Gita Govindham Mahaakaavyam ~ Sri Jayadaeva Ashtapadhi - Introduction

Sri Jayadeva Goswami Rachitha Sri Geetha Govindham - Ashtapadhi

Here is an attempt to post Sri Geetha Govindam in three different languages viz., English, Tamil and Sanskrit. We have taken references/help from various links, pictures, articles, video links, slokas and have also been added from our side, so that, it is available to the devotees in one place for reference purposes. Bhajanists and devotees can refer to them while singing and to learn them. With such an intention this post is made.

About Sri Jayadeva Goswami

Sri Jayadeva Goswami appeared in Orissa around 1200 AD. He is most renowned for his composition, the “Gita Govinda” which has been sung across India in both Hindustani and Carnatic styles of classical music. Possibly his most famous work, the Dasavatara stotra is an invocation, following which, his songs on Radha and Krsna’s sweet Vrindavan pastimes unfold. The Gita Govinda consists of 12 chapters/Sargams, each consisting of prabhandhas/, further divided into couplets of eight (explaining the famous “ashtapadis” these songs are commonly referred to). Songs from the Gita Govinda, such as “Priye Charusile” and “Chandana charchita” are known to all connoisseurs of classical Indian music regardless of school and style…

Sri Jayadeva married Padmavathi, a pious dancer in the temple of Sri Jagannatha in Puri. Together they served the Lord with exquisite devotion – Sri Jayadeva composed songs in the Lord’s honor, and Padmavathi danced to these compositions before the deities of Puri. Sri Jagannatha is so attached to the verses of these songs that He even wears a silk outfit with pure gold embroidery of Sri Jayadeva’s verses. A line in the song “Priye Charusheele” is even reputed to have been penned by Lord Jagannatha Himself!

These Ashtapadis’ very alluring mixture of context, melody, simplicity, and really, a certain je ne sais quoi(something that cannot be adequately described or expressed) have made them Sanskrit literature’s greatest cross-platform blockbuster hit. From the easternmost corner of Manipur and Assam, where it spawned a tradition of dance and singing; to Bengal, where this was an essential element of Sri Chaitanya’s movement; down to Orissa, where even today virtually every art form from Odissi dance to music to temple sculpture involves them; to Andhra, where it is the soul of several Kuchipudi dance compositions; down to Tamil Nadu, where Carnatic music rejoices in newer and newer tunings of its lyrics, tens of Sanskrit treatises elaborate on how it can be performed in dance, Tanjore paintings celebrate its scenes, and temple traditions make Bhajans out of it; to Kerala, where the dance form Mohiniattam derived great inspiration, and an entire genre of music, Sopana Sangeetham, was born as these Ashtapadis were sung on the temple stairs; up to the coast of Karnataka, where it inspires Yakshagana dances to this day; up to Maharashtra and Gujarat, where it was a key nucleator of the Krishna-Bhakti traditions; to Rajasthan, the central territories and the Gangetic plain, all the way up to Kashmir where several hundred derivative works have appeared in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and local languages. To even comprehend the Gita Govinda’s reach would require some level of mastery of every facet of Indian art! What’s more, a large portion of this conquest happened within just a century after its composition. Political and geographical fragmentation seems to have been a trivial barrier for this cultural unity to envelop the whole of the subcontinent!