Benaras (Janakiprasad) Kathak Gharana

Here is brief history of Jaipur Gharana...

Besides Jaipur and Lucknow gharanas, one other gharana which is in vogue is known as Janaki-prasad gharana. Named after Janakiprasad, a Kathak exponent originally from Bikaner in West Rajasthan, this school of dancing is also known in some circles as Benaras gharana. It appears that Janakiprasad went over to Benaras and taught Kathak for the rest of his life there and his school of dance acquired the name Benaras gharana.

Janakiprasad hailed from Mailsur village in Bikaner State. In recent times the exponents of Janakiprasad gharana have traced his genealogy, which mentions three previous generations of dancers: his father, grandfather and great grandfather. He was born in the family of dancer Gopi-prasad of Mailsur. Gopiprasad had a son named Govindprasad. His son Anandprasad had two children. Of them one was Janakiprasad and the other Chunnilal. Janakiprasad did not marry and went over to Benaras and lived there. He was a great Sanskrit scholar and a very gifted exponent of dance.

He created bols, the mnemonic syllables of dance which are pure dance bols known as Natwari bols. These bols mark a distinct variation from the bols of other gharanas. The Natwari bols of Janakiprasad gharana are different from the bols of tabla and pakhavaj. The dancers belonging to Janakiprasad gharana dance to these Natwari bols only. There are also other differences in body postures and execution of dance movements.

Chunnilal, the brother of Janakiprasad, had a son called Sablaji. After the demise of Chunnilal, Sablaji went to Benaras to study under Janakiprasad. Sablaji got married and had a son called Dudaji. Dudaji had two sons, Hukmaji and Motilal. They all studied dance under the guidance of Janakiprasad at Benaras.

They appear to have returned to Bikaner and sought patronage from the then rulers of the State. At that time Dungarsinhji was the ruler of Bikaner. Dudaji's son Motilalji became a court dancer. The Maharaja was so pleased with his art that he gifted away a village to Motilal. Motilal unfortunately had no issue. But his brother Hukmaji had two sons, Dularam and Ganeshilal. They carried on the family tradition and studied Kathak under their uncle Motilal, the court dancer. After Motilal, Ganeshilal became the court dancer in Bikaner. His brother Dularam went over to Bihar and became a court dancer in Bitia.

Dularam taught Kathak to many dancers in Bihar and had a large following. He also trained his three sons, Biharilal, Puranlal and Hiralal in Kathak and they gave several performances in North India. From among the three brothers, Biharilal served at Indore as a court dancer. After some time he left Indore and came over to Bombay where he joined Gandharva Natak Company of Poona. At that time the legendary tabla player Ahmedjan Thirakwa also worked in the same drama company and used to accompany him on the tabla. Biharilal once again returned to the court of Indore. He was physically so fit that he was able to dance even at the advanced age of seventy-four. The last program he gave was before the Maharaja of Patiala. Then he retired and went over to Sankhu village in Bikaner State where he passed away.

Puranlal, the other brother of Biharilal, also followed his brother and he too stayed in Bombay for a long time. Like Biharilal he also taught Menakabai Belgaonkar, mother of the well-known vocalist Shobha Gurtu. Hiralal, the youngest brother of Biharilal, was famous for his compositions of thumris. Hiralal was a court dancer at Bikaner and Indore. He died childless.

Of the three brothers Biharilal was very gifted. Among his disciples were the famous artistes: Keshav Rao More of Bombay; Hiralal of Jaipur gharana, who later on settled in Gaziabad; Pandit Sukhdev of Jaipur, who was a vocalist but loved dance and was the guru of Lata Mangeshkar's father Master Dinanath, Mohanlal Benaraswale and Menakahai Belgaonkar.

Biharilal had three children: Kishanlal, Mohanlal and Sohanlal. None of them is alive today. All the three carried on their father's tradition. Kishanlal taught along with his father in Bombay. Mohanlal went over to Dehradun where he taught dance till he passed away. Sohanlal also lived in Dehradun. Biharila's brother, Puranlal, had two sons: Madanlal and Ramlal. They are at present in Patiala. Madanlal has with him the collection of his uncle Hiralal's thumris.

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