2,500 ‘shahirs’ tune in to revive traditional storytelling art form

Powada has been around for a long time, but it became popular during Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s time. The earlier ones were bhakti rasa pradhan shayari which sung the praises of God.

As many as 2,500 shahirs (a person who writes a ballad) will make their way to Gyan Jyoti Savitribai Phule Smarak on June 18, 2018. to celebrate golden jubilee of the council, Maharashtra Shahir Parishad. Shahirs from across the state are coming together in an attempt to keep powada, an oral story telling art form written to narrate historical events, alive.

Shahir Dada Pasalkar. (Pratham Gokhale/HT Photo)

“Powad, powde, pawadu, one comes across the mention of the ballad even in the writings of Saint Dynaneshwar. Powada are long songs sometimes having more than 40 stanzas, narrating actual events and praising the event or an achievement,” said Mukund Kishenrao Pasalkar known as Dada Pasalkar, president of the Parishad. He belongs to the family of soldiers (Veer Baji Pasalkar) during Shivaji’s era. Powada has been around for a long time, but it became popular during Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s time. The earlier ones were bhakti rasa pradhan shayari which sung the praises of God.

“These soldiers were also shahirs who would write what they witnessed and perform to let others know of the battle and their victory. The victory songs were to make people aware and to help them relate to what is happening on the battle ground. If one were to break down the word shahir, ‘Sha’ would be King and ‘Hir’ was his voice, so the songs that the shahir sung and wrote would always denote the voice of the King. It would always be based on facts, no fiction,” he added.