Vitthal Junagadh rahe che

Researches are restless soulsmdashthey see connections that are unacknowledged in the public discourse they unearth material that is difficult to locate they go the extra mile to pursue the project at hand Just as Punebased Manisha Bathe 53 who travelled all the way to the state of Gujarat while working on her eighth book Vitthal Namacha Bharat Sanchar Gujarat Her indepth exploration of Gujaratrsquos aadya kavi Narsinh Mehtarsquos poetrymdashparticularly in the context of the mentions of Maharashtrarsquos saintpoets like Saint Namdevmdashforges a precious link between Maharashtra and Gujarat It is part of her larger project to locate the influence of Maharashtrarsquos saint literature and Vitthal worship traditions beyond the Marathi language After Gujarat she will embark on Rajasthanrsquos Vitthal devotion Punjab is also on the anvil since Saint Namdev lived and meditated in the village of Ghuman in the Hardaspur district before attaining salvationBathersquos work focuses on the publishedunpublished and handwritten records of Narsinh Mehtarsquos literature which abound in mentions of Pandurang Pundalik Vitthalo Vithalda Pandharpur Varkari and Saint Namdev The Gujarati verse bears direct reference to Mehtarsquos longing to meet the Lord by doing a vari pilgrimage on foot In fact he had undertaken the vari from Junagadh on several occasions his poetry imbibes the spiritual observance of the ashadi and kartiki ekadashi Contemporary scholars of Gujarat as late as Dr KK Shastri and Umashankar Joshi have spelled out the impact of Saint Namdev 12701350 on Mehta 14141481 The bilingual book has illustrations by artist Anil UpalekarIt is another story that post 1960s after the formation of both the states Marathi and Gujarati were not perceived in unison The bhagini bhasha sentiment evaporated after the 1970s claims Bathe who sensed regionalismmdashnot just in Gujaratmdashin the treatment meted out to her research subjectldquoEven when I showed the mentions of Shree Vitthal and Pandharpur in Narsi Kavyadohan published around 1884 edited by Iccharam Desai the authorities in Junagadh said the lines must have been added vacche nakhelo che later I therefore rushed to Baroda to corroborate my claim Thatrsquos when I chanced upon 25 unpublished padas which contained the precious search words I was seekingrdquoAs Bathe showed consistency in her pursuit of documents and dates samvat varsh differently counted in Marathi and Gujarati cultures she gained the confidence and respect of the daftar holders Manisha BatheBathersquos bilingual book traces Mehtarsquos literary journey across the length and breadth of Gujarat she interacted with key institutions and people in locales where the poet left his footprintsmdashMangrol Somnath Dwarka Baroda and Junagadh Her research doesnrsquot stop at thatmdashit extends to 21 other poets avowed disciples of Mehta spanning 500 years up to Narmadashankar Lalshankar Dave alias Narmad 188386 who refer to Vari Vitthal and Pandharpur The book elucidatesannotates Mehtarsquos Gujarati verse with Marathi translation it also has a critique of the rare excerpted texts There are some direct prayers ldquoVeelam na karsho Vitthala re Am gher aavo aajrdquo Donrsquot be late Lord Vitthal Visit my home today the poet identifies Vitthal as the ldquoshyam sundar natvarrdquo who is playing the Venu Rukmini is always by his side the Lord is also seen as a commoner ldquoVitthalo vanma gaayu chaarerdquomdashhe takes the cows for forest grazing Mehta holds Saint Namdevrsquos devotion and surrender in high esteem Dhruvtara chhe uparma ta shoo Namdevni balihari even above the North Star For Mehta Namdev was the supreme Vaishnav ideal Much like Namdev ends his abhangs with Nama Mhane Mehta takes to ldquoBhane Narsaiyyordquo or ldquoNarsaiyyachardquo signature styleBathe presents a twochannel connect She quotes Marathi saints who have mentioned Mehta For instance while recalling the magic infused by Lord Vitthal in various saintsrsquo lives Saint Tukaram mentions Namdev Narsinh Mehta Kabirdas Gora Kumbhar and Mirabai in the same breath ldquoHundi tya Mahetychi Ange Bharerdquo which in todayrsquos parlance means God encashes Mehtarsquos cheque Also both saintsmdashNiloba and Janabaimdashmention Mehta as an archetypal devotee of Vitthal ldquoThe composite body of these bards indicates the significance of Vitthal bhakti in Gujarat or rather beyond Maharashtra a fact not acknowledged in recent years One wonders why such a beautiful aspect which binds Maharashtra and Gujarat is underplayed by the Vaishnav sect followers these days and also by the political leaders who otherwise make a big deal of Hindu unity and Bhagavad dharmrdquo says Bathe whose lifersquos mission is to demonstrate the panIndian appeal of the Varkari traditionThe scholarrsquos tryst with Mehta dates back to her post graduation in Gujarati 2013 Gujarati is among the seven Indian languages that Bathe studied formally though she has a working knowledge of 11 A great believer in the healing power of languages she built bridges all over Gujarat because of her articulation ldquoThose who initially questioned my credentials as an independent researcher of the Narsinh Mehta canon later helped me to gather archival material thanks to my spoken Gujaratirdquo the scholar shares Bathe relied on diverse institutions for archival resources and manuscripts mdashOriental Institute Vadodara Bhaktakavi Narsinh Mehta University Junagadh Shri Vallabhacharya Sampradaya Baithak Mandir Dwarka and Pune among others She interacted with Mehtarsquos 22nd descendants at the same time gained access to daftars of temple trusts sourcing rarer handwritten texts For earlier research on the influence of Saint Ramdasrsquo literature she visited similar daftars of handwritten records in Karnataka Basavkalyani Aland Apachand and Andhra Pradesh Osmania University and Marathi Sahitya Parishad in Hyderabad which will come in handy for her later panIndian documentation of Varkari culture Interestingly the manuscripts in Gujarati which Bathe pored over are not a homolithic entity The content lies in various dialectsmdashSorathi Apabransh Gira Marugurjar Gurjari Maru The poetic compositions in these dialects of Mehta and followers also differ with songs bhajans garba and garbi ldquoI see regional language streams as powerful expressions in fact the praman bhasha often lacks their colour I am blessed to have the agency to decipher the gold in these lingos Unfortunately this gold will turn to dust with the passage of time unless we take to better preservation practicesrdquo she saysAccording to Bathe tonnes of manuscripts deserve to be treasured and deeply scrutinised ldquoI have touched only the tip of the icebergrdquo says the selfdriven scholar whose books are published by the Samarth Media Centre that her sister Asha Bathe runs in Pune The family enterprise which is about to turn 25 and is situated in Punersquos iconic Narayan Peth has won many awards in the publishing industryDespite the support of a publishing house Bathe feels lost in terms of research tools She has to often get endorsementsvalidation from government bodies for gaining access to material and institutions She wishes for interstate university linkages which help unaffiliated researchers ldquoWhether in Gujarat or elsewhere the academia treats book projects with scepticism I have to often explain my personal reasons for studying the Varkari sect in and out of Maharashtrardquo she says Bathe was raised by an impoverished widowed mother in Satara which comes under the ideological impact of Sajjangadh the headquarters of Ramdasi Sampradaya She was drawn to saint literature quite early on which later became a passion when she transitioned to Pune for collegeuniversity education For her one publication signals research for the other which is why she has given an openended title to the new series Vitthal Namacha Bharat Sanchar Incredible India she calls itBefore Bathe takes on her tours of Rajasthan she has another task at hand She is giving finishing touches to a book paying homage to the prodigious sports literature 193650 produced by a Barodabased couple who launched a magazine on Indian physical education and Akhada culture ldquoItrsquos my offshoot research book whose protagonists will be under wraps until publication As I was sourcing manuscripts of Mehtarsquos works I discovered the Gujarati English and Marathi texts written by the couple on various sports from the Vedic times to the 19th centuryrdquo She was surprised to locate the Maharashtrian couplersquos honourable mentions in Gujaratrsquos records too When she chanced upon the unique pair she thanked Mehta mdashthe years of magajmari in Gujarat paid offSumedha RaikarMhatre is a culture columnist in search of the subtext You can reach her at sumedharaikarmiddaycom