Comments on: A Little on Gauhar Jaan; and Remix vs. Original?

By: Top Car Accident Lawyers

Top Car Accident Lawyers — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 17:45:24 +0000

The first click isn't worked for me either, and i'm in the U.S.A.

Interesting topic non-theless. I had never heard of Gauhar Jaan.

By: Vikram Sampath

Vikram Sampath — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:54:07 +0000

Nice write up! I am a historian/author and i am glad to inform you that i have just completed writing a book on the life and times of Gauhar Jaan, based entirely on original and rare documents related to her. It should be out in a couple of months. I would like to point out that the claim of her being a “jewess” is incorrect. It has been repeated so many times and by virtue of that gets passed on as the truth. She was of mixed lineage. Her grandmother was Indian Hindu, her grandfather Brit and therby her mother of mixed Christian origin. Her father was an Armenian Christian and they were married also in a church at Allahabad. Also, she was not born in Patna as suggested but in Azamgarh in the then United Provinces in 1873.

By: mithun

mithun — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 10:28:35 +0000

One of the greatest Indian female vocalists…also look into Anjanibai, less known…very powerful voice and an expert at thumri and kajri

By: narayan

narayan — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 18:34:18 +0000

A fascinating story.
The tag Armenian Jew piques my curiosity. A cursory look at web-sites about and by Indian Jews does not suggest any significant presence of Armenian Jews in India, although Armenians abound in historical narratives as far back as Aurangzeb or earlier. I have followed most of the links and can find only one credible source for the Jewish origins of Gauhar Jaan. S. Muthiah, who is famous as the popular-historian of Madras/Chennai, says she was Jewish and not of the Orthodox Christian faith as most Armenians in India were. On what authority he says so I donâ€™t know; I have a beef with him on that score in other matters too. I have come across an abstract of a paper in a scholarly journal that addresses the presence in India of â€˜Arabian Jewsâ€™. That paper might give a clue about Armenian Jews in India, alas I donâ€™t have access to it (through JSTOR â€“ perhaps you do). Most people donâ€™t know much about social and religious divisions in other communities, and I suspect Indians are worse at this than others -- to an insular South Indian of my youth, Punjabi invariably meant a fellow with a beard and turban. The juxtaposition of Armenian Jew with Anglo-Indian is a further example of this phenomenon. I had an Armenian classmate in high school, Joseph Joseph, whom I knew through conversations to be Christian. I had a recent run-in with another classmate who insisted that Jo-Jo was Jewish, again, I suspect, on no particular basis other than the casual conflation of two alien strains. A plausible conjecture is that some Armenian Jews may have come under the coat-tails of the British.
Does anyone have verifiable information on this matter?

By: phillygrrl

phillygrrl — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 07:55:56 +0000

"Which would you prefer to listen to in traffic on a rainy day, the Hira Devi Mishra â€œRas ke bhare,â€ or the Midival Punditzâ€™ â€œFabricâ€? "

Rain is for the classics. Definitely the original.

By: Vijay

Vijay — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 23:36:15 +0000

O trveller, just tell Girdhari (Krishna) when you see him that Radha has run out of tears, When would he come back to Brij? (Vindavan and Barsana) Come to me Saanvariya (One with dark skin, Krishna), let me embrace you. Your eyes full of elixir. O Krishna, your image is in my heart and i can find no peace.

These lines, i think, are the closest to a translation. Thanks for the great post

By: Omar

Omar — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 22:01:31 +0000

Here is a picture of her, in two early postcards I think are from around 1910.

http://www.imagesofasia.com/html/india/gohar-jan.html http://www.imagesofasia.com/html/india/gohur-singer.html

In fact, she was a popular postcard subject.

By: as

as — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 20:58:18 +0000

Love the original! Thanks for posting this! The lyrics (translations attempts mine):

arey pathik giridhari sun itni kahiyo ter dig jhar layi raadhika ab brij bhoolat pher [pathik = traveler, dig (like drig in Hindi/Sanskrit) = eyes]

aa ja sanvariya tohe garava laga loo ras ke bhare tore nain, saanvariya ras ke bhare tore nain [garava = chest/heart]

jehi chitavat tehi bas kari raakhat naahi pade maika chain sanvariya [chitavat - from chit in Hindi/Sanskrit = mind]

ras ke bhare tore nain

By: Tanya Sehgal

Tanya Sehgal — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:16:15 +0000

Thanks for this thread, very interesting.

By: Rubic

Rubic — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:55:10 +0000

I read throughout the article and I dont think to anything else in this article.I agree with you. Nice comment as well as nice article. Rubic Attorneys