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When it rains sheer joy
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The rains bring out India at its romantic best
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SWINGIN' IN THE RAIN Women enjoying the rain at a garden
The monsoon in India comes laden with a myriad moods and connotations, romance and viraha or separation, poetry and puddles, fertility and floods, art and affection woven in the colours of the rainbow. No wonder then that Indra, the lord of the heavens is also the thunder god and paeans are sung to him in the Vedas, for his role in bringing rains is perhaps the most proactive.
The word monsoon comes from the Arabic word mausim, meaning weather. Paradoxically, the origin of the word for torrential rain begins in a desert that doesn't even know the exquisite and sensual pleasure of a monsoon downpour!
Origin notwithstanding, the monsoon has had a literally cascading impact on Indian literature, art, dance, music and architecture, where the monsoon months are clubbed together as Chaturmasa - the four months of Asharh, Shravan, Bhadra and Ashvin.
In Kalidasa's lyrical poem Meghdootam (The Messenger Cloud) when a divine Yaksha is separated from his Yakshini by the gods, his pining messages of love are carried by monsoon clouds, is arguably the classic example of monsoon related poetry.
Built for the rains
The most extravagant architecture comes from the Mughals in Delhi's Red Fort. Two opulent marble pavilions at the end of the Hayat Baksh garden appropriately named Sawan and Bhadon were especially built for the sole romantic purpose of watching the rain. The most dreamy and magical touch is in Bhadon, where behind a cascade of water, a row of niches was carved in the marble wall where oil lamps were lit.
The two ragas of this season are Megh and Malhar. Not merely shade differences of the tonal mood of the season, but actually different symbols and pictorial illustrations of the monsoon, Megh is of a dark and serious mood.
It is a time when the sky is heavily overcast and rolls of thunder growl threateningly and its gripping aura suggests a sombre depth. When the custom of visualising these forms became accepted practice, Megh was represented as a dark, handsome man with a formidable appearance. In his left hand he carries a naked sword, flourishing it in the air as if rending the sky to bring rain. From this major form of Megh are derived the six raginis of Malhar, Sorathi, Sawani, Kaushiki and Gandhari. The ragini Malhar is draped in white and sits on a bed of jasmine, holding a do-tara.
And just like the intensity of the downpour almost like an arc, there is a distinct bearing on the placement of the ragas' singing schedule.
The logic is that it is not merely the ragas, but the swaras that dance to the rain. Of course the kajris and jhoolas in the so-called light classical genre have been immortalised by Girija Devi and have the power to haunt as the incessant rain beats against the windowpanes.
The viraha songs of the women who await the arrival of their beloved touch a new depth of poignancy.
And as the monsoon welcomes the festivals after the somnolent summer months, the midnight celebration of Krishna Janmashtami, Rakshabandhan and Teej, with their own particular songs and swings, abound. For more than vasant, it is saawan that is the true beginning of all things.
ALKA RAGHUVANSHI
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