Bhakti: The Explosion of Song
A brief look at the singing saints who changed the face of Indian religious traditions.
In order to understand the intricacies and layers found in the songs of the Sikh world, it is imperative that the modern Sikh, especially the Sikh in diaspora, is familiar with the Bhakti movement. Bhakti, related to the Sanskrit word bhagavata, the Punjabi word bhāg, and even the Persian bakhshish, comes to mean ‘adoration’, or, ‘devotion’, from the Sanskrit root bhaj, meaning ‘to share.’ This is the umbrella term for the many religious traditions that arose throughout the Subcontinent, starting in southern India, some three hundred years before the earliest figures who feature in the Guru Granth Sahib: Jaidev and Shaikh Farid. This is clearly a culture that the Gurus interacted with and were part of, as can be seen by the inclusion of some of the most famous bhakti poets, such as Kabir and Surdas, in the Adi Granth of Guru Arjan (1604). The purpose of this article is to shed some light on bhakti movements that had reached Punjab during the early modern period, to add some colour and shade to the names you may well be familiar with. Therefore this article will be a collection of translations of poems which I find linguistically and thematically interesting, with a short commentary for points of consideration.
However, you might ask the question: ‘Why bother?’ We have already traced in brief Guru Arjan’s compilation of bhakti figures within the Adi Granth. But there is even an attempt by Guru Arjan to draw these disparate and various traditions together not solely in a literary project, but within the Guru’s ideology too:
ਗੋਬਿੰਦ ਗੋਬਿੰਦ ਗੋਬਿੰਦ ਸੰਗਿ ਨਾਮਦੇਉ ਮਨੁ ਲੀਣਾ ॥ ਆਢ ਦਾਮ ਕੋ ਛੀਪਰੋ ਹੋਇਓ ਲਾਖੀਣਾ ॥ ੧ ॥ ਰਹਾਉ ॥
gōbind gōbind gōbind saṅgi nāmadeu manu līṇā āḍh dām kō chīparō hōiō lākhīṇā
ਬੁਨਨਾ ਤਨਨਾ ਤਿਆਗਿ ਕੈ ਪ੍ਰੀਤਿ ਚਰਨ ਕਬੀਰਾ ॥ ਨੀਚ ਕੁਲਾ ਜੋਲਾਹਰਾ ਭਇਓ ਗੁਨੀਯ ਗਹੀਰਾ ॥ ੧ ॥
bunanā tananā tiāgi kai prīti caran kabīrā nīc kulā jōlāharā bhaiō gunīya gahīrā
ਰਵਿਦਾਸੁ ਢੁਵੰਤਾ ਢੋਰ ਨੀਤਿ ਤਿਨਿ ਤਿਆਗੀ ਮਾਇਆ ॥ ਪਰਗਟੁ ਹੋਆ ਸਾਧਸੰਗਿ ਹਰਿ ਦਰਸਨੁ ਪਾਇਆ ॥ ੨ ॥
ravidās ḍhuvantā ḍhōr nīti tini tiāgī māiā paragaṭu hōā sadhasaṅgi hari darasanu pāiā
ਸੈਨੁ ਨਾਈ ਬੁਤਕਾਰੀਆ ਓਹੁ ਘਰਿ ਘਰਿ ਸੁਨਿਆ ॥ ਹਿਰਦੇ ਵਸਿਆ ਪਾਰਬ੍ਰਹਮੁ ਭਗਤਾ ਮਹਿ ਗਨਿਆ ॥ ੩ ॥
sainu nāī butakārīā ōhu ghari ghari suniā hirde vasiā pārabrahmu bhagatā mahi ganiā
ਇਹ ਬਿਧਿ ਸੁਨਿ ਕੈ ਜਾਟਰੋ ਉਠਿ ਭਗਤੀ ਲਾਗਾ ॥ ਮਿਲੇ ਪ੍ਰਤਖਿ ਗੁਸਾਈਆ ਧੰਨਾ ਵਡਭਾਗਾ ॥ ੪ ॥ ੨ ॥
ih bidhi suni kai jāṭarō uṭhi bhagati lāgā mile pratakh gusāīā dhannā vaḍabhāgā
In Govinda, Govinda, Govinda was Namdev absorbed
The penniless printer suddenly became a tycoon!
Abandoning his weaving and looming, Kabir fell for God’s feet,
So the lowly weaver earned countless leagues of boons.
Ravidas, the hauler of dead cows, he who abandoned Maya,
Shone forth in amongst the Sadhus when he saw Hari.
Sain the barber, the village oddjobber, listened in each and every house,
Parabrahma took abode in his heart, and counted him among the bhakts.
Hearing of him, the Jat put himself together and devoted himself,
He met the manifest Gosain, he, Dhanna the blessed. (Guru Arjan, Adi Granth, Raga Asa, 487)
Whether Guru Arjan is constructing a tradition or reiterating an established tradition in this shabad is beyond the point. There is an attempt to produce a micro-bhaktamala, a hagiography of bhaktas, famous proponents of the bhakti movement. These are not foreign, alien figures, but poets well received by the Guru for their devotion, so much so that the verses of all those listed above are found in the Adi Granth, no doubt collected and compiled by Guru Arjan himself1. Fully-fledged bhaktamalas of the early modern period, especially those produced in the Punjab in the 18th and 19th centuries cast some of the bhagats as part of the same sampradaya. While this may be the case, it seems more likely that this is an attempt to categorise the uncategorised, miscellaneous poets who are known for their nirguna bhakti, or devotion to a formless god. Despite this, Guru Arjan includes poets of different and even opposing sampradayas, as in the case of the shabad above, further highlighting the Guru’s inclusive conception of bhakti, that it can be found in all sects, even if their theological beliefs were not in accordance with the Sikh tradition. But it should be stated that there is an overwhelming preponderance on nirguni poets like Kabir and Ravidas who stand closer to the Sikh tradition than Surdas and Parmanand who will be discussed below.
But before we begin to dissect these songs, I must put forth a case for the difficult nature of these songs. In the modern era, we receive these songs in a written form: in books, online, or, for some of us, in manuscripts. This is especially the case for Sikhs for whom there is a religious binding and historical focus on the written form2. Not only this, but in modern times, Sikhs have conjured up an image of a ‘penned’ Guru Granth Sahib, the idea that the text that we revere and cherish so deeply was simply put to writing as soon as it was composed. But, more likely than not, there were more steps involved in the canonisation of the Adi Granth. Devotional song in the era of the Gurus and other saints was sung, remembered, re-sung, even composed and sung in tribute by devotees of a poet. The Gurus clearly were familiar with this setting as the motif of the Guru as ‘God’s bard,’ utilising the image and function of the Punjabi oral singer, appears too many times to recount in this article.
It should be noted that the Sikh tradition and the Sikh canon, that being primarily the Adi Granth and to a considerable degree the Dasam Granth, stand apart from other devotional scriptural traditions that arise in the early modern period, as, in the words of Pashaura Singh, ‘no other contemporary or near-contemporary religious compilation can be compared with the doctrinal consistency and complexity of the Adi Granth structure.’3 This becomes abundantly clear when one begins to pay attention to manuscripts preserving the songs of other Bhakti movements, which often preserve not the words of the purported author, but rather, an oral performance of the words of the purported author. In other cases, we find the words of the purported author clouded out in a lively oral tradition of much later singers singing songs in the name of a poet in their honour, distanced by time, location and even language4. This is very much the case for figures like Surdas, Parmanand and Mirabai whose collections have grown to tens of thousands of poems in the modern era, with Mirabai even receiving a nirguni Radhasoami casting in the 20th century5.
This may of course cause problems for conceptions of authenticity and the original voice of the famed poet. But this is not, and has never been, a concern to those devoted to these poets and traditions: were devotees of Namdev concerned by songs sung in Khariboli as opposed to Marathi, of which there are a large number? From the devotee’s perspective, as long as the ideas and emotions are agreeable and in the final line the name of poet is invoked, what need is there to reject a poem? For this reason, this article will not try to showcase some of the supposedly ‘original’ songs of poets. The reason for this is two-fold. Firstly, some poets’ textual traditions are so terribly preserved, it is almost impossible to find an ‘authentic’ poem, that too without access to early manuscripts in the West, often kept under lock and key in libraries in temples and monasteries. Secondly, this article’s purpose is not to make out the individual character of the poets themselves, but the ideas, rhythms and emotions that draw them altogether under the banner of bhakti.
A Note on Gurmukhi and English Transliteration
The songs included within this article are not found in any Gurmukhi manuscript or tradition. For the Gurmukhi transliteration, I have been as faithful as possible to the text, while making the verses suitable to the Gurmukhi scribal tradition that was cultivated under Guru Arjan. This should make these poems easier for a Sikh audience to read, while still conveying the same meaning and metre. Moreover, certain sounds which maybe written as long in the Gurmukhi text - as they are in the original text - may be written as short in the English transliteration for the sake of the metre, where certain sounds may be read as short by intuition by a native reader of the pada or shabad.
In the case of the Dakor Manuscript, which will be discussed in relation to Mirabai, I have transliterated the text unadulterated, as presented by Dr. Bhagwandas Tiwari in his Mira Ki Pramanik Padavali. As far as I am aware, there is no Gurmukhi scribal tradition for transliterating Marwari poetry (but there may be instances of transliteration in Punjabi Dadupanthi manuscripts that I have not come across). Therefore, it is difficult to know how the scribes of the early Sikh tradition would have transliterated the words and sounds that characterise the Marwari language. On the contrary, we know exactly how Braj Bhasha was to be written and transliterated in the Gurmukhi script in the 16th and 17th centuries because of the many Awadhi and Braj Bhasha poems that have been included within the Sikh canon.
Surdas
Surdas is believed to have been one of the Aṣhṭachāp, or, the Eight Seals, a group of eight poets who were part of the Vallabha Sampradaya founded by Vallabhacharya in the Braj area. The Vallabhites are devotees of Shrīnāthjī, a childlike form of Krishna, which leads to their being labelled as sagunīs, those who worship a god with form and qualities. Surdas, along with Parmanand, is one of the few saguni poets to be included within the Sikh tradition (AG 1253). He is, too, one of the most famous Braj Bhasha poets of the early modern period, as can be seen by his very early inclusion in the Sikh canon of the Punjab at the turn of the 16th century, not long after Surdas’ own death around 1580 AD. The large majority of his poems are padas, the equivalent of the shabad in the Sikh tradition, an example of which produces a beautiful and energetic supplication to Krishna6:
An Invocation
ਚਰਨ ਕਮਲ ਬੰਦਉ ਹਰਿ ਰਾਇ ।
caran kamal bandau hari rāi
ਜਾਕੀ ਕ੍ਰਿਪਾ ਪੰਗੁ ਗਿਰਿ ਲੰਘੈ ਅੰਧੇ ਕਉ ਸਬ ਕਛੁ ਦਰਸਾਇ ॥
jākī kripā paṅgu giri laṅghai andhe kaũ sab kachu darasāi
ਬਹਿਰਉ ਸੁਨੈ ਗੂੰਗ ਪੁਨਿ ਬੋਲੈ ਰੰਕ ਚਲੈ ਸਿਰ ਛਤ੍ਰ ਧਰਾਇ ।
bahirau sunai gūṅg puni bōlai raṅk calai sir chatra dharāi
ਸੂਰਦਾਸ ਸੁਆਮੀ ਕਰੁਨਾਮੈ ਬਾਰ ਬਾਰ ਬੰਦਉ ਤਿਹਿ ਪਾਇ ॥
sūradās suāmī karunāmai bār bār bandau tihi pāi
I bow before the lotus feet of king Hari
By his mercy, the lame climb mountains and the blind begin to see all.
The deaf now hear, the mute now speak, the pauper now walks under a parasol.
Before Surdas’ merciful lord, I bow again and again at his feet.7
Parmanand
As mentioned above, Parmanand is believed to have been part of the same tradition of the Vallabha Sampradaya, singing songs in praise of Shrinathji in the Braj plains. Where the previous pada of Surdas is largely agreeable with modern Sikh views of behaviour and attitude towards a deity, Parmanand here shows a more romantic side to his devotion, known as madhurya-rasa, assuming the position of a gopi of Krishna in the Braj plains8:
Loving Him
ਮਾਈ ਰੀ ਬਨ ਕ੍ਰੀੜਾ ਮੋਹਿ ਭਾਵੈ
māi ri ban krīṛā mohi bhāvai ਗਿਰਿਧਰ ਸੰਗ ਨਿਮਿਖ ਨਹਿ ਛਾਂੜੋ ਕਬਹੂੰ ਮਧੁਰ ਸੁਰ ਗਾਵੈ
giridhar saṅg nimikh nahi chā̃ṛō kabahū̃ madhur sur gāvai
ਕਬਹੁੰਕ ਨੈਨ ਸੋ ਨੈਨ ਜੋਰਿਕੈ ਬਾਤਨਿ ਚਿਤ ਚੁਰਾਵੈ
kabahuṅk nain so nain jōrikai bātani citt curāvai
ਹੰਸਿ ਮੁਸਿਕਾਇ ਕੰਠ ਕਰ ਸੋ ਲੈ ਰੀਝਿ ਕੈ ਹ੍ਰਿਦੈ ਲਗਾਵੈ
hansi musikāi kaṇṭh kar sō lai rījhi kai hridai lagāvai ਕਬਹੁੰਕ ਨੈਨਨਿ ਮੂੰਦਿ ਧਿਆਨ ਧਰਿ ਰੂਪ ਸੁਧਾ ਰਸ ਪਿਆਵੈ
kabahuṅk nainani mūndi dhiān dhar rūp sudhā ras piāvai ਕਬਹੁੰਕ ਰਹਸਿ ਬਿਲਾਸ ਕਰਤ ਹਰਿ ਬਨ ਮਾਲਾ ਪਹਿਰਾਵੈ
kabahuṅk rahasi bilās karat hari ban mālā pahirāvai ਇਹ ਸੁਖ ਸਖੀ ਕਹਾ ਅਬ ਕੈਸੈ ਕੈਸੇਈ ਉਰ ਮੇ ਨ ਆਵੈ
ih sukh sakhī kahā ab kaisai kaiseī ur me na āvai Raga Hamir: O mother, I love his forest-play,
Not for a moment will I leave the Mountain-bearer - he may sing at any moment!
Maybe we’ll meet eye-to-eye and he’ll steal my mind with his tales,
Laughing and smiling, taking me in his embrace, filling our hearts with joy.
Maybe while I think of him with my eyes closed, he’ll feed me nectar,
Maybe in secret, he’ll make love to me, Hari wearing his green garland.
This joy, O sakhi, tell me how, how can it not enter my heart?
The Fight for Love
Madhurya-rasa is by no means alien to the Sikh tradition, with innumerable scenes with sexual connotations to convey the love felt for the divine, which was not a taboo for the Gurus, nor the Sikhs until recent times. We find the Guru singing as a newly-wed bride on multiple occasions and even wishing to be the bed upon which the divine husband sleeps in Raga Maru (AG 1098). In the following pada, we find the images of love between Parmanand, the gopi, and Krishna intensify, befitting the Guler Gita Govinda series of the late 18th century:
ਚਲਹਿ ਕਿਨਿ ਦੇਖਨਿ ਕੁੰਜ ਕੁਟੀ
calahi kini dekhani kuñj kuṭī ਸੁੰਦਰ ਸਿਆਮ ਮਦਨਮੋਹਨ ਜਹਾ ਮਨਮਥ ਫਉਜ ਲੁਟੀ
sundar siām madanamōhan jahā manamath phauj luṭī ਸੁਰਤ ਸਉਰ ਮੇ ਲਰਤ ਸਖੀ ਕੀ ਮੁਗਤਾ ਮਾਲ ਟੁਟੀ
surat saur me larat sakhī kī mugatā māl ṭuṭī ਉਰਤ ਤੇਜ ਕੰਚੁਕਿ ਚੁਰਕਟ ਭਈ ਕਟਿ ਪਟ ਗ੍ਰੰਥਿ ਛੁਟੀ
urat tej kañcuki curkaṭ bhaī kaṭi paṭ granthi chuṭī ਚਤੁਰ ਸਿਰੋਮਨਿ ਸੂਰ ਨੰਦਸੁਤ ਲੀਨੀ ਅਧਰ ਘੁਟੀ
catur sirōmani sūr nandasut līnī adhar ghuṭī
ਪਰਮਾਨੰਦ ਗੁਆਲਿਨਿ ਗੋਬਿੰਦ ਸੰਗ ਨੀਕੀ ਜੋਟ ਜੁਟੀ
paramānand guālini gōbind saṅg nīkī jōṭ juṭī
Raga Sarang: Let’s go, why don’t we have a look at the hut in the woods? -
Beautiful Shyama, the enchanter of Kamadeva, whose army he’s spoiled!
Fighting in the duel of lovers, the sakhi’s garland of pearls snapped
In their fierce fight, her blouse is in pieces, the knot of her girdle has been loosened!
Nanda’s brave son, the clever crowning jewel, pressed his Gopi for a kiss on the lips.
Parmanand, the Gopis with Govinda have made such a wonderful couple!9
Mirabai
Mirabai has attracted great interest in the world of bhakti literature for several reasons. She is one of very few female figures, of unusually high status, whose songs are the least well preserved of the poets produced above, and possibly as a result of this, her exact religious identity is hard to define. The Dakor Manuscript, of debated authenticity, preserves Marwari songs which mention girdhara, the mountain-bearer Krishna10. The same can be said of Nabhadas’ Sri Bhaktamal, which presents her as a devotee of Krishna. But in the Sikh tradition, as Mann and Hawley have shown, Mirabai is the student of Ravidas and appears as a more nirguni figure1112. This has knock-on effects for the Mirabai shabad found in the Bhai Mani Singh Birh, but Dalpat Rajpurohit has provided an attractive solution to the ‘earliest’ song of Mira in manuscript13. The song below provides an equally varied parallel to Surdas’ supplication above14:
An Invocation
ਹਰਿ ਤੁਮ ਹਰੋ ਜਨ ਕੀ ਭੀਰ ॥
hari tum haro jan ki bhīr ਦ੍ਰੋਪਤਾ ਕੀ ਲਾਜ ਰਾਖੀ ਤੁਰਤ ਵਾਢਿਓ ਚੀਰ ॥
drōpatā kī lāj rākhī turat vāḍhiō cīr
ਭਗਤ ਕਾਰਣ ਰੂਪ ਨਰਹਰਿ ਧਰਿਓ ਆਪ ਸਰੀਰ ॥
bhagt kāraṇ rūp narahari dhariō āp sarīr
ਹਿਰਣਾਕੁਸ਼ ਮਾਰਿ ਲੀਨ ਧਰਿਓ ਨਾਹਿ ਨ ਧੀਰ ॥
hiraṇākush māri dhariō nāhi na dhīr ਬੂੜਤੋ ਗਜਰਾਜ ਰਾਖਿਓ ਕੀਓ ਬਾਹਰ ਨੀਰ ॥
būṛatō gajarāj rākhiō kīō bāhar nīr ਦਾਸੀ ਮੀਰਾ ਲਾਲ ਗਿਰਧਰ ਚਰਣ ਕੰਵਲ ਪੈ ਸੀਰ ॥
dāsī mīrā lāl giradhar caraṇ kanval pai sīr Raga Shyamakalyana: O Hari, remove the pains of your slave!
You protected Draupadi’s honour, swiftly lengthening her cloth.
For the sake of a devotee, you took the form of Narasingha for yourself,
And killed Hiranyakashipu, holding back no anger of yours.
You saved the old king of the elephants and plucked him from the water15.
Your slave-girl Mira cools at your lotus feet, O Girdhar Lal.
The Marwari Mira
Elsewhere Mirabai gives autobiographical information about her life according to the stories that have been told about her, as in one of the most famous songs found in the Dakor Manuscript, a debated manuscript which Jack Hawley discusses in Songs of the Saints of India 16:
ਮੑਾਂਰਾਂ ਰੀ ਗਿਰਧਰ ਗੋਪਾਲ਼ ਦੂਸਰਾ ਣਾ ਕੂਯਾਂ ॥ ਦੂਸਰਾਂ ਣਾਂ ਕੋਯਾਂ ਸਾਧਾਂ ਸਕਲ਼ ਲ਼ੋਕ ਜੂਯਾਂ ॥
mhānrā̃ rī giradhar gōpāḷ dūsarā ṇā kūyā̃ dūsarā̃ ṇā̃ kōyā̃ sadhā̃ sakaḷ ḷōk jūyā̃
ਭਾਯਾ ਛਾਂੜ੍ਯਾ ਬਧਾ ਛਾੜ੍ਯਾਂ ਸਗਾਂ ਸੂਯਾਂ ॥ ਸਾਧਾਂ ਸੰਗ ਬੇਠ ਬੇਠ ਲੋਕ ਲਾਜ ਖੂਯਾਂ ॥
bhāyā chā̃ṇṛyā badhā chāṛyā̃ sagā̃ sūyā̃ sadhā̃ saṅg beṭh beṭh lōk lāj khūyā̃
ਭਗਤ ਦੇਖ੍ਯਾਂ ਰਾਜੀ ਹ੍ਯਯਾਂ ਜਗਤ ਦੇਖ੍ਯਾਂ ਰੂਯਾਂ ॥ ਅਸਵਾਂ ਜਲ਼ ਸੀਂਚ ਸੀਂਚ ਪ੍ਰੇਮ ਬੇਲ਼ ਬੂਯਾਂ ॥
bhagat dekhyā̃ rājī hyayā̃ jagat dekhyā̃ rūyā̃ asvā̃ jaḷ sīñc sīñc prem beḷ būyā̃
ਦਧ ਮਥ ਘ੍ਰਿਤ ਕਾਢ ਲਯਾਂ ਡਾਰ ਦਯਾਂ ਛੂਯਾਂ ॥ ਰਾਣਾ ਬਿਖਰੋ ਪ੍ਯਾਲ਼ਾ ਭੇਜ੍ਯਾਂ ਪੀਯ ਮਗਣ ਹੂਯਾਂ ॥
dadh math ghrit kāḍh layā̃ ḍār dayā̃ chūyā̃ rāṇā bikharō pyāḷā bhejyā̃ pīya magaṇ hūyā̃
ਅਬ ਤ ਬਾਤ ਫੇਲ਼ ਪੜ੍ਯਾ ਜਾਣ੍ਯਾਂ ਸਬ ਕੂਯਾਂ ॥ ਮੀਰਾਂ ਰੀ ਲਗਣ ਲਗ੍ਯਾਂ ਹੋਣਾਂ ਹੋ ਜੋ ਹੂਯਾਂ ॥
ab ta bāt pheḷ paṛyā jāṇyā̃ sab kūyā̃ mīrā̃ rī lagaṇ lagyā̃ hōṇā̃ hō jō hūyā̃
For me, there is only Girdhar the cowherd, there is no other! There is no other, O holy men, I have searched the whole world.
I have left my husband, I have left my uncles, I have left my own dear brothers. Sitting amongst the holy men, I have cast aside my shame and reputation.
When I see the devotees, I am happy; when I see the world, I cry. Pouring watery tears from my eyes, I have sowed the plant of love.
Having churned my milk, I scooped out the butter & tossed aside the buttermilk, The rana sent me a goblet of poison; I drank it but I was immersed in love.
Now the rumour has spread, and everyone knows the deal, ‘Mira’s fallen in love, what was to happen was meant to be.’
Ravidas
Following Kabir, Farid and Namdev in representation within the Adi Granth, Ravidas is one of the most prominent poets in the Sikh tradition who has received much adoration among Punjabi communities, particularly among the Ravidassias, who revere Ravidas as their guru. Despite the recent founding of the religious community, Ravidas appears to have become incredibly popular very quickly in the Punjab in the 15th and 16th centuries. It seems that by the time of the canonisation of the Adi Granth under Guru Arjan, Ravidas had received his own distinct, Punjabi tradition of songs, as some of the songs of Ravidas found in the Adi Granth are not found in other early manuscripts like the Fatehpur Manuscript or the Pāñcavāṇī. The Adi Granth songs therefore provide us with a window into what kinds of songs were well received by a Punjabi audience in the 15th and 16th centuries, something that Callewaert and Friedlander were the first to notice17. I place Ravidas after Mirabai because, according to tradition, Mirabai became a disciple of Ravidas, who was in turn - so we are told - a disciple of Ramanand, the founder of the Ramanandi Sampradaya who features within the Sikh tradition too (AG 1196). Such beliefs about Ravidas and Mirabai appear in the Prem Ambodh written at the court of Guru Gobind Singh:
ਪੁਨਿ ਰਵਿਦਾਸ ਕੀ ਸੰਗਤਿ ਧਾਈ ॥ ਤਾ ਚਰਨ ਕਮਲ ਸਿਉ ਪ੍ਰੀਤਿ ਲਗਾਈ ॥
puni ravidās kī saṅgati dhāī
tā caran kamal siu prīti lagāī ਅਉ ਗਿਰਧਰ ਸਉ ਭਇਓ ਬਿਵਾਹਾ ॥ ਜੋ ਰਾਜਪੁਤ੍ਰ ਪਰਗਟ ਜਗ ਮਾਹਾ ॥
au giradhar sau bhaiō bivāhā
jō rājaputra paragaṭ jag māhā She then ran off to meet Ravidas, and plied love at his lotus-feet.
And to Girdhar was she married, that truly famous rajput (Prem Ambodh 7.1.3-4).
Although I do not have the time to explain the Prem Ambodh’s characterisation of Mirabai and her connection with Ravidas, whether literary or historical, Gurinder S. Mann and Jack Hawley in Mirabai at the Court of Guru Gobind Singh have made considerable efforts to analyse what the writer of the Prem Ambodh attempts in his paricaya. However, what should be noted in reading the Prem Ambodh, which places Mirabai after Ravidas, is how diverse and disparate characters become connected to the Ramanandi Sampradaya in bhaktamalas like those of Nabhadas, the Prem Ambodh poet, and Bhai Mani Singh. However, to return to Ravidas, I shall present songs which are not found in the Sikh tradition to further broaden our scope of bhakti in early-modern North India, while still characteristic of Ravidas, who emphasises his social status as a camar, and his emphasis on premabhagti, a term which shows up in a number of songs in both Sikh and other manuscript traditions.
The Knot of Folly
ਪਾਂਡੇ ਹਰਿ ਬਿਚਿ ਅੰਤਰ ਠਾਢਾ ॥ ਮੂੰਡ ਮੁੰਡਾਵੈ ਸੇਵਾ ਪੂਜਾ ਭ੍ਰਮ ਕਾ ਬੰਧਨ ਗਾਢਾ ॥
pāṇde hari bici antar ṭhāḍhā mūṇḍ muṇḍāvai sevā pūjā bhram kā bandhan gaḍhā
ਮਾਲਾ ਤਿਲਕ ਮਨੋਹਰ ਬਾਣੀ ਤਾਗਉ ਜਮ ਕੀ ਪਾਸੀ ॥ ਜੈ ਹਰਿ ਸੇਤਿ ਜੋਰਿਓ ਚਾਹਉ ਤਉ ਜਗ ਸਿਉੰ ਰਹਉ ਉਦਾਸੀ ॥
mālā tilak manōhar bāṇī tāgau jam kī pāsī jai hari seti joriō cāhau tau jag siũ rahau udāsī
ਭੂਖ ਨ ਭਾਜੈ ਤ੍ਰਿਸਨਾ ਨ ਜਾਈ ਕਹਉ ਕਵਨ ਗੁਣ ਹੋਈ ॥ ਜਉ ਦਧਿ ਮੈਂ ਕਾਂਜੀ ਕਉ ਜਾਵਣ ਤਉ ਘ੍ਰਿਤ ਨ ਕਾਢੈ ਕੋਈ ॥
bhūkh na bhājai trisanā na jāī kahau kavan guṇ hōī jau dadhi maĩ kāñjī kau jāvaṇ tau ghrit na kāḍhai kōī
ਕਥਨੀਂ ਕਥਨੀਂ ਗਿਆਨ ਅਚਿਆਰਾ ਭਗਤਿ ਇਨਹੁ ਸਉ ਨਿਆਰੀ ॥ ਦੋਇ ਘੋੜਾ ਚਢਿ ਕਉਨ ਪਹੂੰਤਉ ਸਤਗੁਰ ਕਹੈ ਪੁਕਾਰੀ ॥
kathanī̃ kathanī̃ giān aciārā bhagti inahu sau niārī dōi ghōḍā caḍhi kaun pahūntau satagur kahai pukārī
ਜੈ ਦਾਸਾਤਣ ਕੀਓ ਚਾਹੈ ਰੇ ਆਸਾ ਭਗਤਿ ਕੀ ਹੋਈ ॥ ਨ੍ਰਿਮਲ ਸੁਆਂਗ ਮਗਨ ਹੁਐ ਨਾਚਉ ਲਾਜ ਸਰਮ ਸਬ ਖੋਈ ॥
jai dāsātaṇ kīō cāhai re āsā bhagti ki hōī nrimal suāṅg magan huai nācau lāj saram sam khōī
ਕੋਈ ਦਾਧਉ ਕੋਈ ਸੀਧਉ ਸਾਚਿ ਝੂਠ ਨਿਤਿ ਮਾਰਿਓ ॥ ਕਹੈ ਰੈਦਾਸ ਇਹੁ ਮੈਂ ਨ ਕਹਤ ਹੂੰ ਐਕਾਦਸ ਪੁਕਾਰਿਆ ॥
kōī dādhau kōī sādhau sāci jhūṭh niti māriō kahai raidās ihu māĩ n kahat hū̃ aikādas pukāriā
O Pandit, you’ve made a gap between me and Hari. Scraping and shaving your head, serving and praying, you’ve tied a knot with folly.
Your rosary, vermillion, alluring verses, and janeu are the nooses of death, If you wish to be joined with Hari, then stay detached from the whole world.
If hunger does not flee, nor does thirst go away, what virtue is there in this? If buttermilk does not leave the milk, no one’s getting any butter.
Rambling and prattling you spoke of wisdom, but devotion is separate from this. Mounting two horses who has ever ridden home? So satguru has cried aloud.
If you want to become a servant, this is devotion’s yearning! Absorbed in pure imitation, you must dance, throwing aside all honour and shame.
Some are burned, some are straight: true or false, one dies after another. Ravidas says, I do not say this, I cried it aloud on ekadashi. (Pañcavāṇī 70)18
Questions and Answers
ਅਬ ਕਾ ਕਹਿ ਕਉਨ ਬਤਾਊ ॥ ਅਬ ਕਹਿ ਦੇਵਲਿ ਦੇਵ ਸਮਾਊ ॥
ab kā kahi kaun batāū ab kahi devali dev samāū
ਕਾ ਸਉ ਰਾਮ ਕਹਉ ਸੁਨਿ ਭਾਈ ਕਾ ਸਉ ਕ੍ਰਸ਼ਨ ਕਰੀਮਾ ॥ ਕਾ ਸਿਉ ਬੇਦ ਕਤੇਬ ਕਹਉ ਅਬ ਕਾ ਸਿਉ ਕਹੂੰ ਲੀਓ ਲੀਨਾ ॥
kā sau rām kahau suni bhāī kā sau krashna karīmā kā siu bed kateb kahau ab kā siu kahū̃ liō līnā
ਕਾ ਸਿਉ ਤਪ ਤੀਰਥ ਬ੍ਰਤ ਪੂਜਾ ਕਾ ਸਿਉ ਨਾਉ ਕਹਾਊ ॥ ਕਾ ਸਿਉ ਭਿਸਤਿ ਦੋਜਿਗ ਨਾਸਤਿ ਕਰਿ ਕਾ ਸਿਉ ਕਹੂੰ ਕਹਾਈ ॥
kā siu tap tīrath brat pūjā kā siu nāu kahāū kā siu bhisti dōjig nāsti kari kā siu kahū̃ kahāī
ਕਾ ਸਿਉ ਜੀਵ ਸੀਵ ਕਹਉ ਮਾਧਉ ਸੁਨਿ ਸਹਜਿ ਘਰਿ ਭਾਈ ॥ ਕਾ ਸਿਉ ਗੁਨੀ ਨਗੁਣ ਕਹੂੰ ਮਾਧਉ ਕਾ ਸਿਉ ਕਹਉ ਬਤਾਈ ॥
kā siu jīv sīv kahau mādhau suni sahaji ghari bhāī kā siu gunī naguṇ kahū̃ mādhau kā siu kahau batāī
ਜਲ ਕੇ ਤਰੰਗ ਜਲ ਮਾਹੀ ਸਮਾਈ ਕਹਿ ਕਾ ਕਉ ਨਾਵ ਧਰੀਐ ॥ ਐਸੈ ਤੈ ਮੈ ਯੇਕ ਰੂਪ ਹੈ ਮਾਧਉ ਆਪਣਹੀ ਨਿਰਵਰੀਐ ॥
jal ke taraṅg jal māhi samāī kahi kā kau nāv dhariai aisai tai mai yek rūp hai mādhau āpaṇahī niravariai
ਭਣੈ ਰੈਦਾਸ ਅਬ ਕਾ ਕਹਿ ਗਾਊ ਜਉ ਕੋਈ ਅਉਰ ਹੀ ਹੋਈ ॥ ਜਾ ਸਿਉ ਗਾਇਹਿ ਗਾਇ ਕਹਤ ਹੈ ਪਰਮਰੂਪ ਹਮ ਸੋਈ ॥
bhaṇai raidās ab kā kahi gāū jau kōī aur hi hōī jā siu gāihi gāi kahat hai paramarūp ham sōī
Now, what I am to tell you?
You tell me: how is God held within a temple?
Listen brother, who am I to tell of Rama? To whom Krishna or Karim?
Who do I tell of the Vedas and the Qur’an? To whom of immersion in love?
Who will I tell of meditation, pilgrimage, fasts and worship? To whom the one name?
Before whom do I reject heaven and hell? To whom do I say these things?
Whom do I tell of Shiva and the life-soul? O Madhava, in sahaja I found my home.
Whom do I call virtuous and whom virtueless? O Madhava, who do I tell these things?
The waves of water sink back into the water: what name should be given to them?
You & I are just the same, one & the same form, O Madhava. In you alone is one freed.
So says Raidas, what now do I say in song, if there is anything left to say?
About whom I sang and sang, over and over, that ultimate form is the same as I.(Pañcavāṇī 27)19
Winand, Callewaert M., and Peter G. Freidlander. 2003. The Life and Works of Raidas(Manohar Publishers and Distributors), p. 66-68.
Singh, Pashaura. 2006. Life and Work of Guru Arjan: History, Memory, and Biography in the Sikh Tradition (London, England: Oxford University Press), p. 140-1.
———. 2007. “The Vanjara Pothi,” in Textures of the Sikh Past: New Historical Perspectives, ed. by Tony Ballantyne (Oxford, England: Oxford University Press).
Hawley, John Stratton. 1988. “Author and Authority in the Bhakti Poetry of North India,” The Journal of Asian Studies, 47.2: 269–90.
Tiwari, Bhagwandas. 1981. Mira Ki Pramanik Padavali (Allahabad, India: Sahitya Bhavan), p. 142.
Snell, Rupert. 1991. The Hindi Classical Tradition : A Braj Bhāṣā Reader: A Braj Bhasa Reader (London, England: School of Oriental & African Studies External Services Division), p. 84.
This is one of the first songs attributed to Surdas I ever read; its rhythm, flow and alliteration are hard to forget. Those familiar with the Sikh tradition will be able to see the similarities with a verse by Guru Arjan in Salok Sahaskriti which mentions the lame crossing an ocean, rather than a mountain and the blind beginning to see (Guru Arjan, Salok Sahaskriti 55, 1359). This shows an example of circulating poetic motifs to describe the greatness and power of God, with the addition of natural images (a mosquito cracking a rock, an ant crossing a mire) to embellish Guru Arjan’s verse.
Sharma, Sribrajabhushan. 1960. Paramanandasagar (Mathura, India: Agrewal Press), p. 227.
Sharma, Sribrajabhushan. 1960. Paramanandasagar (Mathura, India: Agrewal Press), p. 308.
Tiwari, Bhagwandas. 1981. Mira Ki Pramanik Padavali (Allahabad, India: Sahitya Bhavan), p. 141.
Stratton Hawley, John, and Gurinder Singh Mann. 2014. “Mirabai at the Court of Guru Gobind Singh,” in Culture and Circulation (BRILL), pp. 107–38
Martin, Nancy M. 2023. Mirabai: The Making of a Saint (New York, NY: Oxford University Press), pp. 58-66.
Rajpurohit, Dalpat S. 2023. “Mira’s ‘Earliest’ Song and Her Images in History and Hagiography,” The Journal of the American Oriental Society, 143.4: 839–58
Parashuram Chaturvedi, Mirabai Ki Padavali (3rd edn.), Hindi Sahitya-Samelan, p. 25.
All of the stories mentioned in this pada are mentioned and utilised within the Sikh tradition. Various Gurus mention Draupadi’s disrobing, as well as Bhai Gurdas in his Varan (10.8), while Prahlada receives even more mentions from Kabir, the third, fourth and fifth Gurus, Namdev and Bhatt Nal. Finally, the story of Gajendra’s liberation is likely one of the most well-known, featuring in the closing verses of Salok Mahalla 9. These are circulating stories which find mention in Sanskrit literature but are here vernacularised to adorn the ideas of bhakti.
Tiwari, Bhagwandas. 1981. Mira Ki Pramanik Padavali (Allahabad, India: Sahitya Bhavan), p. 141.
Winand, Callewaert M., and Peter G. Freidlander. 2003. The Life and Works of Raidas(Manohar Publishers and Distributors), p. 66.
Winand, Callewaert M., and Peter G. Freidlander. 2003. The Life and Works of Raidas(Manohar Publishers and Distributors), p. 300.
Winand, Callewaert M., and Peter G. Freidlander. 2003. The Life and Works of Raidas(Manohar Publishers and Distributors), p. 210.
Thanks for this piece. A question: I've heard that there is primary source evidence that Mirabai's voice was considered for inclusion in the Adi Granth, but was not in the end. Do we know why? Have been interested to learn more on this but not known where to look