Gurukrushna Goswami - The Man of Soil

Kirtan, the holy singing of melodies, signaled the arrival of Gurukrushna in Nuagaon village, Mayurbhanj, on 7 November 1934 -- a prophecy in melody; He shared the sacred resonance of mrudanga and harmonium through his father, Gokul Chandra Goswami. Deulasahi's whispering forests heard his summer lessons in nature's symphonia.

His boyhood was a sandhyābhāsā -- a time of the past twilight held in duality of two pedagogical processes: one that whispered to the atman (soul), the other disciplining the "hasta (hands).

Aunt Smt. Laxmikumari Das, whose verses were not mere shabdas (words), but distilled bhāva (emotions): a poet-seer who taught him that language could reverberate -- the sound of megha-garjana (the roar of thunder) of monsoon over parched soil: each syllable a sphota and each metaphor an āvesha (divine possession). A rasāyana (chemistry) from her, converts thought to karuṇa (pure compassion) and karuṇa to an beatitudo almost equivalent to maha-ananda (eternal bliss).

Shri Banchanidhi Panda, the living guru of the magico-artist. Following a method of guru-shishya paramparā (tradition) he went about shaping the asampurna (incomplete) talent of the boy to lalita-yāti or flawless rhythm. Even the secret verses, secretly scribbled behind I.A. textbooks under that dīrgha-dṛusti (far sight), became clandestine mahākāvya (epic) of a prodigy rising. Sic mundus creatus est -- Thus was his world forged between the laukika and the alaukika, the earthly and the sublime.

Between bhāva (inner emotional world) and kala (a transformative moment), the boy turned into the poet -- his heart a varshā (overflowing emotion), his hand a tāla (rhythm).

Once he finished his formal studies at Baripada and that he pursued in Feeling buoyant, the young poet left Mayurbhanj for Cuttack, a poet-pilgrim with songs in his heart and his gaze set on the cultural Olympus of Odisha.

At Cuttack, Shri Goswami's talent was formed under stern yet lovingly shaping eyes of Guru Kshitis Chandra Maitra, doyen of the Odissi style, into a sacred sword that learned to walk the balance of folk spontaneity and the doctrine of classical raga. He started his poetic writing from there.

At the age of 17, he composed the folk-based song Dharama, which later became popular as Konarka Gatha when recorded in the voice of Akshaya Mohanty in 1955. While in Cuttack, alongside his musical training, he continued composing lyrics and became an approved lyricist for Cuttack Akashvani in 1957. Soon, he established friendships with renowned personalities like Mayurbhanj's singer Shri Atish Majumdar and lyricist Shri Jitendra Pattnaik. He also developed a close association with legendary musician Shri Shantanu Mahapatra.

By 1957, the doors of "Akashvani" (All India Radio) were thrown open, enrolling him as an empaneled lyricist. He was not just another bard from the village now; he was from then on the voice of the ether, with words traversing the channels and entering millions of homes. And in the comforting hush of night, he was still the Nuagaon boy -- the one who heard the forests sing and converted those forest whispers into song.

In 1963, destiny gave him an opportunity to write the lyrics for Suryamukhi. The music of this film became a constellation that still shines in the firmament of Odia cinema:

• "Ei Chuna Chuna Taraphule" -- Lata Mangeshkar'svoice turning Shri Goswami'swords into celestial nectar.
• "Antare Kande, Bahare Mu Hase"  -- the haunting duet of Pranab Patnaik and Usha Mangeshkar, where sorrow and stoicism waltzed in heartbreaking harmony.
• "Bandhu Re Dunia Re Samaya Ra Nai Bahi Jaaye"  -- Manna Dey's timbre lending it the gravitas of a philosophical lament.

The film music was not just going out there; it was an assortment of Vedas of vernacular emotion -- which came into fruition as a sacred trinity (alongside Mohapatra and Patnaik) that altered the sonic identity of Odia cinema. Through these works, Arundhati (1968) gifted the world an immortal rendition by Mohammad Rafi in 'Tumaku Ta Paruni Mu Bhuli', while Gapa Helebi Sata (1976) intertwined the playful melody of 'Phuleirani Sajaphula' with the divine solemnity of 'Jaya Jadunandana'. Goswami's legacy was hence immortalized as one lyricist worthy of elevation, who could equally gallivant on the totems of sacred and profane.

Or, rather, if Ollywood were to call him and make him a star, Shri Goswami, whose roots still sank deep into the clay-rich lands of Odisha villages, would refuse the offer. Therefore, his pen was not merely drawing or composing songs; it was imbued with the spirit of rural Odisha:

• "Bedana Sagara Teere" -- the lament of biraha
• "Namami Janmabhumi" -- a regional hymn that set patriotic hearts aflame.
• "Champaka Charani Go" -- a pastoral idyll so vivid that the listener could smell the jasmine and feel the evening mist rise from the fields.

Not merely an anthology, his collection Abanigandha (1997) was more like a major botanical garden of feelings, with words smelling of the earth soaked by the monsoon, the whisper of the riverbanks at dusk, and the melancholic sigh of twilight. Shri Goswami was no mere lyricist here; he was a sage whose words, like insects trapped in amber, remain suspended in the golden resin of memory

His first entry into the world of cinema was "Maa", while Ranabhumi was his last outing. It was a journey of decades yet retaining lyrical purity throughout its span. His final entry to Odia Cinema was for "Pathara Khasuchi Bada Deuluku" (1988): a song heavy with a lifetime's devotion to music.

His Hindi Jagannath bhajans transcended language barriers: the cassette recordings were revered all over India. And since Doordarshan and Akashvani had declared him an empaneled lyricist, perhaps the real monument is erected atop the hearts of Odias, for whom his songs are not merely tunes but the soundtrack of their cultural consciousness.

To speak of my favorites feels impossible when his art is a universe -- each song a star, each verse a comet's trail. Yet, how could I not worship at the altar of "Eei Chuna Chuna Taraphule", its petals trembling with first love? Or resist the tidal pull of "Tumaku ta paruni bhuli", a lament carved from moonlit salt? Some days, it is "Bedana sagara Teere" that drowns me; others, "Muje janena kaha bata" stitches me whole. I have traced the roadmap of my joy to "Phuleirani Sajaphula", let "Haire Hai Garaje Megha" thunder through my ribs, and hidden in the amber glow of "Suneli Dina Suneli Raati". These are not just songs. They are the seasons of my life -- "Manika Alo Alo Manika" the spring, "Megha barashila" the monsoon, "Namami Janmabhumi" the harvest. Ask me tomorrow, and the list will stretch longer, because his genius is a river, and I am forever wading in its waters.

If I must name them -- let them come like monsoon rivers breaking their banks:

• Eei Chuna Chuna Taraphule (from Suryamukhi)
• Tumaku ta paruni bhuli (from Arundhati)
• Bedana sagara Teere
• Muje janena kaha bata
• Rahichi chahin
• E banara chhai
• Jaya Jadunandana (from Gapa Helebi Sata)
• Phuleirani Sajaphula (from Gapa Helebi Sata)
• Jaa Re Manadoli Udija
• Antare kande bahare hase mu (Suryamukhi)
• Haire Hai Garaje Megha Ghum Ghum Mayura Nache
• Maajhi Re Shesha Shrabana Puraba Pabana
• Manika Alo Alo Manika E Mora Manika
• Megha barashila Tupuru Tupuru Keshura
• Emana Chora Pathe (1968)
• Samuduni Mora Juhara Janiba (1968)
• Namami Janmabhumi
• Champaka Charani Go
• Suneli Dina Suneli Raati (compilation)

Goswami's pen was no ordinary possession; rather, it was a divine loom weaving human feelings into everlasting beauty. Whether it was the farcical beats of a folk song or the grave tones of a bhajan, his lyrics bespeak the very soul of Odisha -- its rivers, land, and its spirit.

He was more than just a lyricist; he was an Emotion Gardener, a Cartographer of the human heart, and the Infinite Voice of Odia Song.

The honors bestowed upon Gurukrushna Goswami were never mere medals gathering dust on some forgotten shelf; each was a palimpsest, layered with meaning. They etched themselves into the collective memory of Orissa, their significance indelible. In 1996, the Best Lyricist Award crowned his lifelong alchemy of classical nobilitas and folkloric veritas, finding its place in his modest Cuttack home -- beside a ragged notebook brimming with freshly penned verses. A mute yet tender testament: true art outlives all transient acclaim.

Come the millennium, thus the years 1999-2000 brought with them twin laurels bestowed upon him -- the Bhakta Kabi Salbeg Award and the Odisha Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, each speaking volumes not alone for devotional hymns but for the full gamut of his lyrical handiwork. His pen had breathed life into love songs, nationalist poetry, and metaphysical verse of a sort -- an ode to the soul of the Odia language. His Hindi works, fewer in number, yet exhibited the same magical combination of classical discipline and folk independence, for extraordinary art belongs in no confines.

His real trophies, beyond his institutional laurea, were incorporeal: the Odisha Film Development Corporation's recurrent pilgrimages to this music heritage's living codex for wisdom; the Utkal Sahitya Samaj's veneration of him as the kavi-yogi who connected the modern Odia lyrics with the medieval mystica; and, the Bhakta Kabi Salbeg Cultural Parishad's annual summons to Puri's Rath Yatra event -- even if louder only to the wheel chatter, the "Jaya Jadunandana" would resonate in Puri more than his chariot's bells. Even in his quieter moments, the Nikhil Utkal Sangeet Shilpi Parishad of Cuttack swelled with starry-eyed admirers whenever he spoke, hungering and thirsting for the pearls that fell from his lips.

An acquaintance once recounted sounds from his later years....

In 2012, during a late afternoon stroll through the Nuagaon marketplace, he felt the strange moment of having his magnum corona bestowed upon him. A chorus of school children rehearsed a competition entry called "Samuduni Mora Juhara Janiba," 1968, whose identity he never knew. As their voices drifted through the air aloud like sirisa blossoms, the poet plucked blood from his lips and sweat from his cheeks: sudor sacer (sacred sweat)! Here lay his timelessness -- not in gilded plaques, but forever re-echoed in the unfading lips of those who would never know his face yet would always sing his soul.

On May 6, 2018, the cosmic symphonia paused its Odishi tala (Odishi rhythm) in Tulasipur, Cuttack, as the 84-year-old gitikabi took his final breath -- not a cessation, but a fermata in the grand opus of his life. At the Satichoura crematorium, where the incense-thick air wavered between the sweetness of champak and the alkaline bite of Kia Phula, one could imagine some of the most heart-rending sequences in his films. Standing with their sons was Antara Chakrabarty (his niece) and his wife Aarati (Arati Bose Goswami), his eternal heroine, while the fading radio of a passing tea-stall played an unaware tribute to the man, his 1963 classic, "Antare Kande, Bahare Mu Hase," a melody that had made Odia cinema speak in poetry.

Yet, as if all the universe had bowed in deference to his line, the prophecy -- "Mu Maribi, Mora Geeta Maribini" -- came to pass. His voice lives on, not high up on lofty monuments but in the flickering whispers of old Suryamukhi melodies in dim-lit cafés of Bhubaneswar; in the computerized trenches of YouTube, where restless millennials dissect his verses as sacred scriptures; and in the humdrum rhythms of everyday life -- where a rickshaw-wallah whistles "Phuleirani Sajaphula" between the clatter of coins and the call of the road, or an amused husband sings it to soothe his, otherwise caring, angry wife -- the song lingers, timeless.

Today, when the flickering glow of the projector breathes a rather flickering life into this or that of Cuttack's crumbling cinema halls -- dust motes dancing in the beam as his classics unfold -- or when a lover's soft touch soothes the loved with the hum of "Eei Chuna Chuna Taraphule" the art of Shri Goswami realized how dear time tends to run through one's fingers. The poet did what many strive in vain to accomplish: his words did not merely linger; they grew into the very rhythm of Odisha's existence, a refrain reiterated in the alleys of nostalgia and in the bustling thoroughfares of today. For a maestro's last act is never a curtain-fall but a tune which the world could hardly help repeating -- an everlasting chorus with whose birth and nurture generations yet unborn shall sing.

• Personal Information
  • Full Name: Shri Gurukrushna Goswami
  • Date of Birth: November 7, 1934
  • Place of Birth: Nuagaon village, near Betanati, adjacent to Nadpur (Mayurbhanj district, Odisha)
  • Date of Demise: May 6, 2018 (aged 83)
  • Place of Demise: Tulasipur, Cuttack
• Family
  • Father: Gokul Chandra Goswami (skilled in kirtan and musical instruments)
  • Mother: Shrimati Shraddhavati Goswami
  • Spouse: Aarati Bose Goswami (renowned Akashvani singer)
  • Children: Two sons
  • Notable Relative: Antara Chakraborty (niece, singer)
• Education
  • Intermediate of Arts (I.A.) from Baripada College
• Professional Career
  • Primary Occupation: Auditor at Odisha State Commercial Transport Corporation
  • Retirement: 1992
  • Artistic Career: Lyricist, Poet, Music Composer
• Literary and Musical Works
  • Total Songs Written: 1,600+
  • Film Songs Worked On: 40+
  • Notable Poetry Collections:
    • Eei Chuna Chuna Taraphule (from Suryamukhi)
    • Tumaku ta paruni bhuli (from Arundhati;)
    • Bedana sagara Teere
    • Muje janena kaha bata
    • Rahichi chahin
    • E banara chhai
    • Jaya Jadunandana (from Gapa Helebi Sata)
    • Phuleirani Sajaphula (from Gapa Helebi Sata)
    • Jaa Re Manadoli Udija
    • Antare kande bahare hase mu (Suryamukhi)
    • Haire Hai Garaje Megha Ghum Ghum Mayura Nache
    • Maajhi Re Shesha Shrabana Puraba Pabana
    • Manika Alo Alo Manika E Mora Manika
    • Megha barashila Tupuru Tupuru Keshura
    • Kaali Kapali Narmundamali Mun Basuli
    • Emana Chora Pathe (1968)
    • Samuduni Mora Juhara Janiba (1968)
    • Abanigandha (1997)
    • Digadihudi
    • Namami Janmabhumi
    • Champaka Charani Go
    • Suneli Dina Suneli Raati (compilation)
    • Dharama (later popularized as Konarka Gatha)
  • Iconic Film Songs:
    • "Eei Chuna Chuna Taraphule" (Suryamukhi, sung by Lata Mangeshkar)
    • "Tumaku Ta Paruni Mu Bhuli" (Arundhati, sung by Mohammed Rafi)
    • "Bedana Sagara Teere" (sung by Pranab Patnaik)
    • "Antare Kande, Bahare Mu Hase" (Suryamukhi)
  • Folk Compositions:
    • "Dharama" (later popularized as "Konarka Gatha")
    • "Namami Janmabhumi"
    • "Champaka Charani Go"
• Film Contributions
  • First Film: Maa (1958)
  • Last Film: Ranabhumi (1994)
  • Notable Screenwriting:
    • Story for Arundhati (1968)
    • Dialogues for Suryamukhi
  • Music Composition: Co-composed for Dasyu Ratnakar (1961)
• Awards and Honors
  • Best Lyricist Award (1996)
  • Bhakta Kabi Salbeg Award (2000)
  • Orissa Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (2000)
  • Recognitions from:
    • Odisha Film Development Corporation
    • Utkal Sahitya Samaj
    • Nikhil Utkal Sangeet Shilpi Parishad
• Artistic Collaborations
  • Golden Trinity:
    • Shantanu Mohapatra (composer)
    • Pranab Patnaik (singer)
  • Other Notable Collaborators:
    • Akshaya Mohanty
    • Lata Mangeshkar
    • Mohammed Rafi
    • Usha Mangeshkar
    • Manna Dey
• Legacy
  • Considered the "voice of Odisha's soul" in music
  • Pioneered blending traditional Odia folk with modern compositions
  • Works continue to be performed at cultural festivals across Odisha
  • Inspired generations of Odia lyricists and composers