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Articles
Surdas
by
Dr. Nandini Sahu
 Surdas, the lyricist, songster and
devotee has created thousands of poems, in Brajbhasha. They are typically
lyrical, originally harmonic as an essential part of the poet’s commitment. His
most acknowledged compilation is titled Sursagar i.e. the Ocean of Sur,
lyric. The most accepted image of Surdas, in the mind of a common man in Hindi
speaking area, is that of a blind, dedicated poet who was a great worshipper of
Krishna, and who was liberated by Krishna himself when he fell into a well and
could not get out for seven days. After that, he got a new life and became
famous as Surdas.
A more convincing story as a proof of
his blindness is his meeting with Akbar. As a liberal and religiously forbearing
king, Akbar wished to meet the blind poet as a creative genius. Surdas’s
brilliance as a poet and a musician was brought to Akbar’s attention by Tansen.
Tansen, one of the nine gems in Emperor Akbar’s court, and a distinguished
artist, has said the following about Surdas:
“Kindhaun sur ko sar lagyo
Kindhaun sur ki pir
Kindhaun sur ko pada lagyo
Bendhyaun sakal sarir”
(Some are
hurt by a warrior’s arrow
some are tortured by pain
Those hit by Sur’s lyrics
are pierced, through and through?
This saying indicates that Surdas is
held in immense view in diverse traditions, literary, creative and melodious.
That is the main reason why his devotional songs prolong to be sung even after
five centuries.
According to Bhav Prakash, Surdas was born in the family of a Saraswat
Brahmin, in the village Sihi, near Delhi. He was blind from the birth. He was
gifted with miraculous powers and could tell the location of misplaced things
and could also properly answer matters about the future. He left his home as a
child and lived near a pond, not far away from Sihi. At the age of eighteen he
moved to Gaughat where he lived till the age of thirty one, when his meeting
with Vallabhacharya happened. By this time he had assembled a significant
following, and along with his mysterious powers, was already becoming renowned
for his sacrosanct songs. A consummate musician, he sang mostly padas of
obedience, humbleness and appeal. After his rendezvous as the official
devotional vocalist at the temple of Shrinathji by Vallabhacharya, he spent the
rest of his life in Braj area. He died in Parasoli.
Even if we pay no attention to the devout feature of Surdas, that he was a
devotee of Krishna and absolutely committed to him through body and soul; or
that it was a ingredient of his obligation to chant about Krishna’s life and
celestial games, the truth residues that he holds a very towering position in
medieval Hindi verse, based just on the legendary merits of his lines. His
lyrics, known as padas, were the most trendy technique for performance of
devotional songs in the medieval period. Deriving from Siddha poets, this
elegiac structure was refined and perfected by poets like Jayadeva and Vidyapati.
The padas were always sung, as a rule in conventional Indian mode of
ragas. The type gradually but increasingly broadened over North India, its
stream getting momentum through the choir and dedicated parishioners. The vocal
folklore, an intrinsic element of Indian existence and belief, also helped to
keep the variety and the transcript of the padas animate for centuries.
It also involved mythology and stories and succinct sayings about the poet.
The essentials about Surdas’ life and symphony are more imperfect than his other
contemporary poets. The most exhaustive description is established in an
account, Chaurasi Vaishnavan Ki Varta (the narrative about eighty-four
Vaishnavas) and its edited version Bhav Prakash written in 1698 A.D. The
narrative about Surdas contains six chapters, and according to these Vartas, he
was born in 1478 A.D., and died, after a stretched life, between 1581-1585 A.D.
He was a disciple of Vallabhacharya (1478-1530) the founder of Pushti sect.
Later on Surdas assumed a very important place in the sect and was privileged as
being one of the eight important poets, called Ashtachhap, or Eight Seals
.
The Persian sources have also created
some uncertainty about Surdas in Ain-e-Akbari, a historical work by Abdul
Fazl. Written in 1597 A.D. it contains the names of the musicians and the
singers in Akbar’s court. It is revealed that there was a father-son band of
musicians named Ramdas and Surdas-- the son Surdas, the poet, is the composer of
Sursagar. Going to Surdas’s own writings, there are some references in
Sur Saravali and Sahitya Lahri. Apparently Surdas wrote Sur
Saravali after finishing with the major bulk of Sursagar. Another
accepted and widespread credence is that Surdas wrote 125,000 padas.
Surdas’ bhakti and verse cannot be divided, they are reciprocally reliant. They
make his life and works an important Indian religious occurrence. His choice of
theme is restricted, specially when in contrast to poets like Tulsidas, or Sufi
poets like Malik Muhammad Jayasi. He did not include all phases of Krishna’s
manifestation, neither as the king of Dwarika or the champion of the
Bhagavad-Gita. He only concerted upon Krishna as a child as the loved one of
people of Braj and as the celestial redeemer of his disciple. This idea was
familiar and in harmony to pushtimarg where the reverence of the infant and
lover Krishna is accentuated. The colossal choice of Surdas’ idiom is nowhere
extra palpable than in his entirely evocative poems. The recognition to elevate
Brajbhasha from a provincial language to the language of literature and of the
poetry of Krishna sect in Hindi unquestionably goes to Surdas.
July 13, 2008
Image courtesy:
YogaMeditation.com.au
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