kriya kalash: The Wind Flute

Lord Krishna in Brindavan

Tribal motifs on the wind flutes

Lo behold! amidst the lush green foliage of Brindavan stands a blue complexioned man with his eyes like lotus petals, half closed as he plays his flute entrancing the living with his music. A lustrous peacock feather flutters in the crown adorning his head, a celestial divinity standing amidst men, women and beasts transforming the forest into an ethereal paradise….... As I open my eyes and let go of my vision of Lord Krishna, I utter…....... "Om namo vishva-rupaya \Vishva-sthity-anta-hetava\ Vishveshvaraya vishvaya\Govindaya namonamaha"(I offer my humble obeisance to Lord Krishna, who is the giver of pleasure to the cows, whose external form is the form of the universe, who is the cause of maintenance and dissolution of the material universe, and who is the Lord of the universe)

Gopalpriya, Dayanidhi, Vasudeva, Narayana all names of Krishna is the God of love, a celestial cowherd, he usually stands with one leg bent in front of the other raising his flute to the lip in the ‘tribha mudra’ emphasizing his position as a divine herdsman.

In the hills of Chattisgarh roam earthly herdsmen swinging wind flutes as they watch their cattle grazing in the forest lands. They belong to the Gond tribe, the oldest tribe settled in these lands, well-known for their love for art and music. A singing minstrel (Pardhan) passes them by, announcing his arrival to their village playing his stringed “banas” (fiddle). The Pardhan is one of the last revered story tellers entrusted to spread folklores of magic and mystique through songs. The village is abuzz with the news of Pardhan's arrival, the “cheliks” (boys) and the “motiaries” (young girls) leave their youth dormitory and run to assemble under the great mango tree. Hand in hand the courting couples listen to the fiddler as he begins his story about “The Peacock and his ugly feet”. With a toothless grin, the Pardhan begins singing in a throaty voice describing the fourteen days God took to create the universe. After creating the earth, skies and everything in between in seven days, God decided to create something spectacular and of unimaginable beauty- the peacock! It took God three and a half days to design the peacock’s feather and the rest was spent on creating the birds body. Realizing that time had run out, God created the bird’s legs in a hurry and such a magnificent bird of beauty was given ugly and ungainly legs. Thus, even now when the peacock unfurls its feather and struts about in pride, the sight of his repulsive feet humbles him. The story then comes to an end but the fiddle continues to play accompanied by the muted notes of the wind flutes swung by the shepherds nearby. An idyllic scenic atmosphere, Brindavan recreated in this rustic earthly borough of the Gonds.

Now, the Gond tribesmen are known to use all available natural resources to its optimum level. Their artistic skills honed and perfected through generations transform utilitarian objects into pieces of aesthetic value. The wind flute is one such example, its mains purpose being to control the cattle from wandering around and to scare away animals while trekking in the forests, but one can’t help marvel at the artwork done on the bamboo stems or appreciate its musical notes as it is swung around. The artwork comprises of tribal motifs of simple drawings in straight lines of fish, leaves, deities and so on which are engraved by a hot iron rod on the bamboo. Gond paintings and metal art are well-known and appreciated but their music which is intrinsic to their heritage is slowly fading away. Pardhans or singing minstrels are abandoning their inherited legacy of being singing chronicles of Gond literature and taking up other types of work to sustain themselves. We at Kriya Kalash want the musical journey of the Gond tribe to continue and are promoting the wind flutes made from bamboo by the Pardhans in our blog. Our sincere wish is that you join and support us in this venture.