{"id":341,"date":"2011-12-04T16:39:26","date_gmt":"2011-12-05T00:39:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.parrikar.org\/vpl\/?page_id=341"},"modified":"2020-08-16T16:56:57","modified_gmt":"2020-08-16T15:56:57","slug":"allauddin-khan","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.parrikar.org\/vpl\/?page_id=341","title":{"rendered":"Allauddin Khan"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Allauddin

Allauddin Khan
(1881-1972)<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

\u266b Raga Charju ki Malhar<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\u266b Raga Sugandh<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

About Allauddin Khan<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

From: My Music My Life<\/strong> by Ravi Shankar (1968)<\/p>\n

MY REVERED GURU<\/p>\n

A famous disciple of Wazir Khan and an extraor-
\ndinary teacher and performer himself is Ustad
\nAllauddin Khan<\/strong> of Maihar in Central India.
\nThis saintly and learned man became my revered guru, and
\nit is to him that I owe my devotion and love for my mu-
\nsical training.<\/p>\n

I saw him for the first time at the All-Bengal Music
\nConference in December, 1934. In contrast to the
\nother musicians, who were wearing colorful costumes,
\nturbans, and jewels, and were bedecked with medals,
\nhe seemed very plain and ordinary, not at all impres-
\nsive. But even in my immaturity, it did not take me
\nlong to realize that he had qualities that far outshone
\nthe gaudiness of his colleagues. He seemed to shine
\nwith a fire that came from within him. Although I did
\nnot know enough about music then to discern his
\nmusical greatness, I found myself completely over-
\nwhelmed by everything about him. Baba has always
\nbeen a strict disciplinarian with his students, but he
\nhad imposed upon himself an even stricter code of
\nconduct when he was a young man, often practicing
\nsixteen to twenty hours a day, doing with very little
\nsleep, and getting along with a minimum of material
\nthings. Sometimes, when he practiced, he tied up his
\nlong hair with heavy cord and attached an end of the
\ncord to a ring in the ceiling. Then, if he happened to
\ndoze while he practiced, as soon as his head nodded,
\na jerk on the cord would pull his hair and awaken
\nhim. From early childhood, Baba was ready and de-
\ntermined to make any sacrifice for music. Indeed,
\nhis entire life has been devoted to music.<\/p>\n

Allauddin Khan was one of the sons of a quite
\nwell-to-do peasant family in Bengal. They did not
\nhave a great deal of money, but were very rich in the
\nland they owned and the animals they kept. His fam-
\nily were Bengali Muslims, converted to Islam only
\nthree or four generations before. The village they
\nlived in was predominantly Hindu, and they all spoke
\nBengali. And so, even though his family were Muslim,
\nBaba knew all the ways of Hindus and was well ac-
\nquainted with their customs and ceremonies. Later,
\nhe was to follow a way of life that was a beautiful
\nfusion of the best of both Hinduism and Islam.
\nHis father used to play the sitar for the family and
\nfor his own pleasure. And Baba’s older brother, Afta-
\nbuddin, was a very talented and versatile musician
\nwho, too, did not perform professionally but played
\nsolely to express the music he felt within himself.
\nIn his later years, he became a very religious man
\nand was revered equally by the Hindus and the Mus-
\nlims who knew him. So it was natural that the mu-
\nsical inclinations of little Alam, as my guru was called
\nby his family, were intensified by listening to his
\nfather with the sitar and his brother playing a variety
\nof instruments, including the flute, harmonium (a
\nsmall, boxlike keyboard instrument), tabla, pakhawaj,
\nand dotara (a plucked-string instrument with two
\nstrings). Young Alam used to steal into the little
\nmusic room at home to try to play some of his older
\nbrother’s musical instruments – and was frequently
\npunished for it. When his family realized that Alam
\nhad this burning love for music, they became worried
\nthat he might decide to be a professional musician
\nand did not encourage him, for music was not thought
\nof as a respectable profession for a young man. When
\nyoung Alam wanted to leave his home and devote
\nall his life to music, his brother, the influential one
\nin the family, refused to let him go. The family much
\npreferred that he take up regular studies in a school.
\nBaba has told us that by the time he was eight he
\ncould no longer take the strict discipline and enforced
\nstudy of books. He hated studying and was constantly
\nbeing punished for pursuing the thing he loved most
\n– music. So, he left his family without saying a word
\nand traveled to a nearby village, where he joined a
\nparty of traveling musicians led by a very famous
\nplayer of the dhol. (Though the drums known as
\ndhol or dholak are found all over India in different
\nsizes and shapes, the dhol mentioned here is indige-
\nnous to Bengal. It is a one-piece drum with two faces
\nand is played with the hand on the right side and
\nwith a stick on the left.) Baba told the musicians he
\nwas an orphan, and they accepted him into their
\ngroup, feeling sorry for the lonely little boy. Then he
\ntraveled with the musicians as they toured, and they
\nreached the city of Dacca, the capital of the present
\nEast Pakistan. While he was a member of this mu-
\nsical group, Baba had the opportunity to learn to play
\nquite proficiently many varieties of drums-the dhol,
\ntabla, and pakhawaj-and he also took up the
\nshahnai and some other wind instruments-clarinet,
\ncornet, and trumpet. During all the time Baba toured
\nwith this troupe of musicians and later stayed in
\nDacca, he did not communicate with his family. They
\nwere of course distraught when they realized he had
\nleft. They searched and searched for him, but finally
\nhad to give up.<\/p>\n

BABA’S EARLY ADVENTURES<\/p>\n

The first forty years of Baba’s life were full of
\nadventure, and he underwent many unusual, almost
\nunbelievable, experiences through his intense love
\nof music. Baba was never clear about how long he
\nwas with these musicians or how much time he spent
\nin Dacca, but he says that he arrived in Calcutta when
\nhe was about fourteen or fifteen. I remember his tell-
\ning me about the hardships he suffered there.
\nHe went to one of the most famous Bengali singers
\nof the day, Nulo Gopal, a very devout and orthodox
\nHindu. Baba instinctively thought it might be better
\nif he said he was a Hindu himself when he approached
\nthis teacher, so he took a Hindu name. Nulo Gopal
\nsaw the tremendous ardor and talent for singing this
\nboy had, but he warned Baba that he himself had
\nlearned music in a very old, traditional style and said
\nthat he would teach Baba only if Baba had the pa-
\ntience to learn in the same way. That is, Baba would
\nhave to learn and practice nothing other than the
\nsargams, palta, and murchhana (solfeggio, scales, and
\nexercises) for twelve full years. Only then would
\nNulo Gopal start teaching all the traditional compo-
\nsitions. This, he said, would not take a very long time,
\nbecause Baba would already have a firm background!
\nBaba did agree to the arrangement, and arduously de-
\nvoted himself to his study, but unfortunately, after
\nonly seven years or so, Nulo Gopal died. Baba was
\nso grieved by his death that, out of respect to his
\nteacher, he took an oath never to take up singing
\nas his profession. According to Baba, the excellent
\ntraining he received from this guru in those seven
\nyears caused his musical sensitivity to grow to such
\na degree that he could notate in his mind as well as
\non paper any music he heard. This ability was to
\nprove very helpful to him later.<\/p>\n

During the seven years Baba was learning with
\nNulo Gopal, he took a job at the Star Theatre (run
\nby Girish Ghosh, the father of Bengali drama) as a
\ntabla player in the orchestra to make a little money,
\nand he had some training in the playing of the violin
\nfrom an outstanding Indian Christian teacher. Baba
\nalso participated in the frequent orchestral parties
\nheld by a prominent composer, Habu Dutt, who was
\nthe brother of the famed Swami Vivekananda. Habu
\nDutt had studied both Eastern and Western music
\nand maintained an orchestra for which he composed
\nin raga and tala framework; he used all the Western
\ninstruments as well as a few Indian ones. This later
\ninspired Baba to create his own ensemble, the Maihar
\nBand, which was quite famous for many years.
\nIt was often frightening just to hear Baba talk
\nabout the hardships he suffered as a young man in
\nCalcutta. The little pay he received at the Star Thea-
\ntre and occasional extra income he got by playing a
\nrecital here or there all went to pay for gifts or offer-
\nings he brought to his teachers-fruits or sweets-in
\ngratitude for their giving him lessons. Most of the
\ntime he had his one meal a day at some anna chhatra,
\na food dispensary provided for the poor by some
\nrich families. (Until very recently, these existed in all
\nthe large cities as a common form of charity.) The
\nrest of the day Baba either went hungry or nibbled
\nat a handful of chick peas and drank the water of
\nthe river Ganges. He had no one particular place to
\nstay. Sometimes he took a room in a cheap boarding-
\nhouse, and other times he stayed in the stable of a
\nwealthy family.<\/p>\n

When he was in his twenties, Baba went to a city
\ncalled Muktagacha, then in eastern Bengal, now in
\nEast Pakistan. It was here, at the court of Raja Jagat
\nKishore, that he heard the celebrated sarod player of
\nthe time, Ustad Ahmad Ali, and for the first time,
\nhe experienced the full effect of the musician and the
\nbeauty of the music. In his studies under Nulo Gopal,
\nBaba had felt he was approaching the field of strict
\nclassical music, but when his guru died, he thought
\nhe had reached only the threshold of the musical
\nsanctuary. He realized he needed another good teacher
\nto elevate him to a higher level in his playing and
\nunderstanding. So, he decided just then, in the Raja’s
\ncourt, that he must take this musician as his guru
\nand learn to play the sarod. Baba’s burning desire
\nto learn and a recommendation from the Raja per-
\nsuaded Ahmad Ali to accept the boy as his disciple.
\nWhen Baba began learning from Ahmad Ali, he gave
\nup all his old dilettante musical interests and devoted
\nhimself solely to the sarod. The next four years or
\nso were spent living and traveling with his ustad,
\nserving him in every way, even cooking, and learning
\nand practicing music as much as he could.
\nAfter some time, Ahmad Ali left the court and
\ntraveled to his home, the city of Rampur, taking Baba
\nwith him. By this time, Baba had learned a great deal
\nof the art and technique of the sarod and had ab-
\nsorbed most of the knowledge of his ustad. Some-
\nhow, he felt that Ahmad Ali was a bit apprehensive
\nabout Baba’s proficiency and was afraid that Baba
\nmight outdo him as a musician. One day, it happened
\nthat his guru called Baba and said that he had given
\nhim enough taleem (training) and praised him for
\nachieving a fine standard of musicianship. Now, he
\nsaid, it is time for you to go out and perform, and
\nestablish your own reputation, following the tradi-
\ntion of sikkha, dikkha, and parikkha (derivations
\nfrom the original Sanskrit of shiksha, diksha, and
\npariksha, which mean training, initiation, and evalua-
\ntion).<\/p>\n

Since Rampur was the most important seat of Hin-
\ndustani classical music, Baba was overjoyed when he
\nlearned there were almost five hundred musicians who
\nbelonged to the court of His Highness the Nawab
\nof Rampur. Out of these, at least fifty ranked among
\nthe foremost artists and were famed throughout
\nIndia. They included singers of dhrupad, dhamar,
\nkhyal, tappa, and thumri, as well as players of been,
\nsursringar, rabab, surbahar, sitar, sarangi, shahnai,
\ntabla, pakhawaj, and many other instruments. At the
\nhead of all these musicians was the truly great Wazir
\nKhan himself, a member of the Beenkar gharana, and
\nthus of the family of Tan Sen. He was the guru of
\nthe Nawab and, in his seat next to the Nawab’s
\nthrone, enjoyed a position that was unique at that
\ntime. After taking leave of Ustad Ahmad Ali, Baba
\nwent on a kind of musical “binge,” and he met all
\nthe ustads and studied a little with a great many of
\nthem for a year or so. He was completely intoxicated
\nwith the ecstasy of meeting all these great musicians.
\nAfter Baba settled down a bit, he decided he must
\nfinally go to learn from the greatest musician of them
\nall, and the one about whom he had heard so many
\nstories – Wazir Khan.<\/p>\n

A GESTURE IN DESPERATION<\/p>\n

Ustad Wazir Khan, a direct descendant of Tan
\nSen, was the greatest living been player of the time.
\nFilled with enthusiasm and bubbling with hope, Baba
\nwent off to meet him, but the sentries who guarded
\nUstad Wazir Khan’s gates, frowning at the young
\nman’s shabby dress and poor appearance, denied
\nhim entrance. In despair, young Allauddin Khan
\nrather melodramatically decided that he would either
\nlearn from this great master or give up his life. Nour-
\nishing these severe thoughts, he bought two tola
\nweight of opium with which to kill himself if neces-
\nsary. But fortunately, he met a mullah (Muslim
\npriest), who dissuaded him from such extreme meas-
\nures and suggested another plan.<\/p>\n

The mullah composed a letter in Urdu on behalf
\nof the young aspirant, explaining how he had come
\nall the way from Bengal especially to learn from
\nUstad Wazir Khan, and if that were to prove impos-
\nsible, he would swallow a lump of opium and end
\nhis life. But there remained the problem of present-
\ning the letter to the Nawab. While the spirit of des-
\nperation was mounting, young Allauddin happened
\nto hear that the Nawab would soon be on his way
\nto the theater, so he stationed himself on the road,
\nhours ahead, and as the Nawab’s vehicle finally ap-
\nproached, he threw himself down in front of it. The
\npolice dragged young Allauddin Khan away to face
\nthe Nawab, who, when he heard the whole story, was
\nso impressed by the fervor of a young man ready
\nto use such grave methods that he called him to the
\npalace to play for him.<\/p>\n

Baba gave a very impressive performance on the
\nsarod and on the violin, and then was asked if he
\ncould handle any other instruments. The Nawab was
\nquite amused when Baba, replying, boasted that he
\ncould play any instrument available in the palace.
\nSo, all the instruments were brought out and, to the
\nastonishment of everyone present, he did just that
\n– one by one, he played them all, and quite deftly,
\ntoo ! The Nawab asked him if he had any other talents,
\nand Baba said that he could write anything played or
\nsung. The Nawab was overwhelmed when Baba did
\nthis easily on the first attempt. The Nawab then sang
\nhim a very difficult gamak tan, a complicated embel-
\nlishment in a phrase. Fortunately, young Allauddin
\nhad detected that the Nawab was becoming a little
\nannoyed at the thought that such a young man might
\nknow more than he, and so he meekly replied that
\nsuch a tan would be difficult to write down. The
\nNawab was so pleased at this that, in a benevolent
\nmood, he sent for Ustad Wazir Khan and recom-
\nmended young Allauddin to him as a deserving stu-
\ndent. The Nawab himself called for a large silver
\ntray full of gold sovereigns, sweets, material for new
\nclothing, a ring, and new shoes. All these were given
\nto Wazir Khan on behalf of the disciple, and the
\nbinding ceremony between Wazir Khan as guru and
\nAllauddin Khan as shishya took place on the spot.
\nAs Baba has said, from the time he moved to Cal-
\ncutta until he came to Rampur, he had communicated
\nwith his family and had visited their home several
\ntimes. His family, hoping they could give him a
\nreason to stay with them, forced him to take a wife
\non one of his visits, and later, had him marry a sec-
\nond time. (Muslims may marry up to four times.) But
\nto their horror, Baba ran away from home on the
\nday after each marriage ceremony. His fanatic love
\nfor music left no room for such things as marriage
\nor a family then.<\/p>\n

In his first two and a half years as a disciple of
\nWazir Khan, Baba more or less had the duties of a
\nservant and errand boy to his guru and was not really
\nbeing taught music by him. Baba was rather unhappy
\nabout this, but he still spent as much time as he could
\npracticing what he had learned from Ahmad Ali and
\nothers on the sarod. Then one day, there came a
\ntelegram to him in care of Wazir Khan, asking him
\nto come home immediately because his second wife
\nhad tried to commit suicide and was critically ill.
\nShe was an extremely beautiful woman, and the peo-
\nple of her village had tormented her, saying she could
\nnot keep her husband at home for all her good looks,
\nand teased her to such an extent that in her unhap-
\npiness she tried to kill herself. Wazir Khan had the
\ntelegram read (it was in English) before passing it
\non to Baba. He was shocked and not a little angry to
\nlearn about this, because Baba had told him that
\nhe was completely alone and had no family. Imme-
\ndiately, he summoned Baba. After being interrogated,
\nBaba tremblingly revealed the truth. When the great
\nman heard the story, he was deeply moved. He real-
\nized that this was a young man with an unheard-of,
\nabnormal desire to learn music, a love so strong that
\nhe would forsake anything else in life, including
\nthe love of two young and beautiful wives.
\nIn tears, Wazir Khan embraced Baba, saying he had
\nnever realized any of these things, and he felt ex-
\ntremely sorry that he had not paid any attention to
\nBaba in those two and a half years. Then he advised
\nBaba to go home for a while, and as soon as he had
\nstraightened matters out, to return to Rampur. Wazir
\nKhan promised that he would consider Baba as his
\nforemost and best disciple outside of his own family,
\nand said he would teach him all the secrets of the art
\nof music that the members of Tan Sen’s family pos-
\nsess. “I’ll teach you all the dhrupad and dhamar
\nsongs,” he said, “and the technique and different baj
\n[styles of playing] of the been, rabab, and sursringar.”
\nHe qualified his vow, however, by saying he could
\nnever permit Baba to play the been, because it is tra-
\nditionally restricted to the Beenkar gharana – his fam-
\nily – and he warned that if Baba were to play it Baba
\nwould never have an heir and his family would die
\nout. Then Wazir Khan further explained that it
\nwould be quite possible for Baba to use all the tech-
\nniques and styles of playing the been on the sarod,
\nand he agreed to teach him to play the rabab and
\nsursringar, two instruments that were going out of
\nuse at that time.<\/p>\n

Wazir Khan did indeed keep his promises. Baba
\ntold us that many years later, when he was serving
\nHis Highness the Maharaja of Maihar, one day news
\narrived that Wazir Khan was on his deathbed. Baba
\nrushed straightway to Rampur to be with his guru.
\nWazir Khan blessed him before he died, saying that
\nBaba’s name and the names of his disciples would live
\nforever and carry on the great tradition of the Beenkar
\ngharana and the glory of Mian Tan Sen.<\/p>\n

THE REMARKABLE ”IMPURIST”<\/p>\n

Few people have any idea of the contributions Baba
\nhas made to the world of music, especially in the in-
\nstrumental field. Above all, I feel, he is responsible
\nfor enlarging the scope and range of possibilities open
\nto an instrumentalist. He has led us away from the
\nconfines of narrow specialization that prevailed in
\nour music really through the first quarter of this cen-
\ntury. Until then, one player would do only music of
\na light and delicate nature, and another would per-
\nform only romantic compositions, some musicians
\nwere purely spiritual and others emphasized the “ma-
\nterialistic” side of the music – the wealth of embel-
\nlishment. Because Ustad Allauddin Khan, as a young
\nman, was taught by so many masters, he learned a
\nvariety of styles of singing and playing and acquired
\na good many instrumental techniques – wind and
\nbowed and plucked-string instruments, and even
\ndrums. And so he very naturally incorporated in his
\nplaying of the sarod some of the characteristics of
\ndiverse vocal styles and of the playing styles asso-
\nciated with a number of different instruments. He
\nis known mainly as a sarod player, but he also per-
\nformed on several other instruments. He was equally
\nwell known as a violinist, and as he did with the
\nsarod, he played the violin with his left hand. Three
\nstringed instruments that he did not perform on in
\nconcerts are the been, the sitar, and the surbahar,
\nalthough he was acquainted with their techniques.
\nMusicians who follow Baba’s example may now
\nchoose from a great many vocal and instrumental
\nstyles-alap, dhrupad-dhamar, khyal, tarana, tappa,
\nthumri-and synthesize, creating a whole new con-
\ncept in interpretation and performance.<\/p>\n

Baba faced much criticism in the beginning, as
\nindeed, some of us, as his disciples, have been and
\nare still facing. Early in his career, he was reproached
\nfor not playing “pure sarod” when he performed
\nand was criticized for bringing other techniques into
\nhis playing. I myself, when I began public appear-
\nances, faced the charge of not playing “pure sitar”
\nand of having sarod techniques in my music, because
\nI had learned from a sarod player. And I remember
\nclearly that even into the late 1930s, sitar playing was
\nrestricted to a very limited dimension, and the players
\nkept to their favorite specialized areas of music. There
\nwere some who used a small sitar for the “authentic”
\nsitar baj (here baj means style of playing) and played
\nonly medium-slow Masitkhani gats with simple tans
\n(or phrases), a style of composition created by Masit
\nKhan. There were others who played only medium-
\nfast Rezakhani gats and still others who used a rather
\nlarge sitar and played it more or less in the way one
\nplays the surbahar (a large, deep-sounding instru-
\nment with very thick strings). I have heard the well-
\nknown sitarist Enayat Khan play the alap, jor, and
\njhala (first three movements of a raga) on the surba-
\nhar, then put aside that instrument and take up a
\nsmall sitar to do the fast Rezakhani gat. His father,
\nEmdad Khan, is known to have done the same thing.
\nThe criticisms of “impurity” of style are likely to
\ncome from other musicians who use the same instru-
\nment, and they and their admirers can cause quite
\na storm of differing opinion. Also, musicians who do
\nnot belong to one strong and well-established gharana
\nare often open to harsh judgments. A musician who
\nis a member of a certain gharana may – and often
\ndoes – change his style, enriching and expanding it
\nafter hearing other musicians and interpreting their
\nideas in his own way. But, if questioned about this,
\nhe has recourse to the shelter of his gharana. He can
\nclaim that there is a precedent for what he has done
\nand trace it back through his own gharana’s traditions.
\nOften, though, I am amazed that a musician who
\nupholds the highest tradition can be cruelly criticized
\nif he also happens to be a creative artist and brings
\nabout many innovations. The great Tan Sen and then
\nSadarang and even Allauddin Khan faced this sort
\nof criticism early in their careers, but later their “in-
\nnovations” became part of our musical tradition, and ,
\nwere well established through their disciples. That
\nis one of the beauties of Indian classical music – that
\nsince the Vedas it has never stood stagnant, but has
\nkept on growing and being enriched by the great
\ncreative geniuses of successive generations.<\/p>\n

As a teacher, Baba aims at perfecting the hand and
\nfinger technique of the student. No matter what in-
\nstrument the student may choose, Baba insists that
\nthe student who shows promise should also learn to
\nsing the palta, sargams, and other song compositions,
\ncarefully delineating the scope of the raga and its
\ndistinctive notes and phrases and correctly using the
\nmicrotones, or shrutis, to give the proper effect to
\nthe music and make it come alive. The reason for this
\nis, of course, that the basis of our music is vocal, and
\nit is composed primarily of melody, of embellishment,
\nand of rhythm; any melodic phrase, with or without
\na definite rhythm, that can be sung can also be played
\non an instrument, with each instrument’s own fea-
\ntures bringing a special quality to the sound. Ac-
\ncording to our tradition, even the instrumentalists
\nare required to have a moderate command of the
\nvoice. This makes it easier for them when they take
\non the role of teacher to instruct their students,
\nmerely by singing the gats, or tans, or todas, or even
\nthe alap, jor, and jhala. Along with the ability to sing
\nthe melodies, Baba recommends that his students
\nlearn to play the tabla and acquire a good knowledge
\nof taladhaya (rhythmics). In mastering the funda-
\nmentals, the student learns all the technique of prop-
\nerly handling the instrument of his choice, working
\nin the particular idiom, tonal range, and musical
\nscope of a given instrument by practicing scales,
\npalta, sargams, and bols taught by the guru. Gener-
\nally, Baba starts with basic ragas like Kalyan for the
\nevening and Bhairav for the morning, first giving,
\nmany pieces of “fixed music” in the form of gats,
\ntans, or todas based on the raga. By “fixed music” I
\ndo not mean music that is written down as it is in the
\nWest; rather I am referring to what we call bandishes,
\nwhich literally means “bound down,” but in this con-
\ntext means “fixed.” These are vocal or instrumental
\npieces, either traditional compositions or the teacher’s
\nown, that students learn and memorize by playing
\nover hundreds, even thousands, of times, to be able
\nto produce the correct, clear sound, intonation, and
\nphrasing. Thus, Baba lays a solid foundation for the
\nstudent to know the sanctified framework of the
\nragas and talas.<\/p>\n

When the student, after some years of training, has
\nfairly good control of the basic technique of the in-
\nstrument and has learned a few more important morn-
\ning and evening ragas (Sarang, Todi, Bhimpalasi,
\nBhairav, Yaman Kalyan, Bihag, and so on) and has
\nsome mastery of the fundamentals of solo playing,
\nthen he may expand his creative faculties and is
\nencouraged to improvise as he plays. But he has to
\nbe careful not to impinge on the purity of the raga.
\nThat is, his playing must be correct both in technique
\nand interpretation. The right feeling of a raga is some-
\nthing that must be taught by the guru and nurtured
\nfrom the germ of musical sensitivity within the stu-
\ndent. Unlike some other musicians, Baba has never
\nbeen stingy or jealous about passing on to deserving
\nstudents the great and sacred art that he possesses. In
\nfact, when he is inspired in his teaching, it is as if a
\nfloodgate had opened up and an ocean of beautiful and
\ndivine music were flowing out. The disciple spends
\nmany hours simply listening to his guru, and then he
\nendeavors to fill up the frame of a raga with impro-
\nvised passages born out of the compelling mood of
\nthe moment or enlarged through his own attempts at
\nimprovisation as his understanding grows and he
\nbecomes more familiar with a particular raga. At
\nfirst, the student may improvise only a fraction of his
\nperformance, but as his musicianship matures, so his
\nconfidence grows, and he improvises more and more.
\nIt is, in a way, like learning to swim. It is exhilarating
\nin the beginning to feel your own body moving
\nthrough the water, but you are afraid to swim far and
\nthere is always the fear of losing control somehow. So
\nit is with a raga. You are always a little afraid at first
\nthat you will make mistakes, play the wrong notes,
\nand go out of a raga or lose count of the rhythm as the
\nraga carries you along, but your confidence keeps
\ngrowing, and one day, you feel you have complete
\ncontrol over what you are playing. A truly excellent
\nand creative musician of the Hindustani system will
\nimprovise anywhere from fifty to ninety per cent of
\nhis music as he performs, but this freedom can come
\nabout only after many many years of basic study and
\ndiscipline and organized training (if he has a good deal
\nof talent to begin with), and after profound study of
\nthe ragas, and finally, if he has been blessed with
\nguru-kripa, the favor of the guru.<\/p>\n

When I myself start to perform a raga, the first
\nthing I do is shut out the world around me and try to
\ngo down deep within myself. This starts even when I
\nam concentrating on the careful tuning of the sitar
\nand its tarafs (sympathetic strings). When, with con-
\ntrol and concentration, I have cut myself off from the
\noutside world, I step onto the threshold of the raga
\nwith feelings of humility, reverence, and awe. To me,
\na raga is like a living person, and to establish that in-
\ntimate oneness between music and musician, one must
\nproceed slowly. And when that oneness is achieved,
\nit is the most exhilarating and ecstatic moment, like
\nthe supreme heights of the act of love or worship. In
\nthese miraculous moments, when I am so much aware
\nof the great powers surging within me and all around
\nme, sympathetic and sensitive listeners are feeling the
\nsame vibrations. It is a strange mixture of all the
\nintense emotions – pathos, joy, peace, spirituality,
\neroticism, all flowing together. It is like feeling God.
\nAll these emotions may vary according to the style
\nand approach of playing and to the nature and princi-
\npal mood of the raga. We Indians say that in a per-
\nformance of our classical music, the listener plays a
\ngreat role. It is this exchange of feeling, this strong
\nrapport between the listener and the performer, that
\ncreates great music. But wrong vibrations emanating
\nfrom egoistic, insensitive, and unsympathetic listeners
\ncan diminish the creative feelings of the musician. Al-
\nthough I am not a Tan Sen, at times I have seen
\nmiracles happen with my music. Perhaps my playing
\ndoes not cause rain to fall from the skies, but it has
\nmade tears fall from the eyes of my listeners. The
\nmiracle of our music is in the beautiful rapport that
\noccurs when a deeply spiritual musician performs for
\na receptive and sympathetic group of listeners.<\/p>\n

A LEGENDARY TEMPER<\/p>\n

Besides being famous for his performances and in-
\nnovations in music, Baba was also very well known
\nthroughout the musical world for his temper. I was
\nrather apprehensive about meeting him for the first
\ntime in person. But I still remember how surprised I
\nwas when I found him to be so gentle and unassuming,
\nendowed with the virtue of vinaya (humility) in the
\ntrue Vaishnav spirit. It is only when he is wrapped up
\nutterly in his music that he becomes a stern taskmas-
\nter, for he cannot tolerate any impurities or defects
\nin the sacred art of music, and he has no sympathy or
\npatience with those who can. His own life has been
\none of rigorously self-imposed discipline, and he ex-
\npects no less from his students. Baba’s views on celi-
\nbacy and especially on intoxication through alcohol or
\ndrugs are extremely rigid and severe. He strongly in-
\nsists that the students follow brahmacharya – for the
\ndisciple, a traditional Hindu way of life that includes
\nonly the absolute essentials of material needs. This
\nway, with no thoughts of fine clothes, fancy foods, sex
\nor complicated love affairs or anything else that satis-
\nfies and encourages physical desires, the student can
\nchannel all of his powers and forces, both mental and
\nphysical, into the discipline of his music. Music, to
\nBaba, is a strict, lifelong discipline that requires long
\nand careful training, and if a student is not prepared
\nto regard music in this way, he had better not take it
\nup at all.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, Baba no longer travels or performs
\nnow, although on special occasions he may be seen
\nplaying the violin or conducting the famous Maihar
\nBand (an ensemble of Indian and Western instru-
\nments) of which he is still the director. He also con-
\ntinues as Principal of the Maihar College of Music
\nwhich he attends every day. In 1952, Baba was made
\na Fellow of the Sangeet Natak Akademi (National
\nAcademy of Performing Arts), and in 1958, he was
\nawarded the Padma Bhusan, an honorary title for out-
\nstanding citizens, by the President of the academy.
\nViswa Bharati, Tagore’s university, gave him the hon-
\norary degree of Doctor. Thus, honor and recognition
\ncame to him in the evening of his life, but he remains,
\nfollowing the saying in the Geeta, unmoved and un-
\nruffled as he pursues his work and the study of
\nmusic, never bothering, never worrying or looking
\nback. Baba himself believes he is well over a hundred
\nyears old, and his centenary has already been marked.
\nHis true age is not known, because records have not
\nbeen kept, but what does it matter if he is over a
\nhundred or nearing a hundred? What he has accom-
\nplished in his lifetime many others could not do if
\nthey had three hundred years to live. He is respected
\nand well regarded by everyone, including the most
\northodox Hindu Brahmins, as a rishi, responsible for
\nsafeguarding traditions, for developing, teaching, and
\npassing on to disciples the art of music.
\nThere are so many things one could add about
\nUstad Allauddin Khan. He belongs to a school that
\nseems so far removed from our modern industrial era,
\nand yet, in every way, he has been ahead of his time,
\ninjecting a new significance and life into Indian in-
\nstrumental music. With him will pass an era that
\nupheld the dedicated, spiritual outlook handed down
\nby the great munis and rishis who considered the
\nsound of music, nad, to be Nada Brahma – a way to
\nreach God.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u266b Raga Charju ki Malhar \u266b Raga Sugandh   About Allauddin Khan From: My Music My Life by Ravi Shankar (1968) MY REVERED GURU A famous disciple of Wazir Khan and an extraor- dinary teacher and performer himself is Ustad Allauddin Khan of Maihar in Central India. This saintly and learned man became my revered...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":6,"menu_order":400,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"pp_embeds":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.parrikar.org\/vpl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/341"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.parrikar.org\/vpl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.parrikar.org\/vpl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.parrikar.org\/vpl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.parrikar.org\/vpl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=341"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.parrikar.org\/vpl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/341\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2248,"href":"https:\/\/www.parrikar.org\/vpl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/341\/revisions\/2248"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.parrikar.org\/vpl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.parrikar.org\/vpl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}