P.P.Ramachandran. Annapurna Devi: The Untold Story of a Reclusive Genius by Atul Merchant Jataayu; Published by Penguin –EBury Press; Pages 288 ; Price Rs. 699/-)

P.P.Ramachandran.

 

 

 

Annapurna Devi: The Untold Story of a Reclusive Genius by Atul Merchant Jataayu; Published by Penguin –EBury Press; Pages 288 ; Price Rs. 699/-)

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The entire world has heard of and raves over Bharat Ratna Pandit Ravi Shankar, the Sitar maestro. But  who has heard of Annapoorna Devi, his wife for one year ?.

 

Her pedigree was impeccable. The daughter of one of India’s greatest classical musicians – Ustad Allauddin Khan, married to another (Pandit Ravi Shankar), sister to a third (Ustad Ali Akbar Khan).

 

Annapurna Devi became a very accomplished surbahar (bass sitar) player of the Maihar gharana  within a few years of starting to take music lessons from her father Allauddin Khan.

 

After her separation from Ravi Shankar, she moved to Bombay and never performed again in public. She remained a private person, yet continued to teach music for free. Her students include many notable disciples — Hariprasad Chaurasia, Nityanand Haldipur and Nikhil Banerjee, etc.

 

She  spent more than four-and-a-half decades, by choice, in a state of seclusion, almost like an ascetic, meditating on her music, and sharing it only with a group of committed students, a handful, among them, acclaimed artists in their own right. There was a crying need for a book on her and Atul Merchant  fulfils this in the book under review. He was Annapurna Devi’s disciple for a long time and was almost like a son to her.

 

Merchant declares– “There’s so much enigma surrounding her life and somehow, I felt it was imperative to present her version, her side of the story in the most authentic way possible to the world.”

 

Atul makes it clear  that his work  is an “anecdotal compilation” of her life. “I’ve merely attempted to piece together parts of a puzzle, her life that was, to allow readers a glimpse into her simple and magnificent personality whose foundation was music that was a potent mix of truth, rigour, resilience, patience, courage and conviction, and above all, beauty that sought no external validation.”

 

Merchant recounts several stories about Annapurna Devi  and of those who played a crucial role in her life—all  recalled with punch and a bubbling sense of  humour.

 

The Preface tells us that he  “…. had been granted a license to speak freely and candidly to express my observations.”

 

Annapurna’s is a story of eternal sadhana; as a seeker of a divine kind of truth in her music, the book sparkles with fantastic stories on her  own training under the watchful gaze of her talented and strict father. Fascinating are her generosity of spirit detailed in a chapter titled ‘Mysterious Benefactor’, her conversations on the surbahar with then Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi in the chapter ‘An Equation with Indira Gandhi’, her Zen-master like riddles in a host of chapters including one titled ‘Remove that Muffler’.

 

The book throws light on the early rumblings in Annapurna Devi’s marriage with Pandit Ravi Shankar, informing the reader of the weaknesses in  Ravi Shankar . An important event in the couple’s life was  their duet at the Madras Music Academy on December 31st, 1955. Seen through the eyes of Shakuntala Narasimhan, we literally witness the performance, and the tragedy of how music like that was literally silenced by dominant male forces who saw it come in the way of their career and ambition: “Ravi Shankar clearly meant to lead, although it was a duet concert, but again and again, she outshone him, without fanfare, flamboyance or theatrics. I can clearly recall Annapurna seated on the stage, on his left, dignity personified, taking the musical presentation to great heights. Whether it was an aalaap, gat or tihai to arrive at the sam, it was she who carried the day.”

 

This story of the ego of the male artist who feels threatened by his supremely talented wife who could  outshine him, resulting in marital discord, became the central plot for Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Hindi film, Abhimaan  starring Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan. When Hrishida met Annapurna , we learn that she suggested that “unlike the real-life version, the film should have a happy ending, so as to not discourage women aspirants from pursuing a career in music”.

 

The book  humanises Annapurna Devi, laying bare her virtues and vulnerabilities. In a chapter titled ‘Therapeutic Hostility’, we glimpse her equation with  Hariprasad Chaurasia. Once she literally threw the tanpura at him. “Calm and composed, Hariji gathered the pieces of the tanpura, placed them at Ma’s feet and kept staring at her. The pregnant pause lasted for a few seconds, and both ended up laughing aloud for several minutes.”

 

Battling several losses, including that of a child, she found refuge and solace in the strings of her sitar and the surbahar. She had her share of quirks and eccentricities. It is these imperfections that add colour and character to this figure who could have enjoyed prominence in the world of the arts but chose instead to keep the doors to her life tightly shut. Students of Annapurna Devi, listened intently to her stories, made and exchanged notes, and that labour of love is this biography, which is fast paced .

 

Vitally, the book also etches out a larger story: the story of an India where a Muslim can offer namaz and pray at a Sharada Ma temple each day, and name his daughter after the Hindu goddess of nourishment. It also establishes how her devotion and service to music made Annapurna Devi the grand dame of the Maihar gharana.

Devi’s students were also concerned with the one-sided and to their knowledge false, stories floated by Pandit Ravi Shankar’s supporters. They wrote an article called ‘Enigma of a Recluse’ to dispel many of these stories.

 

Ustad Allauddin Khan was the single-most important person in his daughter’s life, Merchant attests. “Just as it is not possible to understand Beethoven without understanding Mozart, and it is not possible to understand Mozart without understanding Bach, it is impossible to understand Annapurna Devi, Ali Akbar Khansaheb, Ravi Shankar, Nikhil Banerjee, Pannalal Ghosh, etc., without understanding their guru, Baba Allauddin Khan,” he observes.

 

Merchant describes Annapurna Devi’s reverence for her father-guru as the “epitome of complete unconditional surrender”. “Guru Ma attributed all her knowledge and wisdom to Baba…Her only two life goals were to pursue her Sādhanā and perpetuate Baba’s musical legacy. She often lamented she had failed to keep alive Baba’s musical legacy as she couldn’t find able disciples,” . Annapurna Devi’s elusive outline begins to take on a more concrete form. We learn for instance that she loved to feed others, “be it pigeons, crows or disciples,” as Merchant says. “She adhered to the Advaita philosophy and everyone was the same for her. But she was highly talented, divinely gifted, and spiritual. She was an exemplary Abhyāsi and a true Vairāgi.”

 

” Merchant says that in 1981, Ravi Shankar paid Annapurna Devi a surprise visit, and suggested a reconciliation. She refused. Envy of Annapurna Devi’s superior musical prowess has long been spoken of as one of the major reasons for the schism between her and Pandit Ravi Shankar. Merchant relates how the seeds of discord were sown when Annapurna Devi was invited to give a surbahār recital in the Maihar palace. “Maharaja Brijnath Singhji, highly impressed by the rendition, generously rewarded Ma. Panditji was not even invited, but as Guru Ma’s husband he went along, and Baba couldn’t refuse. After Guru Ma’s rendition, Panditji imposed his own rendition on the Maharaja, who after a few minutes, walked away. Panditji felt deeply hurt… During their subsequent surbahār jugalbandis, Panditji felt that Guru Ma was stealing the applause and limelight from him,” Merchant says. Jealousy, Merchant says, broke the legendary jugalbandi pair of Ustad Ali Akbar Khan and Pandit Ravi Shankar. Jealousy, Merchant says, ultimately derailed Annapurna Devi and Ravi Shankar’s son, Shubho’s life, and led to their tragic loss.

 

As he looks back on her life, Merchant muses: “We live in an ephemeral, mortal world. Guru Ma said to me, All is finished.  What you are seeing are mere ruins of our great ancient legacy.” The book preserves the memory of that legacy.

 

In a brilliant Foreword her disciple Hariprasad Chaurasia writes–“This book gives us a glimpse of a part of her which none of us will ever decipher and be able to resolve….the book is a sincere attempt to unravel the mystique of a great spiritual and musical genius that touches  human lives once in several centuries”.

 

P.P.Ramachandran.