Jaipur Kathak Gharana

Like in several other parts of India the arts of classical dance and music developed in Rajasthan from the 11th century A.D. From Narwar (Gwalior) a Kachhawaha’ prince established a principality and made Amber his capital. It was customary to support the bards, the artistes, the musicians and dancers, the craftsmen and artisans in the principality. They performed various duties for the chief and his court. The painterspainted portraits of important events; the charanas (the bards) recited poems and eulogized the chief and his ancestors; the musicians and dancers entertained by performing in the court and the artisans had different duties assigned to them to provide artifacts and objects of utility for the families of the ruler. Amber became politically important through contact with the Mughals in the second quarter of the sixteenth century and the royal family of Amber became predominant politically by accepting friendship of the Mughals. Amritrai, a poet who was a contemporary of Raja Mansingh I, composed in 1585 A.D. Manacharitra which mentions the use of musical instruments in the palace of Amber. That the arts of music, dance and drama were flourishing is borne out from the literary compositions of the period and the references found therein. Another work also named Manacharitra composed by Narottam Kavi and copied in 1640 A.D. by the scribe Manohar Mahatma who was in the service of Raja Jai Singh refers to raga chitras painted on the walls of Amber palace and the pothikhana collection has Mohan Kavi’s Sanskrit drama Madan Manjari which was staged for Raja Mansingh at Amber. Both Mansingh and his younger brother Madhosingh were patrons of music, dance and other arts. The renowned musician poet Pundlik Vitthal, the composer of Nartananirnaya treatise on dance, was a resident of Khandesh in the Deccan and was in the service of Sultan Burhan Khan. In 1655 AD after Khandesh was annexed to the Mughal Empire, Pundlik Vitthal came to the Mughal court where he met the Kachhawaha princes Mansingh and Madhosingh. He composed Ragamanjari under the patronage of Madhosingh.

The tradition of dance and music was thus well established and it was encouraged by the successive rulers. During the reign of Maharaja Ram Singh another text related to dance called Hastakaratnavali was composed in 1673 A.D. Ram Singh also maintained dancers who were called as paturas in his harem. Paturas were the dancing girls employed in the zenana and sang for the king and the ladies of the house. These dancers did not marry and followed the tradition of singing and dancing for the kings and their household. They used Rai as their surname and some of them who were very erudite composed poetical works also. Krida V/noda by one Mohanrai was composed for Maharaja Ram Singh.

Besides the courtesans in the zenana there was a class of courtesans who sang and danced in the court in front of the courtiers and the king and also royal procession. Sometimes these courtesans were allowed to enter the harems as concubines and to live in palaces and pleasure gardens of the princes. Dastur Komwar records a large number of courtesans who were on regular pay roll and reward list of the state of Jaipur. We come across names of some of the courtesans like Anandrai, Uttamrai, Gulabrai, Chandhalrai, Jonrai. Kishorerai, Kishoro Beli, Khumani, Goviridi, Diljani and Nritya Vilas. These dancers and singers had very close relations with the ruling chiefs. Maharaja Ram Singh was very close to a temple dancer Chandra of Ramachandra temple. Jadonji was very powerful as can be gauged from the fact that she was an important factor during the adoption of Sawai Mansingh II. There was one Rasakapoor, a courtesan who rose to such eminence with Maharaja Jagat Singh that she literally had her say in the affairs of the State. The records of Rajasthan Devasthan Department reveal that some women dancers were attached to the temple of Govind Deoji to sing and dance before the idol daily for which a yearly stipend was paid to them.

Besides the State patronage the courtesans in the Jaipur city were concentrated in Ramganj Bazar and Chandpole Bazar. Their houses were beautifully painted and they lived in well planned residences. Their profession supported the arts of dance and music and the populace appeared to be appreciative of dance and music.

From the number of manuscripts collected in the pothikhana at Jaipur one can assess the encouragement given to dance and music by the Amber rulers. Most of the treatises in Sanskrit dating from the fifteenth century are on music with a specific section on dance. Sangita has been defined as an art where song, instrumental music and dance find a fine blending. Ashokamalla’s Sangita Kalpataru (1494 A.D.), Mohammed Shah’s Sangita Mallika (1653 A.D.), Sangita Ratnakar KalanidhiofKattinath (1677 A.D.), Sangita Madhavamby Prabodhananda Saraswati, Sangita Ratnakar Rasa Pradipa by Nurkhan and Hastraka Ratnavali by Raghava (1673 A.D.) speak volumes for the rulers’ love and understanding of the classical performing arts.

Another interesting feature of this period is the commissioning of the raga chitras, paintings based on musical mode and ragas and raginis. One such among a series is dated 1709 AD. written by Rama Krishna Mahatma, at Ambavati Fort during the reign of Maharaja Jai Singh. As can be seen by the study of these paintings the figures often reveal the postures of dance suggesting the interrelationship and understanding of the arts that existed among the artistes practicing different forms. The arts received a great fillip during the reign of Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh. He ruled over Rajasthan from 1699 A.D. to 1743 A.D. and during his time Amber State expanded manifold. He is well known in history as founder of Jaipur. His intellectual attainments naturally gave him a sense of superiority in dealing with persons who had even more influence with the Mughals. But his farsightedness and extremely diplomatic relations with the Mughals helped him maintain his superiority. However, he was an extremely modest person and would take great pains to reply to a poor scholar from Karnataka or Bengal, and would visit the poets and scholars in Brahmapuri, the residential locality he had built for them in beautiful surroundings, unannounced and would pass many hours with them. It is said that without Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh’s knowledge or goodwill nothing happened in Rajasthan and his advice was sought not only by the princes of Rajputana, but also of Bundelkhand and Malwa. His outstanding contribution in the field of culture covers a wide range of subjects including astronomy, town planning, architecture, fine arts, music, dance and literature.

We gather from records that in 1714 A.D. he had Pandit Jagannath, a Maratha Brahman, appointed to teach him the Vedas. Jai Singh had a great aptitude for mathematics and astronomy and was called Astronomer Prince. The observatories built by him are living monuments to his abiding passion for astronomy. Jaipur which was called Jainagar remains to this day a beautiful and well laid out city. Jai Singh received great assistance from an architect Vidyadhar Chakravarty who was appointed in 1728 A.D. as Divan-Desh. The palace complex consisting of spacious squares, Diwan-i-Am, Diwan-i-Khas and Chandramahal and the pathways which extend to the Govind Deo’s temple up to Badal Mahal are a tribute to a King for his elevated sense of aesthetics and love for architectural beauty. We come across references to the temple dancers attached to the Govind Deo temple, and though specific names of the dancers are not available, it gives us an idea about the patronage extended by the King. He was a devout Vaishnava and was religious by temperament. He performed all the srausrauta yajnas, including the Ashvamedha.

The institution of Gunijankhana was established by him along with other departments. The Jain poet Bhaktaram Shah, the composer of the famous work Buddhivilasa (1670 AD.), gives an interesting account of the city, the palaces and the different Karkhanas. Though there is little record available about the Gunijankhanas, it is clear from the patronage given by the rulers to the artistes, dancers, musicians, litterateurs and painters that some officials were made responsible for looking after them and for their financial support. It is said that at one time nearly seven hundred and fifty artistes were given patronage at the Gunijankhana by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh. Those were the times when the arts of painting, dance and music were closely related to each other. The painter had to know the mythological stories, the music and the dance to symbolically represent a particular raga or ragini. It was during the reign of Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh (1778 A.D.-1803 A.D.) that the activities of Gunijankhana gained momentum as the ruler himself was a musician and also a poet composing poems with the pen name of Brijnidhi. We gather that Chand Khan, who was in charge of the Gunijankhana, was his music teacher. He was given the title Buddhi Prakash. By now the Brijbhasha had become the language of poetry all over the Indian subcontinent and was used for the books at Pratap Singh’s court. It is during this period that we come across the most important text on dance and music, viz., Radhagovinda Sangitasara by four eminent scholars. In place of Sanskrit a mixed use of Hindi in its early form and Brijbhasha is noticed in the treatises on music and dance which made them easily accessible to the commoners also. The important works written during Pratap Singh’s reign are Svara Sagara by Buddhi Prakash. Ruga Ratnakara by Radha Krishna Kavi, Raga Sanketa by Rasa Rashi Ramanarayana and Sangita Sagara by Ganapati Bharati.

Though a great many details are available about the musicians, very little is available about the leading dancers of the day. However, the patronage was extended to all sorts of artistes and since there was a tradition of a community called Kathak who performed dance it is very likely that the dance as an art form was equally patronized. The Kathak community lived in Churu-Sujangarh area nearby and about Shekhavati in the sixteenth century. During the reign of Akbar many Shekhavati sardars took up service at the Mughal court. When the Rajput sardars and patrons moved lo the Mughal court, with them went the musicians and dancers also. They naturally came in contact with the Mughals and received patronage from them. Since the Mughal court was prosperous and cultured these artistes also flourished. But it all changed during the reign of the Mughal king Aurangzeb and after the death of Mohammed Shah Rangile in 1748 A.D., the musicians and dancers once again migrated to centers like Lucknow, Murshidabad, Alwar and Jaipur.

The Gunijankhana in Jaipur provided the artistes the necessary security to pursue their art. The institution developed further during the rule of the successors of Pratap Singh and reached its zenith in the time of Maharaja Sawai Ram Singh. The king himself was a Veena player and fond of music. The great veena player Ustad Rajah Ali Khan was his mentor upon whom he bestowed a jagir (grant of land) and a palatial house in the Pan Dariba area of Jaipur. This reflects the social status of the artistes during the nineteenth century under the royal patronage and the feudal system.

At the Gunijankhana the artistes had different categories. They were the employees of the Gunijankhana and had to report daily. The great artistes of outstanding merit were not required lo present themselves daily but only on important occasions and whenever the Maharaja called them to play for him or the guests. The officer in charge of the Gunijankhana had to be informed in case they were to go to other courts when invited to perform there. In case of others they had to come daily and play or sing at the Hara BungLa, the green balcony, where music was played the whole day as was the practice then. From the records it is gathered that during the rule of Maharaja Ram Singh there were one hundred and sixty artistes employed. Their widows after the death of the artistes were also supported and received pension. It was during the time of Maharaja Sawai Madho Singh that there were celebrations of festivals like Ganga Saptami, Ganga Dashmi and Radha Ashtami, as the king was a devotee of Ganga besides being a devotee of Krishna. He continued the institution of the Gunijankhana. That ensured financial support and security to the artistes.

While reconstructing the history of Jaipur gharana with the background of the royal patronage and some of the social institutions, it is also necessary to take into account the evidences provided by the charanas—the bards who preserved the family history. Though Jaipur gharana nomenclature has definite geographical connotations the families which carried the tradition of dance have been the natives of the Bikaner State in the western part of Rajasthan and also those from the areas near Churu, Sujangarh and Shekhavati region. Some of the information about the Jaipur gharana is supplemented from the oral history tradition and details given by the performing artistes a quarter of a century ago. By now they are all dead. In the years immediately after Independence some of the leading exponents when approached by some scholars have given information based on their memory and details provided by the family bards. A detailed work and research in the archives of Jaipur and Bikaner may provide some more information and it is possible to reconstruct the line of the dancers who were in the court of some of the rulers who extended their patronage to the musicians and dancers.

From the documents in the possession of Mohanlalji, eldest son of the late Hanuman Prasadji of Jaipur and on the strength of the oral history from the family bard Pratapji, one is able to construct some plausible history of the exponents of the Jaipur gharana. This takes us as far back as one hundred and eighty years approximately.

The earliest name in living memory is that of Bhanuji who was a devotee of Shiva. He is said to have learnt Shiva Tandava from some saint. He passed this art to his son Maluji. Maluji had two sons, Laluji and Kanhuji. They too learnt Shiva Tandava from their father Maluji, continuing the family tradition. It is said that Kanhuji went to Brindavan and learnt the dances centering around the Krishna theme and enriched his repertoire with Lasya, the graceful aspect of dance. Kanhuji had two sons, Geedhaji and Shehjaji to whom he passed on his art. Geedhaji specialised in Tandava and Shehjaji in Lasya aspects of the dance. Geedhaji had five sons. Of these sons, one Dulhaji went over to Jaipur and settled there. He earned fame as an expert in Shiva Tandava and also obtained mastery over the Lasya aspect. He became well known as Girdhariji though his name was Dulhaji.

From the records of the Gunijankhana of Maharaja Sawai Madho Singh II we learn that there were ten male Kathak dancers serving in the department Besides there were thirty-eight female singers and dancers, twenty sarangi players and sixteen pakhavaj players to accompany them. Before the merger of the State in the Indian Union the following dancers were in the employment of the Gunijankhana: Shyamalji and his son Nathu Lalji, Badri Prasadji, Chunnilalji, Lakshmi Narayanji, Chhajulalji; the female dancers were Gauhar Jan, Kamarjan, Sardar of Sambhar and her daughter Kamala, Dhannibai, Ratan and Maina. They became quite famous and were often invited by other royal families. With the closure of the Gunijankhana the artistes migrated and sought patronage in the music schools or gave private tuitions and took up jobs at the radio stations since after the merger of the State the court did not support them.

This brings us close to the present century. As can be seen from the genealogical tables Girdhariji had two sons: Hari Prasad and Hanuman Prasad. The former had no issue. Hanuman Prasad had three sons: Mohanlal, Chiranjilal and Narayan Prasad. Mohanlal was adept in music and had deep knowledge of dhrupad. He taught for some time at Khairagarh University in Madhya Pradesh. Chiranjilal taught at Gandharva Mahavidyalaya in Delhi, so did Narayan Prasad. Hari Prasad and Hanuman Prasad used to perform together and were popularly known as Deo Pari Ka Joda. Their duets were replete with elements of virility and grace. From this account it is possible to surmise that Jaipur gharana exponents gave due emphasis to forceful and graceful dancing. These two brothers had cousins in Shyamlal, Chunnilal, Durga Prasadji and Govardhanji who were brilliant dancers. They had the good fortune of learning from one Shankarlal about whom nothing is known except that his daughter’s son, one Badriprasad, distinguished himself as a Kathak dancer. Shankarlal was also a gifted thumri singer. All these performers, Hari Prasad and Hanuman Prasad, their cousins Shyamlal, Chunnilal, Durga Prasad and Govardhanji earned fame as brilliant exponents of Jaipur gharana.