Bhagat Jaidev whose 2 hymns are found in the Guru Granth Sahib is the celebrated Sanskrit poet who wrote the "Gitgovind". His father was Bhoidev, a Brahman of Kanauj, and his mother Bamdevi. He was born at Kenduli, about twenty miles from Suri, in the modern district of Birbhum in Lower Bengal, India. He became the most famous of the five distinguished poets who lived at the court of Lakshman Sen, King of Bengal, who dates from the year 1170. The five poets were called the five jewels of Lalishman Sen’s court, and so proud was the King of them that he erected a monument to preserve their names to succeeding ages.
Very little is known of Jaidev’s early life. It is certain that from his youth he was a diligent student of Sanskrit literature, and developed rare poetical talents. He is described by the author of the "Bhagat Mal" as an incarnation and treasury of melody on which, however, he owing to his ascetic habits, long preferred to feast his own soul rather than communicate to the world the splendid gifts he possessed. He wandered in several countries, provided with only a water-pot and dressed in the patched coat of a mendicant. Even pens, ink, and paper, generally so indispensable to literary men, were luxuries which he did not allow himself. Such was his determination to love nothing but God, that he would not sleep for two nights in succession under the same tree, lest he should conceive an undue preference for it and forget his Creator.
Adult Life
It pleased God, with the object, it is stated of saving the human race, to withdraw Jaidev from his ascetic life. For this purpose, the chronicler relates, God devised the following expedient. An Agnihotri Brahman of Jagannath, to whom a beautiful daughter named Padamavati had been born as the result of many offerings and prayers, brought her up with the object of dedicating her as a dancing girl to the local idol. Her father duly conducted her to the idol and was ordered to take her away and bestow her on the great saint Jaidev. On this, she was taken to him, and he was informed of the divine decision in his favour. Jaidev reasoned with the Brahman, and told him he ought to give his daughter to some more wealthy man, who would be more suitable for her than a homeless ascetic like him.
The Brahman replied that he could not disobey God’s order. Jaidev rejoined, ‘God is master and omnipotent. He may have thousands and tens of thousands of wives, but one for me is the same as a hundred thousand’ that is, he had no more need or ability to maintain one than he had a hundred thousand. After further discussion, in which the Brahman failed, notwithstanding the exercise of all his powers of persuasion, he left his daughter with Jaidev. Before his departure he told her it was impious to act in opposition to the will of God. She was to remain with Jaidev, and obey him according to the instructions laid down for wives in the Hindu sacred writings.
The tender girl remained with Jaidev and attended on him like his shadow. He is said to have represented to her the futility of living with him:
‘Thou art wise,’ he said; ‘endeavour to do something to improve thy position; I have no power to maintain and cherish thee?
She replied, ‘What power hath this poor creature? Thou canst do as thou pleasest I am a sacrifice unto thee and shall never leave thee’.
On this Jaidev believed that God was forcing him into the alliance, and he reconciled himself to the situation. As the first preparation for domestic life he built a hut for his spouse, set up an idol in it, and applied himself to its worship. He then began the composition of the celebrated poem the "Gitgovind". This is believed to have been his second composition, his first being a drama called "Rasana Raghava". A third work attributed to him is "Chandralok", an essay on the graces of style.
The fact appears to be that the mantling fire of Jaidev’s genius sought for an outlet that with experience of life a change came over his religious opinions that he resolved no longer to play the hermit, but accept the wife offered him, distinguish himself, and seek for worldly fame and its pleasures. God has been introduced ex machina into the narrative to save Jaidev from the charges of inconsistency and submission to human passion.
Gitgovind
The Gitgovind is well known in both hemispheres. It has been translated into English prose and paraphrased in English verse. It is perhaps a solitary instance of a great popular poem composed in a dead language. In the twelfth century of the Christian era Sanskrit was, it was true, used as Latin was at the same time in Europe, but the great age had passed away when Sanskrit was a 1iving language — the only recognized Indian vehicle of men’s thoughts and aspirations. The Gitgovind is still not only remembered, but nightly chanted in the Karnatik countries and other parts of India, because it is ostensibly a love song and its strains are sweet and find a responsive echo in the human heart.
During the composition of the Gitgovind Jaidev represented Radhika the heroine as pouting because Krishan the hero had followed other loves. Krishan alters his ways~ and applies himself to the task of appeasing her and apologizing for his conduct. The poet was preparing to make Krishan address his lady love; ‘Adorn my head by putting on it the lotus leaves of thy feet, which are an antidote to the poison of Cupid?’ when he reflected that it would be a dishonour to his god if any woman were to put her feet on his heat While thus reflecting the poet ceased to write, and went to bathe, intending subsequently to alter the sentence into more conformity with the relative positions of the hero and heroine, What was Jaidev’s surprise when on returning from his bath he found the verse completed exactly as he had subsequently intended! He asked his wife how it had occurred. She told him he had returned himself, and having written the verse gone away again. Upon this Jaidev knew that Krishan himself had written the verse, and thus hallowed the composition. The fame of the event and of the poem spread far and wide, and Jaidev obtained the high renown he had so earnestly sought.
Poem by the King
Satvika, King of Urisa (Orissa) at the time, was also a poet and learned man. He had accidentally selected for a poem the same subject as Jaidev, and he appears to have produced a work of respectable merit, which he directed his Brahmans to copy and circulate. In reply they showed him the composition of Jaidev. They meant by this that the Raja’s poem was as nothing in comparison with Jaidev’s. As well compare a lamp with the suns The Raja in his pride could not accept the Brahmans’ criticism, but caused both poems to be placed in the temple of his capital, and promised to abide by the decision of the idol as to which was superior.
The idol rejected the king’s Gitgovind and took to his heart that of Jaidev. Upon this the Raja thinking himself greatly dishonoured was overcome by shame and jealousy, and set out to drown himself. Krishan is said to have taken pity on him He appeared to him and told him it would be a vain and foolish act to put an end to his life. It was very clear that his poetical merit did not equal that of Jaidev, but, to compensate him for his disappointment, Krishan ordered that one of the Raja’s verses should be inserted in each of the twelve cantos of Jaidev’s poem, and both compositions should thus go forth to the world and down to distant ages. This was accordingly done.
Power of Gitgovind
The estimation in which the Gitgovind was held may be gathered from the following anecdote. A gardener’s daughter while one day gathering eggplants was singing with great zest the following verse from the fifth canto of the poem:— The zephyr gently bloweth on the banks of the Yarnuna while Krishan tarrieth in the grove.
On this, it is said, the idol of Jagannath followed her wherever she went, with the object of feasting his heart on the dulcet strains. The idol wore only a thin jacket which was torn by the brambles. ‘When the king went to worship and saw the condition of the idol’s dress, he in astonishment asked the priests the cause. When the Raja learned what had occurred, he was perfectly satisfied of the superiority of the product of Jaidev’s genius, and issued a proclamation that the Gitgovind should only be read in a clean and purified place, as Jagannath, the lord of the world, himself was in the habit of going to listen to it.
Not only Hindu, but men of all creeds were enchanted with the composition. It is related that a Mughal on hearing of the divine honours paid to the work, used to peruse it with the greatest delight. One day while riding he was singing its verses when he fell into an ecstasy of pleasure, and thought that, though a Moslem, he felt communion with Krishan.
Oriental chroniclers are enthusiastic in their praises of Jaidev. All other poets are compared to petty kings while he is the great chakrawarti or poetical monarch of the world! As the moon can-s not be concealed by the stars, as the eagle cannot be surpassed by any bird in flight, as Indar attracts notice in the midst of the gods, so is jaidev’s fame conspicuous in the world4 it may be added that Jaidev himself does not appear to have been insensible of his own merits, At the conclusion of the Gilgovind he writes, ‘Whatever is delightful in the modes of music, whatever is exquisite in the sweet art of love let the happy and wise learn from the sons of Jaidev.
Notwithstanding the lusciousness and sensuous beauty of several parts of the Gitgovind, there can be no doubt that Jaidev intended the poem as an elaborate religious allegory. This, too, is insisted on by the author of the Bhagat Mai, who states that the love scenes and rhetorical graces of the poet are not to be understood in the sense that persons of evil minds and dispositions attach to them. Radhika the heroine is heavenly wisdom. Tue milkmaids who divert Krishna from his allegiance to her, are the senses of smell, sight, touch, taste, and hearing Krishan represented as pursuing them is the human soul, which attaches itself to earthly pleasures. The return of Krishan to his first love is the return of the repentant sinner to God, which gives joy in heaven.
The Thugs
After the completion of the poem Jaidev went to travel and visited Bindraban and Jaipur. To the latter place its king had given him a pressing invitation. While on those travels it is related that he met a party of thugs. He knew what they were from their ready offer to accompany him on his journey. Without more ado he pulled out his purse and gave them all the money and valuables he possessed thus reasoning, ‘Wealth is the basis of sin; gluttony produceth disease; and love of the world purchaseth pain, so it is proper to discard all three.
The thugs at once suspected him. They had not been accustomed to obtain men’s wealth without a struggle or without at least having made a request for it, and they concluded from Jaidev’s readiness to part with his money, that he merely designed to have them arrested on their return to the city. One of them proposed to put him to death, but another said that would be a meaningless act. They only required his wealth, and that they had obtained. It was at last decided that they should cut off his hands and throw him into a narrow and dark well, and this was accordingly done.
Jaidev, it is said, meekly accepted the treatment he had received as a fate predestined for him, and applied himself to divine contemplation and the utterance of God’s name. It chanced that Karaunch, the King Of Utkal, passed that way, and hearing that Jaidev was in the well caused him to be extricated. Jaidev was so little revengeful for his injuries he had sustained, that, in reply to the king’s inquiries as to the cause of his mutilation, he told him he had been born so.. The king became convinced that Jaidev was a saint, and congratulated himself on his good fortune in meeting such a man.
Honoured by the King
The king had him conveyed to his capital where he was treated with all honour and respect, and a house set apart for him. He was, moreover, provided with food and every article of comfort. The king himself offered to become his servant and, with hands clasped in the Oriental attitude of supplication, begged Jaidev to say what duty he could render him. Jaidev had one request to make, and that was that the king should serve holy men and not him. In happy faith and with open heart the king obeyed and performed menial service for the saints of God who were waiting at his gate. The fact that the king was performing such services was noised abroad and the thugs among others, heard of it.
They assumed the guise of religious men and proceeded to the monarch’s gate. This led to an interview with Jaidev. He recognized them, and told the king that they were his brethren and very holy persons. Fortunate was the king in having been favoured with a sight of them and devoutly ought he to serve and minister unto them. The king took them into his palace, and lavished on them every honour that Oriental politeness and hospitality could suggest.
The thugs, however, recognizing Jaidev, were troubled for their safety, and applied for permission to depart. This was finally granted, and Jaidev dismissed them with a large present of money and a convoy of soldiers for their protection. On the way the soldiers fell into conversation with their charge. They remarked that they had never before seen visitors to the king so heartily and kindly treated, and they inquired in what relationship the men they were escorting stood to Jaidev. The thugs replied: ‘What shall we say? It is not a fit thing to tell. The soldiers promised them perfect secrecy.
The thugs then proceeded to exercise their inventive faculties developed by long practice. They said that Jaidev and they had been servants of a king. For some offence Jaidev had been condemned to death, and. they had been appointed his executioners. They merely, however, cut off his hands and thus saved his life. Through gratitude for that favour Jaidev induced the king to pay them such extraordinary attention. It is said that God could no longer endure the fabrication of false charges against His saint. The ground opened beneath the feet of the thugs, and they sank into the pit of hell!
King convinced about Jaidev
The soldiers in amazement returned to Jaidev and told him what had occurred. He began to tremble with pity for the thugs, and made a gesture as if rubbing his hands — the Oriental attitude expressive of grief – whereupon, it is related, new hands sprouted from his body. The soldiers went and informed the king of the two miracles their eyes had beheld. The king proceeded to Jaidev and performed before him the prostration due to saints.
He begged Jaidev to explain how the incidents had occurred. The saint for a long time refused, but, when greatly pressed by the king, gave him a detailed account of all the circumstances. The king’s faith in Jaidev had now reached its utmost limit, and he knew that the man before him in the guise of a saint was really a divine incarnation it is the usual custom of saints when they receive evil always to return good, even as bad men return evil for evil, so the king deemed his conclusion warranted by the forgiving conduct of Jaidev.
Jaidev felt a longing for home and told the king of his determination to take his leave. The king put his head on the saint’s feet, and represented to him that his country had turned to God and the practice of virtue, since it had been trodden by his holy feet. If the saint were to depart, the kings subjects would turn away from their faith. He therefore implored him to defer his departure. As a further inducement to Jaidev to abide with him, he went himself and brought Padamavati so that the saint’s happiness might be complete, and his distant home forgotten. Padamavati was installed in the royal palace, and the queen received stringent orders to perform all menial offices for her.
Dedication of Padamavati
While Padamavati resided at the court the queen’s brother died, and his wife was burned with him on the funeral pyre. One day when the queen was boasting of the wonderful devotion of her sister-in-law, Padamavati smiled! When asked the reason she replied ‘To burn oneself alive with one’s husband’s corpse is far from being the acme of affection. True affection and love require a woman to sacrifice herself directly she even heareth of her husband’s death.’ In the present age,’ replied the queen, ‘thou alone art such a Sati,’ a word defined by the author of the Bhagat Mal as a ‘woman who considereth her husband a god and hath no concern with any other deity.’ Not feeling flattered by the well-nigh unapproachable standard of conjugal devotion which alone Padamavati considered as worthy of admiration, the queen determined to put her to the test at the first opportunity.
One day when Jaidev was absent from home, the queen arranged that one of the royal servants pretended haste was to come to her when with Padamavati, and inform the latter that Jaidev had been attacked and killed in the forest by a tiger. On the servant coming to where they were seated and repeating this carefully tutored Story, Padamavati swooned and fell lifeless to the ground.
The queen who had brought about this disaster, turned pale and became distracted at the unexpected turn of events. She was severely rebuked by the king when he heard of the occurrence. Life became bitter to her, and she made preparations for death on a funeral pyre which she had constructed. When the circumstances were communicated to Jaidev, he appeared in time to hinder the immolation of the queen, and approaching the dead Padamavati sang his well-known ashtapadis. To the surprise and joy of all, she was restored to life, it is said, and joined her husband in his song.
Jaidev and his wife by this time had had sufficient experience of regal life. They were glad to abandon all state and return to their lowly home at Kenduli, where they enjoyed the society of saints and transferred their idolatrous devotion to the love and homage of the one true God.
On the anniversary of Jaidev’s birth a religious fair is held at Kenduli, the poet’s birthplace, and is attended by thousands of Vaishnavs who celebrate the occasion by assembling round his cenotaph for worship, and singing the most sublime portions of his immortal songs.
References:
The Sikh Religion, Vol 6,, Max Arthur MacAuliff, Oxford University Press, 1909.