06-08-2025
Traversing the Kabir universe with melody and meditation
Imagine the visceral vocals of a folk minstrel combining with the melodic strains of a string instrument connected to the lute legacy, and you probably get a rough idea of how an evening of music opened up new ways to experience the soulful couplets of the 15th century mystic poet Kabir.
Prahlad Singh Tipanya, among the foremost exponents of the Kabir bani, and mandolin virtuoso U. Rajesh, joined forces to offer a rare mix of music, anecdotes and meditative moments at a performance at Aurodhan Art Gallery recently.
Though their acquaintance goes back a few years, this was the first time that Tipanya, a former school teacher who has turned a torchbearer of a six centuries-old tradition of the Malwa folk singers propagating Kabir's couplets in 'bhajan mandlis' was sharing stage with the highly versatile mandolin exponent.
Lalit Verma, Aurodhan's founder, would remark later that the idea to present them together occurred while listening to them practising their art separately, ahead of the performance.
After a preface about the 'Kabir sampraday' (spiritual tradition that evolved around his teachings), the poet's dialectics about Ram and the essential truth, Tipanya began with 'Tan Ram Ka Mandir Saya Ram Ka Mandir', a bhajan that reflects the quintessence of the Kabir repertoire.
The artist pauses mid-song to explain and emphasise the import of the verse, about the body being the shrine to Ram and the soul his abode, and the significance of the inner journey amid a life filled with material distractions and superficiality.
In fact, Kabir's spiritual universe draws distinctions between the different forms of Ram -- King Dashrath's son, the creator of the material world and the transcendental form -- to emphasise that only the Ram in a supreme state defined the ultimate truth and could lead to salvation.
The rendition of 'Sahib Teri Sahibi, Sab Ghat Rahi Samay' uses the analogy of the concealed red colour bursting forth only on grinding the green henna leaf to underline the importance of cleansing the mind to unearth the invisible glory of the almighty.
Next, the audience engages with Kabir's existentialist musings on life's purpose and meaning in 'Kahan Se Aaya Kahaan Jaaoge' (Where have you come from and where are you headed). There is also the recurring motif of man-made differences around creed and caste that Kabir bemoans... 'Hindu kahu to hoon nahi, mai musalmaan bhi nahi' (If I call myself Hindu, I am not and nor am I a Muslim).
For a song that grapples with such weighty questions, the tune is catchy, set to an upbeat tempo. And, Rajesh, who had self-relegated to a minimalist support role, launches into attractive flourishes on the mandolin that brighten up the presentation.
In 'Jhooti Kootatha chathi', Kabir lays bare the false nature of ego and vanity by drawing a parallel to how a dew drop may have a deceptive resemblance to a beautiful pearl is shattered in an instant.
Flashes of the poet's transcendental wisdom surface as in 'Jo Woh Ek Na Jaaniya' which questions the futility of accumulated knowledge in one who fails to comprehend purpose and direction in life. The uplifting bhajan 'Hardam Saheb Nahi Pahchana' turned out to be a crowd favourite.
And if the audience was earlier treated to the mandolin version of 'Vaishnava Jana To...', Mahatma Gandhi's favourite bhajan that is inextricably tied to the freedom movement, the song that capped the evening would evoke the zeitgeist of the era---'Ekla Cholo Re'(Press forward even if you walk alone), Rabindranath Tagore's iconic verse to rouse the patriotic spirit.
