By Dr. K Savithri Devi
This long-read research article was originally published in Nartanam, a quarterly magazine devoted to culture and fine arts published by the Sahrdaya Arts Trust.
Gajapati
kings ruled over the Vizianagara samsthānam, in the present Vizianagaram district,
during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries - a glorious period during which
great scholars of different fields lived in Vizianagaram. The name of Śrīmadajjaḍa Ādibhaṭla Nārāyaṇa Dās
stands foremost among them.
It
was a time when aesthetic audiences and connoisseurs relentlessly demanded
excellence. An artiste like Nārāyaṇa Dās, who
vowed to himself that he would be second to none, had the perfect setting. His
chosen field required a combination of different faculties to be brought into
play and Nārāyaṇa Dās
turned out to be an artiste par excel.
Śrīmadajjāḍādibhaṭla
Nārāyaṇa
Dās
was an incomparable and inimitable genius who embodied all arts - literature,
extempore poetry, music, dance and mastery of several languages. His
multi-faceted personality, quick mind, splendid gift of repartee
and the ability to perform ‘Saṅgīta
Sāhitya
Aṣṭāvadhānam’
astounded scholars of all fields and forms.
Maṅgaḷampalli Bālamuraḷikrishna’s
Tribute
Maṅgaḷampalli
Bālamuraḷikrishna,
world renowned Carnaṭic vocalist musician and multi-instrumentalist paid a
tribute to Nārāyaṇa
Dās:
Śrīmadajjāḍādibhaṭla Nārāyaṇa Dāsu gāru Trimūrtyātmakulu, Triśakti svarūpulu, saṅgīta, sāhitya, nṛtya, āśukavita, śruti, svara, laya,
Harikathā pitāmahulu. Vāri sāṭi gānarādu, yugapuruṣulu. Aṭuvanṭivāru na bhūtō na bhaviṣyati
Dr.
M. Bālamuraḷikrishna
as he had stated, was fortunate enough to be introduced to Nārāyaṇa
Dās
in his home in Vizianagaram, by his Guru Śrī Pārupalli Rāmakrishnayya Pantulu. Nārāyaṇa
Dās
sang and asked the young Muraḷi
to sing. On listening to the child he blessed him that he would become very
famous. Dr. M. Bālamuraḷikrishna
considered himself very fortunate for being blessed by Nārāyaṇa Dās
in the presence of his Guru and conveyed his reverence and bhakti for Nārāyaṇa
Dās
in a kīrtana
which he sang and sent the record of the same, on the occasion of Śrīmad
Rāmāyaṇa
Harikatha Gāna
Yajñam,
organized by Harikatha Chooḍamaṇi,
Sri M.V.Simhachala Śāstry.
The
lyric he composed and sang through which he paid a tribute to Nārāyaṇa
Dās:
Nārāyaṇa Dāsanāmasmaraṇam śubhapradam
Śrīmadajjāḍādibhaṭla
Nārāyaṇa
Dāsa
nāmasmaraṇam śubhapradam
Nārāyaṇa
kathā pitāmaha
nādalaya
nāṭya
āśukavita
pradam
Sundara vigraham natānugraham.
Nārāyaṇa
Dāsa
nāmasmaraṇam śubhapradam
Kāncanakankaṇādi dharaṇam, kathaka kalpam,
bhūruham
Śaṃbhu gambhīra nisvanam.
Śaṃbhō, śaṃbhō, śaṃbhō, muraḷīgāna
Rasāsvāda nirata āśrayē
tavapādakamalam
Nārāyaṇa
Dāsa
nāmasmaraṇam
‘The
Child Is Father Of The Man’
Nārāyaṇa
Dās was
born in Ajjāḍa,
(agrahāra) a village near Bobbili, Āndhra Pradesh on 31.8.1864, on Śrāvaṇa, bahuḷa caturdaśi, Wednesday in the year
of Raktākṣi. His surname ‘Ādibhaṭla’ is quite
appropriate to the man of genius. (Ādi
means the very first in order. Bhaṭṭu signifies a serious preceptor of Vēda-s.) His knowledge
and all his talents were inborn and inherent waiting to unfold and evolve
gradually. His father was Vēnkaṭacayani
Śastri,
a poet, a singer with a deep voice and well-versed in Purāṇa-s. He
authored ‘Dhanañjaya
Vijayamu’ a prabandham. With his ardent devotion and invocation to Gaṅga, ‘ēhyēhi Gaṅgē tava
darśnam haṭhāt’, ślōkāṣṭakastuti, he
could bring water into a dry well. An upāsaka of Lord Suryanārāyaṇa, he
cured himself of tuberculosis with his ardent devotion. Later he named his
fifth son (and eighth child) Suryanārāyana
who became famous as Nārāyaṇa Dās. Nārāyaṇa Dās’ mother was
Narasamāmba. She studied
all the Purāṇa-s
(epics). She taught her youngest son, Nārāyaṇa
Dās when
he was a child, Bhāgavatam which
captivated his interest. She was known
to the public as ‘Purāṇamula Narasamma’ and ‘Caduvulavva’. Music was in his genes. Nārāyaṇa
Dās wrote
in his biography that his father would sing in his deep voice, like it was from
a conch, in Suraṭa rāga
frequently. He would
read
from Vālmīki’s Rāmāyaṇa and
Vyāsa’s Bhāgavata
in Śrī and Sāveri rāga-s
and explain them to his listeners. A maternal uncle of Nārāyaṇa
Dās would
read verses from epics and another would sing beautifully with a loud voice
which could be heard quite far. Nārāyaṇa Dās’ parents opined
that his talents of reading verses and singing melodiously were inherited from
his maternal uncles. He inherited poetry, fearlessness, truthfulness,
scholarship, independent spirit, physical strength and frankness from his
paternal genes.
In
the words of William Wordsworth, ‘The Child is father
of the Man.’ Even in his childhood his natural characteristics like courage,
fearlessness, straightforwardness, meticulous understanding, and observation of
nature, vast knowledge, rhythmic singing and dramatic prowess began to reveal
themselves. In the agrahāra-s
which resemble the peaceful surroundings of sages, as a child he observed with
rapturous delight ponds filled with lotus flowers, constantly running rivulets,
fertile lands, green pastures, trees, bushes, mountains, deer and other animals
moving around in those areas, different kinds of birds and all things bright
and beautiful that the Lord God made.
In
his autobiography, ‘Nā
Yeruka’ he asserts that childhood, before teenage, is truly the divine phase of
life, a stage of total faith in temples, idols of deities, stories of the divine and words of elders.
Greeting all the animals, plants and trees as humans, believing that God exists
in all substances and experiencing ecstatic delight is a pleasant memory. Childhood is truly the essence of life and
its recollections bring some contentment and some consolation to the worries of
later life.
He
would do whatever he felt like without a second thought. He never feared people
or animals and would wander in the forests alone fearlessly. His childhood was
filled with rapturous delight, easy contentment, boundless enthusiasm, immense
joy and happiness.
Nārāyaṇa
Dās
referred to his childhood in his ‘Mārkanḍēya
caritra’ in a kīrtana
set in Nādanāmakriya
rāga
and Tripuṭa
tāḷa.
Pallavi – cellebō
nirupamānandā śliṣṭamau nā bālyaṃbu
Anupallavi – gullalu, cippalu mūṭa mulle
tānalpa
santuṣṭi
Misram - kollamuganāḍu cippacippa gōḷḷu dāgumūtalu
Paravaḷḷu
vennelamaḷḷu
gujjana gūḷḷu
navvunōḷḷu
Nārāyaṇa Dās remembered his awareness
and feelings experienced right from his third year. He was highly precocious and as a
four-year-old, though he didn’t know writing, he could read Sanskrit and Telugu
very fast. As per the principle, ‘pancamē varṣē Brahma varcasa kāmasya’
his Upanayanam was performed when he was five years old. Listeners would praise
his melodious singing while he sang some tunes to himself. While his mother
constantly told him some stories from purāṇa-s
he would curiously listen to her and absorb their messages and became
devotional at a very young age like Prahlāda. He would dance rhythmically to
the beat of drums in the festivities of the local deities that took place in
their counties. In this way, devotion, singing and dancing skills got
cultivated in him even in his childhood. Seeing him whiling away time playing,
without learning letters of the alphabet, his mother expressed her anxiety that
he didn’t learn the letters yet. Considering her concern, Nārāyaṇa Dās learnt all the
letters in half a day; wrote and showed them to her. As a boy and even later,
he had a prodigious memory. He was an Ēka Santagrāhi, one who can
reproduce immediately after listening to anything once. His parents were
surprised at his skills. Kaḷidāsa’s words, ‘Prapēdirē prāktana janma vidya’ came true in his case.
As
a five-year-old boy Nārāyaṇa Dās was
very naughty. He would go out into the street and get into fights with his
fellow kids. His father would read aloud Purāṇa at home and explain its meaning. He
wouldn’t go somewhere else and explain Purāṇa. However rich a person was, if he wanted
to listen to Cayanulu’s Purāṇa he must go to his house and listen to it. To avoid Sūrya Nārāyaṇa going
out and getting into quarrels he would tie both his hands and them to his vyāsapīṭa (bookstand) and continue reading Purāṇa. The
boy Sūrya Nārāyaṇa,
without making mischief, would look at the book being read by his father who
would try to move his head aside to be able to read properly with no hindrance.
But the boy persisted in looking at the book while it was being read aloud. In
this manner three months passed by and the boy Nārāyaṇa
started reading Purāṇa-s
independently at the age of five years and five months. Cayanulu understood
that his son was Kāraṇajanmuḍu, the
one who was born for a great cause but he didn’t reveal it to anyone. He got Akṣarābhyāsamu
performed to his son just for the sake of performing it.
He was not five years old, his mother asked for Bhāgavatam in a bookshop at Pārvatīpuram. Questioned by Rāmānujula Raṅgayya Sātāni,
the bookshop owner, what she would do with the book, she told him that her son
would read the book and she would explain the meaning. When Nārāyaṇa
Dās read
the contents of the book aloud musically and clearly and his mother explained
the meaning, a surprised crowd gathered to listen to them. Raṅgayya
gifted him the book, happily. It was the
first recognition of Nārāyaṇa Dās’ talent and he
cherished it very dearly. In this way, Nārāyaṇa
Dās’
acquisition of knowledge began with Mahābhāgavatam. Also he learnt Raghuvamśam
at the age of five from his father who was a Sanskrit scholar. ‘Music was his
wet nurse and classical literature his feed’.
Even
from an early age he could get indication of the forthcoming events and it was
his nature to reveal whatever he knew without any hesitation. He would
sometimes suffer by revealing what he knew. One day when his father was
planting brinjal saplings his elder brother brought in their field, Nārāyaṇa
Dās told
his father quite certainly that though he was planting them very hopefully, it
would be of no avail. On hearing that, his father became very angry and showed
his rage on the poor child. The brinjal crop, which was about to get ready in a
few days, got destroyed completely by the overflow of the rivulet. In his
eleventh year, he got angry with his family members, went to the flowing
rivulet and slept with his head on a rocky outcrop in the middle. The water
came up to his neck and yet he didn’t wake up. As the tide was rising, he would
have completely drowned in a little while. A villager happened to see this and
woke up the child and took him home. Sleeping soundly with no sense of the body
was his nature.
In
1874, when Nārāyaṇa
Dās
was
ten years old, Saṅgīta Vidvān of
the Bobbili Saṃsthānam, Śrī Vāsā Sāmbayya
happened to listen to the ten-year-old Nārāyaṇa
Dās
reading
Bhāgavata
verses in different rāga-s. Captivated by Nārāyaṇa
Dās’ powerful
voice and the depiction of rāga-s,
he took the child with him to Bobbili to give him a formal training in music,
with the permission of his mother, and taught him the basics in an auspicious
moment. Nārāyaṇa
Dās
was
there in Bobbili for just a month and returned to his place due to ill health.
In this way his formal training lasted for a month. But very soon with the little formal training
he had, he got himself self-trained with his hard work and inborn talent. He imbibed Saṅgīta
Śāstra
Ratnākara
and became an incomparable genius in the field.
When
he was twelve years old his elder brother Sītārāmayya
admitted Nārāyaṇa
Dās
as a student of Nirāghaṭamu
Kriṣnayya,
a Saṅgīta
Vidvān
in the court of the Maharājah
of Vizianagaram. The vidvān had a habit
of moving his hands, face and eyes while singing. Nārāyaṇa
Dās
started imitating and moving even more. The teacher refused to teach Nārāyaṇa
Dās
further, complaining to his father that he was mocking at him by overdoing his
actions.
Teenage And Turning Point
Nārāyaṇa
Dās was
sent to Vizianagaram to his
brother Sītārāmayya
to learn English when he was fourteen years old. He was already versed in Sanskrit,
Telugu and Mathematics very well by the time. He could learn English very
quickly. He got double promotions and
the Principal’s free scholarship. But he
thought he learnt more outside the school than in it. He would sing beautifully and would attract
many by his poetry and music. Gurajāḍa Appā Rao
and Giḍugu Rāmamūrty
were in his friends’ group. When he was
sixteen years old, he lost his father who was fifty nine. Though he didn’t show
sufficient interest in school education he passed Matriculation in 1886.
His
arrival at Vizianagaram started a new chapter in his life. All arts and all the
fields of education flourished and reached their peak there and the city had
the golden time during that period in its history. Vizianagaram of those days was
considered the second Kaśi for all the Śāstra-s and the
cultural capital of Āndhra.
With the Maharājah’s
support several great musicians, scholars, writers, actors and dancers settled
in the city. Several others would come to the city to participate in its
festivities, prove their skills and abilities, find out how they were rated and
leave the city. A vidvān
was one, who was honoured in Vizianagaram which was an examination centre for all the
skilled and educated of different fields.
The multi-faceted talent
of Nārāyaṇa
Dās,
which was latent till then, developed rapidly into a mighty tree, with his
association with great musicians like Mahabat Khān, Dūrvāśula Sūryanārāyaṇa Sōmayājulu, Pappu Veṅkanna,
Viṇā
Vēṅkaṭa
Ramaṇa
Dās
and Kaligoṭla
Kāmarāju.
The great vaiṇika,
Viṇā
Vēṅkaṭa
Ramaṇa
Dās
aroused his interest in playing the instrument. Kaligoṭla Kāmarāju excelled in the knowledge of
‘Laya’ and his association, helped Nārāyaṇa
Dās
practice and perfect the art of ‘Laya’. The company of these stalwarts and the
month long basic training he received from Vāsā Sāmbayya
acted as prologue to the preparation of the stage for his enthralling
performance of ‘Harikatha’. He added his creativity and originality to the
knowledge acquired from all possible sources. During this stage of a student
itself, with music and narration, he would make all those who saw him, lovers
of art.
Turning
Point
In
1883, at the age of 19, Nārāyaṇa Dās watched ‘Dhṛuva
caritramu’ Kathākālakṣēpa
performance of Kuppuswāmy
Nāidu of
Chennai. Nārāyaṇa
Dās,
all eyes and ears during the performance, at once realized the potentialities
of the new form of art.
Dance, drama, music, poetry, philosophical discourse, and humour can all
find a place in it to enthrall spectators and to instill devotion in them. Nārāyaṇa
Dās,
an original genius, decided for good: he would be a Haridās. Very
soon he authored his ‘Dhṛuva
Caritramu’. He
rehearsed it with his brother Pēranna
who accompanied him always, in his brother Sītārāmayya’s
house. Sītārāmayya
expressed his joy gifting him a pair of anklets. Wearing those anklets, Nārāyaṇa
Dās
gave
his first performance in the Vēṇu Gōpālaswamy
maṭṭ at
Vizianagaram. He
was nineteen when he became a Harikatha artiste. Harikatha art form was the right choice of
the versatile genius to propagate the conduct of righteousness, devotion and
the path to mōkṣa. He performed ‘Dhṛuva caritramu’ in various places, displaying his powers
of imagination and narration to the best advantage. His narration was interspersed with song,
dance, brilliant wit and genial humour.
On
one of his trips he made a good bond of friendship with Jayanti Kāmēsam, a great lawyer who was
older than Nārāyaṇa
Dās.
He was quite educated and an admirer of literature and arts. Hence, he very
easily understood Nārāyaṇa
Dās’
scholarship and purity of heart.
He
went to Narasannapēta
with his brother Pēranna
and performed ‘Dhṛuva
Caritramu’ in
the presence of the dignitaries of the place. H. R. Bardswell, a sub-collector in the district was one among the
audience. He was so delighted by the performance of Nārāyaṇa
Dās
that he tried to attend all his later performances without fail. He became one
of Nārāyaṇa
Dās’
close friends.
One
of the spectators in Catrapuram
watched ‘Dhṛuva
caritramu’ and
expressed his doubt whether ‘Dhṛuva
caritramu’ was
authored by Nārāyaṇa
Dās, if so
he wanted him to author ‘Aṃbarīṣōpākhyānamu’. Nārāyaṇa
Dās
wrote
the Harikatha in one night, practised it and performed it early in the morning
to the surprise of everyone. It was in
1884. He earned the praises of
scholars and the laity alike.
During
this trip he performed for the first time ‘Saṅgīta
Sāhitya
‘aṣtāvadhānamu’ in a village called Lokanādhamu. His proficiency and remarkable memory
helped in performing ‘aṣtāvadhānamu’ easily. From
there he proceeded to several places, performed Harikatha, received a lot of
praises of great Pundits and returned to Vizianagaram with his name reputed as Nārāyaṇa
Dās.
He was twenty years old then.
Rare Gifts And Principles
In
December 1886, Nārāyaṇa
Dās
took his Matriculation examination at
Śrīkākuḷamu.
He, by then, was capable of exhibiting his unusual talents.
Some of the rare gifts he had were –
- Reading a book in Telugu or Sanskrit with
lightning speed while the book was constantly kept rotating
- Reproducing verses in English, Telugu and
Sanskrit after hearing them only once
- Singing a pallavi in a tāḷa
chosen by his audience (In his autobiography, ‘Nā Yeruka’ he reveals he is ‘Puṭṭu layakāḍa’- expert of
‘laya’ by birth
- Display of skill in singing various rāga-s ,
playing the vīna
He
clearly stated that only a person endowed with gītam, vādyam and nṛtyam can be a musician of the
finest calibre. He admired Vīṇa
nāda and would have Pēri Rāmamūrti as an accompanist on Vīṇa to his Harikatha performances. He would quote Yājñavalkya’s
smṛti
vacana quite frequently as an authoritative saying. It asserts that a vīṇa vādana
tatvajña attains mōkṣa
easily: ‘Vīṇa vādana
tatvajñaḥ śruti jāti viśāradaḥ Tāḷajñaścā prayāsēna mōkṣamārgam
niyachati’
- Extempore composition of verse in Telugu
and Sanskrit in given metres and on a given topic (He writes in ‘Nā
Yeruka’- Nā saṅgīta sāhityamulu
sahaja sidhamulu-’ My Music and literature are natural )
- Performing eight things known as ‘aṣtāvadhānamu'
- Giving extempore lectures in Telugu and
English and singing for large gatherings of thousands of people
- Dance performance (His tānḍava
(male) and lāsya
(female) version of dance were a rare treat to the eyes.)
He
married Lakṣmi
Narasamma, daughter of Vaḍlamāni
Annappa at the age of twenty one. When he was twenty-five years old, he laid
out some principles for his life. A few of them were:
- Not to dedicate
his work to human beings for money
- To treat women
with respect due to a mother
- Not to speak a lie
- Not to tolerate
violence against animals
So
many people among his relatives performed some religious rituals (somādi
kratuvulu) which included animal sacrifices. He couldn’t tolerate those
ceremonies as there was killing of animals.
Travels And Honours
For
fourteen months, during the period 1888-89, he travelled to various places in Āndhra
Pradesh to perform Harikatha and to spread the power of his art showing his
unique talent to all.
Rajamahēndravaramu was the first place he visited. He
received a great applause of all and sundry. Among his predominant admirers was
very reputed lawyer, Nyāpati
Subbā Rao.
Though Vīrēsaliṅgaṃ Paṅtulu and Nārāyaṇa
Dās
criticized each other in the initial days, there are evidences that they
respected each other later. Vīrēsaliṅgaṃ Paṅtulu got Nārāyaṇa Dās’ work ‘Bāṭasāri’ prescribed as a text book for
Matriculation in 1902 and presented ‘Navaratnakhacita bhuja kīrti’
to him in the presence of all, in a meeting in 1912.
His
performance of ‘Aṃbarīṣōpākhyānamu’ in
Kapālēsvara temple, Chennai earned him
great applause and fame. In its issue of June 30, 1894, The Hindu praised him as
An exquisite poet, a versatile genius conversant with English, a
profound scholar in Telugu and Sanskrit and an accomplished musician of the
most enchanting type. While this pride of Vizianagaram was unfolding the
story with his inimitable skill, the audience was beside itself with joy. Not
only was he applauded time and again, but, at the close, there was a
spontaneous outburst from every one present exclaiming that it was a rare and
excellent treat. Of the gifted expounder, it may be well and truly said, that
he is entitled to be spoken of in glowing terms by the best of Pundits, by the
most skillful songsters, by the most ardent lovers of music and by the most
reputed of elocutionists. The rhythmic
cadences of his harmonious voice, the melodious intonations of his musical
flight, and the snatches of vivid and picturesque representations of nature,
conjured up by his lively and constructive faculty of magination and his powerful
command of the language appealed to the listeners’ spiritual sensibilities.
In
the year 1894, Maharājah Cāmarājēndra Wādiyār of Mysore watched Nārāyaṇa
Dās’
performances of ‘Aṃbarīṣōpākhyānamu’ and
‘Gajēndramōkṣamu’ at Bengalūru
and was extremely delighted. On his invitation, Nārāyaṇa
Dās
went
to Mysore during Dussehra and performed Harikatha-s in Telugu and Sanskrit,
translating into English. The Maharājah
asked Nārāyaṇa
Dās
whether he would serve in his Darbār
for which he replied that he would not like to serve
mortals. Unhesitant, he expressed his independent spirit and fondness for free
living. The philosopher in him made him choose an
independent life of devotion and the service of God.
Enchanted
by Nārāyaṇa
Dās’ rendering
of Dhanyāsi rāga, the
Maharājah had
Nārāyaṇa
Dās’
concert recorded on a phonograph. He got
him sing for the recording, a verse he had written in Telugu, in
Sīsa
metre, on Bengalūru,
‘Alaru tēniyalūru’ in
Junjhūṭi rāga, rāga
Kannaḍa and a
tuṃri, ‘Sayya
jāvo nahi
bōlum’ in
Hindustāni
Bhairavi rāga.
Captivated by the music of Nārāyaṇa Dās, Mysore Maharājah
remarked that he hadn’t heard such voice and music, a combination of Hindustani
and Carnāṭic. On
being asked where he had learnt music, Nārāyaṇa
Dās
replied that his music and literature were his own. The Maharājah
honoured Nārāyaṇa
Dās
felicitously with shawls, gold bracelets, a vīṇa, a taṃbūra
and Rs.1116. That was the highest honour in Mysore that Nārāyaṇa
Dās
received.
After
completing his victorious journey he returned to Vizianagaram. No vidvān of the
court informed about his success to the Maharājah of Vizianagaram. As he was free and
independent and as he lacked the attitude of approaching the powerful for
favours, he was living in Vizianagaram
as usual without any court connection. Meanwhile, Liṅgamu Lakṣmājī paṅtulu who had scholarship in Greek,
Latin, German and English and was respected by Maharājah
as his Guru, knew about Nārāyaṇa
Dās’
talent and scholarship. He thought if such a person wasn’t in the court it
could be a shortcoming of the court itself and informed Maharājah Ānanda
Gajapati about Nārāyaṇa Dās. The Maharājah
invited Nārāyaṇa
Dās
happily and made him a vidvān
of his court. However, he could attend the court as per his wish and not every
day like the other employees. The entire Vizianagaram echoed his stentorian call ‘Śaṃbhō’
and he earned
fame as the exponent of Harikatha when he was thirty years old. The honours of
Rāja-s of
Pudukōṭa and
Tiruvānkur
followed.
1902 - 1913
On the advice of his mother, Nārāyaṇa
Dās
authored
‘Sāvitrī
Caritramu’ in 1902 and was blessed with a daughter in 1903. He named her ‘Sāvitri’. He authored ‘Bhīṣma
Caritra’ also in 1902.
Nārāyaṇa
Dās
performed ‘Rukmiṇī Kaḷyāṇamu’ in
the annual musical meet of the Dakṣinātya Gāyaka
Mahāsabha
in Bengalūru in
1904. In recognition of his name and fame, the Mahāsabha appointed a famous mṛdaṅga vidvān, Dakṣiṇāmurti Pillai
as an accompanist. He felt infra dig to perform as accompanist to one he
thought was a mere Harikatha artiste and tried to put him to a test. Accepting
the unspoken challenge, Nārāyaṇa Dās wanted to
demonstrate his tāḷa skill.
He began singing the kṛti
in one gati, maintained another gati with castanets and danced to another gati.
Unable to decide which one he should follow the mṛdaṅgist toyed with his instrument for a while
and finally gave up. He received roaring applause for this matchless performance.
The audience and scholars hailed him as ‘Laya Brahma’.
Once
when he was about to start ‘Rukmiṇī Kaḷyāṇamu’ in Cēbrōlu,
someone from the audience mischievously asked him to narrate ‘Giri katha’
instead of ‘Harikatha’. Nārāyaṇa Dās narrated ‘Gōvardhanōdhāraṇamu’
with a spontaneous flow of prose, poetry and kīrtana-s. ‘Gōvardhanōdhāraṇamu’
like ‘Dhṛuva
caritramu’, his
first composition, was unpublished.
Nārāyaṇa Dās lost
his mother in 1905. When his brother fell ill in 1908 and doctors gave up hope
he composed and recited Mṛtyuñjaya Śiva Śatakamu, seated
near
his bed. To the surprise of everyone, including the doctors, his brother
recovered the next day.
In
1913 Ānanda
Gajapati’s sister Appalakāṅdayāṃba (Rīvā Rāṇi)
listened to Nārāyaṇa Dās’ ‘Hariścandrōpākhyānam’ which
so emotionally upset her that she requested him to perform a Harikatha which
didn’t have such an element of sadness. He performed ‘Rukmiṇī Kaḷyāṇamu’. She
was beside herself with joy and assured him spontaneously to ask for anything
that he wanted and it would be granted. She was stunned to hear him say that
his wish was for constant devotion to God and there is nothing to wish for but
God’s grace. Though disappointed, she rewarded him with forty big gold coins
and silk clothes.
It
deserves to be mentioned here that while Nārāyaṇa Dās
performed ‘Rukmiṇī Kaḷyāṇamu’ Harikatha,
in the context of describing the beauty of young Rukmiṇi and her gaits, he himself walked in
different ways explaining the importance and beauty of each gait that expresses
a particular mood of Rukmiṇi. The audience watched spellbound and no one
remembered to have seen the six-footed and well built huge body of Nārāyaṇa Dās with
his big moustache and castanets. Instead they saw beautiful Rukmiṇi
herself moving with natural grace.
Nārāyaṇa
Dās
didn’t dedicate his harikatha-s to human beings though many rich tried to lure
him with various kinds of riches for the great honour. He dedicated his works
to the Almighty with an ardent desire for liberation. (Only Hariścandrōpākhyānamu
and Śrī
Yathārtha Rāmāyaṇamu were dedicated to his
parents and wife respectively).
Nārāyaṇa
Dās
extensively travelled from Kolkata to Kanyakumari to deliver Harikatha-s. He
developed a style of music all his own combining the technical lore of the
South with the ease and grace of the North. In 1913, he got his daughter married;
went to Vāranāśi and
on his return trip, he met the famous singer Jānakībai in Allahabad. She was spellbound by
his rāga
rendition. He felt delighted at her
praise as he identified her talent. He
went to Kōlkata
from Allahabad and performed Śrī Kṛṣṇa
Jananamu – a Sanskrit Harikatha with a Hindi exposition for the benefit of the
audience. Gurudēv Ravīndranāth Tagōre was
one of the spectators and was so much delighted watching Nārāyaṇa
Dās’ Harikatha.
Years later when he met Nārāyaṇa Dās in Vizianagaram he
told him in praise, ‘The Bēhāg rāga
that you sang that day is still echoing in my ears’.
As
Nārāyaṇa
Dās
was not commercial, he treated all the places, starting from a small shop in
the market to the court of Mysore Maharājah, as equally deserving his
Harikatha performance. He performed with the same zeal at all the places
spreading happiness and inculcating devotion to all.
He was
charming in person, well-proportioned in body, dignified in bearing, graceful
in gait and merry in manner. So attractive and magnetic he was, that large
crowds delighted in simply following him feasting their eyes on him and hanging
on every word that dropped from his mouth’
‘Harikatha Pitāmaha’
In
the year 1914, the poet Laureate, Cheḷḷapiḷḷa Vēṅkaṭa Śāstry
honoured him in Bandar and among scholars and pundits gave ‘Harikatha Pitāmaha’ title
to Nārāyaṇa
Dās. Also Śastry opined
that Nārāyaṇa
Dās’
music was quite original and a proper blend of Carnātic and Hindustāni music. He
firmly believed that God hasn’t bestowed any one with such a stentorian voice
as that of Nārāyaṇa
Dās
who emphasized that true music doesn’t have differences. He was besides being
an artiste of Maharājahs,
an artiste of people and above all an artiste in the court of the very Lord
Himself. The
ślōka from
Bhagavadgīta
befits him in every way.
Vidyāvinayasampannē brāhmaṇē gani hastini
Śunicaiva
śvapākē ca panditaḥ
samadarsinaḥ’
He
loved to be original always. But once in a while he would sing Jayadēva’s Aṣṭapadi-s, Nārayaṇa Tīrtha Taraṅga-s and Rāma Dās’ kīrtana-s. He would play on vīṇa Śyāma Sāstry’s
‘Nikhilalōka
Janani.’ However, he strongly felt that an artiste of scholarship would appeal
to the audience only with his creative originality.
Nārāyaṇa
Dās very
often recited Śrī Ādi Śankarācārya Stōtra-s
and ślōka-s.
He was very fond of Śrī Śankarācārya’s ‘Ṣaṭpadi’. He
dedicated his Vēlpumāṭa and
Mokkubaḍi –
translation of Rigvēda
Mantra-s to Śrī Ādi Śankarācārya.
‘Pancamukhī Paramēsvara’
A Tamiḷ
vocalist, Subrahmaṇya
Iyer, came to Vizianagaram.
He was an expert in laya and he alone had the ability to sing and keep two
different beats simultaneously with his two hands. Nārāyaṇa
Dās
arranged
a concert for him on a grand scale and Subrahmaṇya Iyer exhibited his skill to the
satisfaction of all. Nārāyaṇa Dās praised him and
asked at the end whether he could sing and keep pace in five different times to
which he laughed and replied that it was quite difficult to keep time in two
different layas at the same time, let alone five. He challenged; if anyone
could demonstrate his skill in laya by keeping two paces at a time, one with
each hand, he would remove his ‘suvarṇa
ghanṭā kankaṇam’
(golden bracelet, a symbol of his heroic exploits) and surrender his title to
the winner. Nārāyaṇa
Dās
who mastered the technique of two beats even in his early youth and
demonstrated it to the musicians at Machilīpatnam, accepted the challenge. That
was a red letter day in the annals of Indian music when Nārāyaṇa
Dās
sang pallavi keeping five different layas at the same time to the amazement of
all. He was
at his best, sang with the sixteen svara-s, gave tānam, sabda and muktāyimpu
along with the superb demonstration of five layas at a time. The audience were
thrilled watching the superhuman feat. True to his word, the musician removed
his insignia of veerakankaṇam (which was returned to
him soon after) and paid obeisance to Nārāyaṇa Dās. The pleased audience conferred
the title,
‘Pancamukhī Paramēsvara’ on him. (Pancamukhi - He reckoned the tāḷa with
limbs of his body and head.) He sang showing tāḷa in Triśragati with one hand, Caturaśra gati
with another, Khanḍa gati
with one foot and Miśra gati
with another and Saṅkīrṇa gati
with head, all at the same time, besides singing tānam, pallavi, giving Muktāyi at
the gap mentioned. This remains a historical achievement in Carnāṭic
music and the record remains unbroken even today.
On
another occasion he showed his control over tāḷa system by presenting Ṣanmukhi tāḷa – six
tāḷa-s at
a time. The tāḷa is
performed with: two tāḷa -s
with both the hands, two tāḷa-s with the two shoulders, two tāḷa-s
with both the legs while balancing a lemon on the head.
He
performed another rare feat in the presence of Challapalli Jamindār, Rājā
Aṅkinīḍu
Mallikārjuna
Prasāda Rao
in 1914. He played Vīṇa with
both left and right hands in Sama and Viṣama Jāti-s with expertise. He was honoured with
gold Ganḍapenḍēram –
an ornament worn on the ankle as a mark of distinction.
Vāsā Krishṇa Mūrthi,
(the son of Vāsā Vēṅkaṭa Rao,
Vīṇa
lecturer in the Vizianagaram music college, during the period when Nārāyaṇa Dās was
its Principal) informed that while playing Vīṇa Nārāyaṇa
Dās would
maintain miśra gati
with the fingers of right hand, and Khanḍa gati with the little finger
that beats
tāḷa,
simultaneously while playing with the left hand caturasra gati. The total akṣara-s
of the three gati-s 7 + 5 + 4 = 16 i.e. it equals one āvarta of Ādi tāḷa, 2nd kāla. No
vidwān can
play in this technique all of a sudden without diligent practice.
Doing easily what others find difficult is
talent
Doing what is impossible for talent is
genius.
Nārāyaṇa
Dās
lost
his wife in 1915. She was an ardent
devotee of Śrī Rāma and
used to recite Rāmāyaṇa
regularly. As a mark of love for his wife Nārāyaṇa
Dās
authored
Śrī Yathārtha Rāmāyaṇamu and
dedicated it to her.
Bandā Kanakaliṅgēswara
Rao wrote in his article, ‘Kathāgānavācaspati’:
‘In his voice were
naturally embedded the effects of microphone and loud speakers. It would reach
an audience of five thousand spectators very easily’.
Bandā
Kanakaliṅgēswara
Rao was fortunate to watch Hanumat sandēśam of Nārāyaṇa Dās and wrote about his enchanting
performance that would transport the audience to another world of
the story being narrated. They would get themselves so much involved in the
story that they would totally forget their whereabouts.
The vast ocean is in front of our mind’s eye. We
have all monkeys sadly wondering how we could accomplish the task of Śrī Rāma and how we could cross the vast expanse of ocean. Nārāyaṇa Dās began singing a kīrtana. We felt that his body flew into the sky leaving
the earth. In a second such a tall, strong and sturdy body jumped on to Laṅka in one leap.
Hanuma crossed the ocean. We, the listeners,
crossed the ocean along with him. Experiencing the rasa in ecstasy, we swayed forward in our seats and returned to our senses only
after touching the front seat. That was a wondrous experience. I still can
see that scene even today. We can still listen to the sound of ōm reverberating in the ālāpana of his ‘Śaṃbhō’. He is Harikatha Brahma. Such
Puṃbhāva Saraswati is Nabhūtō nabhaviṣyati.’
1919 To 1936: The first
principal Of Śrī Vijaya Rāmā Gāna Pāṭhaśala
Mahārājah
Vijayarāma
Gajapati wished to establish a music college in honour of Nārāyaṇa Dās and
requested Nārāyaṇa Dās to be its
Principal. He didn’t accept the proposal for two reasons: He was 55 years old,
almost in retiring age and he had a principle not to serve any mortal. But the
Maharājah
requested Nārāyaṇa
Dās
earnestly, clarifying that he was not for college but the college was for him
and it would be established in his honour.
The talent, name and fame of Nārāyaṇa Dās would
help the development of college. Pandit
Nārāyaṇa Dās
finally agreed to head the institution, with the proviso that he would consider
the college temple of Lord Rāma and he, His servant. The king further added
that he could work as many years as he wished to and even assured him that his
Harikatha performances could go uninterrupted. Nārāyaṇa Dās
stepped into the college to take up the responsibility as its Principal, with a
photo of ‘Śri Rāma Paṭṭābhiṣēkamu’
in his hands.
The music college, ‘Śrī Vijaya
Rāmā Gāna Pāṭhaśala’ established by Maharājah Vijayarāma
Gajapati was opened on February 5, 1919. Nārāyaṇa
Dās became
its first Principal and headed the Music College from 1919 to 1936. It was the
first Music College and there was no other from Chennai to Kōlkata. Nārāyaṇa
Dās made
excellent musicians head their particular fields and developed the college
rapidly.
The College later on had the proud privilege of allowing its curriculum to be
adopted by the ‘Visva Bhārati’of
Gurudēv Tagore at Śanti
Nikētan. On February 5, 2019 the college completed hundred years and the
Government of Āndhra
Pradēsh celebrated the occasion for
three days on a grand scale.
Vināyaka
Caviti would be celebrated in the Music College for nine days and the Lord
would be carried out into the streets of the town on a procession during which Nārāyaṇa
Dās
would sing and dance. His disciples Vājapēyājula Subbayya and Nēti Lakṣmī Nārāyaṇa would give him vocal support,
while Dwāraṃ Vēṅkaṭaswāmy Nāiḍu
played the violin. Those events were of divine grandeur and memorable to the
spectators.
After taking up the
appointment as the Principal of the Music College, he used his free time to
study many Śāstrās
and authored many books. He did a lot of research in the field of Music. Nārāyaṇa
Dās
performed Ṣanmukhi tāḷa during the fourteenth anniversary of ‘Vizianagaram
Maharāja College of Music’ in the month of February, in the year 1933. He stood in front of an
august gathering of the Maharāja, eminent vidvān-s and crowds of people and
exhibited an astounding skill of performing Ṣanmukhi tāḷa balancing a lemon on
his head. He was hailed as ‘Saṅgīta
Sāhitya
Sārvabhauma’
for his literary and musical excellence. (Even after retirement, Harikathā
Pitāmaha
Śrīmadajjāḍa
Ādibhaṭla Nārāyaṇa
Dās,
Mahāmahōpādhyāya
Tātā
Subbārāya Śastry
and Vaiṇika Sārvabhauma
Gurācāryula
Vēṅkaṭa
Ramaṇayya continued to be given their monthly
salaries by the Maharājah since they had spread
the fame of the court far and wide.)
In
1923 the All India Congress Committee (AICC) meeting was held in Kakinada. Many great national leaders took part in
it. Sarōjini Naiḍu was one of them who praised Nārāyaṇa
Dās’
Harikatha a lot. She said to him, ‘Your dance is exquisite’. Nārāyaṇa Dās was the only
person who was selected as the representative of Indian Music to attend ‘The
Empire exhibition’ which was held in England, in 1923. His good friend
H.R.Bardswell (who was sub-collector in Vizianagaram, High Court Judge and
later Chief Justice of Pudukkōṭṭai) cautioned him that he wouldn’t be able to
withstand the low temperatures of England at that age. So his journey to
England was stopped or else his stentorian voice would have definitely
announced the greatness of Indian music to the world.
Invitation To Attend The All
India Music Conference Held In Madras In December 1927
Nārāyaṇa
Dās’
sixtieth
birthday was celebrated on 30th August 1924. Vizianagaram was crowded with singers and disciples
for the event.
He
was invited to the All India Music Conference, the first Music Festival held in
December 1927, which is before the inauguration of the Madras Music Academy
that was formally inaugurated in 1928. Nārāyaṇa
Dās
sang
his svarākṣara kṛti
compositions which were highly praised by Professor P. Sāmbamurthy
and the other eminent musicians who attended the prestigious Conference.
He was praised by Tamiḷ Vidvān-s
as ‘Āndhra Dēśa Bhūṣanam’.
Vikrama
Dēvavarma of Jeypore titled
him ‘Saṅgīta Sāhitya Sārvabhauma’.
The organization of Bhāratī Tīrtha
gave the title ‘Āṭapāṭala mēṭi’. Kāvyakanṭa Gaṇapati muni (Nāyana) titled him ‘Pūrṇa Puruṣuḍu’.
Books Authored
Nārāyaṇa
Dās
authored
21 Harikatha-s – 17 in Telugu, 3 in Sanskrit and 1 in pure Telugu devoid of
Sanskrit words.
He
authored Navarasa Taraṅgiṇi, an
extra-ordinary work demanding unique scholarship, poetic ability and critical
insight. It was a comparative treatise on the treatment of the nine sentiments
of the works of William Shakespeare and Kaḷidāsa into Telugu. In translating the English
passages he used Telugu mixed with Sanskrit as in vogue, but in translating the
Sanskrit passages he used only Acca (pure) Telugu to bring out the beauty of
it. A dictionary of Acca Telugu words was appended to the book. Navarasa Taraṅgiṇi was
indeed, his ‘tour de force’ and earned for him the highest encomium from the
most discerning scholars of the day. There was nothing he did not know in
Sanskrit and Telugu.
He
wrote Kāśiśatakamu
after his visit to Kāśi
in 1913-14. He
composed ‘Tārakam’ in
Sanskrit, an original poem of 300 verses with difficult grammatical ‘Prayōga-s’
which can be used to exemplify Pāṇiṇi’s
grammatical rules. The poetical masterpiece ‘won the unstinted admiration and
unqualified encomiums from no less a person than Professor Gueldner of the
University of Marburg, Prussia’.
With Tārakam,
he became a poet of international renown. No wonder if Bardswell, an ICS officer,
later on said he deserved the Nobel Prize in his letter dated 2.2.1939,
addressed to Nārāyaṇa
Dās.
Nārāyaṇa Das
had perfect mastery of Urdu, Persian, Arabic and English and was highly
appreciative of the philosophy of Omar Khaiyam, of which, he had direct access
to the meaning in the original Persian of the Rubāyats.
(During 1900-1901, with the help of a Maulvi he learnt the script and
the rudiments of Urdu. Subsequently,
with self-study, he developed knowledge of Urdu, Persian and Arabic languages
to the level of a literary scholar.) He translated ‘Rubaiyat of Omar Khaiyam’
into Sanskrit and pure Telugu (1932). Fitzgerald depicted Omar as a libertine
because of his frequent references to ‘wine’ and ‘women’. Nārāyaṇa Das
refuted his interpretation and proved how the much misunderstood Omar was a
great Bhakta who suggested the spiritual principle of ‘devotion’ and
‘attention’ by implication. His translation of Omar Khaiyam into Sanskrit and
Acca Telugu was ‘an astounding feat’ according to Dr S. Radhakrishnan.
He
authored Daṃbhapura
prahasanamu and Sāraṅgadhara
caritramu at the age of twenty six. The span of his subjects range from ‘Nūruganṭi’, a
book for children to ‘Jagajjyōti’,
the substance of the Aṣṭādaśa
Purāṇa-s. Maṅki
Miṅku, a
book on Āyurvēda, Bāṭasāri, an allegorical poem, (which he wrote
at the age of twenty four) Nā
Yeruka, his autobiography made him a pioneer in many forms.
He
is the only litterateur who wrote a comparative treatise on the works of Kāḷidās and
Shakespeare; the only writer-composer who translated into Telugu and set to
music Rigvēdic
hymns and the only writer-composer who composed a Gītamālika
comprising 90 Carnāṭic rāga-s.
As a writer-composer who composed music in all the 72 Carnāṭic rāga-s he
was next only to Tyāgarāja.
After
his sixtieth year, he developed an interest in Astrology and gained an in-depth
knowledge of the subject. (He later got a temple for Navagraha-s constructed at
‘Ayya Koneru’ in Vizianagaram.)He had an ingenious and encyclopedic knowledge
of all fields. He was
in the sense a student all his life; reading was a passion with him.
Kṣaṇasaha
kaṇasascaiva
vidyāmardaṃca sādhayēt
Kṣaṇatyāgē kutōvidya
kaṇatyāgē kutōdhanam.’
- Hitōpadēśa
A
second should not be wasted instead that should be used to gain knowledge.
A coin shouldn’t be wasted instead it should be used to acquire money.
If a second is wasted knowledge is lost and if a coin is wasted money is lost.
Nārāyaṇa Dās was a
living example of the above ślōka. He
never wasted a second in his life without gaining knowledge. He read books
voraciously and his reading times were from 9 or 10 in the night to 4 in the
morning. He would read books with the help of oil lamp. After a certain age he
would valiantly say, ‘Is there any Sanskrit book that is not read by me?’
If his erudition
left him peerless, the philosopher in him made him brush aside earthly fame. He
did not approve of an attempt to move the Nobel literature committee to make
him a laureate. Unfortunately he was recognized more as a Harikatha exponent than
as litterateur’.
His
sixtieth birth anniversary was celebrated on a grand scale by his famed disciples
and admirers on 30.8.1924. In 1931 he presided over the seventh Musical
Conference, ‘Saptama Gāyaka
Mahāsabha’
in Guntur and gave a great discourse on music and literature.
Sometime
during 1931-1933 the Mahārājāh of
Vizianagaram, Alaka Nārāyaṇa Gajapati
got a harikatha arranged for Nārāyaṇa Dās in
Ooty. The elite, the rājah
had invited, were overjoyed watching the performance of the exponent, the
artiste and his art. Nārāyaṇa Dās
adorned a long coat to resist the chill, sang and danced, to the delight of the spectators.
In
1933, the rājāh of
Jaipuram watched the performance of Nārāyaṇa Dās in
Visākhapatnam,
honoured him duly and titled him ‘Saṅgīta Sāhitya Sārvabhauma’.
Nārāyaṇa Dās was
honoured and titled ‘Āṭa Pāṭala Mēṭi’
during the annual celebrations of ‘Bharati Tīrtha’ institution presided over by the the
rājāh of
Jaipuram.
In
1936, after 17 years of commendable service, he retired as the Principal of Music
College of Vizianagaram and entrusted the responsibility to Dwāram Vēṅkaṭaswāmy Nāiḍu
who earned titles ‘Saṅgīta Kaḷānidhi’
and ‘Saṅgīta Ratnākara’.
Magnum Opus And After
Retirement
H.R.Bardswell,
good friend of Nārāyaṇa Dās would immensely enjoy watching
his harikatha-s and would applaud him as Shakespearean scholar. When Bardswell
was the Chief Justice of Pudukōṭṭai, Nārāyaṇa
Dās
performed in the court of Pudukōṭṭai. Later, after the darsan of Ananta Padmanābha
Swāmi,
performed in Tiruvanantapuram and was honoured by the rājāh. He proceeded, later on, to Ramēswaram and Kanyākumāri.
He
composed his magnum opus (in 1938) Daśavidharāga
Navati Kusuma Mañjari,
in praise of the Goddess, after his pilgrimage to Ramēswaram and Kanyākumāri. He would often speak of his dream in
which Kumāri
Paramēswari bestowed on him
Her grace. In 1944, Nārāyaṇa Dās received an invitation from the
Maharājah
of Jaipuram in Orissa and he politely declined the invitation.
Doctor
Pālakōdēṭi Gurumūrti
told Nārāyaṇa
Dās,
‘It is not good for health to sing at this old age with such a loud voice. It
is very harmful and heart may stop suddenly.’ He replied, ‘If that were to
happen during my Harikatha, I will be the most fortunate. What else could I
desire?’ To another who advised him to stop the performances as he was aging,
he replied that his was not a mundane art and Hari kīrtana has to be done continuously
without pause in this life. Music was his life and that showed itself in its
entirety in Harikatha. It was a bridge between him and the Almighty. In his
‘Vēlpu
Vanda Śatakamu’
he expressed his wish to God that death would be better than a life without
Harikatha.
In
1944 his disciples, friends and admirers wished to celebrate his eightieth
birthday on a grand scale. He replied that he was tired with honours and they
could celebrate Harikatha’s sixtieth birthday instead, as on date his Harikatha
was sixty year-old. Arrangements were being made according to his wish. That
was the year of 1945. When his grandson,
Upādhyāyula Sūryanārāyaṇa Rao,
was attacked by small pox and had been suffering for a month, he expressed his
desire that his grandson should be freed from the disease and he would suffer
instead. He prayed to Goddess offering his own life in reparation for the
ordinance. Seeing his daughter Savitri
standing near his bed, sobbing, he said, “Amma, I will not die unless I wish
for it. I wished for it. You don’t cry.”
As he wished, while his grandson started recovering, Nārāyaṇa
Dās caught
hold of the fever which gradually intensified and separated his mortal frame
from this world on 2.1.1945, Puṣya
Bahuḷa
Pancami. He welcomed death like Bhīṣma and that night he passed away peacefully, chanting
the name of Hari. The devotee merged with the Lord. A glorious chapter in the
cultural history of Āndhra
came to an end with his death.
A Few Plaudits
Ē yakhilammunandu baramēsvaru ḍeṭṭulu ninḍiyunḍenō
yā
yakhilammu vacci tanayanduna
nunḍenā yādibhaṭhanā
rāyaṇadasulō harikathākṛti bhārati
sarvaśilpavi
dyāyuti sanskṛitāndhramula yākṛitiyai
peṛamūrtulai
maṛin’
- Kavi Sāmrāṭ, Jñāna pīṭh
awardee, Śrī Viswanātha
Satyanārāyaṇa
Just
as the Almighty is Omniscient filled in this Universe, the very Universe came and resided in Ādibhaṭṭa Nārāyaṇa
Dās.
Taking the form of Harikatha and all
facets of knowledge, an embodiment of
Sanskrit and Telugu, Bhārati
flourished in him. It has become a habit to limit Nārāyaṇa
Dās only
to Harikatha by the researchers and admirers. He had the poetic caliber to be
placed by the side of ‘Kavitrayam’, Poetic Trinity – Nannayya, Tikkana and Yeṛṛāpragaḍa. He is a prodigiously talented Vāggēyakāra to
be honoured along with the Musical Trinity- Tyāgarāja, Śyāma
Śāstry
and Muthuswāmi Dīkṣitar.
He is an ardent devotee similar to Prahlāda and Nārada. He is free and independent like a
sage.
Dāsu Nārāyaṇunaku nītanḍu, vīni
Dāsulellaḍagala
Haridāsulella
Nokka
Haridāsulēkādu,
nikkamitani
Yeḍala nādṛtilēnivāḍevaḍu buḍami
– Ceḷḷapiḷḷa Vēnkaṭa Śāśtry
The
nāda of his ‘Śaṃbhō’ would
reverberate for at least two or three minutes.
He once said that the nāda would be made to rise from the navel and would be scattered
all around.
His
voice was thunderous, Mēgha
garjana, albeit, melodious and expressive of the appropriate emotion to
transport listeners into a realm of ecstasy. His megaphone bass voice, which
needed no microphone for an audience of several thousands, still rings in the
ears of those who witnessed his performance over a stretch of long years. He
had a force of personality which marked him out as an institution among his
people during his lifetime.
He
can be one among the great devotees- Prahlāda, Nārada, Parāśara, Punḍarīka. He acquired
musical and poetic skills while in his mother’s womb. He was a perfect
testimony to Kaḷidāśa’s
saying, ‘Prapēdirē prāktana
janmavidyāh’ as Ceḷḷapiḷḷa Vēnkaṭa Śastri
stated in the Āndhra Patrika of 29th January, 1945.
Sir
C.R.Reddy, Vice-chancellor of Āndhra University said to Nārāyaṇa Dās, when he met him in
Vizianagaram while travelling to Visākhapatnam, ‘What Vice-chancellors are we?
You are the University itself!’
He is the Dāsa
(servant) of Nārāyaṇa. The
Haridāsa-s of
all places are his dāsa-s.
It is not only Haridāsa-s,
truly who is there on the earth, who doesn’t revere him?
Vālu meli
mīsakaṭṭu julpāla juṭṭu
Nosaṭa
kunkumaboṭṭu, mēl pasiḍi gaṭṭu
Viddelaku
paṭṭu! naḍayāḍu vēlpu ceṭṭu!
Harikathā śilpa
samrāṭṭu! Ādibhaṭṭu!!!
–‘Karuṇasrī’ Jandhyāla Papayyaśāstry
With
a curled moustache, curly hair, vermilion on the forehead, bright complexion,
he is an authority of all knowledge, a form of living God and an emperor of
Harikatha form. He is Ādibhaṭṭu!
William
Shakespeare’s lines are aptly applicable to the versatile genius of Ādibhaṭla
Nārāyaṇa
Dās
of Vizianagaram-
an embodiment of all arts. ‘He is as
intelligent as beautiful, as learned as intelligent, as engaged as learned, as
famous as engaged’. He excelled every
artiste in his own field and yet remained apart - distinct and separate, like a
star.
‘He was a man; take him for all in all, I
shall not look upon his like again.’
Works Of Ajjāḍādibhaṭla
Nārāyaṇa
Dās
Rāmāyaṇa Harikatha-s:
Śrī Yathārtha Rāmāyaṇamu (1915)
Jānakī Śapathamu
Bhārata Harikatha-s:
Sāvitrī
caritramu (1902)
Bhīṣma caritramu
(1902)
Bhāgavata Harikatha-s:
Sanskrit
Harikathāmṛtam (published in 1930)
Śrī Kṛṣṇa
Jananam (by 1898)
Pitṛbandha vimōcanam
Dharmasaṃsthāpanam
Telugu
Dhṛva caritramu (1883-unpublished)
Gajēndra mōkṣaṇamu
(1886)
Ambarīṣa caritramu (1884)
Rukmiṇi kalyāṇamu (by
1898)
Prahlāda caritramu
(1898)
Gōvardhanōdhāramu (an
impromptu presentation)
Purāṇa Harikatha-s:
Hariścandrōpākhyānamu
(by 1898)
Mārkanḍēya caritramu ( not of Bhāgavata)
(1891)
Acca Telugu
Gaurappa peṅḍli (1930)
Translations
- Navarasa Taraṅgiṇi (1922):
It is a comparative treatise on the treatment of the nine sentiments of the
works of William Shakespeare and Kaḷidāsa into
Telugu.
- Omar Khayyām Rubāiyat (1932): It is a translation of Omar Khayyām into
Sanskrit and Acca Telugu.
- Viṣṇu Sahasra Nāmamulu – Vennuni Vēyi Pērla Vinakari (1927): Telugu
padya-s
- Lalitā Sahasra Nāmamulu
– Tallivinki (1943-45) : Telugu
padya-s
- Nūruganṭi
The
hundred stories of Aesop’s Fables were written in prose. At the end of each
story its summary was given in a Gīta padya.
- Ṛksaṅgrahamu (aka) Mrokkubaḍi (1929) Three hundred Rigvēdic hymns (Ṛkkulu) were translated
into Telugu and set to music. It is said that the astrological chart details of
Nārāyaṇa Dās
can be found in this writing.
Musical Treatise
Daśavidharāga Navati Kusuma Mañjari (1938): It is a Gītamālika comprising
ninety Carnāṭic rāga-s.
Śatakamulu
Sanskrit
Kāśīśatakamu
(1914)
Rāmacandra śatakamu
(1921)
Telugu
Mṛtyuñjaya Śiva śatakamu
(1908)
Mukunda
śatakamu
(not available) (1908)
Satyavrati
(not available)
Vēlpuvanda (in acca Telugu on Simhācala
Narasimhaswāmi)
Sūryanārāyaṇa
śatakamu
( published-1903)
Philosophical Works
Jagajjyōti (1939-1943):
It is the substance of the Aṣṭādaśa
Purāṇas.
Cāturvargya Sādhanamu (not
available)
Dictionary
Sīmapalkuvahi (1939-43): It is a dictionary of chaste Telugu
words. Only a part of it was published.
Kāvyas
Bāṭasāri (1888): It is an allegorical poem based on Vēdānta.
Tārakam (1910): It
is written in Sanskrit in three
hundred verses with difficult grammatical ‘Prayōga-s’ which can be used to exemplify Pāṇiṇi’s
grammatical rules.
Miscellaneous Works
Sāraṅgadhara (Play-1890)
Daṃbhapura Prahasanamu (Play-1890)
Mēlubanti (Cāṭu
Prabandhamu)
Nā Yeruka (Autobiography Covers up to his
thirtieth year)
Maṅki Miṅku (1939-43): An introduction to Āyurvēda
Vēlpumāṭa (1929) - Based on Bhagavad Gīta
Acca Telugu Palukubaḍi (1929): It is written in Mañjari
Dvipada.
Vyāsa Pīṭhamu Collection of essays of the author
Unpublished / Unavailable Works
Gōvarthanōdhāramu
Tarka Saṅgrahamu
Vyākaraṇa Saṅgrahamu
Bāla Rāmāyaṇa kīrtana
Mṛtyuñjaya Aṣtakamu (1908)
Sīmapalkuvahi
(second part)
Bāṭasāri (anglicized
text)
Cāturvargya sādhanamu
(1930)
....................................................................
End Notes
1
“Śrīmad Rāmāyana Harikathā Gāna Yagnam”, p. v.
2
It was organized between May 17 & 25, 2009 in Viśākhapaṭnam.
3
Maruvāḍa, Vēnkaṭa cayanulu, Śrīmadajjāḍādibhaṭla Nārāyaṇa Dāsa caritramu, p.
23.
4
Śambhara, Sūryanārāyaṇa śastri, “Śrīmadajjāḍa Ādibhaṭla Nārāyaṇa Dāsugarini
gurinci” in Harikathāpitāmaha Śrīmadajjāḍādibhaṭla Nārāyaṇa Dāsa
śatajayantyutsava sancika, pp. 47-51.
5
Ādibhaṭla, Nārāyaṇa Dāsu, Nā Yeruka, Śrī Ādibhaṭla Nārāyaṇa Dāsu svīya caritra,
p. 26.
6
Karrā, Eswara Rao, “Jivitōdantamu” in Śrī Ādibhaṭṭa Nārāyaṇa Dāsa Sārasvata
Nīrājanamu, p. 15.
7
M. Gowri Shankar, “A. Nārāyaṇa Dās - A sketch” in Harikathā Pitāmaha
Śrīmadajjāḍa Ādibhaṭla Nārāyaṇa Dās Śatajayantyutsva Sancika, pp. 13-15 English
section).
8
G.Śrīrāmamūrthy, “Monārch of Rhythm”, pp. 96.
9
Vāsā, Kriṣhṇa Mūrthi, “Dāsugāri Saṅgītagurutvamu” in Śrī Ādibhaṭṭa Nārāyaṇa
Dāsa Sārasvata Nīrājanamu, pp. 1151-66.
10
Bandā, kanakaliṅgēswara Rao, “Kathāgānavācaspati” in Harikathāpitāmaha
Śrīmadajjāḍādibhaṭla Nārāyaṇa Dāsa śatajayantyutsava sancika, pp. 18- 20.
11
Cellapalli, Vēṅkaṭa Śāstry, “kī || śē || Ādibhaṭla Nārāyaṇa Dāsugaru” 13.1.1935
Āndhra Vāṇi.
12
1.
Violin –
Dwāraṃ Vēṅkaṭaswāmy Nāiḍu
2.
Mṛdaṅgaṃ
– Liṅgam Lakṣmāji
3.
Vīṇa –
Vāsa Vēṅkata Rao, Kaṭṭu Sūranna
4.
Nādaswaraṃ
– Munuswāmy
5.
Vocal –
Pēri Rāmamūrti, Nēmāni Varahālu Dāsu
6.
Ḍōlu –
Naṭēśam Pillai
7.
Harikatha
- Nārāyaṇa Dās, Principal
13
Nēti Laksmī Nārāyaṇa, “Mā Gurudēvulu” , Harikathā Pitāmaha Śrīmadajjāḍa
Ādibhaṭla Nārāyaṇa Dāsa Śatajayantyutsva Sancika, pp.7-11.
14
H.S.Brahmānanda, Harikathā Pitāmahuḍu Ādibhaṭla Nārāyaṇa Dāsugāri Bahumukha
Pratibha, p.59.
15
M. Gowri Shankar, “A. Nārāyaṇa Dās-A sketch” , Harikathā Pitāmaha Śrīmadajjāḍa
Ādibhaṭla Nārāyaṇa Dāsa Śatajayantyutsva Sancika, pp. 13-15
16
Pappu, Vēṇugōpāla Rao, “Śrī Ādibhaṭla Nārāyaṇa Dās and his works” in Carnāṭic
Music Composers, pp. 376-385.
17
Upādhyāyula, ‘Ādibhaṭla: Doyen of Harikatha’, Indian Express, Tuesday, November
2, 1982.
18
H. S.Brahmānanda, Harikathā Pitāmahuḍu Ādibhaṭla Nārāyaṇa Dāsugāri Bahumukha
Pratibha, p.8.
19
Karra, Sūryanārāyaṇa, ‘‘Śrī Nārāyaṇa Dāsu gāri jīvita viśēṣālu’’,
Harikathāpitāmaha Śrīmadajjāḍādibhaṭla Nārāyaṇa Dāsa śatajayantyutsava sancika,
pp. 234 – 242.
20 ‘Karuṇasrī’, “Nārāyaṇa
Dāsa Navaratnamālika”, Harikathāpitāmaha Śrīmadajjāḍādibhaṭla Nārāyaṇa Dāsa Śatajayantyutsava
Sancika, Pp. 185-188
....................................................................
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