Writers

Born: 1814
Died: 1890

or Gaurcharan Adhikari was born in the village Lehanga, near Khurdha, in the district of Puri. His father was Mukunda Mishra, a Vaishnava by faith, and the family was a Vaishnava family. Gaurcharan had traditional education, after he started a small school in his own house and maintained his livelihood out of the meagre income he received from that. He was initiated into Vaishnava faith by Sadananda Brahmachari, the head of the Vaishnava monastery at Puranabasta, near Ranapur, about 30 kms
from Khurdha. Later in his life Gaurcharan himself became the head of the same monastery, for which he came to be known as ‘Adhikari’ and initiated many others into Vaishnava faith. He was a fine singer and was respected all around for that. Besides, in addition to Odia, he was well-versed in Sanskrit, Hindi and Bengali and composed songs too, in these languages. A great devotee himself he worshipped the idol of Sri Chaitanya in his own house, and till his death, even inside his own family, he spent a life of simplicity, sacrifice and devotion.

Though for many years Gaurcharan’s songs circulated and were sung by innumerable songsters and brought immense pleasure to innumerable listeners, they were first collected in book-form in 1926 by his son, Harekrishna Mishra, under the patronage of Radhacharan Das Goswamy, Mahant of Radhaballabh Mutta at Puri. It contained only 100 of his songs and was entitled Gaurkrishna bhajan shatak (Hundred bhajans about Gaurkrishna). Subsequently Babaji Baishna Charan and late Bichhandcharan Pattanaik collected more songs of Gaurcharan which were published in 1951 under the title Gaurcharan gitabali (The songs of Gaurcharan). An enlarged version of this volume was published later by Kalinga Bharati and was  entitled Gaurcharan padyabali (The poetical compositions of Gaurcharan). It contained 276 songs. Gaurcharan’s songs are basically fine poetical composition. As regards subject matter they may be broadly divided into three categories: (1) relating to Radha and Krishna, (2) relating to various festivals and rituals of Lord Jagannath. As regards form, the songs utilized a number of contemporary forms, such as  chaupadi, chautisa, boli, kirtan and bhajan, etc. The poet’s involvement with Vaishnavism was almost complete and its influence could be seen in all that he wrote. The songs that deal with Radha and Krishna, portray their many-faceted love along with their changing moods and emotion. Besides there are accounts of Krishna’s many activities at Brindaban particularly as related to Gopis, and to Krishna himself as a child. Similarly there are songs related to different incidents in Sri Chaitanya’s life along with the songs in worship of Sri Chaitnya. Similarly the songs about Lord Jagannath are either based on popular tales about the Lord or they refer to His many festivals, such as Car-festival, Bathing-festival, Summer-festival, etc. The songs do not have unnecessary verbal complications or rhetorical modes. They are written in simple, colloquial language in adjustment with simple, familiar themes. Besides the poet has often taken the help of wellknown ancient Odia rhymes and metres to provide an extremely graceful musical structure to his songs. All these made Gaurcharan’s songs popular all over Odisha and his name almost a household word along with Banamali and Gopal Krishna, the famous Odia bhakti poets of 18th and 19th century respectively. A few examples may be given. Thus suggesting Radha’s plight a poem begins:
Didn’t I caution you before?
And yet why did, you look that way?’
And yet, why did you expose your breast
to the weapon-sharp eyes of
that care-taker of Yamuna?
Lo! an incurable disease has spread in your body,
And you suffer as nobody else suffers!
It’s the poison of that black cobra And pity! you drank it thinking it to be nectar.
Elsewhere in a different vein, the poet submits his complaints to the great Lord:
When should I tell my woes,
Oh Hari? – the killer of woes!
And the rider of Garuda.
Look, even if the sun is there
Darkness comes,
Isn’t that a shame to you,
Oh four-armed!
You have put me in a boat of worries
And pushed me to the seas, Oh Lord!
Alone, adrift, moving to an end;
And whom should I call for help,
and where?
You have turned your ear as
hard as iron.
Gaurcharan’s poems had fine music and wit, and his contribution to Odia padabali and bhakti literature was both substantial and significant.

• Odishar Parba Parbani