Journey ---- Royal Court to Public Auditorium

Dr. Snigdhatanu Banerjee

         We have to start from our heritage. India is a country of great culture and philosophy. From time immemorial music has been a part of our civilization. Music was considered a way of salvation of mankind in Indian philosophy. The education system was temple-oriented. Along   with history, science, philosophy,politics,religion,economics etc. muisic was also a part of that system. In the Vedic age the tradition of ‘Acharya’(pathfinder,exponent of high esteem having profound knowledge in any subject) was prevalent. There was the existence of parampara(tradition) of “Acharya and Shishya”( Shishya means disciple). The objective of “Acharya-Shishya Parampara” was to generate anumber of wise, dedicated disciples. In this system all the subjects were discussed and cultivated with logic. In the temples concerts were performed by the “Acharya-Shishya Parampara”. In the presence of the king along with the guests and musicologists(one who knows the laws of music and can explain them as well) coming from other places,the important concepts and theories of music were discussed. Afterwards the concepts  were added to the music treatise while accepted a decision by all. So, most of the time the concepts in the music treatise by the musicologists of ancient ages are found no difference.

      At the same time there was an existence of performers who used to sing or play instruments or dance. They earned their livelihood by performing music before the common people as well as the aristocrat families. The logic portions of music were neglected in their performances because they imitated the music of “Acharya-Shishya Parampara”. This was the basic difference between the “Acharya-Shishya Parampara” and that musician class.

      Till 13^th /14^th century there was no such division in Indian music. The age of Sultanate(from1192 AD to 1526 AD) and the age of Mughals(from 1556AD to 1757 AD) are considered themedieval period or the middle age in the history of India. The temple culture was about to abolish in this period. So, the tradition of Acharya and Shishya was also in danger. Some of the Acharyas managed to shift themselves from North India to South India. There they started modifying the tunes of the regional music and brought about the new style and advancementment of South Indian Classical music. In North India, court music took the position in place of temple oriented music. The mere musician class established their footings in the court and got the privelage of being patronized by the emperors and royal families as a result. These musician class, during the middle half of 18^th century enabled to establish exclusive innovative style of their performance, which is known as ‘Gharana’ in Hindustani music. Gharana is an exclusive character in Hindustani music. There is no trace of gharana in South Indian music.

      ‘Raga’ is the base of Indian music. It is the soul of music which expresses the appropriate sentiment. Indian Classical music can be divided into two parts mainly – Hindustani music or North Indian music and Carnatic music or South Indian music. Ofcourse, a parallel stream of music has been continuing from time immemorial. They were called regional songs. The musicologists classicized(modified) them or elevated the tunes of the songs to certain characters and included them as ragas. In this way they enriched the world of classical music.

      Now the time has come to think over. Hindustani music is losing its glory day by day. The Indians once very much aware, are quite indifferent to the rag-raginis(traditional melodies of India) and our  heritage today. Why this situation has happened and we are going to forget the ‘Khayal Gayaki’(exclusive style of performance) that started its journey more than seven hundred years ago? Let’s get into this world andfind the origin of Khayal and its development and at the same time the new trend of performance in this modern age.

      The origin of the word ‘Khayal’ is Arabic, which means imagination, quality, aristocrat, classic etc. There are so many forms still prevalent in Hindustani music such as Dhrupad, Khayal, Tarana, Tappa, Thumri etc. Dhrupad and Khayal are the two ideal forms through which the essence of raga can be purely and properly expressed. Both of these forms were included as court music. In the reign of the Mughal emperor Shahjahan the form of Khayal was upgraded and taken as court music.

      In the evolution of Khayal, three types are heard which have been put down by the historians and musicologists in the authentic books like ‘Aain E Aakbari’ by Abul Fazal, ‘Rag-Darpan’(1666 AD) by Fakir Ullah, ‘Tuhfat Ul  Hind’(1670 AD) by Mirza Khan etc.

      Music was highly prohibited in the ‘Koran’. But in ‘Aulia’ community the Sufi saints believed that there was no harm in praising to the Supreme through music. This was the starting phase of music and culture among the Islams. Those who used to sing ‘Kaul’(a kind of music heard in Delhi of 16^th century referred in  ‘Aain E Aakbari’ by Abul Fazal ) were called ‘Quawal’. In the 16^th century the Khayal singers were also known as ‘Quawal’ and their disciples as ‘Quawal Bacche’. A type of Kaul , religious by nature was called ‘Quawali’. The Kaul, popular and cultured in the elite class or aristocrat families and was probably familiar as ‘Khayal-Kaul’ by Amir Khusro(from 1253 AD to 1324 AD ) and his followers. These lyric based songs were sung with medium and fast tempo. This type of music was the eulogy of the Mohammad with a typical embellishment of notes known as ‘Fikraband’.

      Another Khayal was populared by Sultan Hussain Sah Sharki of Jaunpur (middle of 15^th century), known as ‘Chutkal Khayal’. It was also sung with medium and fast tempo. The first stanza of this type was bound with rhythm and the rest of which was sung in tune only and according to Quawali. The use of ‘Fikraband’ was also found. Afterwards the followers took only the first portion of this style which was bound with rhythm and named them ‘Asthai Khayal’. This khayal was also lyric based.

       Lastly ‘Kalavanti Khayal’ which was a  agreat contribution by Sah Sadarang, pseudoname of Ustad Niyamat Khan, a great performer, composer and exponent of Seni gharana , influenced with diversity in the Hindustani music. Simple Braj/Brij language was used in this Khayal. The theme of the Khayal style was either related to the description of several female characters or the description of nature; otherwise the expression of the character of sounds and sometimes of about god and goddess. Tabla was accompanied as drummed instrument and the taals (number of beats) that of which in vogue were Ektaal, Teentaal, Tilwada, Punjabi, Jhumra, Adachautaal, Khayal taal, Addha, Sawari etc. The taal Sidharkhani was in practice among the musicians of Delhi in the subsequent years of Sadarang. There was an existence of ‘Alap’(an exclusive method to unfold a raga without rhythm) at the beginning and then Vilambit(slow) tempo was executed followed by medium and fast tempo. The use of ‘Fikraband’ and the execution of rhythm like Dhrupad performance were produced. This Khayal was of the middle of 18^th century.

      To understand the ‘Gayaki’ we have to know what the ‘Gharana’ is. An exclusive style in the performance(gayaki) only appears when a performer undergoes the tutelage of a guru(pathfinderor trainer) for years. He(the learner) learns the discipline of steps of the form, character of the raga and how to unfold those ragas with proper articulation and the exercise of voice culture in vocal music. So, the discipline(regularity and punctuality) and rigorous(proper and systematic) practice are responsible for the performer to develop his gayaki. Only gharana system (because “Acharya-Shishya Parampara” is no more today) is effective for a performer to build up his gayaki.

      Literally the word ‘Gharana’ means royal family or aristocrat family. But in Hindustani music the word stands for a family of musicians or a collection of performers who follow some special characteristics to their exponents or pioneer acclaimed exuberant erudition.

      In the gharana system the followers of the exponent do not merely or blindly imitate the devices or steps. There should be a consistency of steps in the performance among the followers that resemble one to another and prove the continuity of this system. According to musicologists the flow of the system is considered as ‘Gharana’ when there at least three generations are seen to have set their consistency of performance.

      The gharana may be classified by the name of the exponent of a gharana or according to the name of a definite place or family. For example, Ustad Alladiya Khan , in spite of being a maestro of Jaipur-Atrauli gharana , by his innovative power became the pioneer of ‘Alladiya Gharana’ which was named after him. Gwalior gharana, Agra gharana, Kirana gharana, Patiyala gharana etc. were named after the places. Seni gharana is an example which was named in the memory of Tansen, a great performer, musician and composer of all ages, after his death.

       Howevere, the gharana demands the speciality by dint of elaboration or expansion of notes with simplicity or intricacy,use of different embellishments by articulation of sounds and certain steps which are very exclusive in a gharana. The fundamental of each gharana is same but the steps which bring about the difference in order or character perpetuate the distinction of the gharanas at last.

       At present the style or the type of Khayal we usually hear or sing is deeply associated with the same which was innovated and shaped by Sadarang, a penname of Ustad Niyamat Khan of 18^th century. This style is hardly of 300/350 years old. From various writings of different eminent musicologists we can conceive an idea of the evolution of Khayal gayaki.

       Ustad Ghulam Rasul Khan was a court musician of Nawab (emperor) Asafuddaula at Lucknow. His son in law Shakkar Khan,a brother of which was Makkhan Khan. These two brothers were famous as ‘Quawal Bacche’. Makkhan Khan with his son Natthan Peer Bakhs went to Gwalior and there from it caused the formation of several gharanas.

       If we follow and analise the gayaki of the maestros belonging to several gharanas, we find there occurred numerous interchanges regarding performance among them. Not only they are impressed and influenced by others, they did not hesitate even taking thought-provoking ideas that enriched their own gharanas. So, amalgamation of styles and specific characteristics was seen from one gharana to another. Though the puritans of the gharana were very much alert about this still somehow any maestro or trend setter by their creative minds succeeded to add some specialities to advance their gharana. We have a number of examples in support of this fact.

       Ghagge Khuda Bakhs, son of Miya Shyamrang or Kaiyam Khan of Agra got immense taleem(lesson,learning) of Khayal from Nattan Peer Bakhs of Gwalior. He acquired knowledge for fourteen years. There was no existence of Khayal in Agra gharana before Khuda Bakhs learnt Khayal from Natthan Peer Bakhs. So, Khuda Bakhs played a vital role to add the characteristics of Gwalior Khayal gayaki to Agra gharana. As a result Khayal gayaki in Agra gharana began and India has achieved a high quality of maestros and performers of Agra gharana. Ustad Ghulam Abbas Khan was the son of Ustad Ghagge Khuda Bakhs. Ghulam Abbas received vocal training from his father and gave immense taleem to his grandson Ustad Faiyaz Khan(Prem Piya) who elevated this gharana into a high position.

        Ustad Alladiya Khan of Jaipur Atrauli gharana was highly impressed by Mubarak Ali Khan’s gayaki,specially by taan(an embellishment which is applied very fast in Khayal) portions. Jaipur Atrauli gharana had a great tradition of Dhrupad and Khwaja Ahmad Khan,father of Alladiya Khan was a court musician of Jodhpur court. He was a renowned Dhrupad singer and used to sing Khayal following the tradition of Manarang. Alladiya, the death of his father acquired entire taleem from his uncle Ustad Zahangeer Khan. Afterwards, Alladiya Khan became a trend setter of a new Khayal gayaki which was named after Alladiya Khan himself ‘Alladiya Gharana’.

       In the tradition of gharana we also find that an artist of  a gharana underwent training from a guru of a different gharana. For example, Maghubai Kurdikar of Alladiya gharana , mother of Kishori Amonkar, got maximum taleem from Alladiya Khan and his younger brother Ustad Haider Khan. Afterwards she had a training under Ustad Vilayat Khan of Agra gharana. Kishori Amonkar, besides her mother got training from Ustad Anwar Hussain Khan, brother of Ustad Khadim Hussain Khan of Atrauli gharana.

       There was a connection between Agra gharana and Atrauli gharana. This Atrauli branch was different from that of Jaipur-Atrauli gharana. Ustad Ata hussain Khan(Ratan Piya), son of Ustad Mehbub Khan(Daras Piya) of Atrauli though learnt from his father initially but was familiar as a disciple of Ustad Faiyaz Khan of Agra gharana.

       In course of this discussion it should not be irrelevant that Ustad Ghulam Rasul Khan, a court singer of Nawab Asafuddaula at Lucknow taughttwo brothers Shakkar Khan and Makkhan Khan who were known as ‘Quawal Bacche’. They brought their gayaki to Gwalior. After the sudden death of Shakkar Khan his son Bade Mohammad Khan went to Rewa and became a court singer of that state.Mubarak Ali Khan, son of Bade Mohammad Khan was patronized by the king of Jaipur. Natthan Peer Bakhs, son of Makkhan Khan got the patronage of the king of Gwalior. He trained his son Kader Bakhs as well as his grandsons Hassu Khan, Haddu Khan and Natthu Khan. Though the grandsons received taleem from Natthan Peer Bakhs, the scholars and old musicians found dissimilarity of performance between Natthan Peer Bakhs and his grandsons. The scholars sought the reason and found the influence of Bade Mohammad Khan because of his coming to Gwalior for a long time. The objective of this discussion is that the Khayal gayaki which hailed from Lucknow and which is still prevalent somehow related to the ‘Quawal Bacche’ gayaki or the Quawals. Through Gwalior gharana the gayaki spread out all over India and enriched all the gharanas.

       Let’s discuss the gayaki. The basic or the fundamental theory of each gharana is same.Differences take place by the application and articulation of sounds and the sequence of steps which are more or less seen in all the gharanas.Some special features in the application are emphasized in a particular gharana which shows the difference from other gharanas.

       In Khayal, the existence of ‘Ashtang Gayaki’(eight characters of the style of singing) is heard. Though there is a difference of opinion among the gharana artists, still with a keen observation and analysis we may gather these eight characters that emerge with its entity.

       The eight characters may be illustrated in the following ways ----

1. 1.       Nayaki of the Vandish   ----    The disciple undergoes training to his Guru(trainer),the undistorted and original shape of the Vandish(composition) which one has been continuing generation to generation, while being presented by the disciple in the same manner, is called ‘Nayaki’ of the Vandish.
2. 2.       Gayaki of the Vandish         ----          The rendition of the composition with excellence by the artist’s own imagination other than the expression of ‘Nayaki’ is called gayaki of the Vandish.
3. 3.       Vistaar     ----    Three kinds of Khayal are heard of which the ‘Kalavanti Khayal’ innovated by Sah Sadarang is the latest one. The influence of Dhrupad is seen in this type of Khayal. ‘Vistaar’ means expansion. According to gharanas two kinds of expansion have been observed; such as expansion of musical notes(swara) ie, Sa, Re Ga, Ma etc. and expansion of phrases(certain combination of notes which are fixed in the raga; ragas can easily be expressed through phrases).

                              In the major gharanas like Gwalior, Agra, Jaipur etc. the second one ie, expansion of phrases is followed. For example, we can take a series of notes or phrases along with the notes –

                                                                                                   I

Dha Ni Re Ga re Sa, Ni Dha Ni Re Ga, Re Ga Re Sa, Ma Dha Ni Re Ga, Re Ga Re Ni Re Sa, Ni

   .     .                          .      .    .                                                 .       .                                            .                 .

Re Ga Ma Re Ma Ga, Re Ga Re Sa etc.

In the above, there is an example of raga Yaman where the vistaar or expansion is surrounded by Re Ga Re Sa.

Again in raga Yaman , one of the main phrases  ‘ Dha Ni Re Ga’ may be identical with its

                                                                                           .     .

complementary phrase ‘Ga Ma Dha Ni’.

                            Expansion of notes is noticed specially in Kirana gharana.The notes are expanded through permutation and combination and equal stress is given on each note. This expansion or vistaar may be compared with Dhrupad.

                           ‘Alap’ plays a vital role in Dhrupad.In this process each note is given priority to establish the mood of the raga.The raga is enlightened by the notes one by one in order. In Agra gharana , there is a tradition of alap by ‘Nom-Tom’. After the execution of alap the composition of the Khayal starts. In Gwalior gharana there is a tradition of executing ‘Aochhar’ before the composition starts.

                           A term ‘Badhat’ is heard. In spite of controversy with the proper meaning of the word among the musicians, there is no such distinction between vistaar and Badhat by character.

1. 4.       Bahlawa   ----   Slow and weighty taan(embellishment of expansion) comprises Meed(gliding character of note or notes) and Gamak(shaking or quivering of notes) of the phrases of the raga is called Bahlawa.

1. 5.       Bolbat       ----   Distribution of Bol (words of the composition) with rhythm specially in the Vilambit portion .

1. 6.       Boltan      ----    Taan containing Bols.

1. 7.       Layakari    ----   In respect of a fixed tempo the artist shows different variations of the same to make the presentation more attractive. It may be multiples or fractions of the tempo.

1. 8.       Taan   ----    Kind of embellishment, speedy movement of notes specially used in the Drut prtion.

‘Sargam’(utterance of musical notes or swaras) may be included as a different one besides all the above characters considering the trend of adopting this character among the present Khayal singers.

                 The above  mentioned characters by which the gayaki of Khayal may be established are also called ‘Phrases’.The maestros of all gharanas in the past used to follow these phrases. At the starting phase of 20^th century some protagonists came up with their innovative ideas and ameliorated some particular phrases. For instance, we can talk about Ustad Abdul Karim Khan of Kirana gharana.He was much influenced by the style of Dhrupad and inserted ‘Alap’ in the Khayal gayaki. He developed the idea of expansion of notes(swara) with the gayaki of the Vandish. Before that it was beyond one’s  imagination to apply the Vistaar or expansion of notes in the gayaki of Vandish.The alap was used as an introductory part before starting the composition. The objective of alap was to establish the image of the raga.

                  A positive sign of the gharana system is versatility. By dint of this system the same raga appeared with its various kinds and was  included into the treasure of the gharanas. Some gharanas encouraged to go on research to form intricate and exclusive character of ragas by mixing two or more basic ragas. A gharana is alive by its dynamic character.The consistency of gharana is regulated by the gharana artists through specific steps or orders. Each follower of a particular gharana has to obey these orders. It is found very rare that an artist in the gharana appears with some special qualities by his creative mind which may be added to the steps in that particular gharana. Even maestros from different gharanas sometimes took interest to these qualities and did not hesitate to accept. For example, Ustad Abdul Karim Khan of Kirana gharana was much impressed by the application and articulation of notes of Ustad Rahmat Khan of Gwalior gharana. The exclusive rendition of ‘Asthai’ and ‘Antara’ (portions of the composition) and the Badhat by  Ustad Natthan Khan of Agra gharana moved Ustad Alladiya Khan of Jaipur-Atrauli gharana as much as he(Alladiya Khan) was impressed by the pattern of the intricate tans by Ustad Mubarak Ali Khan,son of Ustad Bade Mohammad Khan. This helped Alladiya Khan to form a new style of singing that of which was observed with the development of ‘Alladiya Gharana’.

                    Nowadays  many great maestros of the gharanas have passed away and with them we have also lost the ragas which of those once were sung by them.This is due to the lack of consistency of taleem among the disciples in the gharana. Many of ragas have become unconventional in this way and we are somehow going to lose our tradition in music day by day.

                     This is a lamentable thing that the phrases(characteristics) of Khayal, responsible to create the gayaki more attractive, are missing among theKhayal singers of this present age. Perhaps they(performers) might have listened to those eminent maestros representing the gharanas who emphasized some special characters or phrases and the upcoming artists or learners take only these characters for the ultimate gayaki. Unfortunately scarcity of able and wellversed trainers of the gharanas has made the present situation of Hindustani music more intricate and Khayal gayaki is in distress.

                     The traditional Vandish(composition) carries the quintessence of phrases(certain combination of notes which enable to express the entity of the raga) of ragas. Without taleem (exclusive and systematic training) from a guru, the disciple is not able to find out the actual phrases of the raga. Nowadays in  most of the cases the beginners and the learners of the Khayal style learn to sing the notation of the Vandish being unaware of the conception of the phrases. So, they are only familiar with the tunes of the compositions by which the mood of the raga cannot be properly expressed.

                      Last but not the least,  the taals which were used in the Khayal gayaki are not heard to be accompanied at present. At present  the maximum use of Vilambit(slow tempo) Ektaal and Drut(fast tempo) Teentaal are in practice among the Khayal singers.

                       This is an alarming phase in Hindustani music that the interest of learning and listening rag-raginis among the youngsters is going downward. Then what is the way to regain the glory of Hindustani Classical music ? The performers as well as the researchers and musicologists should sit together to find the present trend of music. They have to evaluate all the ragas still prevalent in all the gharanas and have to come to a conclusion about the application of the ragas by the Khayal singers whether being properly sung or not. The researchers at the same time will put down the course of Khayal gayaki of the present age. Then only the proper improvement of the gayaki(exclusive style of singing being found in the gharana) and the awareness among the mass people may be possible.