The Origin and Evolution of Kathak in Delhi - Delhi Heritage City
The Origin and Evolution of Kathak in Delhi - Delhi Heritage City
The Origin and Evolution of Kathak in Delhi - Delhi Heritage City
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<strong>The</strong> meet<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> Vaishnavism <strong>and</strong> Sufism at <strong>Delhi</strong> had other fall-outs too as it saw new genres <strong>of</strong> musiccompositions such as the ‘khayal’ <strong>and</strong> the ‘tarana’ which were <strong>of</strong>f-shoots <strong>of</strong> the traditional dhrupadgayaki <strong>of</strong> ancient India. It is widely believed that impetus for development <strong>of</strong> the new musical systemscame from Amir Khusro. <strong>The</strong> new genre <strong>of</strong> music compositions became part <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Kathak</strong> repertoire.As the name ‘khayal’ (imag<strong>in</strong>ation) suggests, it gave the traditional <strong>Kathak</strong>s the levee to explore theentire range <strong>of</strong> emotions <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>terpretations as was practiced <strong>in</strong> the ‘baithiki’ style <strong>of</strong> render<strong>in</strong>g.<strong>The</strong> ‘tarana’ derived from the Persian term ‘tarannum’ (melody) emerged as an adaptation <strong>of</strong> the‘non-tom alap’ render<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> ‘dhrupad gayaki’. In the emergence <strong>of</strong> the new philosophy <strong>in</strong> the wake <strong>of</strong>Muslim rule <strong>in</strong> India, the ‘tarana’ saw the meet<strong>in</strong>g po<strong>in</strong>t <strong>of</strong> Vaishnavism <strong>and</strong> Sufism, where at theheight <strong>of</strong> ecstasy <strong>in</strong> devotion result<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> a trance-like state, the commonly used syllables ‘deem-tana-na’,‘na-dir-dir-dani’, ‘de-ra-na’ etc. became mean<strong>in</strong>gless, symbolis<strong>in</strong>g the union <strong>of</strong> spirit <strong>of</strong> the selfwith the higher Almighty. Unlike its parent ‘dhrupad ang’ where the ‘nom-tom alaap’ was sung at slowspeed (‘vilambit laya’), the newly evolved ‘tarana’ was set at medium speed (‘madhya laya’)sometimes even reach<strong>in</strong>g a faster pace (‘drut laya’). <strong>The</strong> success <strong>of</strong> this new melodic composition,‘tarana’, is evident from its adaptation <strong>in</strong> various parts <strong>of</strong> India, whether as ‘thillana’ or ‘pallavi <strong>and</strong>such others, facilitated by an exchange <strong>of</strong> artistes as gifts by the Mughal Governors sent by the <strong>Delhi</strong>court to the prov<strong>in</strong>ces.<strong>The</strong> <strong>Delhi</strong> court especially dur<strong>in</strong>g the late 18th <strong>and</strong> 19th centuries, provided impetus for furtherance <strong>of</strong>rhythmic patterns, the practice <strong>of</strong> question <strong>and</strong> answer (‘sawal-jawab’) between the dancer <strong>and</strong> thepercussionist as well as the ‘jugalb<strong>and</strong>i’ viz. friendly competition, between two artistes <strong>and</strong> rhythmicmelodic compositions. Simultaneously, there was a slow emergence <strong>of</strong> greater use <strong>of</strong> the ‘tabla’ thathad been modified by Amir Khusro few centuries earlier, but which was till hitherto, the second<strong>in</strong>strument. This development laid the foundations <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Delhi</strong> baaz <strong>of</strong> tabla. Corroborat<strong>in</strong>g this, arethe pa<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>of</strong> musicians <strong>and</strong> dancers dur<strong>in</strong>g the period 15th century to 19th century that depictwide use <strong>of</strong> the horizontal drum, the ‘mridanga’. It therefore follows that the replacement <strong>of</strong>‘mridanga’ by the ‘tabla’ was extremely slow <strong>and</strong> could come about only after late 19th century.It is commonly believed that the two piece drum such as the ‘tabla’ was unknown to India prior to theperiod <strong>of</strong> Amir Khusro. However, dance panel sculptures from central India from the Gupta period ie4th-5th centuries AD reveal the presence <strong>of</strong> a pair <strong>of</strong> vertical drum, thus negat<strong>in</strong>g the widely heldhypothesis <strong>and</strong> legends 10 associated with it. Modifications carried out by Amir Khusro cannot be ruledout where<strong>in</strong> the ‘bayan’ <strong>of</strong> the drum was modified to a more rounded form modell<strong>in</strong>g itself on the‘naqqara’ (or ‘nagada’) drum. It was this era that adopted the Arabic name <strong>of</strong> ‘tabla’ (based on thedrum ‘tabl’). Thus, the hitherto ‘oordhvaka’ 11 drum stood re-christened.With the ‘tabla’ slowly ga<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g ascendancy <strong>in</strong> late 19 th century, many special patterns emerged thatgave rise to the ‘Dilli baaz’ <strong>of</strong> tabla, many <strong>of</strong> which were translated <strong>in</strong>to dance. <strong>The</strong> hallmark <strong>of</strong> the‘Dilli baaz’ was its pleas<strong>in</strong>g sound, <strong>and</strong> the fact that there was a greater use <strong>of</strong> two f<strong>in</strong>gers whichautomatically precluded the sound <strong>of</strong> ‘ka’ as much as possible. Hence the typical ‘kayada’ <strong>of</strong> ‘Dilli baaz’consists <strong>of</strong> ten consonants as aga<strong>in</strong>st 15 <strong>of</strong> the Benaras <strong>and</strong> Jaipur ang. <strong>The</strong> ‘Dilli baaz ka Kayada’ isas follows: dhatita dhatita dhadha tita dhagedh<strong>in</strong>ag<strong>in</strong>a <strong>and</strong> its variation gh<strong>in</strong>a tita gh<strong>in</strong> dhage dh<strong>in</strong>a10Accord<strong>in</strong>g to popular legend, <strong>in</strong> a friendly competition between two mridanga players <strong>in</strong> the court<strong>of</strong> <strong>Delhi</strong>, the one that was lagg<strong>in</strong>g beh<strong>in</strong>d, <strong>in</strong> a fit <strong>of</strong> rage dashed his mridanga to the ground, whichcaused it to break <strong>in</strong>to 2 halves. Realiz<strong>in</strong>g his folly, he quickly turned it to a vertical position <strong>and</strong> wasrelieved to f<strong>in</strong>d that it was still playable, which caused him to exclaim ‘Arre! Tab bhi bola!!’ which ledto the co<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> the term ‘tabla’ <strong>and</strong> the emergence <strong>of</strong> the ‘tabla’.11<strong>The</strong> ‘oordhvaka’ drums classified <strong>in</strong> the Natyashastra, were positioned vertically <strong>and</strong> thussuggested a friendly, logical yet technical approach. <strong>The</strong> Natyashastra authored sometime dur<strong>in</strong>g 2 ndcentury BC to 2 nd century AD mentions various k<strong>in</strong>ds <strong>of</strong> percussion <strong>in</strong>struments <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g thehorizontal drum ‘ankya’, <strong>and</strong> the pair <strong>of</strong> vertical drums ‘oordhvaka’.5