Rekhiyo Jugajug Aage : A Reading of Caste and Gender in the Aaradhivani of Kachchh

I

John S. Hawley, in his seminal book Storm of Songs: Indian and the Idea of Bhakti Movement, has discussed the diverse ways in which bhakti has been conceptualized and imagined. Drawing on, first, the Patel lectures by V. Raghavan; second, Krishna Sharma’s Bhakti and the Bhakti Movement: A New Perspective; and the third, a National Council of Education Research and Training book by Meenakshi Jain and Hazari Prasad Dwivedi, he shows how there are multiple entry points into bhakti as a field of contemporary study. Raghavan, he shows, in his Patel lectures, organized by the then Congress government, chiefly asserts that bhakti is a movement that started from the south and moved in a clockwise direction to the north, ending finally at Thanjavur. In other words, Hawley shows how Raghavan treats it as a unified movement (Hawley, 2015). Hawley posed Krishna Sharma as a counterpoint to Raghavan. Unlike Raghavan, Krishna Sharma reads bhakti as constructed by European frameworks in such a way that its Vaishnava strand was overemphasized. Hawley notes that:

To her perception the idea of the bhakti movement emerged considerably before the achievement of an independent India, and was the product of exactly the class of people to whom Justice Ranade was speaking—Europeans, especially the British among them, and their Indian protégés. From her point of view, the most important of these were the Indologists. It was their imprint, she argued, that caused bhakti to be conceived in a thoroughly Vaishnava way, since the Vaishnava strand in Hindu theology corresponded most comfortably with Protestant Christian conceptions of God. It was their historicism, she said, that produced a conception of bhakti as history.

Hawley further shows how Meenakshi Jain, like Raghavan, positions herself in alignment to a Hindu cultural nationalism. Therefore, she seeks to counter the idea that, first, bhakti can be conceived as a response to Shankaracharya and, second, that bhakti emerged in response to the religious and political Islamic upsurge. This is in contrast to Hazari Prasad Dwivedi, who, before Indian independence, had conceived of the bhakti movement as a unified movement that had sprung from various parts of the Indian subcontinent. Hawley points in his study that it was Dwivedi and other nationalists, who imagined bhakti as a unified movement in a nationalist framework. In fact, Hawley argues that it is possible to regard the bhakti movement as created partly by Indologists and partly by nationalists (Hawley, 2015).

Hawley characterized the bhakti movement in the following way:

(1) The bhakti movement is characterized by the singing of devotional songs composed in vernacular languages by poets who have attained the status of saints. (2) It celebrates a sense of the mutual companionship on the part of many of these poet-saints. (3) It displays a tendency to consider both sexes and all strata of society as potential devotees. (4) It trumpets the cultivation of personal experience as against external or ritual punctiliousness, or at least clearly prioritizes the former in relation to the latter. (Hawley, 2015)

Another important theorist of the bhakti movement, Christian Lee Novetzke, too, works with the idea that bhakti is not a coherent smooth-flowing movement. He has argued that bhakti, believed by many to be a movement, was not really a unified attempt to reform society. It had no formal beginning as a movement. In fact, it had several key moments ranging from the nineth to the eighteenth century across India (Novetzke, 2009).

On a distinctly different track, some scholars have focused on the relationship of the bhakti movement with mysticism. In the article ‘Reflections on the Bhakti as a Type of India Mysticism’, Yoshitsugu Sawai suggests that bhakti can be characterized more as ‘“faith” or “practice” rather than as a social movement when referring to the concept of bhakti in its popular dimension. He focusses on the ascetic dimension of bhakti, which he argues corresponds to the religious phenomena of mysticism’ (Shima, 2011).

The above-mentioned discussion gives us a sense of the multifaceted ways in which the bhakti movement can be read. Yet, we can see that these discussions of the bhakti movement treat it as a phenomenon located firmly in the past. Moreover, they do not engage with bhakti in a minor key, as it is played out in areas and communities that have not received mainstream attention. My own interest in this article is to track the contemporary presence of bhakti in the lives of minor communities, and the manner in which it continues to be relevant to an understanding of bhakti, on the one hand, and the self-fashioning of such communities, on the other.

II

Kachchh is a district in the state of Gujarat in India. Kachchh, having coastal and land international borders on two sides and national boundary on the other, was a frontier for travellers from across Asia. Like in other parts of the Indian subcontinent, bhakti flourished here in several ways and forms, across castes and communities. It has been said that Kabir, Nanak and Shah Latif, a well-known Sufi saint from Sindh, travelled through Kachchh at some or the other point of time. So, too, did their compositions. Although influenced by the Brahminical systems, the Dalit spirituality or bhakti is markedly different from other forms of bhakti found in Kachchh. Dalit bhakti, embodied in Meghwar-Marvada practices, has drawn on sources such as Ramdevpir, Kabir and Ravidas from regions outside Gujarat. From within Gujarat, lesser known figures such as Trikam Sahib, Ravi Sahib, Bhan Saheb, Matiyadev, Mamaidev, Lunagdev, Mekandada Kapadi, Narsinh Mehta, Mirabai, Gangasati and Panbai have been influential in shaping Dalit spirituality within the Meghwar-Marvada community. The Meghwar-Marvada bhagat tradition continues to draw upon the work of Kachchhi and Gujarati bhakti saints. In the contemporary period, the community has substantially centred its spirituality around the teachings of Ramdevpir, for whom temples have been built. Several rituals are observed, some drawn from Brahminical provenance. Several days in lunar cycle are observed as auspicious such as bij, dasham, punam, omash and amas (2nd, 10th, 15th and 30th day of the lunar cycle).

The origin story of the Meghwars locates the birth of the community to Rakhiya or Meghwar, the first creation of god. The word Meghwar possibly can be said to derive from the story of Vir Meghmaya who sacrificed himself in order to end drought and bring rain. Vir Meghmaya is considered to be a great bhagat born in an untouchable community. ¹ It is said that he declared that he was the 36th avatar of Madrakh, the first human creation of god, that he then was Madrakh and now has risen as Meghmaya. Apart from Vir Meghmaya, there are several other significant Dalit bhagats like Megh Khimado Kotval and Ravat Ransinh from the Meghwar bhagat tradition. It is the bhagats, who lead the performance of the aaradhivani performance.

Aaradhivani is a prevalent form of worship in the Marvada-Meghwar community marked by ritualized performance of singing devotional songs, bhajan. Aaradhivani is an overarching body of several performative genres like bhajan, sakhi, doha, aarti, artha, kafi, kanuda or prabhatiya, which are sung according to prahar or the specific time in the 24-hour span. ² The performance of aaradhivani is generally organized in the evening where the bhagats sing bhajans to the gathered members of the community. These bhajans sometimes are the compositions of well-known poet saints like Ravidas, Kabir, Meghmaya, Mekandada or are composed by the bhagat himself. That corpus of bhajans as well as performance is known as Aaradhivani. The performer, known as bhagat in the Marwari community, sings with the accompaniment of several musical instruments like tambura, gado-gamela, manjira and kartal played by other members of a mandali (band). ³ Aaradhivani is usually performed on occasions such as the bij, dasham and punam. It is also performed the occasion of Pat Kori, ⁴ which is a specifically organized way of performing and worshiping through the singing of aaradhivani in front of the pat. ⁵

Like the other bhakti poet-saints, bhagats compose and sing bhajans, devotional song addressed to a sagun/nirgun (with form/formless) god. In Kachchh, these compositions can be found in Kachchhi, Sindhi as well as in Gujarati and Hindi. Some of the Gujarati and Hindi compositions are rendered into Kachchhi by the bhagats and performers according to the context. Moora Lala Marvada, a globally acknowledged Kabir singer, sings Kabir’s compositions in the Kachchhi style, which is spectacular. Rekhiyo Jugajug Aage, which I will be analysing is a liminal narrative that is located between the genres of bhajan and artha ⁶ where bhagats, along with singing, narrate and explain a story to the audience (Vaghaji K. Dharda interview by Kesha Marvada, January 2020).

Some of the people of the community are known as bhagats, who are by taking sacred oath under purview of his/her guru also called as nami bhagat. The guru administers the nam, and secret knowledge or guru mantra on specific days of the year. The nami bhagat is then invited to the Kori-pat (means coins, one of the older currencies of Kachchh state) to perform the pat puja (worship of the pat). He follows the rituals and rules taught by his guru. He mostly follows a vegetarian diet as well as fasts on these auspicious days. It is important to note that the bhagat is not an ascetic: though he accepts the bhakti as a way of life, he remains attached to worldly things. He does not follow celibacy. In earlier times, the invitation and the performance of pat puja and aaradhivani were carried out without payment, but with the changing times, gifts are given to the bhagat as a token of respect. After the advent of various media and widespread circulation of recorded performance, a new monetary dimension has been acquired, and the performers are paid. In the context of Kachchh, performers like Moora Lala Marvada, Sukriya Naru Fafal, Khamubhai Lakhiya, Bhasar Bhagat, and Mohan Marvada as an accompanists, among others, have performed not only in the domestic context but also internationally (Mohan Marvada interview by Kesha Marvada, January 2021).

With the addition of monetary value, aaradhivani has become popular in new ways. Earlier, it was performed on specific sacred occasions. But, today, it is frequently performed, differently recorded, watched and circulated online, leading to the erasure of its ritualistic context of performance. However, it is still performed in community gatherings as was done earlier. The entry of aaradhivani into the public domain makes it lose its communal authority over the text also. Several institutions, NGOs and web-based musicians record it and make it available to the world. The relocation of aaradhivani into various media raises the question of authorship. The digitized performances go into the custody of the owner of the website and gets copyrighted by the recorder. This transfers the authorship from the performer and the community to the recorder, from memory-based human performance to chip-based memory.

III

Rekhiyo Jugajug Aage cannot be dated precisely. It has certainly been preserved by the followers of Vir Meghmaya and bhagats. Along with travellers and pilgrims, it has travelled across present-day Gujarat. Various versions of this narrative song can be found in Kachchh. Sometimes, it is sung as a bhajan or as a bhajan with artha or the explanation. It can also be considered as a ballad or lokgeet or lok bhajan. ⁷

Attributed to Vir Meghmaya, it is a product of memory, of repetition through performance since its composition. Its older version might have vanished with time, but new versions also emerged, which may be informed by the sociopolitical milieus in which they were born. It has past as well as contemporary influences. It is contemporary in the sense that it has not only been performed in the current social context, but it also addresses the current societal issues like caste-based hierarchy and caste discrimination. As a folk genre, it is learnt by the listening and repetitive performances by the young generation. There is no formal training available for learning this art of aaradhivani, and similarly, this narrative is passed on through traditional ways. Before audiovisual was widely available, it was simply transmitted orally by listening to live performances. But with the coming of cassette tapes, records and other voice and video-recording devices, it has been widely circulated on social media and on the web for some decades. Earlier, because of caste, bhagats were confined to their society. But now the Internet has changed this age-old discriminatory system in the sense that performer and performance has a specific presence in the world.

Now considered as a folk bhajan, Rekhiyo Jugajug Aage has acquired a specific composer, it is recognized as namu ⁸ based on the chhap ⁹ of Meghmaya. The original narrative is now received differently. With the spread beyond its originary community context, it is now received on the basis of a performers’ linguistic terrain. In his seminal book History, Bhakti and Public Memory, Christian Lee Novetzke proposes

a notion of ‘corporate authorship’ he further notes whereby authorship is never a solitary site for authority, but rather involves several participants, especially the live performer, the purported author of the songs used in performance and the sant who originated the particular performance art itself. (Novetzke 2009)

In this backdrop, bhajan in aaradhivani also were composed by multiple authors, sung and performed, and then circulated first orally and then in print as well as in digital media. As a consequence of this, Rekhiyo Jugajug Aage has lost its corporate authorship and is now bound to the individual author. Moreover, once the text is performed in public, it enters the public domain. The performer performs the text as he has received and understood it, perhaps adding some subjective variety in order to suit the audience as well as the context of performers. Thus, the aaradhivani today poses questions about authorship and text: it is the ‘original’ author? Or the performer? Or society (and law) that determines rules of authorship?

IV

Rekhiyo Jugajug Aage narrates the stories of Meghwar Sant Meghmaya, Sant Ravidas Chamar, Megh Khimado, Ravat Ransinh, Ravat Malo, Rupade, Ramdevpir and Dharalbai with the king of Mevadgadh Rana Kumbha and Minaldevi. Here is a brief summary of the narrative:

Once Mahasati Minaldevi asks Rana Kumbha that Megh Khimado has given her Vayak (invitation) for religious gathering, and she has to go there. Rana Kumbha says that ‘you’re the queen of Abugadh and I’m the King, how can you go to the Meghwar’s house? A lower caste man’ house’. Mahasati replied that ‘she has to go and she will’. Rana Kumbha again asks that ‘it is true that you get to go there but tell me “What is there?”’ She replies that ‘you would know if you come along, otherwise you can’t understand’. Rana Kumbha asks that ‘what if I can learn about this without going there?’ She replies ‘it is possible but you have to invite Meghwar sants to Abugadh and they will make you understand’. The King said that ‘I’m ready to do this if they explain to me about this religion’. King invites the Sants to his palace and they narrate their great deeds one by one which transforms king’s mind. Megh Maya first narrates the story of Ravidas Chamar. Sant Ravidas Chamar once working on his Pedhi in Kashinagar. On that day group of Brahmins were going to pilgrimage to Ganga. He gave shreefal (coconut), chundali, ¹⁰ sopari (betel nut) and coin to offer mother Ganga and said to the man that offer these things to mother Ganga only if she comes out herself or else take it back. Mother Ganga took that offering from a Brahmin whom Ravidas gave and in return gave a bangle as proof of her acceptance of offerings. (Premaji Meriya interview by Kesha Marwada, January 2020)

This aforementioned example is a part of the narrative song, which recounts multiple stories of Meghwar sants, who were Shudras and considered the lowest in caste hierarchy. They were degraded as untouchables in a society, where hegemonic notions of purity in the occupation-based caste system prevailed such that it deprived them of dignity and self-respect. It is significant that this community narrative is performed in the face of upper-caste Brahminical masculine ideology still influential one or the other way inside and outside a Dalit’s life. In a context where Brahminical discourses disregard the Shudras and consider them as non-human or animal-like, uncultured, the narrative celebrates the value of Shudras’ lives. They have been historically excluded from mainstream histories. But narratives like these unfold not only the religious beliefs, cultural practices and rituals but also the history of Meghwar sants, whom mainstream society and academia do not recognize or value. This article seeks to unpack this narrative to show how it can be used to historicize the Meghwars and their history with the radical perspective it offers on the caste as well as gender.

Caste identity was/is an important marker in Indian society, which gives privileges to certain caste, self-acclaimed as savarna, unchi or agadi jati; it enables them power to manipulate every aspect of society in their favour, which entrenches the social exclusion of avarna, nichi or pichhadi jati. The topmost caste in the hierarchy, Brahmins, think that they are the sons of and the first creation of god. According Manu in Manusmriti, a book of laws on governing society, Shudras and women should be treated like animals. This shows its deep-rooted Brahminical patriarchal and casteist ideology appropriated by a male Brahmin, Manu. So according to Manuvadi ideology, Shudras and women are not eligible to socialize and get educated. Both these victims are deprived of education and knowledge. But as this narrative starts, Minaldevi a queen and disciple of a Meghwar sant receives an invitation for a religious gathering from Megh Khimado Kotval, a Shudra. Minaldevi was queen of King Rana Kumbha of Abu Gadh. In the first instance, Rana Kumbha refuses Minaldevi’s request and asks her how she can visit the Shudra, being a Kshatriya queen. But Minaldevi is firm in her decision. Later, the king becomes curious to know about the religion of the Meghwars. When he asks her how he can know about that, then she replies that he can understand only if he comes with her or invites the Meghwar sant. So in the very beginning of this narrative, it offers radical perspective on caste as well as gender. Brahmins claim that they possess the ultimate religious knowledge. But, here, the king—a Kshatriya—invites a Meghwar sant in order to understand religion, which was hegemonically possessed by the Brahmins only. Minaldevi as a female disciple and bhakta is also invited to the gathering. In Brahminical social structure, women were not allowed to sit with men nor could they pursue knowledge independently. In this way, the preface of the narrative challenges the caste and gender structure of Hindu society.

The line of the bhajan Rekhiyo Jugajug Aage, which means Rekhiyo is and always before anyone was created by god in the universe. Vir Meghmaya says to Rana Kumbha that when the universe was being created, he was then as Mad Rakh, and now he is here in front of him as the 36th avatar as Meghmaya. So, from the first human on earth to the man with 32 virtues, he is reborn as, Meghmaya. This challenges the Brahminical narrative of Brahmin or Charan as the first creation on the earth. In this way, the narrative subverts the caste hierarchy and positions Rakhiya in the first place as first creation of god almighty. This narrative today is performed only by the present-day Marwari community. Other aaradhivani-practising castes, Sodha and Rabari, do not perform this. It could be possible because the Sodha, known as Kshatriya, and Rabari, of the Vaishya varna, among others, do not perform this as they believe themselves to be upper caste in relation to the Meghwar and as it glorifies the so-called lower caste’, they try to avoid this narrative bhajan.

Scholars like Christian Lee Novetzke believe that the uprising of bhakti was not in unified formation to mitigate any social problem. Some scholars do challenge this. Looking at the aforementioned text, we can say that bhakti did challenge and reform Sanskrit-centric dominance, and bhakti sants provided an alternative to it, an alternative which was easily available to the lower castes. Even though bhakti did not have a specific starting point in the history and the reformation per se, it did mobilize consciousness of masses, which led to an ‘imagined community’. Reappropriation of bhakti sants as well as their oral composition by the Scheduled Caste across India gives us a sense of ‘imagined community’. As bhakti sants travelled across India, so did their compositions. It went beyond the regional boundaries. Sants like Kabir, Vir Meghmaya and Ramdev Pir, among others, evidently had not been to Kachchh, but their compositions did reach and are performed in Kachchh. This transfer of literary compositions intersects at the point of region as well as caste. The narrative song, Rekhiyo Jugajug Aage, perhaps performed by Meghmaya, radically critiqued the caste-based discrimination, and now, today when it is performed and appropriated in the twenty-first-century Meghwar in Kachchh, its meanings are both the same and different.