Hindu society in Gujarat. Premji's fasting parallels Narasinha's fast and meditation on Shiva in the forest. When Narasinha returns, Manek shares a sweet dish with relatives and also sends it to the fasting Premji. As Narasinha's family praises the established gods of the Hindu pantheon—Shiva and Krishna—Premji thanks mother Meladi. These early episodes establish that in an interpretation of the saint's legacy at the end of the twentieth century, the disregard for untouchability and equal respect for cultural practices of diverse groups have to be assumed as Page 17 of 44

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Songs and the Saint in Modern Media fundamentals of a healthy society. The inclusion of the worship of the goddess Meladi serves as a cultural recognition of the practices of the less-privileged classes. Narasinha's relationship with the Dalits contributes to the necessary process of redefining the scope of egalitarian social ideology in postindependence India. An incident related to me by Rajda indicates that he was not alone in rethinking what egalitarian ways actually entail. During the time of the serial's production, the completed episodes had to be sent to the Doordarshan board for review before broadcast. Rajda was told that the scenes involving the Dalit communities would be approved only if a Dalit employee in their office found them agreeable. The employee reviewed them and did find them agreeable, making the serial to go smoothly. When Rajda later visited the Doordarshan office, he and the Dalit employee thanked each other profusely.44 Even as Rajda presented the redefined understanding of equality and found support in the Doordarshan station, he did not ignore the stark reality that a society based on a presumption of equality was still an ideal that demanded (p. 224) that its followers actively commit to resisting social and political domination. Several incidents in the serial present Narasinha as a resister. When Narasinha leaves his village of Talaja and arrives in Junagadh city to spread his message of bhakti, he is in constant confrontation with the judge of the city, Shivashankar, a Nagar Brahmin and a worshiper of Shiva with a narrow understanding of religion. Shivashankar (like Sarangdhar in the film) abuses his power to get free labor from the Dalits. The first confrontation occurs when Narasinha sees Shivashankar and his assistants verbally and physically abusing the Dalits for refusing to pick up a dead animal. Narasinha stands up for the Dalits and argues with Shivashankar (see figure 7.3). His sympathetic remarks give the Dalits the courage to speak about their daily experiences of abuse, discrimination, and lack of rights. Narasinha questions the use of the word “untouchable” in the conversation and tells the Dalits that they are, in fact, “Harijan.” He declares that in reality Shivashankar and his men were “untouchable” because they had completely detached themselves from the citizens they were expected to serve. But he then suggests that even though the city officials were abusing their power, as responsible citizens, they (including himself) should pick up the animal and carry it outside the city. He joins the Dalits in removing the animal. Narasinha's rhetoric and action are not about social reform but about resistance to abuse, about social justice and responsible citizenship. This rhetoric was especially relevant (p.225) in the Gujarat of the early 1990s, where the Dalits had been victims of violence by aggressive members of the upper castes only a few years previously in the anti-reservation movement.45

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Songs and the Saint in Modern Media Yet the serial does not fail to acknowledge the prevalence of liberal perspectives among upper-caste Hindus as well. Narasinha is not alone in his opposition to the bigotry represented by Shivashankar. In all his endeavors in Junagadh, he is strongly supported by Shivashankar's elder brother Purushottam, the former judge of the city, played by Rajda himself. Even though he is rendered helpless by the aggression and power of his younger brother, Purushottam remains a supporter of the

Figure 7.3 Narasinha supporting the Dalits, Darshan Jariwala in Narsaῖyo. Source: Television serial Narsaῖyo directed by Mulraj Rajda (1991).

bhakti represented by Narasinha until his death. The tension between the two brothers, brought to the surface by Narasinha's presence and activities, reflects the tension between the sociopolitically moderate and aggressively narrow-minded forces in late twentieth-century India. Along with the rejection of caste discrimination, a progressive perspective on gender equality also forms a core of the serial. In the Vijay Bhatt film, Narasinha's association with women is given a visual nod when a large number of women join his community. But Narasinha is not seen standing up on their behalf. In the serial, Narasinha is seen singing ecstatically among women and men of low classes (see figure 7.4). Women play equal roles in his bhakti community. Further, he declares his daughter-in-law as his spiritual heir and asks her not to follow the dress restrictions for Hindu widows. Importantly, when Narasinha loses his composure after (p.226) the death of his wife, he is reminded of his own teachings through a song by his daughter-in-law. She becomes his guru for the moment.

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Songs and the Saint in Modern Media Another issue highlighted in the serial is that of class, which is addressed through a stress on the dignity of labor. When Narasinha enters the city of Junagadh, he sees two officials harassing a low-caste and lower-class girl who is selling toys. The officers use the orthodox rhetoric of purity and pollution to stop the girl from selling clay images of Hindu gods, but their real objective is to force the girl to pick up the dead dog in front of Shivashankar's house. Narasinha challenges the

Figure 7.4 Ecstatic dancing among bhakti companions, Darshan Jariwala in Narsaῖyo. Source: Television serial Narsaῖyo directed by Mulraj Rajda (1991).

officials and assures the girl that she was doing no wrong in honestly selling the clay images of gods. The girl, Khemi, and her father, who belong to the Bharvad (cattle herder) caste, subsequently become members of Narasinha's family and leaders in his bhakti community. The theme of the dignity of labor is even more effectively stressed in the interpretation of Narasinha's poverty. The premodern sources or anecdotal retellings do not offer an explanation for the saint's poverty. It is assumed to be a function of his absorption in bhakti. This creates a mystical aura around his poverty and highlights the theological concept of a bhakta's dependence on the divine. In the serial, Narasinha is a professional bhajan singer earning more than enough to run his household. But he prefers to live in a poor neighborhood and gives away most of his earnings to the poor. When Narasinha stops singing after his wife's death, his daughter–in-law is worried about his emotional state; but Khemi's father, who is now a part of the family, points out that if the saint does not come out of his numbness, they will starve. Even a saint of Narasinha's stature must make a living. The scene stresses the ethics of work along with faith in divine grace. In addition to social equality, the serial also sends a message of religious equality, which was very important to Rajda.46 In the first of the many interrogations by Shivashankar, the judge alleges that Narasinha had sinned in rejecting his ancestral path of Shiva worship. Narasinha responds, “Every religious path leads to the divine. If gods do not fight among themselves about religions or paths, why should human beings be bitter about them? If following any path had been a sin in the view of the divine, Shiva himself would not have taken me to Krishna.” Shivashankar's allegation is based on a narrow Page 20 of 44

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Songs and the Saint in Modern Media understanding of loyalty. Narasinha's response is a Gandhi-like statement on religious harmony, suggested in the use of the words dharma (religion) and panth (path) rather than sampradāya (sect). Even though the serial is set in the Hindu milieu of fifteenth-century Junagadh, Narasinha's response was greatly relevant to the India of early 1990s, where the politics of religious identity was rife with preparations for the demolition of the Babri mosque (1992) in north India in full swing. Narasinha's response here could have gently reminded the Hindus of the region about the ecumenical views of their two cultural icons— Narasinha and Gandhi. Along with stressing bhakti as a channel for articulating the messages of equality and political resistance to social discrimination, the serial also depicts (p.227) people's engagement with its rasa in traditional settings. The bhakti milieu of Gujarat is depicted in several scenes, with women and men dancing and singing along with Narasinha in diverse venues. Some popular songs are sung in Narasinha's courtyard (in accordance with his hagiography), some are performed in village squares, and some are sung in poor neighborhoods. Especially evocative are a few performance contexts in which the audiences are seen becoming fully involved in the songs. One is on the way to Vadnagar in the wedding procession for Shamal, when each night of camping provides an occasion for devotional singing. Another is singing in the verandah of Purushottam's house when the old man is on his deathbed. The messages of the songs relate to the situations and draw the listeners in. The most effective context, however, is a kind of devotional singing race in which Shivashankar and Narasinha become inadvertently involved. On an early morning, as Shivashankar begins his daily pujā (ritual worship) of Shiva, chanting hymns in chaste Sanskrit, Narasinha walks to the Damodar pond singing his very popular morning hymn Jaḷ kamaḷ chānḍī jā ne bāḷā (Drop the water lilies and leave, child). While melodious, Shivashankar's chants are forceful and convey authority. Narasinha's morning hymn, on the other hand, so enraptures the listeners that they start to walk with him. Shivashankar's chants and Narasinha's hymn are musically interwoven, creating a sense of competition that is felt acutely by the judge, though the poet is not aware of it. In the end, Narasinha's vernacular song is heard in Shivashankar's own home being sung by his wife. His sister-in-law, Purushottam's wife, remarks how the song allowed her to visualize Krishna's world. The reference to the enjoyment of bhakti is clear. Purushottam explicitly refers to rasa in Narasinha's singing. Narsaiyo and the Rasa of Bhakti

In communications about the serial, Darshan Jariwala, the actor in the lead role, emphasized that he portrayed the saint-poet by becoming completely absorbed in the emotions evoked by Narasinha's songs and biography. He was “floored” by the marvelous simplicity and intensity of devotion expressed in the lyrics. Even though the songs were in the voice of Asit Desai, their appeal was so strong for Page 21 of 44

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Songs and the Saint in Modern Media Jariwala that he actually sang all the songs on the sets as if he was composing them in those moments. As an actor, he imaginatively participates in the worlds of all the characters he plays. But playing Narasinha, he said, transformed him both as an actor and as a person. He especially found dancing like Radha in erotic songs both “liberating” and “sensitizing.” The experience was humbling.47 At the core of his involvement was the appeal of poetry, melody, and the narratives. His description of the experience of engaging closely with Narasinha's songs and biography and being liberated by it gave an instance of absorption in rasa as suggested by Abhinavagupta. (p.228) Jariwala did not describe his experience in Hindu devotional terms. Yet the moral appeal of the Narasinha story was important to him. He linked Narasinha and Gandhi in an inspirational chain—not unlike Obama, who linked Martin Luther King Jr. with Gandhi. In my questionnaire to him, I asked about his distinction of having played both Narasinha and Gandhi, and in that order. I asked him if having played Narasinha helped him in his role as Gandhi. Expressing deep gratitude for the opportunity, he indicated that it made a positive difference. “Gandhi concluded,” he wrote, “what Narsinh started! The simplicity, the devotion, the fearlessness, the humility, all of Gandhi Bapu's traits are Narsinh's legacy!” The actor's experience of total involvement was mirrored in the warm responses of Narsaiyo's viewers. In response to my question about how the audiences responded, Jariwala cited two incidents that point to the serial's wide appeal during the period it was being aired. On one occasion, Jariwala was shopping in Ahmedabad, and the shopkeeper, who did not recognize him, urged him to pay quickly because he wanted to get home before the show started. The second incident occurred on the night of the last episode. Immediately after the show ended, Gujarat's chief minister called Jariwala to congratulate him; and the person to search for the actor's contact information for him was his political rival, who also was an ardent fan of the show. Jariwala further indicated that his role as Narasinha has won him a special place in the hearts of people in the region. Even though he received international recognition and won a national award (2007) for his portrayal of Gandhi in Gandhi, My Father, for a large number of people he remains Narasinha. Whenever he visits Gujarat (he lives in Mumbai), cab drivers and vendors still recognize him as Narasinha and want to talk about the serial. They do not recognize him as Gandhi.48 The memory of the serial was vivid for some viewers I met almost ten years after the telecast of the serial. When Dattu Bhagat, a.k.a Kaka (uncle), gave me an invitation for the devotional singing event in his neighborhood that I have discussed earlier, he mentioned the serial Narsaiyo. He stressed that even though his community used microphones in bhajan sessions (a departure from the tradition), their spirit was similar to what I might remember from Narsaiyo. When I asked him to elaborate, he explained that in the serial, bhajan singing Page 22 of 44

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Songs and the Saint in Modern Media brought people of different castes and classes together in an atmosphere of joy. Their bhajan sessions were like that.49 He saw his own role as paralleling that of Narasinha in the serial. Another viewer who clearly remembered the serial was the late Nanubhai Trivedi, a bank manager and community leader in the town of Dholka near Ahmedabad. Trivedi was a staunch humanist. He was critical of some long dialogues with discussions about the religious meanings of erotic love in the serial. But as a humanist, he was also appreciative of the message about human faith as the ground of metaphysical reality. He thought that by portraying Gujarat's communities coming together through enjoyable bhakti, the serial had tapped into the “real significance” of the Narasinha story and had sent a positive message for constructive work.50 (p.229) In his recent work, Christian Novetzke reads two Marathi films on the saint Namdev as paralleling manuscripts and performances in which the saint remains “both a device of recollection and social critique, as well as an object of reverence in his own right.”51 Our examination of the Hindi film and the Gujarati TV serial on Narasinha likewise indicates that they form such texts for the saintpoet of Gujarat. Even when circulating as parts of commercially produced popular culture, the saint-poet's songs and sacred biography continue to provide avenues for articulating spiritual and social meanings for writers, directors, actors, and viewers. They form a repository of cultural meanings on which participants in his tradition—ordinary singers and listeners, leaders like Gandhi, and artists like Bhatt, Rajda, and Jariwala—draw and to which they also contribute with a sense of ownership.

The Saint in Cyberspace—Narasinha on YouTube If the film and the television serial present two instances where Narasinha's legacy was interpreted by directors and scriptwriters in ways that resonated with their times, YouTube provides an extraordinary site to see the process of meaning making around his songs and narratives by participants in the global Internet culture. Since its launching in 2005, YouTube, the Internet-based videosharing website, has emerged as a powerful medium of popular culture. Even though similar to film and television in its ability to offer audiovisual experiences to its consumers, this medium is unprecedented in its global reach, accessibility, affordability, and participatory spirit. As a result, it attracts a broad range of contributors and consumers, from mega businesses, media producers, and advertisers to artists and activists, as well as amateur groups and individuals. Providing a platform for the promotion of business and individual creativity, this site with more than a billion video clips is a powerful force in the increasingly interactive world of the new web-based media. The communication and visualart scholar Lev Manovich therefore views YouTube videos as sites of mass cultural production rather than mass consumption.52

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Songs and the Saint in Modern Media As a participatory cultural system, one of YouTube's distinctive strengths is the scope it offers to both megamedia businesses and “vernacular creativity.” Consumers who comment on video clips also participate in a network of creative practice, sometimes engaging in productive cultural encounters. This facilitates conversations about identity as practices of cultural citizenship.53 Additionally, YouTube provides a space to strengthen existing social and cultural networks of sharing.54 In this popular culture system, religion-related video clips abound. The comments found on such videos suggest that many of them serve as sites of community building and encountering differences. Among the religion-based video clips, the ones involving music and/or dance are some of the best appreciated as (p.230) seen in a video clip of a participatory musical performance by a Jewish group in Los Angeles.55 The video clips related to the saint-poet traditions of South Asia fall into this category. Hundreds of video clips with songs or hagiographic contents related to saintpoets such as Bulleh Shah, Nanak, Kabir, Mira, Namdev, and Narasinha are found on YouTube. A large number of clips are taken from popular CDs of famous singers. Some are video recordings of their live performances. But there are also videos of performances by groups and individuals who simply want to share them with the world. The viewers' participation is found in comments. Comments are a feature common to the majority of video clips, and they express in English (or sometimes in regional languages) the kind of spontaneous responses of involvement and appreciation found in the traditional contexts. Additionally, the comment areas of many clips also serve as manuscript or anthology pages for the songs, because often the entire song is written out by respondents in this area. There is often lively conversation around songs among the viewers of the videos. YouTube videos thus recreate in cyberspace many aspects of the saint-poet tradition, even though the participants, for the most part, remain unknown to one another. A simple search for “Narasinha Mehta” on YouTube renders a list of close to 250 clips. The actual number of Narasinha-related clips, however, is much larger because several clips of Narasinha songs do not mention his name. They rather contain titles such as Vaiṣṇavajana to or tags like “Gujarati Bhajan” or “Prabhatiya.” The clips can be divided into three categories; Vaiṣṇavjana to, which forms a class in itself; other Narasinha songs; and hagiographic narrations. In all three categories, professionally produced materials uploaded by businesses such as T-series and religious groups like “dharmaraksha,” as well as informal performances uploaded by groups and individuals are found. The videos uploaded by businesses and religious groups clearly have the purpose of propagation. But for individuals who upload videos of their own singing, it is like inviting the whole world to their performance in home or on stage.56

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Songs and the Saint in Modern Media When I first began to explore YouTube videos from a research perspective, I was astonished to see how closely these casual and random-looking comments in cyberspace paralleled the responses of informants during my field research in 2001 and 2006. Since the comments are made voluntarily, they convey people's spontaneous responses to the songs. The conversations among viewers from around the world reflect the process through which songs of saint-poets filter through various layers of wider popular culture. Vaiṣṇavajana to

As discussed in detail earlier, this bhajan continues to be performed internationally at humanitarian and peace-building events as a tribute to Gandhi. More than (p.231) two hundred renderings of Vaiṣṇavajana to from a variety of sources and in a number of formats—vocal and instrumental music, dance, dramatic performance—are uploaded on YouTube, reflecting its appeal across gender, class, caste, religious, regional, and national boundaries.57 The number of views and comments on its various clips put it in the category of religiously based songs that have universal appeal. Like “Amazing Grace” in English, Bullah ki Jana me kaun (Bullah, who knows who I am?) by Bulleh Shah of Punjab (present-day Pakistan), and Chadariya jhini (The cloth is thin), attributed to Kabir, Vaiṣṇavajana to has innumerable views. An analysis of a few video clips of this song gives us a glimpse into how it functions as a part of the cultural world of YouTube. Several clips use the rendering by the famous female singer of India, Lata Mangeshkar, from the popular album Rām Ratan Dhan Pāyo (“I acquired the treasure of God's name,” first released in 1983). Each clip, however, uses different visuals. The most popular clip, which had more than two hundred thousand views in July 2011, alternates showing photographs of the singer and an image of Narasinha through the song.58 There is no visual reference to Gandhi, even though a few comments do mention him. A sampling of comments, beginning with one by the main interpreter-translator for the video, gives a flavor of the interregional and interreligious conversation the song generates in cyberspace. Several viewers ask for translation, lyric information, or meanings of specific terms like “Vaishnava.” Those who know the song well, presumably Gujarati-speaking viewers, respond in detail, discussing the nuances of the lyric. Vaishanav: They are a people in the western state of India, Gujarat, who follow a strict code of diet, worship and lifestyle as a whole as their devotion to lord vishu [sic]. The song, the title: “Vaishnavjan to tene re kahiye” Literally means “Who that is (should/can) be called a ‘Vaishanav' Vaishanav in a generic term can be taken as a gentleman or a civilized man. This song has mild sarcastic undercurrent to it as well. (1) Page 25 of 44

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Songs and the Saint in Modern Media … a classic song sung by a class act that stands the test of time and is appreciated globally for its beauty and inspiration. (2) … Great philosophy expressed through simple and honest words. I am a Bengali and I checked the translation from internet. This has to be one of the finest hymns of Indian culture and tradition. This was one of Bapu's favorite and Lata Mangeshkar does full justice to this song. (3) … (p.232) what a song … awesome … heart touching … I can listen to this song ten thousand times … Thanks to the Mahatma Narasimha Rao who wrote this song and Lata Ji for giving life to it. (4) … satya bhajan (True devotional song), nothing to fear world is one family (5) … Aisa gana zindegi mein shayad hi aur koi suna hoon. (“I have hardly heard another such song in my life”) I am listening it back to back for the 10th time … Tito Dutta. (6) … Peace and solace is always restored with the serene words and the sweet tune. A song for life, happiness, serenity and beyond…. (7) … this is Indian version of everthing [sic] I've ever heard and enjoyed. (8) … Amazing it is. You know its funny—I had this as my ringtone, say 6 years back and since then I have been looking for this song but could not recall the title … Glad that I found it here. Thanks a ton! (9)59 The appeal of the video for individuals who consider Vaiṣṇavajana to a part of their heritage is obvious. But for the individuals who are unfamiliar with it, the initial appeal of a tune heard on a phone ringtone or a video clip of a song encountered by chance is an aesthetic one that is strong enough to lead to a search for translation and meaning. As is clear in the remarks, viewers' appreciation for the song is not made in terms of a specific religion. Even the Page 26 of 44

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Songs and the Saint in Modern Media first remark explaining the term “Vaishnava” hastens to add that, even though literally translated as “worshiper of Vishnu,” it is a generic term to be understood as “a civilized man.” The words appearing recurrently in the comments are related to music, performance, beauty, and inspiration for an ethical life that would help to build peace and harmony. A message from a Gujarati-speaking Muslim from Pakistan that is written in broken English but with moving words appears on another clip. The viewer thanks the translator and discusses the bhajan as a nāt (a song praising prophet Mohammad): thanx bro for translation first time in my life i read this naat … i cant explain my feelings … i m crying soo much i m missing my prophet (p. 233) (peace be upon him) soo much bcoz we are in a very bad situation right now … seems you introduce my prophet peace be upon him to me today … sooo much prayers for you my brother God bless you and your mother amin … i lived in islamabad in pakistani punjab and after hearing 3 four times i realize this naat is in my language,after handred of years we still speak this language here with a very little change thanx again to introduce me to my own old language….60 The interpretation of the song as a nāt is possible because the comments on the video discuss the person described in the song as an ideal of humanity rather than as a follower of a specific sect. References to the Prophet with the traditional Islamic blessing “peace be upon him” and the expression “amin” in the above comment give it the dimension of interfaith dialogue. The comment is especially meaningful because it is found soon after another comment in which the writer suggests that Gujarat should become known by such things rather than by the violent actions of a few, an allusion to the communal riots of 2002. Since a large number of Muslims lost their lives in the riots, this conversation around the song gives a clear indication of its healing potential. Another very popular clip of Vaiṣṇavajana to uses the rendering by Asit and Hema Desai. This clip, uploaded by “SongsOnCanvas,” is a tribute to Gandhi. The first frame provides a quote titled “Gandhiji's Talisman,” in which Gandhi advises his followers to recall the face of the poorest and weakest person they have seen when they are in a state of doubt and ask themselves if the action they are contemplating would help that person to gain control of his life or destiny in any way.61 The quote fits clearly with the first line of the song—“Call only that one a Vaishnava, who understands others' pain.” In the subsequent frames, photographs of the destitute from all over the world are interspersed with Gandhi's photographs and with quotes such as “Be the change you want to see in the world,” “Hate the sin and love the sinner,” and “God has no religion.” When I contacted the group SongsOnCanvas, whose YouTube channel mostly

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Songs and the Saint in Modern Media contains Bengali songs, to ask them why they uploaded this song, they responded, We feel this song touches Gandhi's appeal to humanity in its utmost depth and intensity. These images come in our mind so contradictory to that great soul's teachings that we wanted to present it in that way…. It inspires us. May God bless you.62 The comment indicates how the song is appreciated for both its inspirational potential for humanity and its emotive appeal—“depth” and “intensity.” Many comments from the viewers of this clip are also about the song's emotional appeal. One writes that upon hearing the song, “tears automatically flow from eyes.” Another says, “That is the spirit of God. God has definitely no religion.”63 (p.234) The clips of professionally produced and marketed renditions discussed above give viewers an opportunity to express their responses to the songs through visual images and comments. But the dimension of participation is fully manifested in video clips of live performances by professional or semiprofessional groups in cultural shows, bhajan singing events, or home prayers. An innovative rendition of Vaiṣṇavajana to is uploaded by Riyaaz Qawwali, a Texas-based professional band specializing in qawwāli, the popular Sufi music genre of India and Pakistan (see figure 7.5). The band is composed of young second-generation South Asian men who have been performing qawwāli since 2006 with a vision of familiarizing audiences in the United States with this inherently spiritual genre from their musical heritage. Their musical journey is closely linked to their cultural identity and pride. Sonny Mehta, the group's leader and composer, told me in a phone interview that what attracts their group to the genre of qawwāli is the beauty of Sufi mystical lyrics combined with its lively rhythm and its opportunities for musical innovation.64 Yet their emphasis is also on “crossing boundaries.” They have incorporated two bhajans in qawwāli style in their repertoire of live performances on YouTube. One is a bhajan that was earlier adopted by the late Pakistani maestro Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, whom the group closely follows. The other is Vaiṣṇavajana to, their original creative venture.65

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Songs and the Saint in Modern Media When I asked Mehta what led him to select Vaiṣṇavajana to, he mentioned the possibilities for innovation offered by the traditional tune and rhythm as well as “the universal ideal of what a man should be” as conveyed in the lyric. Musically and in terms of message, this was a bhajan that could be successfully carried across genres and audiences. Indeed, its performance in qawwāli style with rhythmic innovations, clapping, and the insertion of couplets from the Hindi poet Kabir has been surprisingly successful.66 Not only does the song have the highest number of views among all Riyaaz videos, but the group has also received many private compliments from Gujarati

Figure 7.5 (a) The opening frame of Riyaaz Qawwali's clip of Vaiṣṇavajana to on YouTube. (b) Riyaaz Qawwali rendering Vaiṣṇavajana to. Source: Riyaaz Qawwali Youtube Video.

speakers through phone calls and emails. What most viewers find appealing is the interweaving of Hindu and Islamic devotional genres, as reflected in the following comments. Long live brotherhood (1) … Muslim Style. Hindu Words. May God Bless each one of you. (2) … Wah … what a beautiful, soulful and wholehearted rendering … music brings people and nations together irrespective of their background … good to see you musicians performing a Hindu Bhajan in a Muslim Qawwali style … music is divine in whatever form it is…. (3) … (p.235) Brilliant … from a Hindu Brother…. I loved it. This is one of my favorite, always listened sung by Lata … but this is great…. This is the song to live your life by…. I hope you all understood the meaning. (4)67

In discussing the song, Mehta did not mention Gandhi. Except for a visual allusion to Gandhi's Salt March, there is no reference to him in the clip. Nor

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Songs and the Saint in Modern Media does any comment writer refer to Gandhi. The discussion is purely around the musical experimentation and the message. (p.236) Another clip in which Vaiṣṇavajana to provides a platform for interfaith dialog is uploaded by Gurjarvani, a culture and communication center run from St. Xavier's College in Ahmedabad. This center has uploaded several video clips of Christian hymns and sermons in the Gujarati language. Among these are two parts of an exegesis of Vaiṣṇavajana to by Fr. Vinayak Jadav S. J., who explains Christian religious ideals through the lens of this song, with Narasinha Mehta's image and the church building in the background (see figure 7.6).68 He introduces the song as “the immortal creation of bhakta poet Narasinha Mehta that was beloved of Gandhiji” and then states, “In this bhajan is contained mature stage of Narasinha's bhakti…. He has poured his bhakti-rasa fully in this bhajan. It is also a symbol of Christian spirituality.” He stresses that the ideal of helping the needy as specified in the bhajan is the fundamental principle of Christianity and interprets the term Vaiṣṇavajana as “God's person.” In explaining each line of the song, Fr. Jadav quotes from other Narasinha lyrics and couplets of medieval bhakti poets as well as modern secular poems in Indian languages, and links them to teachings and narratives from the Bible. Vaiṣṇavajana to here provides a platform for weaving cultural pride and interfaith dialogue in an inspirational video made available (p.237) to Gujarati speakers around the globe. The reference to bhakti-rasa in this video is especially notable as a cultural term. A number of clips of the song's performances in musical and dance forms in cultural shows in the United States, London, and Singapore are found on YouTube. For most young performers, it is linked to cultural identity and pride. Harsha Desai, an aspiring artist in Ohio, indicated that she sang it in a function attended by state dignitaries because it conveyed “a message about

Figure 7.6 .Fr. Vinayak Jadav, giving a India beautifully.”69 In addition Christian interpretation of Vaiṣṇavajana to formal performances in to. cultural shows, a number of Source: Gurjarvani Channel, YouTube. individual private performances of Vaiṣṇavajana to are also found. The comments on such videos often involve substantive personal conversations between the singer and the viewers, sometimes constituting interfaith dialog. The conversations Page 30 of 44

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Songs and the Saint in Modern Media between an Indian woman, whose channel is called bhajanmala (garland of bhajans), and the viewers of her rendition of the song provides a good example: Comment: I'm pakistani i must admit i never listen to bhajan before for obvious reason but while listening this with your translation it has change me and now i feel i always knew this divine (kalam) message. thanks for sharing and please keep sharing the love we all need. you are wonderful thanks.

Response: Hi … so happy to have your valuable comment and i hope people read this … yes the message is great and lot to learn from this song. I think every religion teach [sic] you same things but diff way … but i know god is only one … this song also proves music has no religion boundaries.70

A class in itself, Vaiṣṇavajana to thus provides a musical platform for interregional, international, interreligious, and inter-genre (bhajan and qawwāli) conversation in the YouTube world. Presented with visuals and in different formats, it appeals to viewers with both its inspirational message and its melody. It forms a part of inspirational popular culture in cyberspace. Other Narasinha Songs

While Vaiṣṇavajana to clips have a distinctive life on YouTube, several other Narasinha songs of Krishna-līlā and contemplation also appear on it. Their appeal is limited to Gujarati speakers, but they give a glimpse into the multiple performative avenues in which Narasinha songs have been preserved as cultural forms of Gujarat. Many songs of Krishna-līlā are not only sung but also performed in dance drama or rās dance form. Several clips of their performance in dance are available on YouTube. Many clips of this type do not have comments (in fact, in many they are blocked), but in the ones on which comments are found, conversation often (p.238) crosses the boundaries of religion to focus on the role of these songs in Gujarati cultural or literary heritage. Two of Narasinha's songs of Krishna's sporting as a child are as popular on YouTube as they are on the “ground.” One is the song about serpent Kaliya's subjugation, popularly known by its first line, Jaḷ kamaḷ chānḍī jā ne bāḷā (Drop the water lilies and leave, child). The other is about a gopī's complaint, Jaśodā tārā kānuḍā ne (Yashoda, stop your Krishna). These songs are not only popular in bhajan sessions, they are also invariably found in elementary school textbooks in Gujarat and are performed regularly by school children in dance forms. Their dramatic potential makes them especially suitable for group performances. My earliest memories of the songs are of performing them in classrooms with different students taking on roles of the gopīs, Krishna, and wives of the Kaliya serpent. On YouTube too, along with clips of these songs from popular albums, dance performances by children are found. Page 31 of 44

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Songs and the Saint in Modern Media The most viewed clip of Jaḷ kamaḷ, with close to two hundred thousand views is from Desai's Narasinha Mehta, Uttam pado. It is uploaded by a channel named “dharmaraksha,” which has put several Narasinha songs on YouTube, each with Krishna-līlā images found on ISKCON (International Society of Krishna Consciousness) calendars and sites.71 For this song, appropriate images of Krishna with his cowherd friends in the forest as well as his dance on the hood of the subjugated Kaliya are chosen. Each frame also displays the translation of the stanza being sung, and the last frame includes appeals to support several Hindu organizations. Watching the clip is like listening to expert bhajan singers while looking at pages of an illustrated manuscript, not with the original lyric, but in translation. Like premodern sectarian manuscripts, the clip is associated with a specific religious group of Krishna worshipers. A few comments on it praise Krishna. But a large number of them, posted from different corners of the world by both Hindus and non-Hindus, refer to the experience of having recited the lyric in school and heard it in the early mornings sung by female relatives. Comments such as these express nostalgia rather than devotion: This is one of the my favorites poems in gujarati which i studied when i was in grade 5th in india. it's really nostalgic, narsinh mehta poems really rocks. (1) … I have been looking for this song!! 50yrs ago I learnt this song and I forgot just the last lines!!! Finally I got it. Thanks. (2) … ahh i think this used to be grade 5 or 6 poem … in gujaratii class—thanks. ITS AWESOME (3) (p.239) … “Jal kamal chhandi jane… .” Nostalgic poem of my early youth. Thank you. (4) … this is so amazing experience to hear this in the early morning…. i just walk [sic] up so early and looking for something to cheer me up … remembered old school days … 27 years on and still counting … tommorrow is my birthday…. i got my blackberry as gift … but this is priceless…. aaankh ma aanshu aavi gaya (“got tears in my eyes”)…. (5) …

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Songs and the Saint in Modern Media thanks for providing us this unique bhajan i would love to keep this bhajan as tradition passing to my family Generations Ahead…. we are so lucky that we have so good krishana songs and his true presence in gujarat. (6) … when i used to go to mama's (uncle's) place in vacation twice a year, ma nani (mom's mom) used to sing this every morning … a very famous n divine prabhatiyu (a prayer to sing in morning)…. i donno how many times i have heard it from her but now everytime when i listen to this it makes me realize how priceless days they were…. i can do anything just to get those back … how amazing!! (7) … I remember that during our stay at Rajkot, India, this Bhajan used to come almost everyday at 6:00 AM in the radio, yes radio! (8)72 One of the comments above is by a Gujarati Muslim now living in Portugal. He was the most enthusiastic in responding to my emails among the comment posters and zealously expressed his fondness of the song and pride in Gujarati identity, quoting the modern Parsi (Zoroastrian) poet Ardeshar Khabardar (1881–1954). For him, the Narasinha song and the poem by Khabardar were linked in the memory of the native region he had left years ago.73 Comments by other viewers also indicate that for a large number of Gujarati speakers across religious boundaries, this song is about memories—mostly of childhood, but also of early mornings in their villages, or of radio programs at daybreak, which strikingly parallel those found on a YouTube video of the popular Marathi song Ghanśyām sundarā mentioned in the introduction.74 The comments clearly indicate that Jaḷ kamaḷ is seen by their writers as a shared cultural heritage, which some hope to transmit to their younger generations. (p.240) How this song resonates with Gujarati speakers who have left their region is also reflected in two video clips of its performance in dance forms by children outside of Gujarat. One is a performance at a Diwali function in Sonoma County, California, with live singing and performances by children of both Gujarati and non-Gujarati origin. Like performances in Gujarati school functions, this performance is a group dance that tries to capture the dramatic tension in the banter between Kaliya's wives and Krishna. The song is set to simple and playful choreography that the children bring alive on stage. The second is a solo performance by a young girl of Gujarati descent living on the east coast of the United States, Aneri Pattani, as a part of her debut performance in the classical dance form from south India, Bharatnatyam (see figure 7.7). As a trained dancer, Aneri presents the narrative by alternately taking on the roles of Krishna and the serpent's wives, as in Juthika Mahen's performance described in chapter 4.75 These performances in nonreligious contexts by children who may not know the Page 33 of 44

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Songs and the Saint in Modern Media Gujarati language suggest the song's significance for their parents. The song is a channel through which the parents keep the homeland alive in their memory and try to pass it on to their children. A video of the song about the gopī's complaint to Krishna's mother, Yashoda, provides one of the finest examples of cultural transmission. Here, a group of children (p.241) present the song in a dramatic dance form at a function inside a home. Many in the audience are seen singing along and encouraging the children to sing. An older woman stands in the front and explains the lyric to the children (see figure 7.8). This video is uploaded by Tapas

Figure 7.7 Aneri Pattani performing Jaḷ kamaḷ in the Bharatnatyam style. Courtesy: Aneri Pattani.

Bhakta of New Mexico, who indicated that the older woman is his mother, a retired school teacher from Gujarat who taught it to the children in his community as their cultural heritage. Even though the children may not know the full cycle of Krishna stories, they appear to enjoy this song because they can make it their own through performance. A two- or three-year-old boy trying to join the dancers in performance, and the smiles and the applause at the end, give a charming picture of how children are drawn into Narasinha's songs.76 In an email, Tapas said that he uploaded the video to share it with relatives in India. Standing at the junction of religiocultural heritage, technological advances, diasporic experience, and community sharing is a Narasinha song that opens the mythical world of Vraj to a group of participants in a New Mexico town. The song's ability to connect many worlds derives not simply from its association with cultural heritage but also from its continued appeal to the ear and to the imagination. Among the songs on the gopī-Krishna themes, the explicitly erotic ones are neither heard in bhajan sessions nor found on YouTube. But the popular song about the flute Ā ruḍī ne rangīlī (It is your beautiful and colorful flute), discussed in the chapters on lyric and performance, is seen in multiple videos. Some of them have a clearly religious reference. But the song's popularity for Page 34 of 44

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Songs and the Saint in Modern Media Gujarat's folk dance, rās, is best Figure 7.8 Performance of a Narasinha seen in a performance by song in a home in New Mexico, USA. Boston University's Indian Courtesy: Tapas Bhakta. dance team Fatakada (see figure 7.9). This performance by young women and men of diverse backgrounds recreates for the viewers the village square of Gujarat where the Narasinha song is heard frequently during festive dancing.77 The selection of this song by university students in the United States gives an indication of its (p.242) appeal across generations. For the second-generation Gujaratis in the diaspora, Narasinha songs do not have the same meaning as they have for the first generation. Yet the young people may have been taught by a grandmother or aunt a song or two that remain a part of their cultural world. Popular contemplative songs of the Narasinha tradition are not found in such diversity of performance genres on YouTube; they are uploaded from audio CDs or recordings of bhajan singing. The difference in the manner of uploading reinforces the distinction between the visual and dramatic appeal of Krishna-līlā songs and the emphasis on listening in the contemplative

Figure 7.9 Boston University students dancing to a Narasinha song, 2010. Source: Garba Foundation Channel Video, YouTube.

songs discussed in chapters 1 and 2. The large number of visits to the clips of contemplative songs also indicates their popularity among Gujarati followers of bhakti. A number of these songs are found on the “dharmaraksha” channel, with images of Vishnu in his cosmic form and translations of the lyrics appearing in frames.78 This channel seems to stress that Vishnu, the saguṇa divine seen in the images, is also the nirguṇa Ultimate praised in the songs. A very different format for uploading these songs is adopted by the followers of the Ramkabir sect, a Gujarat-based tradition that mainly follows the teachings of the nirguṇa saint Kabir.79 This sect does not reject image worship completely; but the focus remains on bhajans as an expression of devotion to the inner formless divine with a disregard for rituals. The sect's active male and female bhajan groups in the United States take pride in their “energetic, vibrant, traditional” style of singing and have uploaded many videos of their singing.80 These videos come closest to bhajan sessions in Gujarat. In some of these, women are seen dancing as they sing Narasinha's songs. The president of the women's bhajan group in Carson, California, Minaxi Patel (Bhakta), described Page 35 of 44

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Songs and the Saint in Modern Media the experience of singing them as aesthetically enjoyable bhakti. She repeatedly stressed that bhajans such as Narasinha's lead to strong community bonds because people feel connected in the (p.243) joy of singing and dancing. Taking advantage of YouTube as a platform on which all can meet, her group is trying to share their joy with the whole world.81 Patel's emphasis on sharing on the virtual platform reminded me of the raised platforms in the Hindi movie and the Gujarati TV serial, which in turn are linked to the memorial Narasinha Mehta no coro (raised platform), where the saint is believed to have shared his songs. The uploading of Narasinha's songs by these groups indicate their popularity across theological boundaries discussed in chapter 5. Narasinha Narratives on YouTube

Like film and television, YouTube provides a narrative space for Narasinha's hagiography, as well. But the kind of participation we see through comments on song videos is missing here. This is perhaps because stories are presented through several long video clips, like parts of traditional ākhyāns. To listen to a story in full requires going through many long clips, which does not leave room for the spontaneous response such as that found on three- to four-minute song videos. The number of views for many videos, however, runs in the thousands, indicating their popularity. What especially draws one's attention with regard to videos with hagiographic content about Narasinha is that only a few of them are in Gujarati, and they are mostly from the 1974 film Kũvarbāi nũ Māmerũ (ceremonial gifts for Kunvarbai). A large number of clips originate in Rajasthan and focus on the narrative about gifts for Narasinha's granddaughter's wedding, with other stories interwoven as subplots. Most of these are in regional dialects of Rajasthan and not in standard Hindi. Some are also from Harayana, farther north. The appeal of Narasinha's hagiography as sources of both bhakti and aesthetic delight is reflected in a number of videos of religious discourses given by Shri Radhe Krishna Maharaj of Jodhpur (Rajasthan), a young kathākār (narrator) of the Bhāgavat. The schedule of this preacher, who draws an audience of thousands with his witty discourses and his use of musical and dramatic performances, indicates that he is invited to cities all over India by Rajasthani communities, primarily for his narration of Narasinha stories. In July 2011, seven out of nine of his scheduled programs for the coming months were of this type.82 Videos of his discourses give us a glimpse into their appeal for audiences. In a Kolkata event, the preacher is seen leading a song about Narasinha before an enormous audience. In two videos taken in Visakhapatanam, Andhra, a dramatic reenactment of the story is seen. The performers include the preacher and devotees, who look fully engrossed in dancing and the enactment of gift giving.83 The commercial value of such videos is fully recognized by TV channels like Ultra, which has uploaded a number of them on its YouTube channel “UltraBhakti.”

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Songs and the Saint in Modern Media Yet such retelling is not limited to Krishna-bhakti discourses. In three videos, a well-known preacher from Harayana who follows Kabir, Sant Rampal Ji, is seen narrating the Narasinha story in his dialect. He does not use music or dance, and (p.244) he refers to the divine as Paramatma and not Krishna. In his story, Paramatma becomes Narasinha's guru and teaches him detachment.84 These YouTube videos of Narasinha stories in live religious discourses in non-Gujarati dialects give us clues to how hagiographic narratives of Indian saints could have traveled across regional and sectarian boundaries in premodern times. The stories that had a strong aesthetic and moral appeal for people and addressed social issues relevant to them traveled far and wide. It is not surprising then that the story about the unreasonable demands by the in-laws of Narasinha's daughter and aid given to the saint by Krishna has such an appeal in regions of India, where such gift giving and demands are common. Beyond the context of religious discourses, a visually appealing narrative series presented in fourteen parts is a Rajasthani film entitled Shri Krishna Bhakt Narsi (1993), directed by Ramesh Puri (called Nani bai ko Mayaro on YouTube).85 This regional film is a musical claiming the talents of veteran artists from the Bombay film industry, Alok Nath (Narasinha) and Rakesh Pandey (Krishna). The songs are sung by the popular singers Suresh Wadkar and Anuradha Paudwal to the music of Narayan Dutt. The visuals, too, are grand because Narasinha is a rich merchant in the beginning of this film. The language, the music, and the visuals recreate the ethos of medieval Rajasthan that would appeal to the region's audiences. This film gives an indication of how a hagiographic narrative from one region of India is effectively adopted in another. Like the poetic narratives about Narasinha from premodern Rajasthan, the audiovisual text of the film grounds the narration firmly in the local culture. A comparison of videos of this film and those from the Gujarati film brings the point home. Even though the dramatic tension in both derives from the unreasonable demands of the in-laws, it is intensified in different ways. In the Gujarati film, the attitude of the members of Narasinha's community adds to his troubles. In the Rajasthani film, his condition is worsened by drought, a frequent occurrence in the region. Another commercial production uploaded in ten parts, also titled Sri Krishna Bhakta Narsi in colloquial Rajasthani Hindi is produced by Shubham Video Pvt. Ltd., in many video formats. This hundred-minute series allows us to see the intersection of tradition and modernity mediated by technology in popular culture. Here, a famous female folk singer, Sanjo Baghel, retells the Narasinha story in a music-dance form interspersed with pieces of dramatic narration, including a part in animation. The story follows the same plot as in the film. But the format is innovative. The interweaving of bardic singing by a woman, interspersed with visual narration, parallels the traditional retelling of Rajasthan's folk epic Pabuji, in which folk singers called Bhopas use a painted scroll depicting the story in the background.86 The Pabuji story upholds the valor of a warrior projected prominently on the scroll. The Narasinha story provides Page 37 of 44

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Songs and the Saint in Modern Media suitable content for a home entertainment for the middle classes because, instead of battles, it depicts the power of bhakti in the face of social persecution and reinforces family values in the dramatic parts. (p.245) Narasinha's songs and stories on YouTube, even though often found with the insertion of a commercial for consumer product at the beginning, recreate multiple layers of their preservation and transmission. Those who upload the videos have an interest in sharing the stories with the world either because of their attachment to them for ideological reasons or for commercial purposes. They become the agents in circulation. The comments on the videos give us to get a sense of participant responses, a large number of which do not mention bhakti but moral inspiration and an emotional appeal that leads some viewers to tears. Many reflect aspirations of people of Gujarati origin to transmit the songs as a cultural heritage; and some are in form of conversations among people of diverse communities. Even though they are circulating in a medium informed by commercial interests, these videos create a cultural space in which Narasinha's memory is evoked in multiple voices across the globe, offering a platform for communication about shared moral values. Our examination of the film, the TV serial, and YouTube videos shows that since 1930s the songs and hagiography of Narasinha Mehta have thrived in popular mass media. In these contexts, they retain some of the broad bhakti themes and motifs traditionally associated with Narasinha. The various media through which they circulate also parallel premodern manuscripts and hagiographic texts in many ways. Yet they can no longer be seen exclusively as forms of popular religion. In these media, they do not belong to a specific community. In their circulation among people of diverse backgrounds and their association with commercial interests, they can only be seen appropriately as parts of regionally based modern popular culture. The association with commercial interests does not detract however, from their value for their performers and audiences as inspirational cultural resources. The mass media productions, in fact, draw on the enduring vitality of the songs and narratives as such resources and use them as avenues to articulate moral and social meanings. They give a window into the process of sculpting a popular saint-poet's tradition with the adaptation of new ways of circulation and a layering of new meanings that contribute to its enduring legacy. Narasinha songs and stories in modern media also provide examples of popular culture as discussed by Fiske and Willis. They form sites of meaning making that have broader moral and social implications, including resistance to structures of dominance. People's active engagement with them as inspirational resources, evident especially in YouTube video comments, offers us a glimpse into the participatory nature of saint-poet traditions and gives an indication of their potential to be used in building peaceable communities, a criterion set by Lynch for evaluating popular culture.

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Songs and the Saint in Modern Media Notes:

(1) . Charles Long enumerates these definitions in the Encyclopedia of Religion. They describe popular religion variously as (a) religion identical with an organic form of society; (b) religion of the laity in contrast to that of the clergy; (c) pervasive beliefs and rituals and values that form a kind of a civic religion; (d) an amalgam of esoteric beliefs and practices; (e) religion of a subclass or minority; (f) religion of the masses as opposed to that of the sophisticated, discriminating, and learned; and (g) the creation of an ideology by the elite (Long 2005: 7326– 7328). (2) . Some scholars of popular culture stress that the quantitative aspect of popular culture is one of its most distinguishing marks. Something is popular because it is liked by a large number of people (Forbes and Mahan 2005: 2–4). (3) . For diversity of views on popular culture, see Storey 2009: 5–14 and Lynch 2005: 2–13. (4) . Storey 2009: 1. (5) . Ibid., 17–28. Here, Storey gives an overview of the perspectives of Matthew Arnold and F. R. Leavis, two major thinkers who considered popular culture as inferior to the culture of the elite. Arnold viewed popular culture as disruptive. Leavis made an important distinction between the mass culture of the industrial societies and earlier authentic folk culture enjoyed in many layers of the society. (6) . The contributions of theorists from what is known as the Frankfurt school and the Center of Cultural Studies at the University of Birmingham are especially important in this regard. For a brief survey of critical perspectives on popular culture from the perspectives of these two schools, see Storey 2009: 37– 58, 62–81. (7) . Fiske 1987: 309–317; and 2011 [1989] 112–116. (8) . Willis 1990: 21–22. (9) . Lynch 2005: 184–194. (10) . For a history of All India Radio, see the All India Radio Manual, ch. 1, vol. 1 (available at http://www.allindiaradio.org/Misc/AIR-Manual1/Chapter1.pdf; accessed on January 17, 2012). (11) . Conversation with T. R. Shukla, December 29, 2011. (12) . Narasinha's songs are often heard in Vandana, the 6:00 a.m. program on All India Radio, Ahmedabad and Vadodara. (13) . Interview with Kiran Patel, May 10, 2001. Page 39 of 44

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Songs and the Saint in Modern Media (14) . Narasinh Mehta Uttam Pado, Navaras Records, 1996. CDs 1–2. (15) . Information given by Asit Desai in an interview, August 12, 2011. (16) . While I was not able to find viewers who had seen the film in 1941, the memory of the 1991 TV serial was still alive for some viewers during my time in Gujarat in 2001 who invoked it in conversations. (17) . Even though the explicitly religious themes are no longer common, as Margaret Miles argues, films continue to implicitly serve the function of religion in interweaving serious questions about human existence that lead audiences to reflect on personal and societal values (Miles 1996: 5–25, 182–193). (18) . Dwyer 2006. (19) . For the history of early mythological and devotional films in India, see Dwyer 2006, chapters 1 and 2. (20) . Srinivas 2002: 155–17. (21) . As a regular filmgoer in India, I often observed people singing in cinema halls. The songs of the Hindi film Sant Gyaneshwar (1964) were so popular that even though I saw it many years later, I still remember people singing whole songs along. (22) . Dwyer 2006: 92. (23) . Ibid., 73–84. (24) . Ibid., 85. (25) . As mentioned on http://www.vijaybhatt.net/ (accessed on December 29, 2010) and from personal communication with Pauravi Pathak, Vijay Bhatt's granddaughter. (26) . As cited by Dwyer 2006: 86. (27) . A story about Bhatt's receiving inspiration from Gandhi and Bhatt's ardent wish that he watch the film is available on the website commemorating Vijay Bhatt. See http://www.+vijaybhatt.net/spotlight_phase2.html (accessed on June 17, 2011). (28) . Gandhi 1957 [1929], chapter X (On the anvil) of part V. (29) . The patient that Gandhi nursed at his ashram near Wardha was Parachure Shastri (See CWMG (E) 76: 168).

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Songs and the Saint in Modern Media (30) . There are numerous references to sacrifice in Gandhi's writings. But some speeches and writings make specific references to sacrifice of the self. One is in the speech made in Surat on January 2, 1916, where he stresses that freedom can be achieved only through sacrifice of the self. In a tribute to Gokhale paid on February 4, 1916, he focuses on the sacrifices made by the great man for the sake of his countrymen. In a letter written on January 11, 1931, he claims that people who are not ready to make sacrifices are leading useless lives (CWMG [E] 15: 125; 51: 20). (31) . Amin 1988: 288–348. Amin's essay discusses the miraculous power that the people in the Gorakhpur district in north India associated with the Gandhian movement in 1921–22. (32) . Harijan May 5, 1936 (CWMG [E] 68: 382). (33) . Dwyer notes that ending this film with Vaiṣṇavajana to sums up its narrative, which “concerns what it means to be a Vaishnava” (Dwyer 2006: 86). (34) . For the debates among film critics, see Dwyer 2006: 80–81. Especially striking are the references to Gandhi in remarks by critics on both sides of the debate. (35) . Review by Aakash Barvalia at http://www.gomolo.com/narsi-bhagatmo+vie-review/2835/500116 (accessed on January 12, 2012). (36) . For this review by Jonathan Crow, see http://www.answers.com/topic/narsibhagat (accessed on January 12, 2012). (37) . Ramayan (produced and directed by Ramanand Sagar), which stirred a sharp debate about the idea of authenticity, itself acquired somewhat of a mythical status. The prime minister of India at the time, Rajiv Gandhi, is known to have stated, “Ramayan has stirred the imaginations of millions of viewers. It has imbibed the great Indian culture, tradition and normal values especially in the young.” For a discussion of viewership of the Ramayan serial, see Richman 1991: 3. Bharat Ek Khoj was aired in 1988 (produced and directed by Shyam Benegal). (38) . Phone conversation with Mulraj Rajda, May 17, 2011. (39) . Ibid. (40) . Ibid. (41) . The reference is to Krishna's death following the destruction of his clan in a feud as retold in the Hindu Puranas. See Dimmitt and Van Buitenen 1978: 142– 146.

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Songs and the Saint in Modern Media (42) . NKK: 384. (43) . Dholakia discusses four texts containing this narrative, with the earliest dated 1755 CE (Dholakia 1992: 240–256). (44) . Phone conversation with Mulraj Rajda, May 25, 2011. (45) . For a discussion of violence in the wake of the anti-reservation movement, see Kumar 1991: 186. (46) . Phone conversation with Rajda, May 17, 2011. (47) . Jariwala's responses received via e-mail, January 16, 2011. (48) . Ibid. (49) . Conversation with Dattu Bhagat, March 27, 2001. (50) . Conversation with Nanubhai Trivedi, July 2001. (51) . Novetzke 2008: 243. (52) . Manovich 2009: 319. (53) . Discussed by Burgess and Green 2009. See especially the preface and chapters 3–4. (54) . Lange 2008: 376. (55) . The video clip of Sukkot's Hoshana Rabba service in a Los Angeles–based Jewish group involving music has been seen more than 10,500 times and has appreciative comments from viewers who identify as Christian and Muslim. See http://www.youtube.com/+watch?v=ndwDZUFabXk (accessed on June 28, 2011). (56) . Minaxi Patel from California especially stressed this aspect of sharing (conversation with Patel, June 27, 2011). (57) . A search gives a list of more than three hundred clips, but many are repeats and some are not actually clips of the song. (58) . See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKAhRsqvZqo uploaded by nitin2611 on May 18, 2008. The same clip is also seen at http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIvCtJEispY&f+eature=related uploaded by aamy1978, April 6, 2009. (Both clips accessed on July 8, 2011). (59) . The comments are by viewers who go by the usernames itslamar, alohananda, Chandannagar, dhrubajyotitalukdar, 2gautamc, trulytito, creativeonkar, TheCocteautwin1975, and sritatsatmishra, respectively (accessed on July 2, 2011). I have printed out the comments for reference. Many users Page 42 of 44

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Songs and the Saint in Modern Media have active channels on which information about their country of residence and their preferences in music, movies, and sports can be found. (60) . Comment by a viewer who goes by the username “peacemaker.” (61) . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVbE2pvmh1M&feature=related, uploaded by SongsOnCanvas, December 30, 2009 (accessed on July 7, 2011). The quote comes from a note Gandhi wrote in 1947. The addressee is not specified. CWMG (E) 96: 311. (62) . E-mail response from SongsOnCanvas, July 18, 2011. (63) . Comments by viewers with usernames Latha907 and Manju10370. (64) . Phone conversation with Sonny Mehta, July 9, 2011. (65) . See http://www.youtube.com/user/riyaazQawwali (accessed on July 9, 2011). (66) . See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NGeUhGKEjE or http:// www.youtube.com/+user/riyaazQawwali#p/a/u/2/6NGeUhGKEjE (accessed on July 9, 2011). (67) . Comments by viewers who have usernames harishkarunakar, devdog912, amlegnd, and schakraborty. (68) . See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HBCg7BIaX0&feature=related and http://+www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3uiicAbbWA. (69) . Phone conversation with Harsha Desai, July 25, 2009. (70) . See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXWxaohAQB0 (accessed on January 1, 2012). Comments by winfoxusa07 and BhajanMala. (71) . See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkZEyLs3Qyg&feature=related (accessed on July 14, 2011). The audio CD on which this appears is Narasinh Mehta Uttam Pado (with title “Poems of Narasinh Mehta” in English)—1, released by Navaras, a company established to promote Indian music. (72) . Comments by dhruvpatel0909, mymdmp, ppatel420, musafir39, davemauyr9, kashew29, hareshvaja. (73) . E-mail communication with Ahmed Ismail, July 4 2011. (74) . See https://www.youtube.com/all_comments?v=LQWSzQcOTGs (accessed on October 14, 2012).

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Songs and the Saint in Modern Media (75) . For the two dance performances, see http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=Bi5tU_vOhTk, and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsXgSVM8dU8 (accessed on July 14, 2011). (76) . See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8-07N9-b_k. (accessed on July 11, 2011). Communication with Tapas Bhakta, July 13, 2011. (77) . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTphl_D5RZ0 (accessed on January 12, 2012). (78) . http://www.youtube.com/user/dharmaraksha (accessed on January 12, 2012). (79) . For the Ramkabir sect, see Lorenzen 1991: 55. (80) . The website of the Ramkabir temple in Carson, CA, is found at http:// kabirtemple.org/+bajan_mandal.html (accessed on July 15, 2011). (81) . Conversation with Minaxi Patel (Bhakta), June 27, 2011. Her group can be seen singing a Narasinha bhajan at http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=ZkqjGVSAe2M&feature=rela+ted. (82) . See http://radhakrishnaji.com/schedule.html (accessed on July 17, 2011). (83) . See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5D4u252rHoY (Kolkata), http:// www.youtube.+com/watch?v=8MrObhRu3u8&feature=related (Vishakhapatanam), http://www.you+tube.com/watch? v=0IfWmb_qs6U&feature=related (Vishakhapatanam). All accessed on July 17, 2011. (84) . See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtXCDX9uiDM, http:// www.youtube.com/+watch?v=miG9yYVQILU&feature=related, and http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=_+jKV8WTKqPM&feature=related (accessed on July 17, 2011). (85) . For the first part, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxASfIqKdkA (accessed on July 16, 2011). The other clips appear in this list. (86) . For the first part Sanjo Baghel's musical narration, see http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v+=4NC8h35K4Qg&feature=related. For the Epic of Pabuji, see Smith: 2005.

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Concluding Remarks

Narasinha Mehta of Gujarat: A Legacy of Bhakti in Songs and Stories Neelima Shukla-Bhatt

Print publication date: 2014 Print ISBN-13: 9780199976416 Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: November 2014 DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199976416.001.0001

Concluding Remarks Neelima Shukla-Bhatt

DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199976416.003.0009

Abstract and Keywords The concluding part first considers the potential of the Narasinha tradition to serve as a shared cultural platform for people in Gujarat to address social issues and the important question of communal harmony in the region. It suggests that with their popularity in diverse contexts, Narasinha's songs and sacred biography provide an invaluable resource for the promotion of harmony if used with imagination. It then revisits the understanding of bhakti as rasa. It asserts that the use of the term rasa in conjunction with bhakti indeed offers an invaluable lens to understand in saint-poet traditions of north India. While this usage by participants in saint-poet traditions often refers to the enjoyable sentiment of an individual evoked by songs and stories in performance, it also offers an understanding of how its shared experience can form the basis for building ethical communities. Keywords:   Gujarat, riots, Sufi Rock, Gandhi

This book has been a journey with Narasinha Mehta's songs and sacred biography to various sites of their transmission and performances. The first part considered what makes the Narasinha tradition a popular regional tradition of bhakti that developed during the Sultanate and Mogul periods in Gujarat and has flourished through performance for centuries. The analysis here, making references to manuscripts and texts from the seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries, focused on three aspects of the tradition: the understanding of bhakti it conveys, the elements that make the songs and

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Concluding Remarks narratives aesthetically enjoyable (sources of rasa) for performers and audiences, and the ways in which they enhance each other's appeal. Examination of the lyrics and the narratives of the Narasinha tradition showed that they convey an eclectic understanding of bhakti in which its diverse currents—Vaishnava and Shaiva, saguṇa and nirguṇa—are integrally linked. These currents are bound together with the overarching message of the primacy of love as a spiritual value. The lyrics convey this central message in several ways, drawing attention to the ethical dimension of bhakti. The lyrics of līlā highlight Krishna's enjoyment of the love of Vraj's residents as much as his grace in freely mingling with them. The bonds between Krishna and the Vraj residents offer a paradigm for human relationships based on love that are in striking contrast with those based on hierarchical power structures. Only such relationships, the lyrics stress, can lead to building happy communities, which are similar to or even better than Vaikuntha, the celestial realm of Vishnu. Explicit expressions about the meaninglessness of gender and caste hierarchies in relationships of love further reinforce this message in the lyrics of līlā. Krishna, the divine incarnation, also emerges as the most powerful metaphor for love in these lyrics. Interweaving themes and poetic images drawn from Sanskrit Krishna-bhakti classics with those found in regional folklore, these lyrics offer to the audience avenues to imaginatively participate in the idyllic world of the Vraj residents and be absorbed in their emotions. We saw that the dramatic and playful quality of many of these lyrics (p.247) makes it possible for performers and audiences to enter that mythical world imaginatively with or without reference to devotion. They are as much sources of rasa as they are of bhakti. We also saw that the songs about the all-pervading divine (identified interchangeably as Krishna, Shiva, or Brahman) also stress that the “fiber of love” can be the only way to connect to him. They stir in the listener a sense of wonder at the divine's cosmic play in countless forms with grand poetic images and paradoxical upside-down language. But they ultimately stress that even in his unimaginable grandeur, the divine is bound to love; and since all existence is divine play, the principle linking all living forms is also love. Morally instructive songs such as Vaiṣṇavajana to stress that true religiousness requires active love for fellow beings and explicitly rejects all external markers of spirituality, including the status of caste. Even though the authenticity of the lyrics is impossible to verify, the two categories of Narasinha lyrics can be linked thematically by their focus on the human capacity for love. What emerges from the corpus of lyrics is a poetic voice of bhakti that performers have associated with Narasinha for centuries. This voice articulates an understanding of eclectic and inclusive bhakti that takes advantage of the framework for articulating liberal social ideals offered by the devotional currents in premodern India and has been valued by generations of performers.

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Concluding Remarks In his work on Christian saints, David Williams notes that ancient Anglo Saxons referred to their poets as “word weavers” because “they combined and interlaced words into poetic texts that represented the religious, historical, and artistic constituents of their society—that is, the entirety of the culture.”1 The poetic voice of Narasinha that emerges from the corpus associated with his name is that of such a “word weaver” of the nonsectarian bhakti milieu of Gujarat. It has represented the devotional, moral, social, and poetic aspirations of a large number of performers in different layers of society, sometimes across religious boundaries. In other words, as Rajendra Shukla points out, Narasinha represents a consciousness with which performers have identified for centuries. The image emerging from hagiographic narratives about Narasinha matches the one emerging from the lyrics. His sacred biography reinforces and extends the message of love as the essence of bhakti. Narasinha's immersion in Krishna-bhakti—a reward from Shiva—and his voluntary poverty form the core of his sacred biography. Krishna asks Narasinha to follow the vocation of singing bhakti songs. His influential, high-caste community disapproves, but the saintpoet remains dedicated to the profession and sings in the company of women and the “untouchables,” identifying with both. His Krishna bhakti becomes inseparable from both his voluntary poverty and his close bonds with the marginalized. For this, he faces persecution from the representatives of the structures of domination in his society; but he is amply rewarded by Krishna. The narratives provide a particularly powerful channel to convey bhakti messages because the characters in them belong to the human and not the mythical world. When presented effectively with (p.248) proper grounding in regional culture, they re-create the world of the saint-poet for the audience. They lead the audience to feel involved in the saint-poet's struggles and to be inspired by his life, in which the message of active love as the core of bhakti is exemplified at two levels—in the bond between the saint and Krishna and in the bond between the saint and his community. The saint-poet's character stands as a channel through which love flows in both directions. The image of the saintpoet as developed in the narratives enhances the authority of the lyrics and reinforces their messages about love and human dignity. In the songs and the narratives of the Narasinha tradition, thus, bhakti provides a channel through which both love for the divine and important social messages are conveyed. As important as the religious and moral messages are the poetic, musical, and narrative elements through which they are conveyed. Each lyric or narrative has structures that invite a participant to enter an imaginative space, whether it is Krishna's idyllic Vraj, the cosmic plane of his sporting, the saint's contemplative mood, or his world of struggle and triumph. These structures show a consistent integration of classical and folk, transregional and regional elements. Especially striking are the images drawn from women's world. The melodic frames and rhythms are linked to pan-Indian musical practices, but they have been traditionally rendered in specifically regional tunes like morning hymns and Page 3 of 13

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Concluding Remarks patterns of percussion. The narratives follow the pan-Indian pattern of persecution and ultimate victory of the saint, but they are set in a cultural milieu with specific customs and values. The celebration of regional landscape and culture through poetic, musical, and narrative structures contributes to the popularity of the songs and stories in many layers of the society. In performance, the world created by these structures comes alive. A sensitive participant enters the world imaginatively and experiences devotion as inseparable from aesthetic delight or rasa, as my co-participant in the night-long bhajan session had done. In the process, he or she also reinvents his/her self as the rasa theory and Dewey's concept of art experience suggest. The broad moral appeal of the songs and narratives and the culturally grounded lyrics, tunes, and narrative motifs make them enjoyable beyond the devotional context as well. It is this aspect of the songs and hagiography that forms the basis for their circulation in popular media in modern times, which we examined in the second part. This examination showed us how the aesthetic dimension has also influenced their circulation in nontraditional spaces since the late nineteenth century. It played an important role in Narasinha's emergence as the ādikavi of the Gujarati language in the later part of the nineteenth century as a part of the development of the literary history of the region. Gandhi, who was personally drawn to the appeal of the saint-poet's songs and narratives, used them in innovative and socially relevant ways, directing attention to their ethical implications for public life. In the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, creative writings based on Narasinha's life and works such as Munshi's, Patel's, and Yashaschandra's have articulated cultural and social aspirations of a number of Gujarati speakers (p.249) through his figure. The present-day circulation of Narasinha's songs and narratives through multiple channels of mass media indicates that they continue to stir popular imagination, both as enjoyable cultural forms and as sources for inspiration. As such, they do not belong to a single religious community but form sites for meaning making that often bring people from diverse backgrounds into conversation. In this they parallel at the regional level Sufi songs and qawwālis, which circulate more widely in popular media, including in Hindi films, as both sources of moral or spiritual inspiration and aesthetic delight for people from diverse backgrounds.2 It is in this form, overflowing from their religious context, that Narasinha's songs and hagiography can be considered in terms of “theological aesthetics of popular culture” as discussed by Lynch. They are a part of popular culture, but they are not simply a source of entertainment. At the same time that they entertain or inspire, they provide avenues to articulate moral and social values. Can the enduring vitality of the Narasinha tradition in broader cultural contexts be harnessed for social reconstruction? Can it offer a platform to bring people together? The question is particularly pertinent for Gujarat today, a region and state booming in its economic development but still coping with the wounds of the 2002 communal riots in which so many lives were lost, mostly from the Page 4 of 13

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Concluding Remarks minority Muslim community. The analysis of the events and its implications by concerned intellectuals of Gujarat and of the world indicate that the reasons for the tragedy have been both political and cultural. According to the noted political analyst Rajni Kothari, the root of growing communalism in the region can be related to the tragic loss of the pluralistic political and cultural imagination at the basis of Indian democracy that leaves no middle ground.3 Tridip Suhrud links the loss of space for dialogue to the weakening of the Gandhian legacy.4 Achyut Yagnik and Suchitra Sheth suggest that the causes for the “metamorphosis” of Gandhi's Gujarat lie in the changing sense of identity in the growing middle classes, their search for “structures of domination,” and an absence of challenge to them. The issue of communal violence is closely linked to the issues of social and economic dominance.5 These analyses suggest that the reconstruction of a harmonious Gujarat requires the reclamation of a pluralistic imagination, along with a willingness to enter into meaningful dialogue and to voice a challenge to social inequality. Narasinha's songs and hagiography convey messages of eclectic spirituality, present a challenge to the ideology of dominance and discrimination, and continue to generate conversations among individuals from diverse backgrounds. Their appeal to individuals is evident in these conversations. But what are the models available for disseminating their messages in public spaces today? Gandhi's work offers an early template that is especially helpful in its presentation of Narasinha as a challenge to narrow and discriminatory interpretations of religion. But several impressive present-day models for retrieving constructive messages from the (p.250) songs and hagiographies of popular South Asian Sufi and bhakti saint-poets are also available. An outstanding example of cultural creativity is found in Pakistan's rock artist and activist Salman Ahmad's engagement with the messages of the beloved Sufi poet of Punjab Bulleh Shah (ca. 1680–1757), whose songs convey messages of love and brotherhood. Ahmad's internationally acclaimed band Junoon (Urdu, lit. “passion”), founded in 1990 (now disbanded), pioneered a South Asian subgenre of rock music called “Sufi rock,” which synthesized the poetic and musical styles of traditional Sufi songs from the subcontinent with Western rock. Through 1990s and early 2000s, Junoon created music that appeals contemporary global audiences and serves as a vehicle for sociopolitical change and promotion of peace in the world. The band was known for its outspoken resistance through music to the orthodox interpretations of Islam by Pakistan's religious and political elite. Their songs were often banned by the government, but they found unprecedented reception among South Asian and international audiences. Beyond Pakistan, their message of peace drew thousands of fans to their concerts in India, Bangladesh, and New York.6 One of their best-received albums, Parvaaz (“flight,” 1999), recreates the Bulleh Shah appeal with one original song by the saint-poet and other lyrics written by Ahmad drawing from Page 5 of 13

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Concluding Remarks him.7 In many ways, Ahmad's work parallels the careers of Sufi and bhakti saintpoets, who drew from their traditional sources (Islamic or bhakti) and reinterpreted them in their songs of love and resistance to dominance, while often inviting persecution in the pursuit of their conviction. In the autobiographical Rock and Roll Jihad, Ahmad movingly recounts his moment of joy and gratitude at an award ceremony in India, which gave a clear indication of how his music had “inspired the young people of two hostile nations to look at each other's countries with a common humanity.”8 Ahmad, therefore, provides a fascinating model for using a medieval saint-poet's work for building harmony and constructive social action in current times. Another fine example of reclaiming the spiritual, social, and political resonances of a saint-poet's tradition is provided by the currently ongoing Kabir Project. Started in 2003, the project was conceived by the Indian filmmaker Shabnam Virmani as a weaving of journeys to the medieval poet Kabir. It brings together singers, scholars, students, activists, and urban and rural audiences in marches (yātrās) and singing festivals; organizes workshops for students to engage with messages emerging form Kabir's poetry and life; and is building an online “knowledge space” archiving films, poems, theater pieces, encounters, and responses of “ordinary” women and men that often offer “profound insights.”9 The project opens imaginative and real spaces for people to retrieve the spiritual and sociopolitical resonances of the Kabir tradition in multiple ways. It invites audiences and participants to engage with Kabir-related literature as it informs people's lives. Moreover, the project exhibits a distinctly participatory spirit that Prentiss stresses. Like Ahmad, Virmani provides a model of the cultural (p.251) imagination and will necessary to use traditions of saint-poets as resources for constructive purposes. Operating within the sphere of the “cultural economy” of “semiotic power” as discussed by Fiske, Ahmad's and Virmani's work participates in constructive processes for social and economic justice. In Gujarat, allusions to Narasinha's songs and biography are often made in programs for social reconstruction. But a more focused engagement with them has the potential to resonate with the constructive social and literary work that has been done since the 2002 riots for re-establishing harmony in Gujarat. After the riots, a large number of Indian and international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), private citizens, and professionals have done crucial work for rehabilitating the victims of violence with medical, legal, financial, and occupational aid. Janet Powers's evocatively titled book, Kites over the Mango Tree, alluding to the contribution of Muslim craftsmen who make kites for a popular Hindu festival in Gujarat, sheds light on the massive efforts of individuals and organizations to rebuild harmony in the state. Many of them follow Gandhian principles and invoke him in their work.10

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Concluding Remarks The organized efforts of NGOs are matched by the efforts of individuals and local communities, which have used different culturally rooted avenues for rebuilding harmony. The noted Gandhian Narayan Desai, for example, has been recounting events from Gandhi's life with songs and an evocative re-creation of scenes in the traditional format of kathā (narration), which requires the narrator to speak for several hours for days. In an interview following such a kathā in New Haven, CT, in 2009, he explained that his aim in this strenuous undertaking at his age (he was eighty-five then) was to rekindle harmony by invoking Gandhi's memory.11 Such efforts have also been made by communities. A community in the small town of Halol, for example, made an innovative experiment in the years following the riots by using cricket, a game with a zealous following in India, as a platform to bridge the distances between Hindus and Muslims.12 In Godhra, the town where the riots began and whose name triggers the memory of the riots, a Muslim group has been organizing weddings of twenty-seven couples on February 27 (the date that the riots started in 2002) since 2007. The couples are given many gifts by local Hindus to establish harmony. The group draws on the cultural significance of weddings as platforms for community gathering.13 In some places, group weddings include couples from both Hindu and Muslim communities.14 Social activism and cultural events indeed provide platforms for people from diverse communities to come to together. But as Diana Eck observes in the context of the United States, often what brings people together in a multireligious community is the recognition of the “common thirst for deep springs of spiritual wisdom and practice.”15 In the same vein, Ashis Nandy rightly suggests that a serious effort in the direction of building harmony in Gujarat would demand an exploration of “the philosophy, symbolism and theology of tolerance nascent in (p.252) the faiths of citizens.”16 Communitybased efforts in this area often involve specifically religious occasions and spaces. A national reporter committed to reporting stories of social relevance, Hanif Khokhar from Narasinha's town Junagadh reports that the Shia Muslim festival of Muharram brings Hindu and Muslim communities together in the city.17 During the Hindu festival of Navarātri, a large number of Muslim singers continue to contribute, as they have done for years, to the dancing events in various parts of Gujarat. Abu Mir, who is such a musician, expressed hope that his work was contributing to rebuilding harmony in the region.18 In Unava, near Ahmedabad, the dargāh (tomb of a Muslim saint) of Mira Datar continues to attract visitors from diverse communities because of the belief in its healing power for a variety of mental diseases. But in the years following the riots many visitors also stress the spirit of communal harmony that prevails at the site.19 The articulation of harmony at this religious site is particularly significant because it is a symbol of shared faith and strikes a chord in the saint-martyr's followers. It does not resolve problems; nor can it be taken as a token instance

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Concluding Remarks to be hastily cited as representing harmony. But it does give hope that this religiocultural site supports the rekindling of a sense of brotherhood. In literary responses to the riots, some poets and writers of Gujarat have listened to the victims and given expression to their pain. Even though they articulate a deep anguish about the tragedy, their writings also contain a sense of hope. Notable among these are the feminist activist and author Sarup Dhruv's poems in her collection Hastakśep (Gujarati, “Intervention,” 2003) and her narration of post-riot stories of pain and hope in Ummīd Hogī Koī (Hindi, “There must be some hope,” 2009).20 In the opening lines of one of Dhruv's poems about the riots, she refers to the helplessness of even the divine (Hindu's Iśvar and Muslims' Khudā) when humanity falls: The minarets of humanity have fallen. Both Ishvar and Khuda have been defeated.21

Yet in Ummīd Hogī Koī, she highlights the hope kindled by the humanity of caring citizens and even the victims themselves. This work is not framed in devotional terms. But its spirit closely parallels Narasinha's song declaring his affinity with the community, including the Dalits, following the path of love and telling his critics that the life of those who distance themselves from such a community is meaningless. It is significant that the title of the first poem in Hastakśep is the phrase pīḍ parāī (another's pain) taken from the first line of Vaiṣṇavajana to. This poem, written before the riots, explains the poet's adoption of a stance on life that deviates from social expectations of personal success for the sake of intervening on the behalf of those who have been marginalized by society. Narasinha's poetic phrase, repeated three times in the poem, provides the foundation for articulating such a stance.22 The poem also stresses that a poet must take a stand on social (p.253) issues of his or her time and be concerned with the pain of others. The allusion to Narasinha's sacred biography is unmistakable. His title as the ādikavi resonates here at more than one level. Narasinha Mehta's songs and traditional biography form a powerful literary and religiocultural current in Gujarat that offers healing resources for the region's spirit, especially in its message of inclusive devotion and its expression of disregard for structures of dominance. Like Bulleh Shah's interpretation of Islam and Kabir's teachings about inner religion, the understanding of eclectic bhakti conveyed in Narasinha's songs carries important implications for harmony. The interweaving of Shaiva and Vaishnava and of nirguṇa and saguṇa currents of bhakti plus the explicit rejection of external markers of piety in Narasinha's songs and hagiography offer an interpretation of religion as a vehicle for spiritual and moral cultivation that is not identified exclusively with a specific theological doctrine or community. This interpretation recognizes the spiritual potential of a number of paths. The morning hymn beginning with the line “In the entire universe, it is only you Shri Hari / appearing in endless different Page 8 of 13

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Concluding Remarks forms,” for instance, is not just a fine theological statement. The lyric explicitly challenges narrow interpretations of spirituality and conveys the message that the true form of the divine is love. The books created confusion; and did not tell the truth. Each worships whom he likes. What one accepts with thought, speech, and action, the mind sees only that as the Truth. …. Narasaĩyo says: He is what my heart is searching. Let me love. He will manifest himself with love.

The song challenges its singers to recognize followers of different religions as searching for the truth in different ways. Even though it is situated within the Hindu bhakti tradition, its message has broader implications for interfaith understanding. Resistance to structures of dominance and discrimination is articulated even more explicitly in the Narasinha tradition, especially in the hagiography. Narasinha's poverty is not hereditary; it is voluntary. He belongs to an influential high caste of Brahmins but chooses to remain a poor devotional singer associating freely with the marginalized of society—women, poor mendicants, and the Dalits. His moral victory at the end of every incident of persecution certainly carries theological implications. But his choice to remain poor and ecstatically happy in the company of people on the periphery of his society presents a challenge to the value system based on dominance. Happiness and joy are associated with communities of sharing rather than with the acquisition of religious, political, or (p.254) economic power. His is not a rejection of material well-being as followed by the ascetics; he does accept the gifts offered by Krishna. What he brings into question is the identification of wealth with dignity. In this, his sacred biography offers a valuable cultural articulation of the kind of challenge that Yagnik and Sheth find missing in today's Gujarat. The Narasinha tradition offers an important cultural resource in Gujarat, with precisely the kind of symbolism and theology Ashis Nandy recommends for healing. In a fine volume examining contemporary meanings of bhakti literature and practices, Jayant Lele observes that what the bhakti saint-poets said in their own historical contexts may not be applicable directly in modern situations. But the significance of their traditions lies in the potential of their symbolic structures to handle the paradox of system-supportive and reformist ideas and to articulate values like equality that form the basis of any notion of community.23 Further in the same volume, while recognizing that the Varkari tradition does not represent “a force for change” in present-day Maharashtra, Eleanor Zelliot notes that bhakti literature is “still a reservoir of living ideas” and that if Page 9 of 13

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Concluding Remarks “interpreted with imagination and skill” its figures can serve as “enabling” forces.24 The Narasinha tradition offers a source of inclusive ideas based on the principle of love. This is not lost to artists, activists, and thinkers. Rajda's television serial made during the early 1990s, for example, makes a subtle reference to the wider implications of Narasinha's inclusive bhakti in a scene where Narasinha is accused of betraying his community in singing hymns to Krishna. The saint's response stressing the validity of diverse paths to the divine is made with the term “religion” (dharma) instead of the term “sect” (sampradāya). To a perceptive viewer, the suggestion that all religions prevalent in the region are valid paths would not be lost. Similarly, Fr. Vinayak Jadav's interpretation of Vaiṣṇavajana to, relating the song to the Christian values of compassion and charity, also offers a significant example of broader cultural dialog. This engagement in particular defies the interpretations that associate it specifically to the Vaishnava tradition.25 Poet Dhruv titles her first poem in the collection advocating intervention in social discrimination and violence with a Narasinha phrase. The saint-poet continues to speak through multiple voices in Gujarat that convey a message of active love and inclusive devotion. But Narasinha's appeal is not limited to Gujarat; nor does it have implications exclusively for the current situation in the region. His songs are heard in devotional gatherings beyond the region in Rajasthan, in cultural gatherings of Indian immigrant communities worldwide, and in national and international peace building events. His sacred biography continues to be recounted in many regions of India as an inspiring story of faith-based contentment and identification with the marginalized of the society. In popular media of film and television his figure provides a channel for conveying socially relevant messages. On YouTube video sites, his songs generate conversations among people living in different corners (p.255) of the world, speaking different languages and following different faiths. In each space, his songs or biography provide platforms for bringing people together. With their enduring vitality in multiple channels of circulation and their resonances in and beyond the Krishna bhakti milieu, Nararainha's songs and hagiography, like those of major saint-poets of medieval India—Bulleh Shah, Tukaram, and Kabir—no longer remain simply forms of popular devotion. They have become parts of inspiring popular culture of their region and more broadly of South Asia that has the potential to be used constructively for social causes, especially with its participatory aspects. Yet as G. N. Devy, a scholar in Gujarat who has worked closely with tribals of western India for years stresses, to make values such as freedom and peace lived reality in any social context and to make them firmly established in the consciousness of the ordinary, the faceless, and the nameless all requires innumerable small but concrete steps.26 It is hard work and takes cultural imagination and will to tap into the potential of the Page 10 of 13

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Concluding Remarks traditions of the saint-poets for constructive purposes because as Anna Schultz's recent work shows, the power of participatory devotional forms can also be used to buttress nationalistic agenda that may be alienating for some communities.27 The one Gujarati who showed creative imagination and will in engaging with Narasinha's songs and sacred biography a century ago was Gandhi. And a valuable message he conveyed through this engagement was that these songs and narratives may not be taken exclusively as sources of devotion or cultural pride. Their real significance lies in the challenge they present to their performers and audiences to live up to their own potential as loving and ethical beings. In the changed historical context since Gandhi's time, keeping alive Narasinha's legacy in songs and narratives in a constructive manner calls for reinterpretation and creativity for those who see them as inspirational cultural forms. This presents both a challenge and an opportunity. It is a challenge because the work of reinterpretation will have to take place in a milieu where forces that manipulate religious forms for exclusive political or social agenda are also at work. Because of the instances of political manipulation, the widely prevalent suspicion of religion in general makes constrctive reinterpretation of religious forms difficult. Further, the very ability of saint-poets' cultural memory to affect social change has been recurrently challenged. Yet it is also an opportunity to use the wide reach of songs and stories from the Narasinha tradition through multiple media for building platforms for harmony inviting diverse voices as the saint-poet is remembered to have done in his own courtyard, It is an opportunity to take Narasinha's legacy forward. As Plate suggests, religious forms, especially those involving artistic activity, are “about process and movement, about creativity more than creation … memory making more than memory” for transformative purposes.28 It may be an opportune moment for constructive engagement with the moral and aesthetic dimensions of Narasinha's songs and hagiographic narratives; for as Dewey suggests, art (p.256) “celebrates with particular intensity the moments in which the past reenforces the present and in which the future is a quickening of what now is.”29 As discussed in the introduction, bhakti, especially as it relates to texts and practices associated with saintly figures, has been viewed as embodiment, as movement, and as creating publics. These important descriptors relate to bhakti's promise to form ethical communities based on values or love and equality even as it is used for other social and religious functions. Our examination of Narasinha's songs and narratives in diverse social and historical contexts shows that such ability derives to a large degree from bhakti's integral link with rasa in saint-poet traditions. As rasa, bhakti has immense potential to bind people in love and joy. Notes:

(1) . Williams 2010: 4–5.

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Concluding Remarks (2) . For the use of qawwālis in Hindi films, see Morcom 2007: 73. In recent years, the Oscar-winning music director A. R. Rahman has composed some very popular qawwāli and Sufi songs such as “Maula Maula” from the film Delhi-6. But, in general, Sufi songs have been extremely popular in recent years outside of film music, as well. (3) . Kothari 2002: 4823. (4) . Suhrud 2002: 1011–1012. (5) . Yagnik and Sheth 2002: 1009. (6) . Lecture by Ali Asani of Harvard University titled “Sufi Rock” at Wellesley College in April 2009, in which he discussed Ahmad's career as a rock artist, a lyricist inspired by Sufi poetry and music, and an activist. (7) . Parvaaz, released by EMI, 1999. (8) . Ahmad 2010: 169. (9) . The Kabir project uses the internet as an important avenue for dissemination of knowledge. See http://www.kabirproject.org/about%20us (accessed on December 27, 2011). (10) . Powers 2009, chapters 8–10. Several organizations, such as the wellknown Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA) and organizations working under the umbrella organization Gujarat Harmony Project, link their work to the Gandhian legacy. (11) . Interview with Narayan Desai in New Haven, CT, October 11, 2009. (12) . A group of young artists from Ahmedabad, Ajitpal Singh, Janantik Shukla, and Raju Vadgama, made a short film on the experiment titled Play Peace in 2005 and have now uploaded an edited version on YouTube. It is available at http://www.youtube.com/+watch?v=YDk7KkdYd-g (accessed on December 27, 2011). (13) . Daily News & Analysis (DNA) February 28, 2011, report by Satish Jha and Ismail Zabha. (14) . In the village of Bavla, near Ahmedabad, 92 couples, including 11 Muslim couples, wedded at the same venue in a community-sponsored event on May 28, 2010 (Report on TV9 Gujarat). (15) . Eck 2001: 377. (16) . Nandy as cited by Powers 2009: 153.

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Concluding Remarks (17) . Hanif Khokhar's report on Muharram 2009 on Zee News, at http:// www.youtube.com/+watch?v=Bex7bLMkhe0 (accessed on December 27, 2011). For Khokhar's view on journalism, see his blog at http:// hanifkhokhar.blogspot.com/ (accessed on February 11, 2012). (18) . Conversation with Abu Mir in Ahmedabad, October 10, 2004. Abu Mir is from Mandvi, Kutch. (19) . For a study of the site, see Pfleiderer 2006. For the responses of visitors to the site in January 2011, see the Asian News International (ANI) report available at http://www.+youtube.com/watch?v=Bex7bLMkhe0 (accessed on December 27, 2011). (20) . Dhruv's Hastakśep (2003) is a collection of poems about the need for intervention in social disparities and cases of dominance. Ummīd (2009) contains narratives based on interviews with the victims of the 2002 riots, which depict their struggles and resilience in the face of fear and despair. (21) . Dhruv 2003: 82. The translation is mine. (22) . Ibid., 2–3. (23) . Lele 1981: 4–6. (24) . Ibid., 153. (25) . See the article by Cynthia Stephen in the web journal Counter Currents titled “India: The Idea of Nation and the Subaltern Indian Woman,” available at http://www.countercur+rents.org/cynthia150811.htm. (26) . Devy 2006: 168–169. (27) . Schultz's study focuses on devotional performances in Maharashtra since the nineteenth century, especially in the genre of rashtriya kirtan, that have had political implications and in the recent times have been used to support Hindu nationalist ideologies. Shultz 2013. (28) . Plate 2005: 9. (29) . Dewey 2005 [1934]: 17.

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