On October 23rd, we will two Brajabuli padas from the earliest anthology of Vaishnava lyrics titled “The Wishing Stone of Nightly Songs” (Kṣaṇadāgītacintāmaṇi)  compiled in Vrindavan in the 17th/early 18th century by Vishvanath Chakravartin “Harivallabh”:

1. dekha soi mūratimaẏa neha | See, see! He is love embodied,…
2. (dhani go!) āju pekhanu bālā-kheli, yaba mandira bāhira bheli | Woman! Today I observed the young girl playing/ as she came out of her house.

See the Word doc. here for further comments on the texts.

Source: Viśvanātha Cakravartin “Harivallabha.” Kṣaṇadāgītacintāmaṇi. Edited by Bimanbehari Majumdar. Calcutta: Jenārel Lāibrerī, 1369.

(১) শ্রীগৌরচন্দস্য

কেদার

1. দেখ দেখ সোই মূরতিময় নেহ |
   কাঞ্চন-কাঁতি, সুধা জিনি মধুরিম, নয়ন-চষক ভরি লেহ || ধ্রু ||
2. শ্যামল বরণ, মধুর-রস ঔষধি, পূরব যো গোকুল মাহ |
   উপজল জগত, যুবতী উমতাওল, যো সৌরভ-পরবাহ ||
3. যো রস বরজ-,গোরি-কুচ-মণ্ডল-,মণ্ডন-বর করি রাখি |
   তে ভেল গৌর, গৌড় অব আওল, প্রকট প্রেম-সুরশাখী ||
4. সকল-ভুবন-সুখ-,কীর্ত্তন-সম্পদ, মত্ত রহল দিন-রাতি |
   ভব-দব কোন, কলি-কল্মষ, যাঁহা হরিবল্লভ ভাতি ॥ ১

(1) śrīgauracandrasya

kedāra

1. dekha dekha soi mūratimaẏa neha |
   kāñcana-kā̃ti, sudhā jini madhurima, naẏana-caṣaka bhari leha || dhru ||
2. śyāmala baraṇa, madhura-rasa auṣadhi, pūraba yo gokula māha |
   upajala jagata, yuvatī umatāola, yo saurabha-parabāha ||
3. yo rasa baraja-,gori-kuca-maṇḍala-,maṇḍana-vara kari rākhi |
   te bhela gaura, gauḍa aba āola, prakaṭa prema-suraśākhī ||
4. sakala-bhuvana-sukha, kīrttana-sampada, matta rahala dina-rāti |
   bhava-dava kona, kali-kalmaṣa, yā̃hā harivallabha bhāti || 1

(1) To the Golden Moon, Kr̥ṣṇa Caitanya

Rāga Kedāra

1. See, see! He is Love embodied,
   shining like gold, sweeter than nectar;
   fill the cup of your eyes! (Refrain)
2. His skin is dark, a sweet elixir;
   he used to live in Gokul.
   He created the world; he is the fragrant breeze
   that drove maidens mad.
3. He is the delight that placed this best of ornaments
   on the curved breasts of the fair ladies of Braj.
   He became Gaur and to Gaud he came,
   a wishing tree of love in this world.
4. Day and night, I’m enraptured
   by the auspicious praise
   of [this spring] of universal joy.
   The dangers of this world, the sins of the Kali age,
   do not reach [those who share] Harivallabha’s ways. 1

This poem was composed by the compiler of the anthology, Vishvanath Chakravarti “Harivallabha” (fl. 1704), who was then living in Vrindavan. It works as an auspicious invocation to open both the anthology as a whole and this section of the anthology in particular. One section of the anthology corresponds to one session of devotional singing performance (kirtana) and each opens with a poem praising Chaitanya (called Gaurachandra “The Golden Moon”) and it is followed by another song dedicated to his disciple Nityananda. (On the sub-genre of the “gaura-chandirka” in Bengali Vaishnava literature, see Dimock 1958).

The pada introduces us to the idea of nitya-lila (eternal game) of Krishna in Vrindavan, which implies a juxtaposition of the world depicted in the Bhagavatapurana with that of Chaitanya and his disciples – each of them corresponding to a character in the lila of Vrindavan. In this scheme Chaitanya is the avatar of Krishna in the dark age (see stanza 3d). The delight of taking part in the kirtana session is presented as the ultimate means of salvation, and Harivallabha’s own experience testifies to this phenomenon (4).

A note on prosody: The structure of the song is rather common. It is a tripadi that follows the standard set by Vidyapati’s poems (itself derived from the metrical patterns of Jayadeva’s Gitagovinda), in which we find mainly three metrical schemes of 15, 16, and 28 (16+12) morae; this song uses the third meter. The song opens with a refrain (NB: it is often the second couplet in eastern lyrics), which is metrically distinct from the other stanzas (the first line only has the first two metrical segments of approx. 16 morae).

 

৩ (শ্রীকৃষ্ণের উক্তি, তাঁহার পূর্ব্বরাগ)

(ধানশী)

1. (ধনি গো !) আজু পেখনু বালা-খেলি, যব মন্দির বাহির ভেলি।
   নব জলধরে, বিজুরী-রেখা, ধন্ধ বাড়াইয়া গেলি॥
2. (সে যে) অলপ-বয়সি বালা, জনু গাঁথনি পঁহুপ-মালা।
   থোরি দরশনে, আশ না পুরল, বাঢ়ল মদন-জ্বালা॥
3. (সে যে) গোরি কলেবর লূনা, জনু কাজরে উজোর সোনা।
   কেশরী জিনিয়া, মাঝারি ক্ষীণী, দুলহ লোচন-কোণা॥
4. (সে যে) ঈষৎ হাসনি সনে, মঝু হানল নয়ন-বাণে।
   চিরঞ্জীব রহু পঞ্চগৌড়েশ্বর, কবি বিদ্যাপতি ভাণে ॥ ৩

3 (śrīkr̥ṣṇer ukti, tā̃hār pūrvvarāg)

(Dhānaśī)

1. (dhani go!) āju pekhanu bālā-kheli, yaba mandira bāhira bheli |
   naba jaladhare, bijurī-rekhā, dhandha bāṛāiẏā geli ||
2. (se ye) alapa-baẏasi bālā, janu gā̃thani pãhupa-mālā |
   thori daraśane, āśa nā purala, bāḍhala madana-jvālā ||
3. (se ye) gori kalevara lūnā, janu kājarĕ ujŏra sonā |
   keśarī jiniẏā, mājhāri kṣīnī, dulaha locana-koṇā ||
4. (se ye) īṣat[a] hāsani sane, majhu hānala naẏana-bāṇe |
   cirañjīva rahu pañcagauṛeśvara, kavi vidyāpati bhāṇe || 3

3 (Kr̥ṣṇa’s speech; the prelude of his love for Rādhā)

(Rāga Dhānaśī)

1. Woman! Today I observed the young girl playing
   as she came out of her house.
   Lightning in a dark cloud,
   she teased my curiosity and left.
2. She is a young girl
   like a garland of flowers.
   Catching a glimpse of her,
   my wish unfulfilled, Love’s fire increased.
3. The fair maiden has a slender body,
   she shines like gold on black kohl.
   The waist thinner than a lion’s,
   lovely are her side-glances.
4. With a hint of a smile,
   the shafts of her eyes hit me.
   The poet Vidyāpati says:
   “May the Lord-of-the-five-Gauḍas live forever.”

— Th. d’Hubert