Sadarang Adarang: Composers of Khayal
From ancient times, Hindustani classical music has brought forth variety of forms. Music lovers have enjoyed the pleasing delicacies of Drhupad, Dhamar, Kajari, Hori, Dadra, Thumari, Tappa by various vocalists. Still Khayal keeps millions of music lovers spell bound.
Though this musical tradition is more than 300 years old, it has taken hold of the hearts of the music lovers from the beginning of the last century. It is a matter of great prestige and honour for the vocalist who gives a performance in 'Khayal'. The main characteristic of any 'Khayal' performance is to give expression to the creative imagination of the vocalist through the medium of 'Bandish' (a composition or a poetic creation). The performance of 'Khayal' is more popular perhaps because of its liberty of expression of thought. The composition (Bandish) of any specific Raag (Melody type) is the medium for this expression. So it goes without saying that better composition provides more scope for powerful and effective expression.
The composer of bandish as well as of the music in classical music is called 'Vaggeykar'. Swami Haridas, Miya Tansen, Amir Khusaro, Baiju Bawara, Jaydev, Baba Ramdas including Ashtchhap poets from the middle ages too were renowned Vaggeykar.
It was Sadarang and Adarang, the great exponents of 'Khayal style', who made this style popular. Their compositions are sung with the same dedication for three centuries. Though this fact can be challenged by some, we've tried to trace the reasons why these compositions are still presented despite there being a number of new composers in this field.
Niyamat Khan alias Sadarang and Firoz Khan alias Adarang both were famous vocalists of 'Dhrupad' tradition. They also played bean. Naturally, the question arises why these musicians started compositions in Khayal, which was a different field from their own. A little about their life stories to get the answer.
After the demise of Aurangzeb in 1707, the two emperors who loved music were Bahaddur Shah 1 and Mahmadshah Rangile. Niyamat Khan who played bean in the court of Bahaddurshah, also occupied the same post in the court of Mahamadshah Rangile. Once Mohamadshah asked Sadarang to accompany a vocalist of Dhrupad. Taking it as an insult he left the court and went away. As he could not withhold his desire to serve in the court of Mahamadshah, he returned adopting the nick-name Sadarang for himself. He taught his disciples his own compositions created on the lines of Amir Khusaro, Husain Sharki, Gopal Nayak. He propagated and also advertised them so much so that the influence of the tradition of Dhrupad subsided and Khayal secured a prominent place in the field of music. Dhrupad was replaced by Khayal in the course of time and same was the case with Tabla as against Pakhwaj. Music lovers were more than fascinated by the compositions of Sadarang.
As the compositions by Sadarang were getting hold of the public mind, his disciple Firoj Khan alias Adarang also added his own compositions to the field of music. These composition are presented even to this day.
A Bandish (composition) is one which is a beautiful culmination of sounds(swar), rhythm (laya) and diction (lyrics). Composition is an integral part of music right from the days of yore.
A Bandish can take any form, be it Ashtapadi from Prbandh Gayaki or Sthayi, Antara, Sanchari or Abhog in Dhrupad. It has its own place in instrumental music like solo performance of Tabla.
Even today we present the compositions by the poet-composers (Vaggeyakar) such as Jaydev, Swami Haridas, Tansen, Baiju Bawara, Meerabai and Baba Ramdas. However, we should not forget the fact that the Khayal was popularized in the 18th century by Sadarang and Adarang. We've cherished this tradition devotedly to this date. The compositions by Sadarang and Adarang are presented in the concerts with same zeal.
Sadarang and Adarang composed in praise of God and monarchs. Nature and love also were the themes of their compositions. It is an exact rendering of the beauty of words and meaning. Their deep knowledge makes them quite efficient in presenting the essence of the Raag.
The chauvinism and rivalry regarding bandishes of a particular gharana (music school) were so much so that the veteran vocalists are said to have declared that they would give away their daughter in marriage but not their Bandish. In other words veteran performers would never be ready to give away their compositions to anybody at any cost. It is obvious that there could be marriages between the followers of two gharanas but no transfer of compositions. Such was the importance of a Bandish.
The compositions of Sadarang and Adarang don't carry the stamp of any gharana. Vocalists belonging to all gharanas sing these compositions with great love for them and that is the sole reason why these compositions are so popular. The supreme characteristic of these compositions lies in the fact that right from the professionals to the new-entrants, all enjoy themselves and please the listeners with these compositions. Many vocalists have composed beautiful bandishes in the later period, but they can't avoid the temptation to sing the compositions by these stalwarts.
A composition is also called 'cheej' meaning supremely beautiful expression. There is no controversy about the opinion that compositions by Sadarang and Adarang fulfill this criterion of a supremely beautiful bandish.
The contemporaries of Sadarang and Adarang included Khusaro Khan, Taj Khan, kawwal, Bakar- tamboor player, Rabab-player Hasan Khan, Dholak-player Hussain Khan, Sarangi player- Gulam Maohammad, Manjire-player Dargahi, Khayal exponents like Kasim Ali, Kamalbai, Pannabai. Dancers- Noorbai and Chamani -- all these were masters of their art. Niyamat Khan played 'Bean' and was called 'Bean-Nawaj'.
The Supreme Vaggeyakar
The word Vaggeyakar means: "Wak" stands for wani meaning language and literature
"Geya" is the quality attributed to words that could be sung.
Thus the person who composes such art forms is called a Vaggeyakar.
The compositions of Sadarang and Adarang are three hundred years old. Some of these compositions are in written form and some others have come to us through the vocal tradition. The compositions of Sadarang express his knowledge of the language -- the beauty of words, figures of speech, metrical quality of words and knowledge of Shringar asa etc. Sadarang, the disciple of Acharya Mahakavi Dev, acquired this knowledge from his Guru. One of his compositions goes like this:
"Sasan hi me sameer gayo aru aasun hi sab nir gayo dhari Tej gayo gun lai apno aru bhoomi gai tanu ki tanuta kari"
Spirituality finds expression through these compositions. Adarang was related to Sadarang as a disciple, nephew and son-in-law together. Still both of them maintained a kind of difference in their respective compositions. One of the compositions of Adarang from Rag Desi is like this:
" Sachi kahat hai Adarang yaha nadi naw sanjog Kaun kisi ke aawe jawe, dana pani kismat laye yehi kahat sab log "
It is quite difficult to make compositions for vocal music without the knowledge of literature. It is necessary to have the basic knowledge of poetry. Their composition is good poetry. Both of them composed in many languages like Arabi, Parsi, Braj, Rajasthani, Punjabi which are presented artistically with the help of rhythm. Always in search of novelty, Sadarang composed many Bandishes in one Rag. Though the compositions of Sadarang and Adarang are a bit big in size, they have been composed in variety of Ragas. This makes them the best of vaggeyakaras.
Sadarang and Adarang, the poet-composers, creative musicians, both vocal and instrumental -- are a unique gift to Hindusthani Classical Music in its present form.
courtesy Mrs. Smita Maduskar
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