My name is Ishan das. I created the Balaram mridanga in L.A. It is really quite a story. But I’ll give you the brief version.
Some time in 1972-73 Srila Prabhupada saw that the East Indians were not carrying on the tradition of making the original mridangas and kartals. The younger generation who would normally take over the arts from their fathers were becoming more and more interested in going to school and going to the cities. They were thinking that working with leather making the drums and such was a lower class of activity. So Srila Prabhupada sent out a letter to all the GBCs indicating that some men should be sent to India to learn these arts.
At that time I was in the temple of Jagadisha who was Srila Prabhupada’s Minister of education and a GBC member. Somehow by being alone in Jaggadish’s office I glanced at what was there on the desk, etc. and saw a letter expressing Srila Prabhupada’s desire in this connection.
That was all I had to see. This was the project for me. It was a way that I could do something that Srila Prabhupada wanted done. Jaggadisha sanctioned my participation in this adventure. But I would have to raise my own fare. Because I was married and had one child, the decision was made that Brajadevi would go to Gurukula in Dallas and my wife and I would go to India.
I have never been very adept at raising money. I did have in my possession a set of the three Bahagawatams that Srila Prabhupada had brought from India. I sold the set for about $200 dollars to a man who used to visit the Toronto temple. When I returned to Canada, after my time spent in India, I begged that man to please, please sell them back to me. But he would not hear of it.
In that letter from Srila Prabupada, he also mentioned that he wanted some devotees to take up the practice of making “dolls”. All these things had to be learned from the masters or those arts in India. Srila Prabhupada had personally selected the teachers. The learning was to be done on our land in Mayapur. The professional drum and doll makers would come to teach the devotees, during the daytime and then return to their villages in the evening.
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