Kashibai Peshwe

Part 22- Night vigil of the polygynous God

It was after midnight but the women of the Bhat household listened with rapt attention as the narrator sang the Eknaathi Bharood. Bharood, a form of Marathi folk art introduced by the sixteenth century saint poet Eknath, serves as a medium of advocating spirituality through a musical recital. A total three hundred songs in number, each Bharood is a lyrical composition with a simple narrative, linking the problems experienced by rural folk in routine life to the quest for salvation. The hyperbole used is often comical and entertaining in order to grab audience attention and to keep them engaged and spellbound.

  सत्वर पाव ग मला भवानी आई
रोडगा वाहीन तुला

सासरा माझा गावी गेला
तिकडेच खपवी त्याला
भवानी आई, रोडगा वाहीन तुला

सासू माझी जाच करिते
लवकर न्येई ग तिला
भवानी आई, रोडगा वाहीन तुला

जाऊ माझी फडाफडा बोलते
बोडकी कर ग तिला
भवानी आई, रोडगा वाहीन तुला

नणंदेचं कार्टं किरकिर करतं
खरूज येऊ दे त्याला
भवानी आई, रोडगा वाहीन तुला

दादला मारून आहुति देईन
मोकळी कर ग मला
भवानी आई, रोडगा वाहीन तुला

एका जनार्दनी सगळेच जाऊ दे
एकटीच राहू दे मला
भवानी आई, रोडगा वाहीन तुला  

Literal translation

Grant me my wishes, Oh Mother Goddess Bhavani

I shall offer you a Rodga (a type of an unleavened baked whole wheat pastry which is difficult to perfect)

My father-in-law went to his hometown

May he pass away there

My mother-in-law harrasses me

May she die soon

My co-sister uses harsh words

Make her a widow (may her hair be shorn off, symbolism of Hindu widowhood at that time)

My sister-in-law's kid is irritable

May he be afflicted with scabies

Let my husband die

Better still, eliminate his entire family

Thus may I be liberated

And if you grant all my wishes

Goddess Bhavani, I shall offer you a Rodga

Anu gasped. She could not believe her ears, the artist was expressing the plaints of a rural housewife. Unable to deal with her marital family's unpleasantness the frustrated woman was pleading for calamity upon calamity to befall upon them.

"How can a woman wish her in-laws ill? And even want her husband to die?" Anu found this impossible to digest. Surely the worst possible nightmare for a Hindu wife was for her husband to predecease her. Some communities would expect her to immolate herself on her husband's pyre, although the Brahmins in Maharashtra did not encourage the practice. Nevertheless a surviving widow's life was unbearably difficult.

"Anu, don't go by the literal meaning of the words. Behind every Bharood song there is a deeper meaning. And the Bharoodkar will explain that shortly. Just have patience!" Bhiu mollified her as she exchanged a smile with Kashi. Little Nana was fast asleep in the lap of his nursemaid, as it was way past his bedtime.