TANSEN

'Miyan Tansen' (1506–1589) is believed to have been the greatest North Indian musician of all time. He was instrumental in creating the classical style of North Indian music as we know it today, and has influenced it greatly up to the present day, both through his actions and his blood descendants. He was one of the Navaratnas (nine jewels) at the court of the Mughal Emperor Akbar.

Contents

Biography

Family

As a musician

Footnotes

See also

Further reading

External links

Biography

Tansen was born in a Hindu family in Behat a the village near Gwalior. His father Makarand Pande was a poet. His name as a child was Ramtanu. The boy learned music from Swami Haridas, a legendary teacher of Brindavan, and came to serve as court musician to King Ramachandra of Reva. Later King Ramchandra gave Ramprasad as a Raj gift to Emperor Akbar and he became famouse as one of the treasured ''Navaratnas'' (nine jewels) of the court. It was Akbar who gave him the title Miyan, and he is usually referred to today as Miyan Tansen.
Miyan Tansen accepted Islam at the hands of the great Sufi mystic and saint – 'Shaykh Muhammad Ghaus' of Gwalior who was also his teacher and spiritual guide. He lies buried in the mausoleum complex of this great Shaykh of Gwalior.

Family

Tansen had four sons and a daughter, Tanras Khan, Bilas Khan, Hamirsen, Suratsen and Saraswati Devi, all musicians; Bilas Khan created raga Bilaskhani Todi. In fact, Tansen's blood descendants held sway for hundreds of years as a most formidable force – the Senia gharana – on the North Indian music scene. The last of the line, Dr Dabir Khan, was born in 1905 and died in 1972. He was a dhrupadiya and a beenkar, working for Radio Calcutta. He came from Saraswati Devi's side of the family.

As a musician

As a musician, Tansen is said to have no equal (except perhaps for his guru Swami Haridas and for a counterpart, Amir Khusro, centuries earlier), so good he is sometimes thought to have worked miracles through his singing, such as bringing the rains with Raga Megh Malhar and starting fires with Raga Deepak. He was even capable of bringing wild animals to rest and listen with attention, through his singing. He composed several ragas that have been cornerstones in the repertoire ever since, such as Miyan ka Bhairav today simply known as Bhairav ,Darbari Todi, Darbari Kanada, Miyan ki Todi, Miyan ki Malhar,Miyan ki Mand,Miyan ki Sarang and Rageshwari. Almost every gharana (school) tries to trace its origin to him, though some try to go further back to Amir Khusro. However, it is likely that Tansen and his guru Swami Haridas really started the Dhrupad style of singing. His ''Sangeeta Sara'' and ''Rajmala'' are important documents on music.His musical power could even light up the candles in the court of Akbar.His art of music is still been saluted by the singers and composers of the world.

Footnotes

Tansen's birth name is a matter of some debate: Ramtannu, Tanna and Mukul have all been suggested, as well as a family name of Pande.
Miyan Tansen's name is found among the names of the Mureeds (disciples) of the Shuttari Tariqat - a Sufi spiritual lineage founded by Shaykh Muhammad Ghaus of Gwalior. Tansen was one of the shaykh's greatest and well known disciples. Tansen lived during the times of Akbar, who is noted to be the most secular of the Muslim rulers of India. The burial of Tansen in his shaykhs' mausoleum is proof enough of his conversion to the path of his spiritual guide [especially during Akbar's era]. Also, only the closest and most famous disciples of a saint are allowed to be buried in his mausoleum. [Refer external links to Newspaper Articles]
While Raga Megh Malhar is still in the mainstream repertoire, Raga Deepak has pretty much died out. There are three different variants, of the Bilawal, Poorvi and Khamaj ''thats'', and it is not known which, if any, corresponds to the Deepak of Tansen's time. There is a popular myth that it disappeared because it could indeed bring fire, and so was simply too dangerous to sing.
The Dagar family of dhrupad singers believe themselves to be the direct descendants of not Tansen but his guru, Haradas Swami.
It is said that Bilas improvised the raga (it differs only in detail from his father's Todi), grief-stricken, at a wake, where Tansen's corpse moved one hand in approval of the new melody
tansen was employed by raja ramchandra of REWA,a town in the north east of the state of madhya pradesh.

See also

★ Tyagaraja

★ Purandaradasa

★ Muthuswami Dikshitar

★ Syama Sastri

Further reading

★ Imaging Sound : An Ethnomusicological Study of Music, Art, and Culture in Mughal India, Wade, Bonnie C., , , University of Chicago Press, 1998, ISBN 0-226-86840-0

External links

★ Tansen's Samaroh - picture of his actual grave

★ Tansen's Biography