Jai arya devtaa hey soorya devtaa

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Today’s song is from a less known Mythological film Gaj Gauri-1958.

The film was made by Prabhat Chitra, Bombay. This is not the famous Prabhat Film Company of Poona (Sama Name Confusion even in Film Company names ?), which was auctioned in 1952 and then formally closed on 13-10-1953. Their last film was Aparadhi-1949.

This film was directed by Raja Thakur. Rajaram Dattatreya Thakur was born on 26-11-1923 at Ponda in Goa. He did work as an assistant to Master Vinayak and later Raja Paranjape. Raja Thakur had produced an English film ” Birbal – My brother “-1973. His another film “Mumbaicha Jawai” (मुंबईचा जावई)-1970, was remade in Hindi as ‘Piya ka Ghar’-1971 by Basu Chatterjee. He directed only two Hindi films – Zakhmee-1975 and Raeeszada-1976. He died on 28-7-1975, at Bombay.
The cast of this film consisted of Sulochana (Latkar), Ratnamala, Shahu Modak, Anant Kumar, Nana Palshikar and a host of mostly Marathi artistes plus an Elephant named Ram Prasad.

Gaj Gauri Vrat is hardly known to people. Maybe very senior married people with children have heard about it in Maharashtra and Karnataka. Nowadays, anyway, knowledge about our religion and traditions, rituals etc is almost nil in the new generation.

I immensely like Mythological and religious films for many reasons. First of all, I have been seeing such films since my childhood. I was the officially nominated ” Chaperone’ in my family to accompany the group of elders going to see these Dharmik films. I liked the film’s costumes, big palaces, trick scenes and the final ‘ triumph of the good over the evil’ stories.

When the Talkie films’ era came to India, the early filmmakers tended to make films on folk tales and Mythological stories in the first decade, i.e. 1931 to 1940. In the second decade of 1940 to 1950 many religious films were made-some of them like Ram Rajya-1943 being All India blockbuster- and the third decade from 1951 to 1960 achieved the peak for Mythological films made, worth calling it ‘ The Golden period of Religious films’. As many as 124 such films were made in this decade. From 1961 to 1970 1nd 1971 to 1980 were ok, but 1980 onwards there was a decline in such films and Mythological films became scarce except some dubbed films from the South, where such films are made even today regularly. The Television became a competition to this as many Dharmik serials were shown on TV.

The reason is not that such films do not bring profit, but where was the audience to see them ? The interest, respect and knowledge of our heritage, the glorious past and our culture has diminished to a depth. Due to lack of reading habits, children have no knowledge of our religion or interest in Mythological stories. Today if you ask the following simple questions to Boys and Girls of the age group of 15 to 25 years, you will be shocked with their guess work , ignorance or blank faces….

1.Can you name the 4 Yugas ?

2. Which are the 4 Vedas ?

3. Can you name the 10 Avatars of Vishnu ?

4. Who were the wives of Laxman, Bharata and Shatrughna ?

5. For how many years the Pandava went to Vanvas and why ?

The reason for this apathy is not just modern life or modern gadgets. The causes are deep, like lack of reading habit, Text Books not having religious stories, no “Sanskars” from parents, treating such knowledge as ‘ backward ‘ etc etc.

Gaja Gauri Vrata is a unique ritual observed by mothers for the welfare of the children. The ritual is of great importance in Karnataka and Maharashtra. This vrat is observed on the Kartik Purnima or on the next day of Makar Sankranti according to family tradition. A wooden or bronze or clay idol of Gauri seated on an elephant preferably white elephant will be worshipped during this puja. This vrat is either observed on one day or for nine days as per family tradition.

Nine flowers, nine strands vastra, Nine line thread with nine knots will be offered to Gaja Gauri. This thread will be tied to the right wrist of the person who performed the vrat. Nine married women (suvasini) will be invited to home and festive food will be served to them on the day of puja if vrat is observed for one day or if vrat is observed for nine days each day a suvasini will be invited and suvasini puja will be performed accordingly. Except these specialities Puja procedure will be as usual.

The greatness of Gaja Gauri Vrata is mentioned in the Mahabharata and it is said that Gandhari, the mother of Kauravas, and Kunti, the mother of Pandavas, had performed it for the welfare of their sons. Sage Narada had advised Gandhari to perform Gaja Gauri Vrata for the welfare of her children. She is believed to have made an elephant from mud and performed the Vrata. But she did not invite Kunti and her son the Pandavas for the ritual. Kunti felt sad about being ignored and her sons promised her that they will help her in performing the Vrata. It is said that to help Kunti perform the Vrat, the Pandav brothers Bhim and Arjun, had brought Airavata, the white elephant of Lord Indra, to earth.

Gandhari had asked her son Dhuryodana to stand completely nude in front of her, as she was going to remove the cloth that she had tied upon her eyes after performing Gaja Gauri puja. While opening the eyes the holy rays will make the body of the person standing before her as strong as diamond(vajradehi). While Dhuryodana was going to his mother’s puja room, a completely nude Lord Krishna came there and laughed at him. He told Dhuryodana to at least cover his thighs and private parts. Gandhari opened her eyes after puja and realized that all parts of her son’s body have become strong except thighs. She understood the plan of Lord Krishna and cursed him that there be a big fight among the yadavas, relatives of lord Krishna(this fight is famous as Yadavi Kalaha).

The story of the film was….

Narad Maharshi had advised Gandhari to perform Gaja Gauri Vrat for the welfare of her children. She is believed to have made an elephant from mud and performed the Vrat.
As can be expected Gandhari invited all for the Gaja Gauri Vrat except Kunti and her children.

Kunti came to know about this and she was eager to attend the Vrat, but her children stopped her from going there as they were not invited.
They planned to conduct the Gaja Gauri Vrat by Kunti itself. Gandhari had done it with mud Elephant, but Pandavas wanted to bring real Airavat from Devlok for the Gaja Gauri Vrat. Bheemsen told Indra to send Airavat for the Gaja Gauri Vrat to bhooloka. Arjun made steps from Devlok to Bhooloka and threw his arrows for the Airavat to come down. Krishna ensured that the steps made of arrows must not fall when the Airavat steps down.
So the Pandavas did the Gaja Gauri Vrat with the real elephant that too with the Airavat, in a great style.

One of the cast members is Nana Palshikar. Most readers may remember him from the film Kanoon-1960. Nana Palshikar aka Narayan Balwant Palshikar (20-5-1908 – 1 June 1984) was a film actor who appeared in over 125 Hindi films. He made his film debut in 1935 with Dhuandhar, and went on to play character roles in both Hindi mainstream and New wave films. He was also cast in small parts in a few international productions such as Maya (1966), The Guru (1969) and Gandhi (1982). Palshikar was awarded the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor twice, in 1962 and 1965. He was recognised with an award in the same category by the Bengal Film Journalists’ Association in 1965.
Palshikar made his first film appearance in 1935 along with Leela Chitnis in Sukumar Chatterjee’s Dhuandhar. He appeared in two more films in this decade, Kangan and Durga (1939), both of which were produced at the Bombay Talkies production house and were the two final films directed by German director Franz Osten.

After a long break of 14 years, during which he appeared only in two films Bahurani (1940) and Maali-44, he returned to the screen in Bimal Roy’s 1953 picture Do Bigha Zamin (Two Acres of Land), in which he played Dhangu Maheto, alongside actors such as Balraj Sahni and Nirupa Roy. The film was a major critical success and won several national and international honours. He followed it with supporting roles in other successful films of this decade, such as V. Shantaram’s Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje, Bimal Roy’s Devdas, Raj Kapoor’s Shree 420, Sombhu Mitra’s Jagte Raho and Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Anari.

In 1960, Palshikar appeared in Kanoon, a courtroom drama involving a murder case. Directed by B. R. Chopra, the film saw Palshikar playing Kaalia, a petty thief who is caught and charged with murder for no fault of his own. Palshikar’s performance earned him his first Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor. In a retrospective review in 2009, The Hindu noted: “the star of the second half is Nana Palshikar, who slips into the role of a petty thief with a commanding performance.”

In 1963, Palshikar appeared in Khwaja Ahmad Abbas’s Shehar Aur Sapna (The City and The Dreams). It is a social film which portrays the struggle of pavement dwellers in the backdrop of rapid industrialisation. The film, a love story that takes place in a drain pipe, received the President’s Gold Medal Award and the National Film Award for Best Feature Film. Palshikar’s performance as Johnny earned him his second Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor, and he was acknowledged as Best Supporting Actor (Hindi) by the Bengal Film Journalists’ Association.

John Berry’s Maya (1966) saw Palshikar playing Sajid Khan’s father. In 1969, James Ivory cast him in the foreign co-production The Guru. Ivory said: “I didn’t know a great deal about him when we cast him… He was said to be a very good actor, which I took on faith.” Judith Crist from the New York Magazine described his small part of “The Guru’s Guru” in the film as “an unforgettable cameo”.

In the 1970s, Palshikar continued to portray father figures or authoritative characters such as judges. For instance, he played a father in many films such as B. R. Chopra’s Dhund, based on Agatha Christie’s play The Unexpected Guest in 1973 and Yaaron Ka Yaar in 1977. However, these roles were generally relatively minor and he was often uncredited for his performances, such as his role as a judge in Jwar Bhata in 1972.

He continued playing a father into the 1980s, appearing in Aakrosh (1980), playing Om Puri’s dad. His last major film was in the epic film Gandhi in 1982, a Richard Attenborough directed biographical film based on the life of Mohandas Gandhi, who led the nonviolent resistance movement against British colonial rule in India during the first half of the 20th century. However, his role was very minor, playing a villager. His last appearance was in the film Kanoon Kya Karega, again playing a parent.

Nana Palshikar acted in 126 films in all. Not many people know that he had written a song in the film Maali-1944.

He died on 1 June 1984 in Bombay, aged 77. ( Thanks to Cinerang by Isak Mujawar for this post along with muVyz, wiki and my notes.)

Let us now enjoy a 67 year old song sung by a 39 year old Manna Dey and chorus….

Song- Jai arya devta hey soorya devta (Gaj Gauri)(1958) Singer- Manna Dey, lyricist- Bharat Vyas, MD- Sudhir Phadke
Chorus

Lyrics

Jai arya devta
hey soorya devta

mukti ka mantr do o o
mukti ka mantr do
aatmaa swatantr do
satya bolney se hum rukey naheen
saathhee hum nyaay ke
aage anyaay ke
aarya baalkon ke sar jhuke naheen
mukti ka mantr do
aatmaa swatantr do
Jai arya devta
hey soorya devta
Jai arya devta
hey soorya devta

tum sabke paalak
hum tere baalak
tum sabke paalak
hum tere baalak
bhoolen hamaaree udhaar(?) do
Ganga sa nirmal do jeewan hamein
aur Himalay se oonche vichaar do
pathh jo ujaad ho o o
pathh jo ujaad ho
dukhh ke pahaad ho
himmat ke pad ye thhake naheen
saathhee hum nyaay ke
aage anyaay ke
aary baalkon ke sar jhuke naheen
mukti ka mantr do
aatmaa swatantr do
Jai arya devta
hey soorya devta
Jai arya devta
hey soorya devta

Hey Praandaataa
jag ke vidhaataa
Hey Praandaataa
jag ke vidhaataa
dhartee ke dheeraj ska dharm (?) do
jan jan mein jeewan jaagrat karey
aise yogee bhawan sa karm do
man mein vishwaas ho o o
man mein vishwaas ho
phhal kee naa aas ho
jyoti ye karm kee bujhe naheen
saathhee hum nyaay ke
aage anyaay ke
aarya baalkon ke sar jhuke naheen
mukti ka mantr do
aatmaa swatantr do
mukti ka mantr do
aatmaa swatantr do
(Jai arya devta
hey soorya devta
Jai arya devta
hey soorya devta)