In 1988, I was working with news weekly Sunday of the Ananda Bazar Patrika group. Those were the days when the Babri Masjid-Ramjanambhoomi dispute was gathering momentum. Doordarshan was telecasting Ramanand Sagar’s hugely popular serial Ramayana and B. R. Chopra had started making Mahabharata .
I was assigned to do a cover story in two parts. One would deal with the historicity of the epic and the other with the making of the television serial. So, I went to Bombay and met Chopra, Hindi poet Narendra Sharma and many others associated with the project. I still have fond memories of Gufi Paintal (who came to be known as Shakuni Mama once the serial was shown) taking me to the Film City in his blue Fiat car and helping me in many ways.
On the last day, I had to catch an evening flight and did not have much to do the whole day. I had heard and read about Prof. B. R. Deodhar, the disciple of the legendary Vishnu Digambar Paluskar, and the guru of Kumar Gandharva, who lived in Bombay. So, I decided to try my luck, took his number from the telephone directory and dialled. When I said if I could speak to Prof. Deodhar, a very young voice replied that he was speaking. I thought that the person on the other side must be his son or grandson who was also a professor. So, I repeated my question, this time taking the full name, but got the same reply. I was asked to come around 2.30 pm.
The moment I met him, I asked the 87-year-old Deodhar how his voice was so young. He told me that he was perhaps the first musician in India to learn the European voice modulation. He learnt Western classical music too.
On the occasion of the birth centenary of his guru in 1972, Deodhar paid his tribute to him by writing a biography in Marathi. The book was re-printed two years ago and has been translated into Hindi by Dr. Apeksha Pandharkar. Before reading it, I knew nothing about the hardships that came in the way of Paluskar when he started opening music schools and brought about a revolution in the pedagogy of music.
The first Gandharva Mahavidyalaya was opened by him in Lahore in 1901. Later, he opened it in Bombay and many other places. All the income from his public performances went into financing these institutions. Still, debt accumulated and one of the buildings of the Vidyalaya had to be auctioned.
Paluskar was dragged to court where Judge Sir Akbar Khan Mirzaali advised him to file for insolvency. But Paluskar refused by saying he wanted to return the money but could not do so in one go.
Paluskar produced a galaxy of vocalists who made their mark on the music scene of the last century. They included Omkarnath Thakur, Shakarrao Vyas and Narayanrao Vyas, Vinayakrao Patwardhan and B. R. Deodhar. They in turn trained many talented vocalists, thus establishing the Paluskar tradition within the fold of the Gwalior gharana.
Paluskar associated himself closely with the national movement and sang at the All-India Congress Committee sessions many times. He composed the tune of Mahatma Gandhi’s favourite bhajan “Raghupati Raghav Rajaram” and used to sing it frequently. Ten years before his death in 1931, he turned deeply religious and began to live like a saint.
The mission of his life, which he chose to call Narada Mission, was to spread music far and wide and to draw educated people of good social background into it. He travelled across the country to fulfil his mission and also visited Burma, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
Deodhar tells us that Paluskar had agreed to act and sing in a film that was to be made on the life of saint-poet Tulsidas. However, for some reason, the work on the film got delayed and Paluskar died. Had this film been made, we could have had the opportunity to listen to his singing. Sadly, no recording of his singing is available.
