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Srijayadev °f Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2018 with funding from Public.Resource.Org https://archive.org/details/gitagovindaofsriOOtrip The Gitagovinda of Sri Jayadev A.K. Tripathy P.C. Tripathy Publications Division Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Government of India First published : 2006 (Saka 1927) Revised publication 2010 (Saka 1931) © Publications Division PD ISBN : 81 - 230 - 1313 - 2 BN A&C-ENG-REP-032-2009-10 Price : Rs. 390.00 Published by : Additional Director General (Incharge), Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, Soochna Bhavan, C.G.O. Complex, Lodhi Road, New Delhi - 110003. Website : http://www.publicationsdivision.nic.in Editor : Maneesh Singhal Cover Design & Layout : R.K. 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Ltd., B-117, Sector-5, Noida-201301 Phone : 0120-2421977, 2421763, Fax: 0120-4315403 Preface to the 1st Edition The Gitagovinda is a unique work in Indian literature. In both mediaeval and contemporary Vaisnavism, it has been a great source of religious inspiration. It was composed in 12th century AD and since then it has spread not only throughout India but also abroad. The Book has been translated into most of the Modern Indian Languages and also in many foreign languages. The original Book contains both a high order of literary richness and a very high degree of religious significance. The religious affinity of the Gitagovinda is towards Vaisnavism but it became so popular that it is also sung in Saiva and Shakta temples. The songs of the Gitagovinda are common prayers or bhajans irrespective of the sects in Hindu religious faith. Many people do not understand the meaning, but yet enjoy singing its melodious and popular songs. Composed in Sanskrit some songs are used as mantras in temples and at home by the priests. In many places the palm leaf manuscripts of the Gitagoivnda are as much worshipped as the Bhagavat and the Ram Charita Manas. Jayadev strongly reinforced the introduction of Radha, Madhava and Dasavatara (10 incarnations) cults in literature and religion in the most popular manner. Jayadev had Visnu as his supreme Godhead. He described him as Madhava Kesava. Srkrsna and in a host of other names. By dint of its lyricality the Gitagovinda surpasses all preceding works of Sanskrit literature, because of its appeal of music, poetry and mystic spiritual content. According to Sri Nila Madhab Panigrahi, an authority on Odissi Music "So amazing has been its popularity for the last eight hundred and odd years that it can be said to have charmed, enraptured, feasted and fed the mind and soul of the people of India and abroad. Jayadeva was the poet musician who had himself tuned the songs of his Gitagovinda in the rag as and talas, which were mentioned above each song. Late Debaprasad Das, a noted Guru of Odisi dance has summed up in brief the background of the contribution of the Gitagovinda to classical dance forms. According to him - "As per a legend, Padmavati was a beautiful young devadasiwho later on became the life partner of Jayadeva. Before his marriage to Padmavati, Jayadeva, was well-known as a master of music, dance and drama and was taking delight in the singing of the Gitagovinda in the temple of Lord Jagannatha at Puri. After their marriage, Jayadeva and Padmavati combinedly presented the Gitagovinda before the Lord every evening. Jayadeva's recitals were now accompanied by the dancing steps of Padmavati. The Gitagovinda was sung, danced and enacted at several other places throughout Orissa following the traditions in the Jagannatha temple at Puri. Undoubtedly this poem has the potential of being sung and danced and in fact it was a Sanskritised form of the folk theatre that was prevalent in Orissa." The Gitagovinda is also performed as giti-natya or dance-drama to the accompaniment of song as dialogue. The songs were composed with proper raga and tala befitting to the place, time and situation. The abhinaya or gesture is the most important factor of the giti-natya which is enacted keeping in view the theme and sentiment of the song. The giti-natya is the earliest type of traditional Sanskrit drama in India. It is easily understood and appreciated by the common viewer. Dr. Bhagaban Panda, a noted Sanskrit scholar and Indologist has said that the Gitagovinda marked the transitional stage between the pure lyric and pure drama. The work was a lyrical drama which though dating from the twelfth century, is the earliest literary specimen of a primitive type of play that must have preceded the regular drama. The Gitagovinda has the unique advantage of a poem which can be enjoyed simply as such but in addition, it has the capability of a dramatic presentation. Therefore it has been variously described as a lyric drama, a pastoral, an opera, a melo drama and a refined yatra identified as Krsna Lila. According to Dr. Dinanath Pathi, an eminent painter and art critic the Gitagovinda has influenced the art, music and literature of India to such an enormous extent that it is almost impossible to believe a school of thought in the field of literary, visual and performing arts without the magic touch of the Gitagovinda. In particular, the impact of the Gitagovinda on painting is so profound that Gitagovinda paintings are available in hundreds and thousands in India in several regional schools. The pictorial traditions of the Gitagovinda extend from East to West touching Orissa, Nepal, Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujurat. It is however surprising that no Gitagovinda illustrations are known from Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu, Kerala and Manipur where the Gitagovinda singing has a very long tradition. As regards visual imageries, Sri Rabi Narayan Dash, ex-Superintendent, Orissa State Museum has described the Gitagovinda as follows: "Gitagovinda is a perennial source of visual imageries which helps to understand and appreciate the poet's society and the beautiful nature visualized in its various manifestations. Behind the lucidity of poetical narrations, Jayadeva has recreated the facts of life in the society through his poetry. Krsna of the Gitagovinda is not only the consort of Radha who used to play on his flute to lure the Gopis into the groves on the banks of the river Yamuna, but also the symbol of youth of the time. Similarly Radha is not merely the beauty loved and adored but the woman of the time, most sensuous and playful." To conclude we quote Sri Bankey Behari in his book Minstrels of God (Vol-I), "So long as Sanskrit language lives, Jayadeva's name shall flourish. In the temple of Love, his name is written in divine letters for all time. He was a great singer and poet; but above all, a saint whose devotion for Sri Radhakrsna and whose renunciation shed indelible lustre on the canvas of time and spread a fragrance which even lures the Lord to play the Bhramar on the elegant bouquet offered by Sri Jayadeva in the form of the great song Gitagovinda" Our special thanks are due to Dr.Damodar Rout, Hon'ble Minister of Orissa, Dr. Bijoy Kumar Rath, Retd. Superintendent State Archaeology, Orissa, Dr. Chandrabhanu Patel, Deputy Director (Technical), Orissa State Museum, Prof. Dr. Satyakam Sengupta, an eminent Indologist of Kolkata, Dr. Ashis Kumr Chakravorty, Retd. Director, Guru Sadaya Museum, Kolkata, Dr. Surendra Kumar Moharana, an eminent scholar and Sri Jayashis Ray, a senior journalist. It is hoped that this Book will throw some new lights into the life and works of Jayadeva who is regarded as the greatest of lyric poets in Indian Literature and the last great name in Sanskrit poetry since the 12th century AD. A K TRIPATHY P C TRIPATHY ' i * •