‘Bansi Ki Dhun’ (Krishnavatar Part-1) (in Hindi)
By Dr. KM Munshi
Hindi Translation by: Omkarnath Sharma
Rajkamal Paperbacks
[ISBN: 978-81-7178-817-0]
One of my very kind friends gave me a set of books called ‘Krishnavatar’ written by Dr. KM Munshi as a wedding gift. I had heard Dr. Munshi’s name many a time, starting from my childhood when we remembered “books and their authors”. Jai Somnath is a very famous account from Dr. KM Munshi’s pen.
“Bansi Ki Dhun” is the first volume of the “Krishnavatar” series. Dr. Munshi has also written many other books on mythology, like a novel called “Bhagwan Parshuram”. The author has researched whole lot of scriptures to find facts and stories around Lord Krishna, whom many including the author accept as an incarnation of God. The scriptures included Srimad Bhagavat, Mahabharat, Harivansh Puran, Vishnu Puran, Bhagavat Puran, Padma Puran, Brahmavaivart Puran, Geet Govind, and Garg Samhita. In author’s words, all these scriptures not only present different accounts of the events happening during Lord Krishna’s life, but at places are even opposite to each other. He says that Srimad Bhagavat and Mahabharata are two scriptures which are source for all subsequent scriptures written on Lord Krishna, but even these two books contain very opposite traditions.
“Visheshkar pratham do granthon me (Srimadbhagavat and Mahabharat) jo anya sabhi granthon ke aadhar hain, bilkul hi vipreet paramparaon ka samavesh hai. Baad ke sabhi granthon me apne-apne rachna kaal me lok-manas par Sri Krishna ke prabhav ke saath-saath us kaal ki adhyatmik avasyaktaon ka bhi varnan milta hai.” (P vii)
“Banshi ki dhun” has been written in the form of a novel. It is essentially a story, which starts with giving a learned historical account of the Yadavas and the ancestors of Sri Krishna, describing the background to Sri Krishna’s birth and up to the assassination the evil king Kansa. It tells about the atrocities of Kansa and how the people awaited for the birth of their rescuer (taranhaar) and also how Devki and Vasudev had to part with their eighth son so as it can live and one day it will kill the evil king Kansa. At times if we don’t read the “whole” of the story and think about only one or two events in particular, we may get confused. This book provides the stream of history and mythology, without any forced artificialness. In fact the author has written this book in a very scientific manner; he doesn’t see Sri Krishna as Lord Krishna with a hallow behind his head but describes him as a human, and tries to explain how a small cowboy “gwala” did so many acts of courage (which people called miracles) that people started worshipping him as “Lord” and an avatar of God. This is why almost anyone can read this book, even the atheists would be very happy to read it and I believe they would appreciate this amazing story from the life of Sri Krishna.
The portion of the book where the author describes the games and tricks of baby Krishna (Kanhaiya or Kanha as he was called with love); where he troubles Ma Yashoda and Nand Baba; when local girls in the villages just become infatuated with the charm of this young boy who is only 7 years old, such portions have become so wonderful that while reading my eyes often flooded with tears. There is not much of religion in the pages neither is there any blind faith or miracles described as if coming from some other world. Krishna’s story is as if it is our very own. We can see Baby Krishna in our younger children around us and his playfulness in their naughtiness. Perhaps it is the result of such soul-touching stories about young Krishna, that I think every Indian mother would must have called her son as Krishna or Kaanha with love at some point or the other.
The portion about Devki and Vasudev’s sacrifice is heart touching and readers can feel a part of their intense pain. The stories of Kansa’s atrocities would make readers enraged too. But the joyous and lovely games played by Krishna would make the readers feel a kind of love, which can only be described as “divine”.
This book is essentially a novel, with some portions coming out perhaps better than any work of fiction. The author has been fair enough to accept that the stories about Radha are not from credible sources and are even unreliable. As the author writes in a note on page-95:
“Radha hamari lok kalpana dwara srijit raswanti gopi hai. Uska udbhav kahan aur kis prakar hua, yah theek se nahi kaha ja sakta. ‘Mahabharat’, ‘Harivansh’, aur sambhavtah 8vi shatabdi me rachit ‘Bhagvat’ me uska ullekh kahin nahi milta. Dusri or, ‘Silappadikaram’ namak prachin Tamil granth me Nappinai naam ki Krishna-patni ke roop me uska ullekh kiya gaya hai. Isi prakaar lagbhag dusri sadi me rachit “Radha Saptshati” namak granth me uska ullekh hai. 8vi sadi ke baad kai Prakrit bhasha ke kaviyon ne, adhikanshtah Shringar Rask e kavyon me, Radha ka ullekh kiya hai.
Sanskrit sahitya me Radha ka pratham ullekh Malav ke Parmarvanshi maharaj Vakpati Munj (974-994 AD) ke teen shilalekhon me aye ek ashirvadatmak shlok me milta hai. Parantu Raja Lakshmansen (1179-1203) ke Rajkavi Jaidev ne jab apne “Geet Govind” ki nayika unhe banaya, tabhi raasleela ki adhisthatri devi, Raseshwari ke roop me samast Bharatvarsh me unki kirti faili.
Chaitanya ne unhe Devi roop me mana aur isi prakar Radhapanthiyon, Vishnuswamiyon aur Nimbark ke anuyayiyon ne unhe Devi ke pad par sthapit kiya. Prachlit manyata ke anusar wah Sri Krishna ki Divyapatni hain aur is manyata ko Nimbark ne bhi swikar kiya hai.Parkeeya prem ko atyant mahatva deti Purv Bharat ki dharmik pranali ke anusar Sri Krishna ne Radha ko apni priyatama ke roop me sweekar avashya kiya hai parantu wah patni to kisi anya ki hi hain. Jo bhi ho, Radha ke bina Krishna-katha ka vichaar karna hi kathin jaan padta hai aur samanya lok-pranalika ke anusaar jo manyata prachlit hai, wahi mujhe yogya lagti hai” (P95-96)
This portion is slightly controversial in the sense that it has become a passionate “love story”. Krishna declares that he will marry Radha, but Yashoda, Nandbaba and even Guru Sandeepani are not in agreement with this decision. Krishna had taken birth to do great work, to relieve this world from the atrocities of kings like Kansa, and if he marries at such a young age and has a family to keep, it would be a big distraction and hindrance. Besides, this, Radha’s family were considered slightly inferior than Krishna’s. But before Krishna had to leave Radha, the book indicates that he marries Radha. Krishna says, “Chal, apne Sandeepni Guru ke paas chalen. Pavitra agni ki Sakshi dekar hamara vivaah hoga,” Krishna ne kaha. And next morning, when Krishna has to part from Gukul, he sees: “Paas me hi Radha nav-vadhu ke paridhan dharan kiye aur lajjasheel navodha ke upyukt ghunghat nikale khadi thi.”
This book is written in such a beautiful language that when one starts reading it, one doesn’t feel like keeping it down. What a wonderful read it has been. And now I am reading its second part.
Highly recommended to all.
- Rahul
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