Dhrupad is Becoming a Cultural Enigma

Even as the genre loses its sheen in the country, it is gaining popularity outside India
Deepak S. Raja

If the history of the Dhrupad genre is written in 2050, it will have to reckon with the credible musicianship and scholarly contributions of several Europeans and Americans, along with a few Indians. It is fast becoming a Western genre of Indian origin, performed predominantly for Western audiences by Indians and, increasingly, also by Western musicians.
The term Dhrupad (Dhruva = immutable/ fixed + Pada = Hymn/ verse) refers to a genre of raga-based music which dominated Hindustani music between the 15th and the 18th centuries. Due to the poetic bias of the genre, Dhrupad has its moorings in vocal music. However, instrumental music, mainly the Rudra Veena (popularly known as the Been), has also been an integral part of the genre.

The genre has its roots in the devotional music traditionally performed in the Vaishnava temples of Northern India. The Golden Age of Dhrupad commenced when Emperor Akbar (Reign:1542-1605), invited the legendary Miya Tansen to the Imperial Court. From Delhi, its influence spread far and wide. At its zenith, Dhrupad held sway over the whole of non-peninsular India. While Dhrupad was still at its peak, a variety of pre-Dhrupad and Middle-Eastern musical influences were coalescing to shape the rival Khayal genre.

In the sunset years of the Mughal Empire, leading musicians — so far concentrated in Delhi and its neighbourhood — began migrating to smaller principalities in search of patronage. This created new centres of Dhrupad music, but also exposed Dhrupad musicians to a diverse environment. In their new environs, many lineages of Dhrupad musicians diverted their energies to the Khayal genre, and spearheaded its ascendancy over the receding Dhrupad genre.
By the time of India’s independence, Dhrupad was often described as “a museum piece”. This was more true of the art of the Rudra Veena, than of the vocal art. Dhrupad vocalism could then still boast of a sizeable resource of quality musicianship. Even among Khayal singers, Dhrupad had remained, till then, relevant as an essential part of training — the repository of the sciences of breath control and intonation. It was this resource which enabled a revival.

The revival, such as is evident, was fuelled by the following Dhrupad acquired in Europe, starting from the mid-1960s. It began when the Indologist, Alain Danielou, with UNESCO support, introduced pre-eminent vocalists, Nasir Aminuddin and Nasir Moinuddin Dagar, to Europe. Dhrupad’s burgeoning international constituency stimulated a substantial inflow of fresh talent to the genre.

STYLES IN DHRUPAD MUSIC
Authoritative mediaeval texts mention the four “Bani-s” or styles of Dhrupad music. These classifications were evidently based on the language/ dialect in which the verses were written: “Gaurhar” from Gwalior, “Dagur” from the Dangar region near Delhi, “Khandar” from the Khandar region, and “Nauhar” from the dialect spoken by the Nauhar community. In later years, the four Bani-s came to signify stylistic distinctions.
But, the stylistic distinctions between them are no longer discernible. This is easily explained. With the steady shrinkage in the number of Dhrupad practitioners, aspirants have obviously had to draw musical ideas, perhaps unselectively, from a multiplicity of sources. As a result, the only viable classification in contemporary Dhrupad vocalism is, broadly, between aggressive styles revolving around the poetic-rhythmic axis, and relatively softer styles anchored to the poeticmelodic axis.

THE STRUCTURE
Raga presentation in the Dhrupad genre has a simple and transparent structure, especially when compared to the modern Khayal. A typical Dhrupad presentation has two components:
(1) An alap (Prelude) which is rendered solo, without any poetic content, and without percussion accompaniment. The alap goes through three stages – slow tempo, medium tempo, and brisk tempo.
(2) A Pada (Verse) rendered to percussion accompaniment, along with melodic and rhythmic improvisations. The tempo of percussion accompaniment is generally stable throughout the rendition. The verse could be composed in any of the tala-s accepted in the Dhrupad genre.
THE TALA-S OF DHRUPAD
According to authorities on the genre, orthodox Dhrupad compositions are set basically to six tala-s: Chautala (12 beats), Dhamar (14 beats), Rupaka (7 beats), Tivra (7 beats), Jhaptala (10 beats), and Sulatala (10 beats). Despite a much larger traditional canvas of rhythm, contemporary Dhrupad restricts itself almost entirely to Chautala, Dhamar, and Sulatala.

GHARANAS OF DHRUPAD

Though scholars recognise five gharana-s or stylistic lineages of Dhrupad as being in existence, only the first three listed here are represented on the concert platform.
(a) The Dagar gharana: This is the oldest gharana having been founded by Nayak Haridas Dagar in the 16th century. Its descendents converted to Islam in the 18th century. In recent times, its most eminent representatives have been vocalists, Nasir Moinuddin Dagar (1919-1966) and Nasir Aminuddin Dagar (1923-2002) and the Been maestro, Zia Moiddin Dagar (1929-1990).
(b) The Darbhanga gharana was founded in the 18th century by two brothers, whose descendents have carried the “Mallik” surname. In post-independence era, the most distinguished musicians of this lineage have been Ramchatur Mallik (1906-1990) and Vidur Mallik (1936-2002).
(c) The Bettiya gharana was founded in the 17th century, and wielded tremendous influence in the entire Eastern region. Bettiya is represented, on the contemporary concert platform, by Indrakishore Mishra (born: 1957).
(d) The Talwandi gharana originated in North-west India, now in Pakistan, and is currently based in Lahore. Very little is known about its contemporary musicianship.
(e) The Mathura gharana is the oldest gharana of Haveli Sangeet, the Dhrupad tradition of the Vaishnava temples. Though its members have stepped out of the temples, their art has not made a complete transition to the elaborate format of contemporary classical Dhrupad.

DHRUPAD TODAY

Dhrupad probably declined in popularity because of its resistance to change, restrictions on individual creativity, and its failure to accommodate changing audience tastes. Comprehensive raga presentation in Hindustani music needed to avert extinction. It did so by loosening the rigid Dhrupad format, and found a ready solution in the already mature rival, the Khayal genre.
Some Dhrupad gharanas, however, resisted the Khayal wave. Thanks to their tenacity, the genre now stands partially restored to the mainstream. Their exertions appear to be winning back mature Hindustani audiences who had not heard quality Dhrupad for a long time. For the younger audiences, Dhrupad is a novel experience, but structurally more accessible than Khayal. In creating an audience for their music, today’s Dhrupad vocalists have successfully targeted audiences nurtured in the Carnatic tradition. In South India, Dhrupad is making a headway because of two factors: a general receptivity of Carnatic-oriented audiences to Hindustani music, and the similarity of the Dhrupad format to the Ragam-Thanam-Pallavi format in Carnatic music. In the domestic music market, audience preferences or loyalties are shaped by individual musicianship and not as much by the genre. In Europe and the US, on the other hand, there appears to be a genrebased, almost cult-like, following for Dhrupad. Never before has a genre of art-music been pronounced dead in India, experienced so shaky a revival with home audiences, and become popular enough with audiences abroad to become so largely dependent on them. This makes Dhrupad one of the cultural enigmas of our times.

(The author has written two books on music: Hindustani music: a tradition in transition and Khayal vocalism: continuity within change”. DK Printworld, New Delhi.) (This is the first in the series that will appear every week on Hindustani classical music)