The Bake Restudy team beside the jeep, from left: Umashankar Mantravadi (2nd); Kalpana Bandiwdekar, Archive Assistant at the Archives and Research Center for Ethnomusicology (2nd); Saraswathi Swaminathan, Archivist at the Archives and Research Center for Ethnomusicology (4th); M. D. Bhandare (5th), American Institute of Indian Studies staff member; and Amy Catlin-Jairazbhoy (6th).
1. Gondhal and Jāgran (Vāghyā Muralī) ritual to inaugurate the Archives and Research Center for Ethnomusicology. A gondhal is a musical offering; a dramatic narration of mythological stories and folk legends as a part of a ritual dedicated to deities like Renuka and Bhavani. A jāgran is any all-night Hindi ritual event, which may include a gondhal. This gondhal is performed by Vāghyās and a Muralī (male ritualists and a female ritualist to the god Khandoba and the goddess Amba), also called Godhalis. Three musicians perform a Marathi devotional ritual music to Hindu Goddess Amba: Jagannath Tite (tuṇtuṇe), Bhagvan Renake (jālra), and R. H. Garuda (sambal). The Gondhalis recite the names of sacred shrines of Hindu goddesses and gods of Marathwada. (05:50) There is an ārati ritual (to offer light as sacred fire to one or more deities). After the tuṇtuṇe is tuned (0:08:00), there is a duple meter song invocation of Ganapati "gajami" (9:35) with a refrain reference to Saint Tukaram. (10:07) There are unmetered references to various occasions of the Gondhal, and (10:47) a ragam change to duple meter song invocations to the goddess Ambabai. (11:40) This is followed by a speech dialogue: "What does Ambabai require?" "Ambabai doesn't require any offerings, just devotion." "The goddess has left her abodes in Solapur, Tuljapur." Second refrain: "She has come as an honored guest to our Gondhal." (13:40) "How do we welcome guests to our house?" "We give our ordinary guests welcome, seat, snacks, lunch or dinner, coffee and tea." "What do we do for the honored Devi?" "Special treatment: ghata sthapana and a puja, an offering of sandalwood water." "Musical instruments? What kind?" "For ordinary people tuttaari (curving trumpet), lejim, band, even disco." "Devi would not like disco dance." "What about Jagadamba? Sambal, chaundaka, tāḷam, mṛdaṅgam, many types." "Cowrie shell decorations. Many songs to Ambabai, but amongst the 33 core gods, how do we celebrate her?" (15:55) "Maya is life, including prapancha, family duties, relatives and everyday life we experience." (17:00) "When the earth was without form, Jagdamba took the form of Ad Maayaa, and brahma created the world." Key moments include the retuning of the tuṇtuṇe (20:52), and the beginning of the bhajan (devotional song) "Jai Jagadambe."<br/> <br/>2. Sambal demonstration. K. D. Pācange, the Gondhal leader, explains: "The sambal is played only for the Devi (goddess) during the Gondhal…after a wedding, it brings blessings from the Hindu gods for the bride and groom."<br/><br/> 3. Gondhal blessing ceremony: Ashok Ranade presides over the enactment of a blessing ceremony for the Muslim wedding Nazir Ali Jairazbhoy and Amy Catlin-Jairazbhoy, which begins with a Puja ritual. A gandhi topi (cotton cap) is put onto Nazir Ali Jairazbhoy, and kumkum tikka is put onto Amy Catlin-Jairazbhoy during shouts of "Udhe," and "Hail to Goddess Amba." The Gondhali exclaims "May your wish come true." Amy Catlin-Jairazbhoy is instructed to sprinkle haldi and kumkum on the Goddess' altar. Nazir Ali Jairazbhoy is instructed to give a dakshina (donation) and to pour a ghee libation on the fire altar, while Amy Catlin-Jairazbhoy is instructed to touch his hand. A Kalyan benediction is given to the couple: "Jagadambe Khandoba! Utarna! Jagadambe Sadanand (Siva)! Come down, Universal God Khandoba, and Universal God Shiva." The couple follows Ranade's instructions to speak each other's names: "Nazir" and "Amineh" which draws laughter from the others, because women do not usually respond so quickly to say their new husband's name.
The Archives and Research Center for Ethnomusicology Bake Restudy team beside the jeep, loaded for the field trip: Umashankar Mantravadi; Ashok Ranade, associate director; Amy Catlin-Jairazbhoy; Saraswathi Swaminathan, archivist (in yellow); library assistant (unidentified); Kalpana Bandiwdekar, archive assistant; and M. D. Bhandare, American Institute of Indian Studies staff member.
Gondhal ceremony--Inauguration of the Archives and Research Centre for Ethnomusicology. Three musicians perform Marathi devotional ritual music to Hindu Goddess Amba. Standing behind a mandhab, vocal ensemble musicians with instruments (left to right): Jagannath Tite (tuṇtuṇe), Bhagvan Renake (Jālra), and R. H. Garuda (sambal).
Partly loaded jeep for a field trip, at the entrance to the Archives and Research Center for Ethnomusicology, on the premises of the American Institute of Indian Studies at Deccan College. The head of the driver, Ram Gaekwad, is visible at the back of the jeep. Umashankar Mantravadi, member of the Bake Restudy team, is on the right.
Gondhal ceremony--Inauguration of the Archives and Research Centre for Ethnomusicology. Sambal drum pair with sticks held by player, R. H. Garuda, not in playing position during a Jāgran (Hindu ritual): Vāghyā Muralī Jāgran – Marathi devotional ritual music to Hindu deity Khaṇḍobā Goddess Amba.
Gondhal ceremony)--Inauguration of the Archives and Research Centre for Ethnomusicology. An offering prepared for a Jāgran (Hindu ritual): Vāghyā Muralī Jāgran – Marathi devotional ritual music to Hindu deity Khaṇḍobā and Goddess Amba. A mandhab of sugar cane sticks tied together in a tent structure and decorated with garlands of flowers, frames a draped plank on which are two kalash with coconuts, and fruit. A striped cloth or rug is behind the mandhab. In an outdoor location enclosed by a building and a wall.
Amy Catlin-Jairazbhoy (center, in red); M. D. Bhandare, American Institute of Indian Studies staff (left); Archives and Research Center for Ethnomusicology archivist Saraswathi Swaminathan (in yellow); archive assistant Kalpana Bandiwdekar (2nd from right); and others beside the partly loaded jeep at the entrance to the Archives and Research Center for Ethnomusicology, on the premises of the American Institute of Indian Studies at Deccan College.
Data sheets, music recording session field notes created during the Bake Restudy Project in 1984 when Nazir Ali Jairazbhoy and Amy Catlin-Jairazbhoy returned to the original sites of Arnold Adriaan Bake’s 1938 fieldwork in South India (Tamilnadu, Kerala, and Karnataka) in order to solicit responses to Bake’s photographs and audio recordings of various Indian performance traditions in an examination of continuity and change. The field notes document 70 recording session Events.
Jāgran (Vāghyā Muralī)--Inauguration of the Archives and Research Centre for Ethnomusicology. Saraswathi Swaminathan, archivist, takes notes from Gondhal musicians, including the dancer Mānik Bāī, on the occasion of a Jāgran (Hindu ritual): Vāghyā Muralī Jāgran – Marathi devotional ritual music to Hindu deity Khaṇḍobā Goddess Amba. Sony PCM digital audio recording equipment is on the table behind them.
