Narasinha Mehta of Gujarat: A Legacy of Bhakti in Songs and Stories by Neelima Shukla-Bhatt, New York: Oxford University Press, 2015, pp. 325 + xxi

This outstanding book reviews the work of Narsi Mehta (c. 1414-1480), considered the original poet of the Gujarati language, and his legacy to the present time in the songs and stories (and the way they are told) about him.

As a work of modern scholarship, there is concern for who Narasinha Mehta was and what compositions that are in his name were actually composed by him. But there is little hope to answer such questions with modern historiographical tools, so the influence of what is claimed about Mehta and claimed to be written and sung by Mehta is mostly what is studied, in so far as even that can be traced out.

Mehta was a great influence on Mahatma Gandhi, and the Gandhi chapter is an important part of this study. Gandhi’s favorite song was Mehta’s Vaisnavajana to (call only that one a Vaishnava who…), and this song is also subject to very helpful analysis. The author grew up hearing and singing the songs of Narsi Mehta, so the book has a deep personal touch as well.

The book is in seven chapters in two parts, with an introduction. A preface outlines the goals of the book; “One goal is to introduce the Narasinha tradition in all its richness to readers in the English language, since no comprehensive work on this tradition is yet available in this language” (pg. xiii). This aim is admirably achieved. “The second aim of the book is to explore the implications of the interweaving of the devotional and moral messages with the aesthetic appeal of songs and stories in performances for the legacy of a saint-poet tradition such as Narasinha’s” (pg. xiv). This purpose will be discussed further below. “The third aim of the book is to consider whether Narasinha’s songs and hagiography have the potential to serve as cultural resources for a constructive social agenda in contemporary Gujarat” (pg. xv).  The author concludes that yes, as in the case of Gandhi, the bhakti traditions in general have great potential related to contemporary social crises in India.

A lengthy introduction (30 pages) introduces Mehta, bhakti traditions, Gujarat and Gujarati, and the Narasinha tradition, along with Indian aesthetics and the concept of rasa (“juice” or enjoyment) as a complement to bhakti (devotion). Part one, four chapters, is on Devotion and Aesthetics in the Narasinha Tradition. The first chapters focuses on the Narasinha songs focused on Krishna. Chapter two looks at the more broadly spiritual and moral songs in the tradition, including Vaisnavajana to. The numerous songs translated in these chapters provide a rich encounter with the tradition. The third chapter spells out the traditional stories about Narasinha, tracing sources for the historical and hagiographical and highlighting the popular exemplary incidents that are central to the tradition. The final chapter of the first section is “Singing as Bhakti: Narasinha’s Lyrics in Musical Performances.” There is some technical analysis of songs here along with discussion of modern meanings of the songs and performances.

The second section of three chapters looks at The Narasinha Legacy in Religious and Popular Culture. The first chapter considers Mehta’s influence in Gujarat and beyond, and how modernity has helped to shape the tradition as it changed from oral to print-based and then as electronic distribution made an even greater impact. An important section of this chapter considers Mehta in the sectarian bhakti traditions of Gujarat, and how he his legacy has impacted various bhakti sects. The concept of Mehta as the first Gujarati poet moves him out of the devotional realm, and the secular or aesthetic appeal of Narsi’s songs is helpfully pointed out throughout this second section of the book.

The second chapter of the second section focuses on Mahatma Gandhi.

While Narasinha’s biography was a great source of personal inspiration for Gandhi, it was in the area of social reform that he found it to be an invaluable cultural resource. He was the saint’s association with the “untouchables,” at the price of being excommunicated, as the centerpiece of his sacred biography and strove to emulate it in one of the most important battles of his life – the one against the practice of untouchability in Hindu society. (182)

Gandhi’s term for untouchables, still in use by some to this day, was Harijan, which is directly taken from Narsi Mehta (Shukla-Bhatt shows that in Mehta it was a broader term for “people of Hari/God/Krishna, not particularly about “untouchables,” although they were included). Vaisnavajana to as a “Gandhi anthem” is again discussed in insightful detail. This chapter contains this insightful summary of Gandhi’s approach to Hindu traditions:

But Gandhi’s convictions were such that, despite – somewhat perversely – calling himself a sanatani (an orthodox Hindu), he was very sceptical of the idea that there was a higher canonical Hinduism. The appeal of Hinduism for him was precisely that there was no such thing, by way of neither doctrine nor authoritative institutions, allowing him to make of it what his temperament wished, while allowing others to embrace it in quite other forms deriving from the many influences available in a diverse land and its history. (193, quoted from Akeel Bilgrami, “Gandhi’s Religion and Its Relation to His Politics,” in The Cambridge Companion to Gandhi, eds. Judith M. Brown and Anthony Parel, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 93-116, quotation from pp. 93-94)

The final chapter focuses on the Narasinha tradition in modern media. A 1940 film, Narsi Bhagat in Hindi and Narsi Mehta in Gujarati, is discussed in relation to the Gandhian and traditional interpretations of Narasinha. The transformations from that presentation to the 1991 Gujarati television 27-part serial, Narsaiyo, are striking. A final section of this chapter looks at Narasinha songs and performances available on YouTube, including a Christian interpretation of the song Vaisnavajana to by a Roman Catholic priest. This is rich material for understanding modern Indian devotional spirituality.

Some concluding remarks summarize the main findings of the book. This is highly recommended reading for anyone who wants to probe into bhakti traditions and their development from medieval to modern times. It is essential reading for anyone wanting to understand Gujarat and Gujaratis. All lovers of the bhakti traditions will be grateful for this outstanding study of one of the giants of the genre.