Namita Waikar

PARI GSP Team

Sinchita Parbat

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PARI Team

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A much-loved shepherd is the focus of these devotional songs sung by women working the grindmill in Maharashtra’s Kolhapur district With a list of 19 names, PARI went in
search of the women who had sung for the original Grindmill Songs Project (GSP)
team over two decades ago in Kolhapur’s Metage village. The presence of the
team with cameras in hand interested the young and old here.



We asked a woman sitting at the door of her
house if she knew of those who had once sung for a group from Pune. &quot;Yes,&quot; she
said, “we sang jatyavarchya ovya [grindmill
songs]. I was one of the singers.” 



We were thrilled to have met one of our
listed performers, Sona Bharmal. Sona, who was in her 60s, informed us that
Laxmi Dawari was the only other performer who was still living in Metage.

It was 2018, and some like singer Bayana
Kamble had passed away in the years since they had sung for GSP. “My mother and
her friend, Sakhubai Kamble were famous singers,” Ashok Kamble, Bayana’s son
told us. “They would sing together while they worked in the sugarcane fields.”



This village in Kagal taluka is popularly called Balumamache Metage – Balu uncle’s
Metage. The title belongs to Balumama, a shepherd from decades ago still
revered by locals, and with a temple to his name. The stone edifice of the
structure is flanked by two sculptures of rams. A popular place as Balumama’s
legacy endures and has captured the imagination of younger generations too.



Before sowing, farmers in Metage would wait
for Balumama to bring his sheep to their lands to graze, the women in the
village told us. While ovine droppings work as organic manure and give a good harvest, the farmers believed that wherever Balumama&#39;s flock grazed, those farms would enjoy a bounteous harvest that season. Born as Balappa in Karnataka in October 1892,
Balumama grew to the status of a saint. He died on September 4, 1966 in
Adamapur village in Kolhapur district of Maharashtra. His legacy lives on with
books in Marathi, television serials and even popular films in Marathi and
Kannada.

When PARI visited Balumamache Metage again
in 2018, more than 10 women gathered to sing for us. A few were among the first
19 women performers that the original GSP team had met two decades ago.



The women sang folk songs of several genres
and happily obliged with grindmill songs. They found a stone mill, cleaned it
and affixed a wooden stick in the hole at the upper part of the mill, which was
then worshipped with kumkum and haldi (vermillion and turmeric powders).




Lighting a lamp, the women folded their
hands in prayer and began singing. 



Soon the tempo of their music picked up
pace and their voices synchronised with each other. The lead singer, Sulabai
Jadhav, sang and others followed in this set of eight ovi which PARI recorded.

“My first song, O woman, is for my God,
Jyotiba,” the singers began. This first couplet honours Jyotiba, a deity
believed to be Lord Shiva in a temple in Kolhapur. The singer offers him a
double string of pearls as a sacred thread.  

















The next three ovi are about the legendary Balumama who too is “like a God.”



At midnight, when the moon hides behind the
clouds, Balumama bestows upon the farmers a “heap of pearls” – a bumper harvest
in the fields. 



As the song proceeds, the singer tells us that
she is grinding jowar and rice to make ambil
(porridge). Balumama is well built, a pailwan
(wrestler). He is fair and fond of drinking milk. Balumama’s fair skin, the
song implies, is perhaps from the milk he drinks as ordinarily the sun would
darken the skin of any shepherd working long hours herding animals outdoors.

The four songs at the end of the sequence
reveal the singer’s piety. It narrates that the singer has sent an invitation
to Goddess Ambika to grace her home. She admires Pandhari or the city of
Pandharpur, which is the home of Lord Vitthal and Rukmini. “Rukmini lives and
reigns there, in their long-lasting kingdom,” the woman sings as the grindmill
turns. 



The singer adds that there are so many tulsi (holy basil) plants in Pandharpur
that “my Lord Vitthal cannot move his chariot.” 



The last ovi expresses Lord Vitthal’s fondness for his devotees. The singer
speaks of Namdev, the famous Bhakti poet-saint, who is an ardent devotee of
Lord Vitthal. When Namdev is blessed with a son, Vitthal himself organises the
traditional naming ceremony for the baby on the twelfth day after birth. 



Listen to these songs by women from
Balumamache Metage village of Maharashtra.

My first song, O woman, is for my God,
Jyotiba A double string of pearls for his sacred
threadO woman, at midnight, the moon hides in the clouds

Like a god, Balumama gives a heap of pearls [a good
harvest]I grind jowar and rice to make porridge

At noon, my Balumama is in a state of pure blissWho is this fair person sleeping, it is
blissful Balumama 

He is a wrestler, fond of milk, yes, he likes
[to drink] milkO woman, send an invitation to my goddess 

To my goddess, my AmbikaO woman, Pandhari was built on an uneven
land

Rukmini lives and reigns there, in their
long-lasting kingdom*How many gardens of tulasi
have been planted in Pandharpur

My God’s, Vitthal’s
chariot has no place to moveO woman, in Pandharpur,
all lanes are decorated

 Vitthal is hosting the
naming ceremony of Namdev’s new born son

Note: *In this ovi, the singer uses the term chauda
chaukati/chaukadi or fourteen chaukadi to describe the reign of
Vitthal and Rukmini in Pandharpur. It denotes a kingdom that lasts for a very
long time. One chaukadi refers to the
number of years that constitutes one cycle of the ages of Krit, Treta, Dwapar
and Kaliyug, according to Hindu scriptures. The term has been used in literary
texts including in a poem by the Bhakti poet-saint Tukaram.

Performers/ Singers: Sunita
Jadhav, Sona Bharmal, Laxmi Dawari, Sulabai Jadhav, Gitanjali
Dawari, Hemal Bharmal, Darkubai Mane, Muktabai Tambekar, Anubai Mane, Suman
Satvekar



Village: Balumamache Metage

Taluka: Kagal

District: Kolhapur

Date: These songs were recorded and the
photographs were taken on May 17, 2018

Poster: Sinchita Maji

<a href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/articles/the-grindmill-songs-recording-a-national-treasure/">Read </a>about
the original Grindmill Songs Project founded by Hema Rairkar and Guy Poitevin.

Balumama’s gift of a bounteous harvest

ಬಾಳುಮಾಮನ ಸಮೃದ್ಧ ಫಸಲಿನ ಉಡುಗೊರೆ

বালুমামার উপহার: অনন্ত ফসলের ডালি

बाळूमामा देतो रास मोत्याची गं

Kolhapur, Maharashtra, India

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Balumama’s gift of a bounteous harvest

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