Irfan
Zuberi: Pandit ji, please tell us something about
Gwalior and its cultural heritage.
Pandit
Laxman Krishnarao Pandit: Gwalior has been described
as the 'cultural capital' of India by Fakhirullah, one
of the governors of the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb.
I will talk about the golden period of Gwalior which
was during the reign of Raja Man Singh Tomar (1486-1516).
He is known as the 'father of dhrupad' due to the patronage
he gave to music in general and this form of Indian
classical music in particular. He was the one who got
the ancient dhrupad verses which were earlier in Sanskrit
and Pali translated into Braj bhasha. One strand of
scholars contend that Braj bhasha came into existence
in Gwalior and then spread all over India.
Raja
Man Singh Tomar was a great visionary and collected
all great musicians of the country at the time in his
court and it boasted of 7 nayaks (experts of both theory
and practice of music). I remember the names of Nayak
Baiju, Nayak Bakhshu, Nayak Dhondu and Nayak Charju.
It is also a historical fact that out of a total of
36 musicians in the country during those times, 20 were
in Gwalior. Raja Man Singh Tomar organized a music conference
in those days and then he wrote the book 'Mankautuhal'
which got lost in the course of history. However, I
believe it was translated into Persian by Fakhirullah
a copy of which still exists somewhere.
In the palace of Rani Mrignayani was a music school
where students used to come from in and around Gwalior
and learn from the legendary Nayaks of the court. Tansen
also received his training in this school. In this way,
it can be said that Raja Man Singh Tomar laid the foundation
of music in Gwalior and thus began the Gwalior parampara.
I refrain from using the term gharana since it is a
small word whereas my intention is to indicate a larger
tradition. The most sparkling star in this grand parampara
has of course been the legendary Miyan Tansen.
Then
came the dark period of Gwalior when the palace was
turned into a prison and all the magnificent artifacts
were mauled by the armies of the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb.
This palace was very special because it had 7 stories
underground where the musicians used to sit and practice.
Even in those days when there was no electricity, the
7th underground storey was designed in such a way that
it had light and water.
Scindias
were the next dynasty to take Gwalior under its patronage.
They were the representatives of the Peshwa dynasty
and were very fond of the arts. I will talk about Daultarao
Scindia in particular. He had a number of great musicians
in his court who used to great salaries in hundreds
in those days when even the top officials of the court
used to get a salary of Rs. 20! What made it even better
for these musicians was not just the ambience and patronage
of the Gwalior court but also the love and respect they
commanded in the hearts of the common people. So much
so that in times of dire need, musicians used to go
to the money-lenders and pawn their raags in return
for money!
IZ:
It seems understandable why music flourished in such
an environment. Pt. ji, tell us about the foundation
of the Gwalior gharana of khayal gayaki and about its
originators and how your family came to be linked with
this tradition.
Pt.
LKP: There was a court musician during the time of Daultarao
Scindia called Ustad Nathan Pir Bakhsh and his maternal
grandsons were the legendary Haddu, Hassu and Nathu
Khan. The main musician in the court at the time was
Ustad Bade Mohammad Khan who was famous for his taanbaazi.
The trouble however was that there was a relationship
of professional jealousy between Ustad Nathan Pir Bakhsh
and Ustad Bade Mohammad Khan due to which the latter
refused to teach the former's maternal grandsons even
though they belonged to the same tradition of Shah Sadarang.
The king solved this problem by asking Haddu and Hassu
Khan to sit under his throne hidden from the eyes of
Ustad Bade Mohammad Khan while he sang in the court!
The two youngsters were already talented and knowledgeable
and with this impetus to their style, they picked up
quickly and became good singers of khayal gayaki in
their own right. This can be said to be the critical
moment in the development of khayal gayaki and all the
other gharanas of khayal thus owe their existence to
Gwalior.
One
day the king asked Ustad Bade Mohammad Khan to sing
and asked Haddu and Hassu Khan to follow. Bade Mohammad
Khan saheb was amazed at the singing prowess of the
two youngsters and felt betrayed. He left the court
but did something nasty before leaving. There is a particular
taan called the 'kadak bijli ki taan' which can only
be employed once during a performance due to the pressure
it puts on the lungs. Bade Mohammad Khan praised Hassu
Khan and asked him to take the same taan a second time.
When Hassu Khan took the taan, his lungs got ruptured.
Ustad Nathan Pir Bakhsh tied his turban around Hassu
Khan's chest and asked him to complete the taan even
if it meant his death! Hassu Khan died prematurely but
Haddu Khan lived on and taught many people and remained
an unparalleled khayal singer all his life.
It was during this time that my great great-grandfather
Pt. Ramachandrarao Chinchwadkar came to Gwalior. Him
and his son Pt. Vishnu Pandit Chinchwadkar were great
scholars of Sanskrit language. [Over time, Chinchwadkar
got dropped and we just became Pandits.] They used to
do Sanskrit katha and tell legendary stories accompanied
with music. They came in contact with Nathan Pir Bakhsh
who was looking for someone with good knowledge of Sanskrit
for Hassu and Haddu Khan. Haddu Khan saheb was very
impressed with the four sons of Pt. Vishnu Pandit Chinchwadkar
and accepted them as students. Haddu Khan saheb led
a very strict life and practiced for 9 hours everyday
till his death saying that people could say that I am
old but I cannot tolerate people saying that my gayaki
has become old! So my grandfathers had the good fortune
of learning from someone like him and later Nathu Khan
saheb who was also a great master of tarana and trivat.
After Nathu Khan saheb's death, my grandfather Pt. Shankarrao
Pandit and my father Pt. Krishnarao Shankar Pandit learnt
from Ustad Nissar Hussain Khan saheb, who was the adopted
son of Nathu Khan saheb.
After
the death of Jeevajirao Scindia, the council of ministers
of the court took over and decided to slash the salaries
of musicians at which point Ustad Nissar Hussain Khan
saheb starting living at our place where he stayed till
his death. He was called a 'kothiwala gavaiyya' which
meant that he had a kothi full of knowledge in terms
of raags as well as compositions for dhrupad, khayal,
thumri, tappa, tarana etc. This is the way music came
in our family and it has stayed ever since. My father
also started one of the oldest music schools in India
called Shankar Gandharva Vidyalaya in the year 1914.
We are now the progeny of Haddu and Haddu Khan saheb
since their family does not exist anymore.
