Dr. Subhadra Desai, a Sanskrit scholar, academic and Hindustani vocalist from Delhi was invited by Vedanta Society in Providence, Rhode Island to give a music recital as part of its weekend music offerings on Oct 24 and Oct 25. On Sunday evening, October 25, Dr. Desai’s soulful recital featured khyaals in ragas Nand and Madhuvanti followed by raga based devotional songs. The music presented had a distinct spiritual aura about it. Steeped in melody, it brought to the mind the inimitable style of her Guru Pandit Madhup Mudgal, who was himself a disciple of the legendary vocalist Pandit Kumar Gandharva.  Shri Sumit Mishra on the harmonium and Pandit Ashis Sengupta on tabla provided sensitive accompaniment to Dr. Desai whose graceful stage presence and pleasant interaction with the accompanying artists brought joy to the audience. Swami Yogatmananda of Vedanta Society who was pleased with the music recitals that took place over the weekend, namely, a morning Hindustani recital by Pandit Sarathi Chatterjee on Oct 24 and Sunday evening recital by Dr. Subhadra Desai on Oct 25 was eloquent in thanking the artists following the music performance. Earlier in the morning, Dr. Desai had performed at Annisquam Village Church, Gloucester, Massachusetts, known to be the site for the first lecture presented by Swami Vivekananda when he came to USA in 1893 to represent the East in the World Council on Religions.  

A published author and performer with commercial recordings to her credit, Dr. Desai balances all the aspects of her multiple careers with dexterity. These include her interests in the Sanskrit language, teaching at Delhi University and Gandharva Mahavidyalaya, academic research in the field of use of music in ancient vedic texts as well as an active performing career as a Hindustani vocalist. She has given lecture-demonstrations and performed at several noteworthy music festivals at prestigious venues in India, Germany and USA.

Boston based Sanskrit scholar Dr. Shekhar Shastri, said, “In order to be a complete musician, one must be well-grounded in shastra, sahitya and prayoga (musicology, literature, and praxis); Subhadra is a melodious embodiment of this integrative ideal. She is a Sanskrit scholar who has fearlessly delved deep into the theory of Indian Classical music, its roots in the Vedic tradition, the streams of poetry that make the compositions immortal, and above all she is able to weave it all in her divine singing. Listening to her I am immediately drawn into deep meditation - after all, reflection of the Self is the primary purpose of Classical Indian music. She gives an aesthetic envelope to profound silence.”

Dr. Subhadra Desai spoke to Shuchita Rao of Lokvani.

Did you start learning music at a very young age? Could you tell us a little about your teachers in music?

I was initiated to music at an early age by Pt. Vinay Chandra Maudgalya and Smt. Padma Devi, at Gandharva Mahavidyalaya, New Delhi. At the age of twelve, I started my training under Pandit Madhup Mudgal, son of Pandit Vinay Chandra Maudgalya and to this day, I continue to receive his guidance to achieve greater rigour and artistic insight into music. As the first recipient of the "Mani- Mann Fellowship" in Hindustani Classical Vocal Music, instituted under the aegis of Sanskriti Pratishthan, New Delhi, I spent considerable time learning vocal music under senior performers/Gurus such as Gwalior gharana expoenent Vidushi Smt. Malini Rajurkar and Agra gharana exponent, the late Pandit Dinkar Kaikini.

As a child, did you dream of being a musician giving stage performances?

Not really. My mother was a professor and I thought I would become an educator too. I earned a Ph.d in Sanskrit and began teaching the language at a college in Delhi. I was writing a lot about Indian culture, music and Sanskrit. At one point in life, I finally decided to focus more on music and gave up teaching Sanskrit to pursue music on a full time basis. As a musician, I was always interested in applying my academic interests and background in Sanskrit with music and have successfully balanced both interests side by side. I believe that everything in life is pre-determined somewhere else and happens for a reason. 

What kind of projects came out of combining your background in Sanskrit and your academic interests with music?

My Ph.d thesis was on the subject of “Musical Heritage of Valmiki Ramayana”. It got published as a book and was released by Dr. Karan Singh in Delhi in 2008. I wrote several articles on Jayadeva’s Ashtapadis from Geet Govindam that got published in journals. I also composed tunes for many of these ashtapadis and did a full concert on them in Jayadeva Utsav. In 2007, Dr. Sheila Dikshit released a CD named Advaita based on the theme of non-dualism or oneness of God and Creation. I have composed and presented the ‘Sanatana Vivaha mantras’ from  Rigveda and Yajurveda in classical ragas.  On the theme of  ‘Women Seers and Sages of India” I researched, composed and sang mantras from the Rigveda composed by women seers as well as bhajans composed by women saints, devotees and poetesses of medieval India as part of the HCL Concert Series held at the India Habitat Centre, Delhi.

Much of your research work is focused on the Women Saints of India. Could you tell us a little about your findings?

The project on “Women Saints” was a large one with several smaller projects contained within the large topic. As you know, the Vedas were seen by Rishis – they were the “Drushtas” and that is why they were called “Seers”. Of the numerous Vedic Rishis, 27 were women rishikas whose mantras are chanted in the style of RigVeda. My interest was in locating if mantras by any of these rishikas are present in Sama Veda, the first book of Vedas in which mantras are “sung”. I found four such rishikas. I traveled to different parts of India to directly locate singers who sing their works. Within the three living schools of Sama Veda(shaakhas), there are various traditions. I recorded hymns, notated them and the findings are due to be published soon in a book titled “Songs of Women Seers in India”.

What about Women Saints of the medieval, Bhakti movement of India? What did you discover about them?

We have all heard about the saint poetesses Mirabai, Andal, Akka Mahadevi and Lalleshwari. As part of my research, I found that there were 75 such Indian women seers. Not all of them could be called saints. Some of them were prostitutes and others were wives of low caste crematorium workers. Some of them were illiterate and could not read or write. However, all the women seers shared a common quality - all of them were deeply in love with their GOD. The seers are from all across India (such as Mahapanthis from Gujarat, the Varakaris from Maharashtra, Veerashaivas from Karnataka to name a few) and the songs are in different Indian languages. I have learned some of these songs and have given three concerts based on this theme. To know and understand their lives was fascinating and maddening in a way. I have tried to find out about who are singing the songs of these seers in the present times, how they are being sung and if they are not being sung, the reason behind why they are not being sung.

How many languages do you profess to know reasonably well?

Bangla is my native language. In addition to Hindi, Sanskrit, English and Gujrati(my husband is from Gujarat), I also know some German.

Have you performed in parts of the world other than India and USA?

This is my second visit to USA and I have performed in New Jersey, Rhode Island, Washington DC and Massachusetts. I have traveled to parts of Europe such as Germany where I have given solo performances and also to Korea where I received a Gold Medal for outstanding achievement at the Korea Spring Festival in 1999.

What are some projects that are you working on currently?

I have taught music at Gandharva Mahavidyalaya in Delhi for more than a dozen years. I am currently designing and preparing coursework for music students and researchers at University of Delhi, Indira Gandhi Open University and at the invitation of Dr. Vanita Shastri, for a brand new offering at Asoka University as part of the department of performing arts that is to include music, dance and theatre education. Performing music, of course has always been my interest and will continue alongside my other interests in life.

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