Nice song by Kavi Vallabha

This song is sometimes attributed to Vidyapati, but Hare Krishna Mukhopadhyaya credits it to Kavivallabha, which sounds to me like a pseudonym. It is the only song known by this Mahajan, who seems very talented and has surely done other things. I'll bet it can be found under other names, too.

I spoke on this song at St-Agathe on Saturday. An audience of three graying and balding old men--my age, as it were. This song describes anurāga, in which the beloved, though experienced constantly, seems at every moment to be completely new and refreshing.

sakhi he ! ki puchasi anubhava moya
soi pirīti, anurāga bākhānite
tile tile nautuna hoya
Oh sakhi ! Why do you ask me about what I feel? How can I explain this intense loving feeling, which seems newer and newer with every passing moment.
janama avadhi hāma, rūpa nehāralun
nayana nā tirapita bhela
lākha lākha yuga, hiye hiye rākhalun
taba hiye juḍana nā bhela
Throughout my life I have been able to see Krishna's beauty, but my eyes have never been satisfied. I could hold him in my heart for countless eons, and still my heart would never get enough of him.
kata madhu jāminī, rabhase na gowālun
nā bujhalun kaichana keli
soi madhura bola, śravaṇa-hi śunalun
śruti patha paraśa nā bheli
I don't know how many sweet nights I joyfully spent with him, and still I don't understand these pastimes at all. I heard his sweet words, but it is as though they never really entered my ears.
jata vidagadha jana, rasa anu magana
anubhava kāhu nā pekha
kaha kavivallabha, prāṇa juḍāite
lākha nā milala eka
There are so many connoisseurs of poetry and literature who are always absorbed in the aesthetic experience of rasa. But I don't see any among them who understand what I am going through. Says Kavivallabha, in this world, among all the millions of people, I cannot find one who brings me comfort.

The very last line is particularly well known and oft quoted, I would say. Perhaps Kavivallabha is simply repeating a kind of popular saying. At any rate, the ineffability of the experience of love, or the mystical experience, is being expressed here. yato vāco nivartante aprāpya manasā saha.

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Comments

Halley said…
i heard this song in a new cd brought to the market by saregama india quite recently .

the cd is a set of two , containing traditional padavali kirtans of bengal .
chandidas , vidyapati , lochan das and like .
the collections are really a gem .

songs from the gramaphone era are also in this cd !!

this particular one has been sung by kritan kalanidhi bhupendra krishna basu -- some long forgotten kirtan maestro of bengal .

you might want o get a copy of this cd before it is sold out . demand is not so high and i dont think they would release a second edition .
Monday, 05 July, 2010
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