Tansen

06/09/08 ; 06/16/08; 06/23/08

 In the history of Hindustani music, there is no name so fascinating as Tansen. Early in seventeenth century, in the village of Baher, seven miles from Gwalior, there lived a Gand brahmin poet Makarand Pande and his wife. The childless couple repeatedly sought the blessings of a Sufi fakir Mohd Ghaus. A male child was born to the couple, and the boy was called by pet names: Tanna, Ramtanu and Trilochan. But later, when the Sufi fakir blessed the boy by putting into his mouth some of the 'pan' from his own, Tanna became a muslim and acquired names such as Atah Ali. But he is known as 'Miyan Tansen' a name conferred upon him later on by Maharaja Ram Niranjan of Gwalior.


     Even as a child, Tansen showed remarkable talent as a ventriloquist. He was actually discovered by some Sadhus of Brindavan who were deeply impressed by the perfect way in which the boy used to imitate the roar of the lion, and scare away human and animal respassers from his father's fields. On their suggestion, Tansen was sent to the famous uru Haridas Swami of Brindavan, for musical training.  A great asetic, scholar musician and composer, Haridas Swami lived in holy Brindavan immersed in the worship of Radha Krishna, and teaching music. He taught Tansen all that he could. When Tansen became a finished artiste, he was made a court-musician by the Rewa king Ramsinghji. 


    Before long, Tansen's fame spread so far that Akbar the Moghul Empero, fetched him to Delhi, and made him one of his 'Nine Gems' of his Court. Tansen became the Emperor's favorite, and Akbar showered affection and honor upon him. Though converted to Islam, out of respect for Mohd Ghaus, Tansen always remained a great devotee of Lord Krishna, and his Guru Swami Haridas. The art of Hindustani music reached its highest peak of glory in Tansen's time.  It was he who perfected  and popularized the difficult and dignified Dhrupads. Tansen's musical followers and  his descendents sang only Dhrupads, and are known as Seniya Gharana. Tansen was not only the greatest Dhrupad singer of all time, but also a great Composer and skilled instrumentalist as well. "For a thousand years there has not been a musician like Tansen" thus wrote Abul Fazal. In cotinuation of this one may as well say: For a thousand years more, there may not be one like Tansen!

Tansen had as his contemporaries a brilliant galaxy of musicians and poets: Baiju Bawra, Ramdas, Surdas, Tulsidas, Meera Bai and others, and was held in great esteem by them all. Especially, poet Surdas and Tansen seem to have been great mutual admirers, a fact which is evident from the numerous lovely verses each was  written by the other. There are similar verses showing in what adoration Tansen was held by his contemporaries. For instance, one exclaims,'Tansen's taan-s  cast a spell over the entire world. Men, Gods and all beings become charmed by his music'. Similarly there is an exquisite poem written by a poet Sripathi of that time, which ends with the following line: 'Akbar Shahe naran pathi, Tansen a tanan pathi', which means 'Akbar is the Lord of men, Tansen the Lord of music'. Literally, 'taan' means a musical composition of notes. 

Who has not heard of miracles wrought by Tansen's divine music, how he could  ignite fires or light lamps by singing Raag Deepak, cause clouds to gather and burst into torrential rains by singing Megh or Miyan-ke-Malhar, or, inspire dry plants and trees to draw sap and burst into buds and flowers thru Raag Bahaar, and so on ?  This however was one facet of his many-sided greatness. Another has been preserved for us thru his immortal compositions.  Some of the most dignified melodious and universally loved Raaga-s  of the Hindustani musical system, are his creations. For instance:  Darbari-Kanada,  Miyan-ki-Todi,  Miyan-ki-Malhar, Miyan-ki-Saarang etc.  Not a day goes without our listening to these  Raaga-s or Dhrupad-s  of his, that have been handed down from generation to generation of his musical descendents.

Tansen is also said to have been the author of two very valuable books: 'Sangeeta Saara' and 'Raag Maala'. Last but not the least, was his proficiency as a Beenkaar.  His daughter's line continued the Gharana of Beenkaars, while his son's line maintained a great tradition of Rababiyas. His son-in-law was no other than the reputed Beenkaar Misri Sing who after marrying Tansen's daughter Saraswati, became Naubat Khan. While three of Tansen's sons: Surat Sen, Sarat Sen. and Tarang Sen, never became famous, his son Bilas Khan proved to be a worthy son of a worthy father, and became a famous singer. There is a touching story of how his pathetic and impassioned rendering of the plaintive Bilaskhani Todi ( a Raaga spontanously created by him in his grief), at the death of his great father, moved even the corpse so that the right hand of Tansen's lifeless body rose and blessed the singer ! 

  
   Even after Tansen reached the dizzy heights of fame, he ever remained a humble pupil and devotee of Haridas. His esteem compelled even Emperor Akbar to visit Brindavan to hear the great Guru. Regard forTansen was such that the Emperor himself and his entire familywere  at Tansen's bedside during his last hours on earth. And when his great Soul left its earthly home to join the immortals, the Emperor's   over-whelming grief  broke out in verse which roughly meant: "Gone are the musical gatherings from the earth! Tansen could make Raagas smile, sport and speak. All is gone with him." The humble Memorial to this immortal musician in Gwalior, is still the place of piligrimage of all music lovers.


      Well, that was the brief exposition of some of the facts in the life of India's most famous legendary Singer.