Concert to pay tribute to the works of Indian women saints through poetry

In the 11th century a poet called Lalleshwari wrote beautiful vaakh a style of fourline poems in Kashmir Just like her women saints from all over India have left behind an enormous repertoire of valuable thoughts and ideas in the form of literature Many of these works find relevance even today Advaita a musical concert conceptualised and performed by renowned classical vocalist Devaki Pandit and scripted by poet lyricist and writer Vaibhav Joshi will offer a glimpse of the fascinating works of these saintpoets and pay homage to them through an evening of poetry and musicJoshi and Pandit perform at a concert in IndoreldquoI would often sing abhangas or bhaktigeet in my own concerts as a concluding piece While I sang these I wanted to read and understand what they meant Thatrsquos when someone recommended I read a column written by the great author Dr Aruna Dhere I met her and she gave me her book called Bhagvya Vata which means saffron path In her book she combined short stories about various women saints of India which allowed me to get a glimpse of their lives I was intrigued and went on to read the original poetry by these saints both in the original texts as well as translations in English and Hindi and watched people perform them on YouTuberdquo recalls Pandit ldquoEach poet had a strong personality Meerabai was a queen from the desert Lalleshwari hailed from a poor family in snowcovered surroundings This was reflected in their artrdquo she addsThe twoandahalfhour programme will feature the works of Andal of Tamil Nadu Akka Mahadevi of Karnataka Janabai and Muktabai of Maharashtra Gangasati of Gujarat Mirabai of Rajasthan and Lalleshwari of Kashmir Two works from each poetrsquos repertoire will be presented during the eveningVaibhav JoshiWhile the idea sounds fairly simple the execution has been a massive challenge ldquoThe writings of these saintpoets are in different languages If you want the audience to connect with them literal translations do not work The translations of these vachanas abhangas vaakh dohas and bhajans available in English and Hindi were literal and missed out on the essence so we had to retranslate these in Hindi for a wider audiencerdquo Joshi tells us ldquoThere is storytelling poetry and music stitched into this act We had to script it in a way that it flowed seamlessly You have to understand the artistes and what they went through when they wrote these It is said that when an artist is talented the period they lived in is also reflected in their work They rebelled against social and domestic restrictions and focused on their beliefs We had to understand their spirituality to link them togetherrdquo Joshi explainsDevaki PanditWhile the singing style had to be adapted keeping folk traditions in mind understanding the nuances of so many languages wasnrsquot easy either ldquoLanguage from the 11th and 12th centuries has evolved and people donrsquot understand it anymore I met the late Pandit Bhajan Sopori who was a santoor player from Kashmir In 2015 he presented me with a lot of literature and helped me with my pronunciation He had composed quite a bit of Lalleshwari poetry for Kashmir Radio Similarly I met Puttur Narasimha Nayak who told me about Akka Mahadevi mdash her work and how people perceive and revere herrdquosays Pandit Along with Panditrsquos vocals instruments such as the mridangam rabab pakhawaj flute and violin among others will help recreate the ambiance of the era and place On March 4 630 pmAt Nehru Centre Auditorium Dr Annie Besant Road Lotus Colony WorliCall 24920510Log on to inbookmyshowcomCost Rs 300 onwards