Raja Saranga

 Majya Saranga Raja Saranga

Dolkara ra 

dhaklya deera ra,

Chal javaya ghara

When I was in school each year we would participate in the annual day function. About a month or so ahead, dance practices would begin. Most of them would be group dances, and in those days, amongst group dances, koli dances ( fishermen’s dances) were most popular. Pandit Hridaynath Mangeshkar had released an album of koli geet. Each of them had become extremely popular among the masses, irrespective of age and gender. These songs were lively and their language was endearing. It was a dialect of Marathi, somewhat admixed with konkani. Most of us who were fish eaters were quite familiar with the language because of our interactions with the fishermen community. We felt a closeness to that lingo. Several of Panditji’s composed koli songs were recorded in the voice of Lata Didi. Panditji himself lent his voice in some of them. 

One of the songs from the list of those koli songs was Majya Saranga. In pure Marathi, majya would be pronounced mazhya. The j instead of z softens the word and adds a sweetness to it. Mazhya means my. The lyrics of this song are penned by one of the leading poetess in Marathi, Shrimati Shantabai Shelke. In one of her interviews she had acknowledged how traditional songs she heard from women in her neighborhood influenced her to compose poems to a meter. The local dialect was also something that she developed an ear for. Although not personally from the fishermen community, through this song, she has beautifully painted a poignant picture in their language, while using imagery attributable to their lifestyle. 

All this time I would sing the lyrics of this song spontaneously without quite knowing what they referred to. I thought it was a woman talking to her husband but was confused about the reference to the husband’s brother ( dir in Marathi). For the first time today I delved deeper to understand what the song is about 

Turns out yes, it is a woman from the fishermen community talking to someone. This woman has freshly lost her dear husband who she fondly refers to as My Saranga, Raja Saranga. Saranga derived from Sanskrit can mean several things but the most likely meaning implied here would be “ jewel” or someone with a colorful personality. Raja implies Royal. These addresses reveal the pride and adoration she holds for her late husband. She is missing him as she is trying to navigate the future for her family. She is the mother figure in the home. There are perhaps children and old parents to take care of. There is a young brother-in-law at home who is perhaps of school going age. Her husband was the breadwinner for the entire household until now, while she managed the home. Suddenly the breadwinner is gone. The lifestyle of her community is such that the actual fishing is done only by men. Women sell the fish that the men bring back after a day at the sea. Women work hard, doing all the house work plus selling fresh fish in the market and at other times lending their hand in drying and preserving unsold fish for rough days when the seas are too dangerous to go fishing. This happens in India during the peak monsoon season. The dried fish comes handy for use at their homes as well as generates income all year long. 

Now with her husband gone, this woman is in a delicate situation. She is grieving and yet she needs to be strong for her family. She is capable of working hard yet has limitations because she can’t go to the sea. She has to comfort the old and the young at home but also has to gently prepare her young brother-in-law to step into the role of breadwinner. 

They have probably just cremated her husband and sitting on the sea shore in solemn silence. She reminisces her husband, his big hearted and colorful persona, the proud fisherman that he was. Then looks at her young brother in law, who also is grieving the loss of his elder brother and possibly feeling lost. She makes an awkward attempt to interrupt their grief-struck silence in a bid to comfort him. 

Today the wind has picked up force. The waters of the sea appear tumultuous. As if they are intoxicated with the stormy wind.

Let’s go home, she tells him. 

Majya Saranga Raja Saranga

Dolkara ra 

dhaklya deera ra

Chal javaya ghara

माज्या सारंगा, राजा सारंगा

डोलकरा रं, धाकल्या दीरा रं

चल जावया घरा

आज पुनवा सुटलंय दमानं

दरियाच्या पान्याला आयलंय उदान

पिऊन तुफान वारा

The outside imagery seems reflective of the state of their lives at the moment. Disrupted. Unpredictable. Smelling of troubles. 

The sails have sustained a tear, from the gusty rear winds. The rudder is shattered and the mast too is broken. In such a damaged condition the vessel is surrounded on all sides by foaming waters of the sea. 

शीड फाटला धावतं पाठी

तुटलंय सुकानू मोरली काठी

फेसाल पाण्याचा घेरा

Rudder is the steering wheel. It figuratively represents the driving force behind a movement. The family has lost the man in the house. One who was at the steering of their lives. The sails set the direction. Damage to sails tells about a state of feeling lost. The mast is the pole that supports the radar, lights and antennas. A broken mast incapacitates the boat and diminishes chances of finding external help. The foamy sea on all sides tells us that the family had nowhere to step out immediately to seek help. There are bills to pay, school fees pending, debt collectors waiting outside. 

कोलीवारा रं राहीला दूर

डोलां लोटीला पाण्यात पूर

संबाल संसार सारा

The settlement where our community lives ( koli wada) is left far behind. Our small vessel is being tossed around in mid sea and threatened to sink under a flood of waters. 

I call upon you to take over responsibility( of navigating our lives to safe shore).  

When tragedy strikes a family, especially a poor family, friends and neighbors distance themselves from them due to the fear that they may be called upon to share their resources with the needy family. While they desperately try to stay afloat, they must rise up to help themselves. With the loving support of a mother figure, a young man( or woman) in the family is called upon to take charge of the affairs of the household. 

Incidentally, the Mangeshkar family’s story is eerily similar to this scenario. In 1942 Master Deenanath Mangeshkar suddenly passed away after a brief illness. His wife had never worked outside of home. The five children were very young. Lata Didi the oldest of them was barely 12 years old. Pandit ji( Hridaynath) was a toddler. The three other sisters 11 and under. There were not even half a dozen people to accompany them to the funeral of their father. In that moment of sudden calamity Lata Didi rose to take charge of her mother and younger siblings. Finding all sorts of odd jobs including a brief stint at acting, which she later acknowledged that she very much disliked, she got through those tough days. Her sister Meena Khadikar has described the painful experiences they all went through in the aftermath of their father’s untimely demise. The humiliations they endured from time to time, the deception and swindling from people known to them, the dejections they faced when seeking dignified work, the hard work Didi had to put into until she gained recognition for her talent. All these personal accounts are chronicled in “ Unch tichi savali “ ( Tall was her shadow). Once Lata Didi made a mark in the world of playback singing, there was no turning back. But it took time to get there. And in that stormy period it was their faith in God and their own talents, determination to do it on their own, and the commitment to stand together as a family which is what let them sail through the storm. It is no surprise that this song stoked the interest of Panditji and Lata Didi and they turned it into a timeless classic. 

As I caught myself spontaneously humming the song this morning while I showered, it hit me with an entirely different vibe and meaning. It pulled some personal strings in the heart. I could hear my heavenly mother call out to me lovingly and remind me that the seas are looking rough and the winds are picking force. There are tears in the sails and the man at the rudder may not be able to operate the steering wheel, which means that I need to take charge of the boat, संबाल संसार सारा, and take it to the harbor so we could then walk home hand in hand. चल जावया घरा …..

On the spiritual side there is joy tapping feet.

On the worldly side, responsibilities are reminding to brace for the storms that are forming around.

One must acknowledge both sides of existence and live up to them.