Ramayan Samrat Gayatri Thakur

Introduction

Byas Gayatri Thakur “Ramayan Samrat” was an Indian lyricst,folk singer and actor in Bhojpuri language also popularly known as Bhojpuri Chakravarti. He was also known as “TulsiDas” of Bhojpuri Singing.Thakur was born in a Bhumihar Brahmin family`on 7th November 1940 in a village named Dubha,Buxar District,Bihar,India. His father,Ram Singhasan Thakur was also a famous Bhojpuri folk singer. His mother was Manvasia. His Great Grand Father, Laxman Thakur was also a noted folk singer of his time. The famous “Thakur Gharana” was developed by Byas Gayatri Thakur through which he has trained and mentored more than 500 Bhojpuri singers of which Bharath Sharma,Vishnu Ojha,Kamalvas Kunvar,Ashok Mishra,Prathibha Singh,Brij Thakur,santosh surila and Vikas Tiwari are the few noted famous Bhojpuri singers. He started working in Hindustan Motors,Calcutta,West Bengal in 1970. He left his job to pursue his love for music. He then started his legendary carrier in Bhojpuri folk singing. He put together a group of musicians and began performing Ramayan verses. He died at the age of 70 on 5th March 2014. His literary creations and songs are appreciated and performed even today.

Ramayan Samrat Gayatri Thakur

Early Life

He was born on 7th November 1940 at the village of Dubha in the district of Buxar,Bihar. His mother name was Manvasia and father was Ram Sinhasan Thakur.He belonged to Bhumihar Brahman caste,one of the upper castes in Indian society. Bhumihar’s are a prominent land-owning group of eastern India and are highly influential in politics of Bihar. Like Tulsi Das lost his mother Hulsi,he lost his mother Manvasia when we has only 4 months old.He was brought up by his father Ram Singhasan Thakur and elder brother Chiranjeevi Thakur.

Education

His passion for singing was not a coincidence. His great grand father Lakshman Thakur was one of the few folk singers present at that time.His father, Ram Sinhasan Thakur was the famous singer of his time. He has completed his High School Education from Arjunpur school in 1965. He has completed his Graduation from Satish Chandra P.G College,Balia

Career

Ìn 1966, while he was in his Intermediate he competed against Bachan Mishra who was the most widely known singer at that time. He left for Calcutta in 1969 and started teaching in Sanatan Dharm school.He then joined Hindustan Motors in 1970. From there he started his legendary career by doing various stage programs across Calcutta. He left the job at Hindustan Motors to concentrate on his singing career. He started competing in the “Dugola” competition (one on one against the other singers) against the singers like Nathuni Dubey,Bacchan Mishra,Bechu Mia,Dhuraan Singh,Gulab Sharma,Balram Pandey.With every competition, his fan base started growing. Singers started following his way of singing. His “Motki Gavnai” (High musical notes) started gaining lots of fan base across Bihar,Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.He ruled the “Motki Gavnai” genre for 55 years. People started comparing him with the great Bikhari Thakur. Verses of Ramayan and Mahabharat was his favourite subject while singing. He used to perform on the songs written by him,Lakshman Lahiri,Ahsutosh Pathak and Shikari ji. People started comparing his narration of Ramayan and Mahabharat with the television serials shown during those days. Later he got into a contract with T-Series music and released many hit albums.

In 1986, the honourable President of India,Gyani Jail Singh honoured Byas Gayatri Thakur with “Ramayan Samrat” title. The honourable Governor of West Bengal, awarded him with “Bhojpuri Shiromani” title. Byas Gayatri Thakur ruled the dias for 55 years. He was very critical about the downfall in the standards of the Bhojpuri songs. He felt that the current generation singers are misusing music to earn cheap publicity and money.

Personal Life

He got married to his first wife Saraswati at the tender age of 15. He lost his wife Saraswati due to illness. He has a daughter Shail Kumari and son Manoj Thakur with his first wife. Later he got married to Gyanti Devi in 1986. He has a daughter Preeti and son Manish Thakur with his second wife.

Death

He died on 5th March 2014 at his village Dubah,Buxar District due to liver cirrhosis. Works

Following are the few albums released by Byas Gyatri Thakur:

• Ambe Amba Ambalika Swyambar
• Bharat Milap
• Bekat Se salah
• Duah Vivah
• Duryodhan Vadh
• Ghar se Khedaini
• Rangbaaz Raja
• laxman Parasuram samvad (Dugola program)
• Shali niman Gharwali se
• Babuni banli Babua
• Abhimanyu badh
• Najar ladal
• Hak deve ke Padi
• Puran prem

Heading text

• Hak Debe Ke Padi
• Hamra Oriya Taki
• Hans Da Piya
• Raja Harishchandra Prasang
• Helja Helja(Ram Kevat Prasang)
• Kans Janam
• Krishna Leela
• Lal Ke Lalak
• Lalit Kalit(Saali Niman Ghar wali se)
• Laxman haran
• Maari Se Maraai(Duryodhan Vadh)
• Puran Prem(Mahabharat Prasang)
• Sant Tulsidas Ka Jeevan Charitra(Rangbaaz Raja)