Deconstructing Ashtapadi

Radha, Krishna and Sakhi, Kangra style painting based on Geet Govind.
Government Museum, Chandigarh

Abhinaya in Kathak is majorly presented in the framework of various genres of classical as well as some semi-classical genres of songs and poetry. This framework of the composition enables the dancer to blend the nuances of expressions with enrapture of rhythm. While Thumri rules the emotive expression in Kathak;  many other genres of Geeti are presented in Kathak too. These include devotional genres like bhajans and stotras, as well as some semi-classical genres like Chaiti, Kajri, Hori and so on. This list remains incomprehensive unless rare genres such as Dhrupad, Chaturang and Ashtapadi are also acknowledged.

Ashtapadi is rarely found within Kathak performances today. However this genre plays an important role to train Kathak dancers, especially to imbibe Abhinaya. This owes to the content of the Ashtapadis and the length of eight stanzas, both being a challenge for dancers. This article investigates the following:

1. Ashtapadi as a genre: Origin and development

2. Astapadi in Kathak

3. Can we label any song with eight stanzas as Ashtapadi?

1. The genre Ashtapadi: Origin and development

The literal meaning of the word Ashtapadi is a song with eight stanzas, however, any song whatsoever with mere eight stanzas cannot be labelled as Ashtapadi. The term Ashtapadi is prevalent from Jayadeva’s Geetgovind. Many compositions with eight stanzas existed within the Vedas and Puranas but were never termed as Ashtapadi in the tradition before and after Jayadeva.

Jayadeva, the ‘Shringar-Saraswat’ as he has titled himself in his work, has pioneered the genre Ashtapadi in the mainstream literature in his iconic work Geetgovind. The songs in Geetgovind are known as Ashtapadis in the literary as well as in the musical tradition. Although, Jayadev himself does not use the name Ashtapadi, he calls them Prabandhas. The word Prabandha is a common term used in Carnatic music with the general meaning of ‘a composition’. Jayadeva dropped the typical formats as well as metres of established Sanskrit Literature and instead used the format and metres, then popular in Prakrit languages, especially Apabhramsha. It is a possibility that this particular genre named Ashtapadi (amorous poetry of eight stanzas) was popular in Prakrit literature of the era that Jayadev adopted in Sanskrit. Someshwara talks about a poetry form called Charya-geet of the Buddhist poet Siddhacharya in his rhetoric work Manasollas. They resemble the Ashtapadi’s. Hence, we can conclude that similar Ashtapadi compositions were already popular in Prakrit literature and Jayadeva may be the first one to experiment them in Sanskrit.

Sakhi playing the role of messenger between Radha and Krishna

(Lumbagraon Gita Govinda" Series, Brooklyn Museum)

Geetgovind is the amorous poetry of Radha and Krishna’s divine love. The story unfolds with the three characters namely Krishna, Radha, and Sakhi. These ballads of love comprehend all the shades of Shringara and all the stories of Ashtanayikas. As the name suggests, Geet-Govind has ‘Geeta’, the songs with melody and these are not mere verses for recitation. These songs are composed in their specific raag and taal within their framework. Jayadeva himself used to sing these ballads of love and his wife Padmavati used to present them in dance. Hence, we can infer that these songs were composed with the purpose of musical and dance presentation.

After Jayadeva, the word Ashtapadi was particularly used for the songs from Geetgovind. Today, almost all the styles of classical dance present this form called Ashtapadi. These Ashtapadi’s are major part of Abhinaya in Odissi. Although, they present Ashtapadis composed by Jayadeva himself. The Odissi style uses many other songs from Oriya language, such as the songs penned by Oriya poet Kavisurya composed on the lines of Geetgovind. However, they are not termed as Ashtapadis in the performance. Jayadeva’s compositions are performed and are known as Ashtapadi’s.

After Jayadeva’s Ashtapadis were widely recognized and popularised, many compositions were composed on a similar line. Poet Raamapani composed Geet-Raamam where he has composed Ashtapadis centering lord Rama. Mahakavi Vidyapati Thakur was a Maithili poet who was then known as Abhinava Jayadeva since he composed Geetgovind-like pada’s in Sanskrit and in Maithili. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was attracted to Geetgovind, after reading Maithili Ashtapadis of Vidyapati. Gujarati poet Narsi Mehta wrote Shringar Mala. In the eighteenth century, Swami Narayan Teerth composed Krishna-Leela-tarangini following the format of Geetgovind. However, all these poets while composing Ashtapadi or similar poetry format have acknowledged that they are following the tradition of Jayadeva.

The Ashtapadis of Jayadeva are extensively prevalent in southern India. This genre went on to become a type of Prabandha (composition) in Carnatic music and also became an inevitable part of some rituals. Even a particular dance-drama style stemmed from Ashtapadis and was named as Ashtapadi-attam. One more dance-drama called as Krishna-natta, is based on Ashtapadis composed by the poet Shree Manaveda, in which Ashtapadis are presented in eight parts on eight nights. Dancers are taking efforts to rejuvenate both these rare styles. The video below shows the rejuvenated, refurbished form of Ashtapadi-attam, which has characters of Radha and Krishna, also Jayadeva himself and his wife are seen as characters denoting the how synonymous Ashtapadi is with Jayadeva.

Ashtapadi had found a prominent place in Hindustani Vocal music till the beginning of the 20^th century in the Gwalior Gharana. Bade Balkrishna buva began to present the verses of Ashtapadi in the format similar to
Chhota Khyal as the closing part of the main Khyal performance. He was followed by many artists from his Gharana and many Ashtapadis of Jayadeva were presented as a bandish. However, it is noteworthy that only Ashtapadis of Jayadeva were used by them in the tradition of Gwalior gharana.

Thus, Ashtapadi is not a general term for any song with eight stanzas but Ashtapadi in itself is a tradition commencing from Jayadeva, extended over centuries in music, dance, literature and even painting.

Ashtapadi as performed in Kathak:    

We cannot trace the historic timeline of Ashtpadi being encompassed in the Abhinaya literature of Kathak or when Kathak dancers incorporated this genre in the performance. Kathak dancers today present many Ashtapadis from Geet-govind. Chandan charchit neel kalevar and Lalit lavang lata are the two Ashtapadis popularly presented in Kathak. Today Kathakars mainly perform the Ashtapadi penned by the doyen Kathak legend and poet Bindadin Maharaj, Niratat Dhang. This same composition is presented as a general song or bhajan in some Kathak traditions where they do not particularly name this as an Ashtapadi. Hence, one cannot conclusively claim if this song was originally composed as an Ashtapadi or was later named as one due to adherence to the format of Ashtapadi. Nevertheless, this composition does have many specifications of Ashtapadi. This has eight stanzas in the same metre that describe the ancient form of Rasleela-Kathak, the divine dance of Krishna-Radha and gopis, and through this, describe the various aspects of Kathak style. The sthayi ‘Niratat dhang’ is repeated after every stanza, denoting that the theme of graceful romantic dance as stated in the words ‘niratat dhang’ is extended in every stanza in the romance of Krishna, in the description of Radha and in the charming dance of gopis. One more Ashtapadi composition is famous in the Kathak dancers specially belonging to the Jaipur Gharana. This composition Nand nandan nachat sudhang is accredited to Sant Surdas. The theme of this composition is as per Ashtapadi norms but only two stanzas are known and performed. It is interesting to note that this composition accredited to Surdas is famous in Kathak, but this composition does not have any reference in the Hindi literature and Surdas literature. 

Ashtapadi and Ashtaka:

Can we label any song with eight stanzas as Ashtapadi?

Often Kathakars and Kathak students are confused with these two different poetry forms namely Ashtapadi and Ashtaka. Ashtaka is the name for the Stotra with eight stanzas. Ashtakas are more ancient than Ashtapadis. An Ashtaka praises the deity in eight stanzas of the same meter. There are similar sub-categories in Stotra literature with different numbers of stanzas such as Shatak for six, Ekadash for eleven etc.

The Khand Kavya or Laghu Kavya is divided into two sub-types namely emotive and devotional. Ashtapadi belongs to the emotive category and Ashtaka belongs to the devotional category.

(Of course, the first Ashtapadi of Jayadeva, Jay Jagdish Hare can be considered as an exception, since the particular composition is the opening song and hence it is devotional as per the tradition). Technically Ashtapadi can be called Dwi-dhatu-prabandh. Dwi-dhatu has one Pallavi and many charanas or one sthayi and many antaras. Also, a part of Sthayi repeats after every antara. Ashtaka may or may not have this repetition.

Antyanupras, the rhyme at the end of the line is transpires in Ashtapadi but no such rule exists for an Ashtaka. Basically, Ashtapadi is a song genre composed for melodious singing as Ashtaka is a type of stotra created for recitation.

Thus, Ashtaka and Ashtapadi are two different forms and Shree-krishnashtak, MAdhurashtak cannot be incorporated under the form of Ashtapadi, neither any general eight stanza song can be called as Ashtapadi. In fact, Jayadev himself does not stick to the number eight. Some Ashtapadis in Geetgovind have stanzas more than or less than eight. Even the further Ashtapadi compositions have not strictly followed the stanza number as eight. The Ashtapadi was prevalent in the vocal tradition of Gwalior Gharana. Even there, the artists considered the sthayi and one antara of Ashtapadi as a small bandish and developed it like Chhota Khyal. Thus even this tradition did not stress or impose upon the number of stanzas being eight. To summarise, a song with eight stanzas is a highly generic definition of Ashtapadi. Ashtapadi is a definite tradition and the songs in this or following this tradition can be called as Ashtapadi.

Analyzing the Ashtapadi as reflected and presented in Kathak, we can sum up the following characteristics that are specific to an Ashtapadi:

1.  Ashtapadi should be composed by Jayadeva or should be one following his tradition.

2.  The song has eight stanzas and a portion of Sthayi is repeated after every stanza. This repeated portion of sthayi denotes the theme of Ashtapadi that is further developed in stanzas.

3.  The subject matter revolves around Shringar or Madhura Bhakti. The song has a theme of a particular storyline or event. The song is not about general praise or description.

Currently, Ashtapadi is studied in theory than practiced in actual performances. The mammoth length of eight stanzas may be the reason that limits its potential to appeal to the audience. Since we have proven that the numeric factor of the number  ‘eight’ in the context of Ashtapadi is insignificant, Kathakars can choose two to three stanzas as per the theme of Ashtapadi and can work out a smaller presentation suitable for the viewer. Ashtapadi can also be utilized in innovative ways to make it a different genre in the Abhinaya of Kathak.

The charming romance of Radha and Krishna in the Ashtapadis is in line with the flavor of other compositions of Kathak. Hence an Ashtapadi can be further enhanced by adding relevant Kavitta-chhandas as well as suitable Gatnikas and sometimes, small Gatbhavs. Even a small stanza of Ashtapadi can be added at the beginning of an extensive thumri like the Shayari introduces Gazal in the beginning.

The path of rejuvenation of Kathak from the stagnancy of blind rigidity of tradition is two-fold. Firstly, we can experiment novel unseen ideas and secondly, we can refurbish the older concepts in the manner that it adapts the freshness of modernity on one hand and adheres to the traditional framework on the other. Presenting Ashtapadi in an innovative manner can be a good example of the second.