TANSEN'S DESCENDANTS IN VARANASI

[chapter 4]

Varanasi is the holiest of all holy cities of India. It is regarded as the abode of the "Mahadeva " the great lord of the universe who is also the world teacher or the "Jagatguru". Sastras say that all divine and mundane knowledge emanated from "Mahadeva". As the teacher of all beings he imparted the divine knowledge and other learnings including the "Gandharva Vidya" the musical art to the various gods and goddesses;, the celestial beings and the "Risis". With this tradition glowing throughout the ancient period and the middle ages, Varanasi has always been a great centre of spiritual culture, learnings and arts. It has also been a centre of the highest type of classical musical culture. Most of the historians say that Mian Tansen, whose name was Ramtanu in his early days, was born and brought up in Varanasi. His father Makaranda Pande was a Kathak Brahmin who used to sing mythological songs in th temples of Varanasi. Ramtanu Pande was initiated In Gandharva Vidya or classical music by Swami Haridas of Vrindavana and later on got initiation in the Sufi cult from Hazarat Md. Ghous of Gowalior. Ramatanu was named " Mian Tansen by the Emperor Akbar when he was acclaimed as the greatest musician of India and the authority of Dhruvapada and was posted in the Delhi Darbar as his musical 'Guru'. After the death of Mian Tansen, his descendants also adorned the court of Delhi for a long period. But from the days of Mian Tansen all the musicians of his line paid regular visits to Varanasi as their original home.

During the end of the eighteenth century gradual disintegration of the Moghul Empire was taking place. At that period Tansen's descendants were divided into three Gharanas of musicians. The Gharana founded by his eldest son Surat Sen took its final abode at Jaipur. The musicians of these Gharanas used to sing in Dhruvapada style and play instrumental music on the Sitar. The illustrious Gharanas formed by Tansen's youngest son, Bilas Khan and son-in-law, Misri Singhji, were in close connection with each other all along. The Descendants of Bilas Khan were specialists in the Dhruvapadas of "Suddha Bani" and in the instrumental music of "Rabab". (The descendants of "Misri Singji were regarded as the authorities in the instrumental music of 'Veena' and they used to sing Dhruvapadas in the "Dagor Bani " and "Khander Bani". During the later part of the eighteenth century Jaffar Khan, Payar Khan and Basat Khan were three brothers of great reputation representing the Gharana of Bilas Khan. They used to play on the 'Rabab' and sing Dhruvapadas. On the other hand Nirmul Shah was a great Veena player, representing the line of Misri Singhji. All these musicians representing the two Gharanas made Varanasi their home as they left Delhi during their early years. . Their houses were situated in the Kabir Choura Mahalla of Varanasi. They were attached with the court of Lucknow and used to pass most of their time at Lucknow. But during the Puja holidays, they always used to reassemble in their home at Varanasi. They had also connections with the Darbar of the Kashi Raj and whenever called by the Raja, they used to give demonstrations of their music in the Darbar of the Raja, who gave them lands free of taxes. Jaffer Khan was a great instrumentalist in "Rabab". This instrument had its lower part covered by the skin parchment and strings used in it were made of the "Guts".

It's display had no parallel in the "'Jod" style and Tar - Peran, but In the "Vilambita Alap" and "Jhala" this instrument of Veena was unrivalled. Although closely related, Jaffar Khan had to compete with Nirmul Shah in the demonstrations of instrumental music in the courts of Lucknow and Kashi. In order to equal the charms of the Veena which was displayed with great skill and sweetness by Nirmul Shah, Jaffar Khan invented the instrument of Sursringara, in which the lower part was made of hollow wood and steel plates were set in the upper part and the strings used were of steel and brass. It was in Varanasi that Jaffar Khan first made his Surasringar and gave his first demonstration of this instrument in the court of Raja Udit Narayan Singh of Kashi His display was very highly appreciated by the Raja and also by Nirmul Shah, the Veenkar.

After the invention of Surasringar by Jaffar Khan, Payar Khan, his next brother specialised in this instrument and. added some fascinating ornamentations in the style of its display. After the death of Nirmal Shah, Omrao Khan, his nephew took up the position of the greatest Veena player of his time. It was he who invented the instrument "Surbahar" and taught Golam Mohammed Khan its mode of display. Varanasi saw many friendly Duels of instrumental music between Payer Khan and Omrao Khan in Surasringar and Veena. The next brother of Payar Khan, Basat Khan was a great Vocalist in Dhruvapada and also a great Rababi. He learnt Sanskrit from the Pandits of Varanasi and later on obtained the title of "Sangita Nayak" in the Sabha of Raja Hera Kumar Tagore at Calcutta. After the Sepoy Mutiny, the Lucknow Darbar was dissolved. Basat Khan, with his two illustrious sons, Ali Md. Khan, the Surasringar Player and Md. Ali Khan, the Vocalist and Rebabi settled finally at Gaya. But Sadek Ali Khan. the son of Jaffar Khan and his brother Misar Ali Khan became attached to the court of the Raja of Varanasi. Sadek Ali Khan was a great musicologist and excelled in Rabab. He could play Veena also very efficiently. He also was intimately associated with the Sanskrit Scholars of Varinasi and was an erudite Scholar in Sanskrit and Persian languages. The Raja had a great respect for him. It is said that Sadek Ali Khan had no equal in the improvisations of "Ladi-Jod" "Lad Guthao" In the Tarparan he could beat any Mridanga player. He lived like a saint and had a religious temperament. He could not tolerate the music of lighter moods. He taught Rabab only to his younger brothers. But he had many disciples of Dhruvapada and in the instrumental music of Veena and Sitar. The most outstanding of them was the Sitaria Bajpayeji. Mahesh Chandra Sarkar and Methailallji were his disciples in Veena. Sri Ramkrishna Paramahansadev, when he went to Varanasi on pilgrimage, listened to the Veena of Mahesh Sarkar and was absorbed in "Samadhi."

After the death of Sadek Ali Khan, Ali Md. Khan, the eldest son of Sangeet Nayak Basat Khan was appointed by the Raja of Varanasi as the chief musician of his court. At that time he lost his father at Gaya and he came to settle at Varanasi. His residence was in Ramnagar, where the place of the Raja was situated. Ali Md. Khan was a very liberal minded musician and used to play on his Surasringar before his disciples without any reservation. He had profound knowledge of Ragas and could develop any Raga for hours without any repetitions of the Tanas. He trained up Pannalal Jain, Arjundas Vaidya, a practitioner in the Ayurvedic Medicines and Gaya Prasad Misra in Surasringar. Syed Mir Nassir Khan of Jalandhar was his most accomplished disciple in Surasringar. He also imparted lesson's on the local music of Dhruvapada and instrumental music on Veena and Surasringar to the great Veena Player, Wazir Khan Saheb of Rampur, who during his early youth visited Varanasi frequently to meet Ali Md. Khan, who was related to him closely. Ali Md. taught the famous Bengali musician, late Hari Narayan Mukherjee many Dhruvapadas and Sargams. Another Bengali gentleman of aristocratic family received kind attention from the great Ostad. He was the late Taraprosad Ghosh, who was well known in Calcutta for his charities towards the musicians. Taraprosad learnt many songs from Ali Md. Khan. Md. Ali Khan, the younger brother of Ali Md. who used to stay at Gayafrequently visited his elder brother for lessons on Rabab. Both these brothers outshone all other famous musicians of that period who used to visit Varanasi. After the death of Ali Md. the great vacuum in the sphere of classical music of Varanasi could not be filled up. The remaining few musicians of Tansen's tradition were settled in the states of Rampur and Jaipur. It is a great pity that, with the disappearance of the descendants of Tansen the culture of the Dhruvapada music and Veena gradually disappeared from Varanasi. The last of the Dhruvapadias was the late Hari Narayan Mukherjee and of the Veena Players was the late Mithailallji.

Varanasi even now is a centre of all traditional culture. There are the multifarious institutions to continue the studies of various subjects of ancient Indian Culture. We do hope that in Varanasi the culture of the classical Dhruvapada music and the classical instrumental music of Veena and Rabab would not remain neglected for ever.

Pt. Birendra Kishore Roy Choadhury - bio |  table of contents | chapter 5