On Hindustani music’s influential mystery

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The historical figure I would love to meet is Niyamat Khan, whose pen name is
Sadarang. Not because he comes across as the most fascinating character; in
fact, it’s the opposite. He’s a most influential Indian about whom little is
known.
If you have heard Bhimsen Joshi or Rashid Khan or any Hindustani music, you
are familiar with the work of Niyamat Khan.
Almost every raga has a standard composition by Sadarang, and we know for
certain it is his because the author has inserted his name into the lyric.
Whether you want to sing an ode to Shiva, to Krishna, a song about lust, or,
since this is the appropriate season, about rain clouds, there is no escaping
Niyamat Khan.
We know his work, then, but we don’t know the man.
He is described by The Oxford Encyclopaedia of the Music of India in the first
line as the “pioneer of khayal ”. Before him, there was only dhrupad and
qawwali . He was born around 1670 and died in 1747.
His father Lal Khan sang in the court of Aurangzeb (must not have had much
work). The old man was open-minded and Niyamat was made to learn Sanskrit
and poetics from a scholar called Devdutta. Then, for three decades, from
1719 to his death, Niyamat Khan sang in the court of emperor Muhammad
Shah. He also taught the women of the harem, the encylopaedia says,
particularly two women called Kamalbai and Pannabai.
“In his compositions in honour of the emperor,” Niyamat Khan “addressed him
as Rangile, to signify the colourful and usually ebullient mood of the emperor
and his obsession with art and music”.
In many of these, Sadarang cleverly fuses his own name with his Rangile’s in
lines like “ mora sainyya sada rangeelay”.
To me this is playful and lovely, but for some reason, historians dislike
Muhammad Shah and the word Rangila was taught to us in the SSC history
book with contempt.
Pakistani scholar Daud Rahbar called Rangila the “Nero of Islam” because it
was in his reign that Nadir Shah sacked Delhi and the Marathas became finally
dominant.
In his Fall of the Mughal Empire, Jadunath Sarkar has two pages on
Muhammad Shah’s character. He lists with dislike the emperor’s fondness for
hunting, dope and womanizing, but has no words, even of disdain, on his
sustained and enthusiastic patronage of music.
Sarkar’s predecessor, William Irvine who wrote Later Mughals , also ignores
this aspect and there is nothing in either work on Sadarang.
Ordinarily, the place to turn to for information on a Mughal courtier would be
the Maathir ul Umara . This is a set of 734 biographies of men from the time of
Akbar to about 1770 or so. Unfortunately, the authors only list nobles who held
martial rank above a certain level. They are only interested in “ maar-
faad ” (violence) as we say in Gujarati.
There’s nothing on the great Tansen, for instance, other than a passing
reference in the biography of Ram Chand Baghel, from whom Akbar took the
singer, giving him Rs.2 lakh on debut. Birbal gets in, but only because he led
an army against the Yousufzais in Swat and Bajaur (unfortunately, he’s not as
clever as Amar Chitra Katha promised us, and he loses his way and is killed
during the campaign).
There is nothing on Sadarang, and I so wish there was. What I am looking for
is the smaller things that reveal much. I was astonished to read somewhere
that what Ghalib drank was Old Tom gin. The British had been trading with
India for 250 years by the time of the Mutiny which ruined Ghalib, so it
shouldn’t be surprising. But the idea of Ghalib sipping gin is for some reason
incongruous.
Anyway, The Oxford Encyclopaedia ’s source for its information is listed as the
Aftab-namah . I tried finding it, and the Punjab University in its catalogue lists
a manuscript called Ikhtisar Tawarikh Mirat e Aftab Numa , by Abdur Rahman
and calligraphed by Ganda Singh.
I’m not sure if this is the document the encyclopaedia refers to. The text is 55
pages of 15 lines each, which makes it thin, and it is apparently on many
people, not just Sadarang. The original, the catalogue says, is “lying in the
Central State Library, Patiala, and was full of errors”.
That’s not encouraging. The encyclopaedia says his music “showed an affinity
to the dhrupads of the time” and that he had “impressive knowledge of Braj-
bhasha, Punjabi, Rajasthani, Avadhi and to some extent Persian”.
But what did he look like? How did he sing? What happened to him after the
sack of Delhi? We will never know. It’s like nothing was known about Mozart
and Beethoven other than their music. This is information gleaned from his
music.
Historians are bang on about the Great Mughals, but the Taj will vanish one
day and Shah Jahan’s most precious creation, the peacock throne, is already
gone. Little of Akbar’s legacy survives, but it is Muhammad Shah, the Nero of
Islam, whose gift to us remains in the form of Sadarang’s work. One of the
meanings of Niyamat is boon or blessing. How appropriate.
Meanwhile, go to YouTube and search for “Raag Shankara Bhimsen Rashid”.
The first link is a Doordarshan video. It begins with a short and brilliant
introduction on Lord Shiva by Vilayat Khan. Then listen to the work of the
mystery man who calls out to us so powerfully from so long ago.

http://www.livemint.com/Leisure/JgsUlDCJIt0e5lHAS2VZCL/On-Hindustani-musics-influential-mystery.html

 

[Lalashersingh]

hindustani muslim = mostly muslim invention, so why is it called hindustani?

 

[Grevion]

hindustani muslim = mostly muslim invention, so why is it called hindustani?

Because it is a invention of an Hindustani(Indian)

 

[jayron]

hindustani muslim = mostly muslim invention, so why is it called hindustani?

Ignorance is bliss. Hindustani music is North Indian music. Swar, Raag ,Taal are all Indian terms. There is a reason Hindustani music is not present outside India and Pakistan.

 

[manlion]

hindustani muslim = mostly muslim invention, so why is it called hindustani?

Hindustani music originated in the 13th Century in the Mughal courts, its roots are Persian e.g Ghazal

 

[Lalashersingh]

Ignorance is bliss. Hindustani music is North Indian music. Swar, Raag ,Taal are all Indian terms. There is a reason Hindustani music is not present outside India and Pakistan.

yes but mostly by muslims

 

[manlion]

Indians keep boasting that they have a 5000 yr old history or is that a civilisation, why then is the Hindustani music only 700 yrs old ??

The most influential musician from the Delhi Sultanate period was Amir Khusrau (1253-1325), sometimes called the father of Hindustani classical music. A prolific composer in Persian, Turkish, Arabic, as well as Braj Bhasha, he is credited with systematizing many aspects of Hindustani music, and also introducing the ragas Zeelaf and Sarparda. He created the genre of the qawwali, which fuses Persian melody and beat on a dhrupad like structure. A number of instruments (such as the sitar) were also introduced in his time.

 

[anonymus]

Hindustani music originated in the 13th Century in the Mughal courts, its roots are Persian e.g Ghazal

Hindustani music has following compositions.

1.Dhrupad: Oldest form and also mentioned in sangeet ratnakar by bharat muni. It start with an anubandha called alap and follow following jod which is alap sung at a faster pace then sthayi-> Antara -> sanchari -> abhog.

It has a counterpart in Carnatic music in form of Ragam-> Tanam-> Pallavi

2. Khyal: A muslim version of Dhrupad (origin wise) having more freedom in structure and form.

3. Dhamar : Describes plays of krishna

4. Thumri: Romantic music inspired from bhakti movement.

5. Tappa: songs of camel drivers in rajasthan.

6. tarana: no meaningful words, fast tempo

7.Sabdas : devotional music of sikhs

8.Qawwali : songs based on theme of one god.

9. Ghazal: Erotic poetry ( which came pretty late trollo)

yes but mostly by muslims

See above post.

Indians keep boasting that they have a 5000 yr old history or is that a civilisation, why then is the Hindustani music only 700 yrs old ??

Always count on a chinese to be an Idiot.