Prabhat Samgiita

From Sarkarverse
Revision as of 13:20, 30 January 2017 by Abhidevananda (talk | contribs) (Removed outdated information in lead)
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Prabhat Samgiita
Short description Collection of songs composed by Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar
Alternative names Songs of Prabhat, Songs of a New Dawn, Songs of Awakening
Language Mostly Bengali, but also Hindi, English, Sanskrit, Urdu, Magahi, Maithili and Angika, as well as various dialects
Location in Sarkarverse
SVmap LiteraryWorks.png

Prabhat Samgiita is the collection of 5,018 songs given by Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar during the last eight years of his life (September of 1982 until October of 1990).[1][note 1] For each song, Sarkar himself composed both the lyrics and the melody.[2]

History

The first song of Prabhat Samgiita was given on 1982 September 14. The last song was given on 1990 October 20 (less than 24 hours before Sarkar's decease).[3]

Etymology

In Bengali, the word Prabhát(a) (প্রভাত - pɾɔbhat̪) means dawn, morning or daybreak.[4] The word Sauṋgiit(a) (সঙ্গীত - [ʃɔŋɡit̪)[5] also spelled as Saḿgiit(a) (সংগীত - ʃɔŋɡgit̪) means song and music.[4] Thus, prabhát(a) sauṋgiit(a) or prabhát(a) saḿgiit(a) etymologically means "morning song"[4] or "songs of dawn".[6] It has also been interpreted as "songs of a new dawn".[7][1] However, if Prabhat is interpreted as the name of the composer, then the etymology of that word is largely irrelevant. In that case, Prabhat Samgiita would simply mean "songs of Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar".

Name and variants

Prabhat Samgiita has two most commonly used definitions, namely: "Songs of Prabhat" and "Songs of a New Dawn"[7].[8][9] In light of other similar collections (for example, Meera Bhajans, Rabindra Sangeet, and Nazrul Geeti), the former definition seems the most appropriate.

Prabhat Samgiita has many spelling variants, with the following reasons: the word saḿgiit has two different spellings in Bengali, there is no fixed transliteration rule for most Indian languages, there are also different transcription conventions used in English for Indian languages, the Sanskrit pronunciation has an "a" at the end of both words, which is normally silent in Bengali and Hindi.

Thus we have the word prabhat that can be spelled as:

  • Prabhat, Prabhát, Prabhāt, Prabhata, Prabháta, Prabhāta

And we have the word samgiita that can be spelled as:

  • Sangit, Sangeet, Sangiit, Samgiit, Saḿgiit, Saṃgīt, Sauṋgiit, Saŋgīt and all of these with "a" at the end:
  • Sangita, Sangeeta, Sangiita, Samgiita, Saḿgiita, Saṃgīta, Sauṋgiita and Saŋgīta

If combined, all these variations could create a huge number of spelling variants for Prabhat Samgiita, however not all combinations are used. Subhas Sarkar mainly prefers the variant Prabháta Saḿgiita and sometimes uses Prabhāta saṃgīta.[8] There is no consistency of spelling, even within the same newspapers. The Hindu, an Indian English newspaper, often spells Prabhat Samgiita[6][9][10] however also spells Prabhat Sangit[11] and also Prabhat Sangeet.[12] The Times of India, another Indian English newspaper, uses both Prabhat Samgiita[7] and Prabhat Sangeet.[13] Most other newspapers spell Prabhat Sangeet, though some articles prefer Prabhat Sangit and Prabhata Samgiita. Publications of Ananda Marga Pracaraka Samgha usually goes by the spelling Prabháta Saḿgiita and also often by Prabhát Saḿgiita and Prabhát Saḿgiit.[14] Older publications, however, tend to use the variant Prabhát Sauṋgiit or Prabháta Sauṋgiita.[5] Finally there are instances of unusual spellings as well, such as Prabhat Sangeeth[1] and Prabhat Samhitta.[15]

Composition, collection, and releases

Sarkar composed the first song of Prabhat Samgiita, Bandhu he niye calo, on 14 September 1982[5] at Deoghar, India.[2] He continued composing songs until his death on 21 October 1990.[7] During that eight years, he composed a total of 5,018 songs,[16] including both lyrics and tune.[15][17][18] The last song, Ámrá gaŕe nova gurukul, was composed on 20 October 1990, one day before his death.[19] Renaissance Artists and Writers Association (RAWA), has sponsored many performances and recordings of selected songs. These performances have featured artists such as Ashwini Bhide-Deshpande, Rashid Khan, Kavita Krishnamurthy, Manoj Kumar, Vithal Rao, Shruti Sadolikar, Haimanti Sukla and Archana Udupa.

Sarkar composed songs in eight different languages: Bengali, Hindi, English, Sanskrit, Urdu, Magahi, Maithili and Angika.[8] Sarkar held that songs should be performed in their original language to preserve the composer's rhythm, melody, and meaning. Hence, no permission was given by Sarkar for performance of his songs in any language other than the language in which he composed them.

Themes

Sarkar's songs cover a multitude of themes. There are devotional songs, mystical songs, and revolutionary songs. There are folk songs, children's songs, and ballads. There are wedding songs, birthday songs, and festival songs. Regardless of the theme, in every song there is a strong spiritual undercurrent, expressive of Sarkar's personal philosophy of Neohumanism.

List of songs

As Sarkar never gave titles to his songs, the songs are referenced by their first line. In other words, the first line of each song is treated as the song's title.

References

Footnotes

  1. ^ Between 1955 and 1990 the author wrote in English, Bengali and Hindi. He wrote in the name "Shrii Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar" when treating sociology, economics, philology]and various other subjects, and in the name ""Shrii Shrii Ánandamúrti"" when focusing on spiritual topics. Many of his books he gave as dictations; others were compiled from his discourses, some of them in small pocket-books.

Citations

Sources

External links