Revival of Indian classical music form Dhrupad is miraculous
Dhurupad is the shortened and simplified form of “dhurva pad”, the constant, enduring, eternal, lasting, or fixed word, verse, concept, or composition. It is the ancient style of reiterative singing of praise to the gods through the deeply felt and moving rendition of simple phrases or statements.
These spiritual, sometimes royal panegyrics, sung repeatedly, in accordance to the structure of a raga, bound in rhythmic cycles of beats on an accompanying percussion instrument create an elevated mood and consciousness in the audience which can best be described as adhbhutarasa, or wondrous, marvellous affect.
Experience
I was fortunate to experience the extraordinary enchantment of Dhrupad last weekend in Jaipur. I had been invited to give a talk on “The Meaning of India” to a class of study-abroad US college students. On the way back to the elegantly appointed Loharu House where I normally stay, I saw a hoarding announcing the Dhruvapad Festival.
Hosted by the Jawahar Kala Kendra (JKK), the three-day event concluded on September 16. It consisted of a two-day “Sanghoshthi” or symposium on the mornings of September 15 and 16 on the subject of “Naad Yoga in Dhruvapad, Dhruvapad in Present Times”, and musical recitals in the evening.
Of the three evenings, I was able to attend only the last one, yet the experience was unforgettable. Jaipur’s JKK is itself a delightful and innovative performance space, designed by Charles Correa, reminiscent of its older cousin, Bharat Bhavan, in Bhopal, by the same architect. The recital took place in baithak or Indian style in Krishnayan or the “black box” closed theatre. This is a small, intimate space, ideal for such concerts. The performers joined the audience to listen to their peers afterwards, adding to the informality and appeal of the evening.
The opening recital by the father and son duo, Pandit Ramkumar Mallick and Sambit Mallick of the Darbhanga gharana, was nothing short of superb. They represent the 12th and 13th generations respectively of this school of Dhrupad, which goes back to the 18th century. Their deep sonorous notes, purity of rendition, and mastery over three octaves was spell-binding. At the peak of their recital of Raga Shankara, I half imagined the great Lord Mahadeva in magnificent cosmic movement.
After this, we were treated to a pakhawaj recital in the Nathadwara style by Pandit Mohan Shyam Sharma, very ably accompanied by Pandit Ghanshyam Sisodia on the sarangi and Tushar Gharat on the pakhawaj. The maestro not only demonstrated complex bols or syllables, which he first recited but also played sustained and mesmeric drum-beat sequences in between. These had the primal power to put one into a trance, like the fabled damaru or the hand drum of Lord Shiva, symbolic of the celestial rhythm that birthed the shining stars in the endless womb of dark space.
Unfortunately, I had to miss the concluding item by Ustad F Wasifuddin Dagar. But I have been listening to the famed Dagarvani style of Dhrupad since college days, having had the privilege of listening not only to the “original” late Dagar Bandhu, Ustad Mohiuddin and Ustad Fariduddin Dagar.
Revival
Later, I followed and admired some of their great students such as the famous Gundecha Brothers and Pt Uday Bhawalkar. The Dagar family traces its ancestry to Swami Haridas, the guru of Akbar’s court musician, Tansen. Though converted to Islam long back, it has been the loyal and peerless custodian of this Hindu musical tradition, whose roots go back to the chanting of the Samaveda. One cannot find a better example of subcontinental interreligious synergy and solidarity for all humankind’s spiritual uplift.
The revival of Dhrupad in the last three or four decades is nothing short of miraculous. It demonstrates the power of parampara or tradition that survives despite the heaviest odds, because of ancestral tapascharya, trans-generational persistence of penance and practice.
Ziauddin Khan Dagar, the father of the senior Dagar Brothers, was patronised by Maharana Bhupal Singh of Udaipur. After Independence, many great musicians lost their royal sponsors. They took to giving private tuitions. Some went through great penury and privation.
Support
Luckily, some corporate houses, such as ITC, stepped in to support our classical music. Later, government agencies, too, played a key role, especially under the enlightened and visionary leadership of artistically inclined and endowed bureaucrats like Ashok Vajpeyi. The latter not only raised Bharat Bhavan to international heights as a centre for art, music, poetry, and culture, but also established the Dhrupad Kendra in Bhopal under the aegis of the Ustad Allauddin Khan Music Academy.
Kiran Seth was first mesmerised by Dhrupad sung by “Chotte Ustad” Fariduddin Dagar and his duet-partner, Ustad Nasir Aminuddin Dagar, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Kiran was then a student at Columbia. He came back to India and founded SPIC-MACAY, which continues to play a vital role in exposing the youth to Dhrupad and other forms of Indian classical arts. I am glad that Rajasthan, under chief minister Vasundhara Raje’s stewardship, is following this glorious tradition.
I believe that the government of India led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi should create a special 24x7 channel devoted to India’s classical arts. Clearly, DD Bharati, with its mixed and muddled fare, is not enough. Modelled on the PBS, such a channel can be beamed both on TV and aired on FM radio. We have enough programming in AIR and DD archives to make it viable and low-cost. Once it starts generating revenue, it can also promote new performers and artists.
(Courtesy of Mail Today.)