Dhrupad is a genre inHindustani classical music from theIndian subcontinent. It is the oldest known style of major vocal styles associated with Hindustani classical music (for example in theHaveli Sangeet ofPushtimargSampradaya[citation needed]), and is also related to the South IndianCarnatic tradition.[1][2] It is a term of Sanskrit origin, derived fromdhruva (ध्रुव, immovable, permanent) andpada (पद, verse). The roots of Dhrupad are ancient. It is discussed in the Hindu Sanskrit textNatyashastra (~200 BCE – 200 CE),[3][4] and other ancient and medieval Sanskrit texts, such as chapter 33 of Book 10 in theBhagavata Purana (~800–1000 CE), where the theories of music and devotional songs for Krishna are summarized.[4]
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The term denotes both the verse form of the poetry and the style in which it is sung.[5] It is spiritual, heroic, thoughtful, virtuous, embedding moral wisdom or solemn form of song-music combination.[6][7] Thematic matter ranges from the religious and spiritual (mostly in praise ofHindu deities) to royalpanegyrics, musicology and romance.
A Dhrupad has at least fourstanza, calledSthayi (or Asthayi),Antara, Sanchari and Abhoga. The Sthayi part is a melody that uses the middle octave's firsttetrachord and the lower octave notes.[7] The Antara part uses the middle octave's second tetrachord and the higher octave notes.[7] The Sanchari part is the development phase, which holistically builds using parts of Sthayi and Antara already played, and it uses melodic material built with all the three octave notes.[7] The Abhoga is the concluding section, that brings the listener back to the familiar starting point of Sthayi, albeit with rhythmic variations, with diminished notes like a gentle goodbye, that are ideally mathematical fractions such asdagun (half),tigun (third) orcaugun (fourth).[8] Sometimes a fifth stanza called Bhoga is included. Though usually related to philosophical orBhakti (emotional devotion to a god or goddess) themes, some Dhrupads were composed to praise kings.[6][8]
The tradition of Dhrupad is recorded back to saints ofBraj (Mathura) namelySwami Haridas,Surdas, Govind Swami, Asht Sakha of Haveli Sangeet and followed byTansen (Gwalior) andBaiju Bawara (Gwalior). When Dhrupad composition are based onBhagwan Shri Vishnu or his incarnations thereof, is called Vishnupad.
Dhrupad probably obtained its name fromdhruvapada mentioned inNatyashastra to denote structured songs.[3] It is one of the core forms of classical music found all over the Indian subcontinent. The word comes fromDhruva which means immovable and permanent. It is spiritual, heroic, thoughtful, virtuous, embedding moral wisdom or solemn form of song-music combination.[6][7] TheYugala Shataka of Shri Shribhatta in theNimbarka Sampradaya, written in 1294 CE, contains Dhrupad lyrics.
The earliest source that mentions a musical genre calledDhrupad isAin-i-Akbari ofAbu Fazl (1593).[9] Extensive works attribute much of the material to musicians in the court ofMan Singh Tomar (fl. 1486–1516) ofGwalior.[10] In these accounts from the Mughal court Dhrupad is portrayed as a musical form which is relatively new; and according to Sanyal, most sources agree that Drupad owes its origin to the court of Man Singh Tomar.[11]Ravi Shankar states that the form developed from theprabandha and flourished starting in the fifteenth century.[12] The 16th century Bhakti saint and poet-musicianSwami Haridas (also in theNimbarka Sampradaya), was a well known dhrupad singer with songs dedicated toKrishna. It became the court music in theMughal court with Swami Haridas' pupilTansen famous, among other things, for his Dhrupad compositions.[13]
Dhrupad is ancient, and another genre of music called Khyal (Gwalior) (it has two parts Sthayi and Antara) evolved from it.[7] Dhrupad is solemn music, uplifting and heroic, pure and spiritual. Khyal adds ornamental notes, shorter, moody and celebratory.[14]
The ancient practice of dancing on Dhrupad has been reintroduced into recent times by Dr.Puru Dadheech. Dr Dadheech is India'sKathak dancer to bring 'Dhrupad' on the formal Kathak stage and this composition in 28 matra.[15]
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Dhrupad as it is known today is performed by a solo singer or a small number of singers in unison to the beat of thepakhavaj rather than thetabla. The vocalist is usually accompanied by twotanpuras, the players sitting close behind, with the percussionist at the right of the vocalist. Traditionally the primary instrument used for dhrupad has been theRudra Veena, but thesurbahar and thesursringar have also long been used for this music. Preferably, any instrument used for Dhrupad should have a deep bass register and long sustain.
Like allIndian classical music, dhrupad ismodal andmonophonic, with a single melodic line and nochord progression. Eachraga has amodal frame - a wealth of micro-tonal ornamentations (gamak) are typical.
The text is preceded by a wholly improvised section, thealap. The alap in dhrupad is sung using a set ofsyllables, popularly derived from a Vedicmantras and beejakshars, in a recurrent, set pattern:a re ne na, té te re ne na, ri re re ne na, te ne toom ne (this last group is used in the end of a long phrase). These syllables are also used widely in different permutations and combinations. Dhrupad styles have long elaboratealaps, their slow and deliberate melodic development gradually bringing an accelerating rhythmic pulse. In most styles of dhrupad singing it can easily last an hour, broadly subdivided into thealap proper (unmetered), thejor (with steady rhythm) and thejhala (accelerating strumming) ornomtom, when syllables are sung at a very rapid pace. Then the composition is sung to the rhythmic accompaniment: the four lines, in serial order, are termedsthayi,antara,sanchari andaabhog.
Compositions exist in the metres (tala)tivra (7 beats),sul (10 beats) andchau (12 beats) - a composition set to the 10-beatjhap tala is called asadra while one set to the 14-beatdhamar is called adhamar. The latter is seen as a lighter musical form, associated with theHoli spring festival.
Alongside concert performance, the practice of singing dhrupad in temples continues, though only a small number of recordings have been made. It bears little resemblance to concert dhrupad: there is very little or no alap; percussion such as bells and finger cymbals, not used in the classical setting, are used here, and the drum used is a smaller, older variant calledmrdang, quite similar to the mridangam.
Brihaddeshi, a circa eighth-century text attributed to Mataṅga, classifies songs into five stylistic categories (gitis):shuddha,bhinna,gauri,veswara, andsadharani.[16] Four styles (banis orvanis) of dhrupad singing were popular in the late sixteenth century at Mughal EmperorAkbar's court:gauri,khandar,nauhar, anddagar.[17] Tradition traces the origin of the fourbanis back to the fivegitis, but there is no solid evidence of a connection.[18]
There are a number of dhrupadgharanas: "houses", or family styles.
The best-known gharana is the Dagar family, who sing in theDagar vani or Dagar gharana. The Dagar style puts great emphasis on alap and for several generations their singers have performed in pairs (often pairs of brothers). The Dagars are Muslims but sing Hindu texts of Gods and Goddesses.[citation needed]
TheBishnupur gharana featuresManilal Nag, Mita Nag, and Madhuvanti Pal among others.[citation needed]
From the state ofBihar comes theDarbhanga gharana, Dumraon gharana (Buxar) and theBettiah gharana. The Mallicks of the Darbhanga gharana are linked to the Khandar vani and Gauharvani.Ram Chatur Mallick, Vidur Mallick, Abhay Narayan Mallick, Pandit Sanjay Kumar Mallick, Laxman Bhatt Tailang andSiyaram Tiwari were well known personalities of Darbhanga gharana in the 20th century. Dhrupad of the Darbhanga gharana has a strong representation inVrindaban owing to late Pandit Vidur Mallik, who lived and taught in Vrindaban during the 1980s and 1990s. Great female Dhrupad artists includeAsgari Bai, Alaka Nandy, Ashoka Dhar, Madhu Bhatt Tailang, the Pakistani singerAliya Rasheed, and the Italian singer Amelia Cuni.[19]
Dumraon gharana - Dhrupad traditions of Bihar Dumraon gharana is an ancient tradition of dhrupad music nearly 500 years old. This gharana flourished under the patronage of the kings ofDumraon Raj when it was founded. The drupad style (vanis) of this gharana isGauhar,Khandar, andNauharvani. The founder of this gharana was Pt. Manikchand Dubey and Pt. Anup chand Dubey. Both artists were awarded by Mugal Emperor Shahjahan. The father of Bharat Ratna Ustad Bismillah Khan who also belonged to the Dumraon gharana tradition. He usually played Shahnai in Dhrupad style. Famous living singers of Dumraon gharana (Buxar) include Pt. Ramjee Mishra, a representative of Dumraon gharana.[citation needed]
Many books have been written by this gharana, like Shree Krishn Ramayan, by Pt. Ghana rang Dubey, Sur-prakash, Bhairav, Prakash, Rash-Prakash, written by Jay Prakash Dubey and Prakash Kavi. Abishek Sangit Pallav by Dr. Arvind Kumar.[citation needed]
The Mishras practised Gaurhar, Dagur, Nauhar and Khandar styles. This gharana flourished under the patronage of the kings ofBettiah Raj. PanditFalguni Mitra is an exponent of this gharana in the present generation.[citation needed]
Some of the illustrious Dhrupad exponents and virtuosos arePandit Gokulotsavji Maharaj,Uday Bhawalkar,Ritwik Sanyal, Nirmalya Dey, Pt. Kshitipall Mallick,Pt. Ram Chatur Mallick and theGundecha Brothers.[citation needed]
In an effort to link tradition and scientific methodologies, theITC Sangeet Research Academy's Scientific Research Department has been organizing symposia and workshops since 1987. The objective of these workshops/symposia is to create awareness of research in various fields of music.[20] In 2013 the academy conducted a Dhrupad seminar in association with theNational Centre for the Performing Arts (India) (NCPA, Mumbai) where Dr. Puru Dadheech participated as speaker to discuss the origin and predecessors of Dhrupad.[21]
Prof. Richard Widdess (Head, Department of Music, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, UK) and Dr. Dadheech, (Indore, India) discussed the origin of Dhrupad at length. The latter established that Dhrupads are older than the times of Raja Mansingh Tomar.[22]
The filmmakerMani Kaul while under tutelage of UstadZia Mohiuddin Dagar and UstadZia Fariduddin Dagar made one of the first documentaries on Dhrupad music in 1982 calledDhrupad.[23] ThisHindi language full-length documentary features both hisgurus along with the youngBahauddin Dagar - the son of Zia Mohiuddin Dagar.[24][25] The film produced by theFilms Division of India was shot in locations associated with history of Dhrupad in –Fatehpur Sikri and Jaipur'sJantar Mantar articulating the theory and the practice of the musical form.
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