04-19-2006, 02:30 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Povada: In Maharashtra the narrative khanda-kavya is called povada. The first available povada in Marathi was written on the thrilling episode of Shivaji killing Afzal Khan. The tradition of povada singing has been kept alive by folk singers known as shahirs. The povada is presented in a dramatic manner, and high-pitch singing and melodramatic acting is its soul. The shahir and his supporting singers play the duf and the tuntuni. The duf is like the Hindi dufli - but only about 6 inches in diameter and made of thicker hide; the tuntuni is a one-stringed instrument. The povada is also sung by the Gondhali, who normally sing in praise of the goddess (Dhere, 1988).
According to Varsha Bhosle (personal communication), the number of verses may be as few as 20 but, by tradition, 300 verses or more is the norm. A povada must record the correct historical dates and names in the events it depicts. It is a vira-shri form of song to exhort a people to battle and to honour a hero, or to lament a defeat by foul means. Panipat cha phatka (the blow of Panipat, on Prithviraj Chauhan) is probably the best known povada. It is necessarily a virile form of poetry - there are povadas on Krishna in the battlefield but none on Buddha; people have written povadas on Gandhi too, but depicting events of confrontation like the Salt March and ignoring the philosophy of ahimsa. A povada is also a metre. A long poem that fulfills the other criteria, but is not in the povada metre, is merely a poem. Adnyandaas is the best known shahir. His most famous povadas are Afzalkhanacha Vadha (the killing of Afzalkhan) and Agryahun Sutka (Shivaji's escape from Agra).
Varsha Bhosle adds that one of the earliest povada poets was the Hindi poet Kaviraj Bhushan, who not only wrote Shiva-Bani, but also influenced the povada tradition immeasurably. The story of how he traveled to Maharashtra is as follows: One day, when Bhushan was eating lunch, he told his elder sister-in-law that the food lacked enough salt. She laughed and said, Pehle namak kama ke to lao, `first earn some salt.â He's said to have walked out that very minute and proceeded to the king Chhatrasal, who told him not to waste his time on minor figures like himself and go to Chhatrapati Shivaji instead. When Bhushan sang his song in the darbar, Shivaji was so pleased that he told him to ask for anything he wanted. Bhushan asked for 80 sacks of salt to be delivered to his sister-in-law. Bhushan's samadhi is in a tiny village called Ateet in Maharashtra.
http://subhashkak.voiceofdharma.com/articles/busan.htm<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->It is not at all surprising that the corollaries of these controversial guidelines should be equally questionable. We are told that âAurangzeb can no longer be referred to as the champion of Islamâ, and that âShivaji cannot be overglorified in Maharashtra textbooksâ.
Shivaji first. It is sheer mischief to suggest that Shivaji is glorified in Maharashtra alone. The fortunate fact is that he is honoured by every Hindu worth his name, wherever that Hindu may reside in the length and breadth of India. Rabindranath Tagore, who was not a Maharashtrian, paid his homage to Shivaji in a long poem pulsating with the great poetâs image of a Hindu hero. Many more poems and dramas and novels about Shivajiâs chivalry and heroism are to be found in all Indian languages. It is, therefore, presumptuous on the part of some very small people to lay down that Shivaji shall not be overglorified. The fact is that he cannot be overglorified, such is the majesty of his character and role. The historian who will do full justice to the personality of Shivaji as well as to his role in Indian history is yet to be born. Some puny politicians pretending to be historians are trying to cut Shivaji to their own size. They are like street urchins spitting at the sun.
http://voiceofdharma.org/books/siii/ch2.htm<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
According to Varsha Bhosle (personal communication), the number of verses may be as few as 20 but, by tradition, 300 verses or more is the norm. A povada must record the correct historical dates and names in the events it depicts. It is a vira-shri form of song to exhort a people to battle and to honour a hero, or to lament a defeat by foul means. Panipat cha phatka (the blow of Panipat, on Prithviraj Chauhan) is probably the best known povada. It is necessarily a virile form of poetry - there are povadas on Krishna in the battlefield but none on Buddha; people have written povadas on Gandhi too, but depicting events of confrontation like the Salt March and ignoring the philosophy of ahimsa. A povada is also a metre. A long poem that fulfills the other criteria, but is not in the povada metre, is merely a poem. Adnyandaas is the best known shahir. His most famous povadas are Afzalkhanacha Vadha (the killing of Afzalkhan) and Agryahun Sutka (Shivaji's escape from Agra).
Varsha Bhosle adds that one of the earliest povada poets was the Hindi poet Kaviraj Bhushan, who not only wrote Shiva-Bani, but also influenced the povada tradition immeasurably. The story of how he traveled to Maharashtra is as follows: One day, when Bhushan was eating lunch, he told his elder sister-in-law that the food lacked enough salt. She laughed and said, Pehle namak kama ke to lao, `first earn some salt.â He's said to have walked out that very minute and proceeded to the king Chhatrasal, who told him not to waste his time on minor figures like himself and go to Chhatrapati Shivaji instead. When Bhushan sang his song in the darbar, Shivaji was so pleased that he told him to ask for anything he wanted. Bhushan asked for 80 sacks of salt to be delivered to his sister-in-law. Bhushan's samadhi is in a tiny village called Ateet in Maharashtra.
http://subhashkak.voiceofdharma.com/articles/busan.htm<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->It is not at all surprising that the corollaries of these controversial guidelines should be equally questionable. We are told that âAurangzeb can no longer be referred to as the champion of Islamâ, and that âShivaji cannot be overglorified in Maharashtra textbooksâ.
Shivaji first. It is sheer mischief to suggest that Shivaji is glorified in Maharashtra alone. The fortunate fact is that he is honoured by every Hindu worth his name, wherever that Hindu may reside in the length and breadth of India. Rabindranath Tagore, who was not a Maharashtrian, paid his homage to Shivaji in a long poem pulsating with the great poetâs image of a Hindu hero. Many more poems and dramas and novels about Shivajiâs chivalry and heroism are to be found in all Indian languages. It is, therefore, presumptuous on the part of some very small people to lay down that Shivaji shall not be overglorified. The fact is that he cannot be overglorified, such is the majesty of his character and role. The historian who will do full justice to the personality of Shivaji as well as to his role in Indian history is yet to be born. Some puny politicians pretending to be historians are trying to cut Shivaji to their own size. They are like street urchins spitting at the sun.
http://voiceofdharma.org/books/siii/ch2.htm<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->