Mauṋgalkávya and Vaeśńavkávya

The golden age of the Mauṋgalkávya(1) came in Ráŕh.

Its main theme was to establish certain deities – non-scriptural deities, Buddhist deities, Jain deities and Paoráńika deities – in society, in doing so the poets have depicted the joys and sorrows of the common people.

Kavikankan Mukundaram (from Damunya of Burdwan) sketched a picture of the life of the distressed Ráŕh of his time in his Phullarár Váramasyá [“Twelve Months in the Life of Phullará”].

In order to show how the deities of the Mauṋgalkávya wreaked havoc on those at whom they became angry, the poets have depicted in words the life of that distressed Ráŕh.

In the post-Buddhist era, under the rule of the Paoráńika cult, no poet dared to express the kinds of tortures that were meted out to followers of Buddhism and Jainism.

But when Islam arose, the Buddhist poets, experiencing the joy of heaving a free sigh, sang a song of liberation through their Mauṋgalkávya; that is, they opened their hearts.

In Shúnyapuráńa, by Ramai Pandit, in Niraiṋjaner Ruśmá, and in Dharmamauṋgal by Ghanaram Chakravorty (Burdwan), etc., a clear picture has been presented of all this.

The age of Vaishnavite literature [Vaeśńavkávya] ran almost parallel with – sometimes a little ahead of, sometimes a little behind – the age of the Mauṋgalkávya.

I am not speaking of Baul here since it is more verbal than written; whereas Vaishnavite literature, through writing, portrayal and oral expression has made itself exquisitely charming. The main theme of Vaishnavite literature is to define the relationship between the limited and the limitless.

So wherever Vaishnavite literature has delved a little bit into one’s inner feeling, it has become delicately sweet, unparalleled in its soothing beauty. Since long before the advent of Mahaprabhu Chaitanyadev, Vaeśńava literature had been surging across Ráŕh.

Jaydev, Barhu Chandidas, Dwija Chandidas, Dina Chandidas, Lochandas Thakur, Brindavandas Thakur, Naraharidas Thakur, Govindadas Thakur, Gyanadas Thakur – all were sons of Ráŕh, representatives of the aesthetic flow of Ráŕh. The deepest melody of Ráŕh reverberates on the ektárá [single-stringed instrument] of Baul.

It was in this way that Vaishnavite padávalii [verses] and mahájaniiya kiirtanas originated. (Those who are great sádhakas and composers of Vaeśńava literature are called mahájanas [great souls].) This kind of Vaeśńava mystic literature is unparalleled in this world.

This literature has added heretofore-unseen verdure to the almost treeless Ráŕh. Much later, Rabindranath too, sitting on the soil of Ráŕh, created unique cadence on the ektárá of Baul.

From where did Ráŕh get this unprecedented literary wealth and incomparable treasury of art?

1981, Kolkata

23: Shiva as the Source

Everything has a point of origin, a source; nothing is without a source.

The waves that cause all feelings and sensations, crude, subtle or causal, start from some source and proceed towards the infinite.

From the very moment a feeling or sensation originates, it begins to stir the human mind and to make the soul surge with bliss.

The farther the wave travels from the source, the less power it has to stir and to saturate with bliss.

Lord Sadáshiva, the central figure of universal humanity, appeared around 7,500 years ago.

He rode on his yak, travelling all over the world propagating humanism.

This humanism has Parama Puruśa as its goal.

This movement towards Parama Puruśa is multi-staged, is prolonged in manifold directions, and experiences myriad flows before it reaches its single goal.

For their survival, human beings have to make constant efforts (sádhaná) not only in body but also in mind and spirit.

The seed of escaping the monotony of existence has to be kept embedded in their constant onward march itself. Without that, life becomes unbearable.

The subtler pulsations of humanity are the means to keep human life enlivened with this aesthetic flow. Those subtler pulsations contain within them literature, art and various sweeter and sweeter humanistic and spiritual expressions. This was what beloved Shiva gave to the world.

Shiva appeared after the influx of the Aryans into India. During that conflict-ridden period, Shiva was ekamevádvitiiyam [“one without a second”] – the singular ideal of humanity.

If the highly-aesthetic expressions of Ráŕh are anything to go by, it will not be wrong to say that the soil of Ráŕh was blessed by Shiva’s holy footsteps.

It was from this starting-point that Ráŕh assimilated all subtle and aesthetic manifestations of humanism and then diffused them into every atom of the air, the sky and every pulsation of existence. A poet says:

Tomár parash chaŕáye rekhecha Bhúloke dyuloke goloke Sattár prati palake;

[You have spread your touch in all places In human and divine worlds, in paradise Everywhere, in every blink of existence.]

Herein lies the superiority of Ráŕh – the virtuosity of Ráŕh’s vitality.

1981, Kolkata