XVIII. The Mughals and the Arts
*Education* == *Literature*
== *Architecture* == *Painting*
== *Music*
[[238]] THE GREATNESS
of the Mughal achievement in the political unification of India was matched
by the splendor and beauty of the work of the architects, poets, historians,
painters, and musicians who flourished in the period. The resemblances
of the Mughal empire to the Bourbon monarchy in France during the same
period have often been noted, and in India, as in France, a literate and
refined court gave a recognizable style and manner to a wide variety of
arts.
Education
Before turning to the arts
themselves, something must be said of the vigorous educational activity
at the capitals—both Delhi and Agra—and in such great provincial cities
as Sialkot, Lahore, Ahmadabad, and Burhanpur. Without these centers, the
cultural achievements of the Mughal period would scarcely have been possible.
During Akbar's reign the "mental sciences"—logic, philosophy, and scholastic
theology—had taken on new importance. About the same time, we notice a
very considerable improvement in the teaching of the religious sciences.
Akbar's conquest of Gujarat opened up ports like Cambay and Surat to those
scholars from northern India who wished to go to the great religious center
of Hejaz for further study. That the standard of learning in these subjects
rose as a consequence is evidenced by the career of scholars like Shaikh
Abdul Haq Muhaddis (1551–1642). The extensive study of hadith, in which
Indian scholars were to distinguish themselves in the eighteenth century,
began because of this contact with Arabia.
Bernier, the French traveler
who was in India during Aurangzeb's reign, deplored the deficiencies of
the educational system. To prove his point, he quoted Aurangzeb's reproaches
against his tutor for having [[239]] wasted time on grammar and
metaphysics, while ignoring geography, history, and politics./1/
No attempt was made to control education, even though the state gave large
grants of rent-free lands to ulama for setting up madrasas. There were
no regular examinations, and no organization for maintaining standards.
Yet Mughal education had its special values, for Muslim education did not
decay in the eighteenth century with the decline of Muslim political authority.
The reduced calls made by the state employment on Muslim manpower left
more men free to devote themselves to academic and literary work. A number
of educational institutions and foundations, including the colleges established
by Ghazi-ud-din Khan Firuz Jang, Sharaf-ud-daulah, and Raushan-ud-daulah
in Delhi belong to this period.
The standardization of the
educational curriculum was accomplished in the eighteenth century. The
Dars-i-Nizamiya, named after Mulla Nizam-ud-din (d.1748) provided instruction
in grammar, rhetoric, philosophy, logic, scholasticism, tafsir (commentary
on the Quran), fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), hadith, and
mathematics. This curriculum has been criticized for containing too many
books on grammar and logic and in general for devoting too much attention
to formal subjects, and too little to useful secular subjects like history
and natural sciences or even religious subjects like tafsir and hadith.
But it provided good mental discipline, and its general adoption was responsible
for the widespread interest in intellectual and philosophical matters.
In the period in which it was systematized it was perhaps reasonably adequate
for the average student. Those wishing to specialize or pursue a particular
branch of knowledge went to the experts in that subject. The needs of the
students specially interested in religious subjects were better served
at institutions like Madrasa-i-Rahimiya, the forerunner of the modern seminary
of Deoband, where tafsir and hadith were the principal subjects of study,
but for those needing a general education to qualify for the posts of munshis,
qazis, or religious preachers, Dars-i-Nizamiya provided a satisfactory
basis until modern times.
Bernier, despite his criticism
of the educational system, has left [[240]] evidence that at least
two intellectuals of the Mughal court tried to learn about Western philosophy.
One of them was Fazil Khan, the prime minister, whom Bernier taught "the
principal languages of Europe, after he had translated for him the whole
philosophy of Gassendi in Latin, and whose leave [to depart] he could not
obtain, until he had copied for him a select number of best European books,
thereby to supply the loss he should suffer of his person." The other was
Danishmand Khan, who supported Bernier for a number of years. "My Nawab,
Agha Danishmand Khan, expects my arrival with much impatience," Bernier
wrote. "He can no more dispense with his philosophical studies in the afternoon
than avoid devoting the morning to his weighty duties as Secretary of State
for Foreign Affairs and Grand Master of the Horse. Astronomy, geography,
and anatomy are his favorite pursuits, and he reads with avidity the works
of Gassendy and Descartes."/2/
Colonel Sleeman, who knew India in the first half of the nineteenth century
better than almost any other Englishman, paid high tribute to the quality
of Muslim education in India. He wrote:
Perhaps there are few communities in the world among
whom education is more generally diffused than among Mohammadans in India.
He who holds an office worth twenty rupees a month commonly gives his sons
an education equal to that of a Prime Minister. They learn, through the
medium of Arabic and Persian languages, what young men in our colleges
learn through those of Greek and Latin—that is, grammar, rhetoric, and
logic. After his seven years of study, the young Mohammadan binds his turban
upon a head almost as well filled with the things which appertain to these
branches of knowledge as the young man raw from Oxford—he will talk as
fluently about Socrates and Aristotle, Plato and Hippocrates, Galen, and
Avicenna (alias Sokrat, Aristotalis, Aflatun, Bukrat, Jalinus, and Sina)./3/
Nor was education confined
only to men. Many Muslim women were patrons of literature and themselves
writers. The memoirs of Gulbadan Begum, Akbar's aunt, are well known, and
his foster-mother, Maham Anga, endowed a college at Delhi. Akbar's wife
[[241]] Salima Sultana, the famous Empress Mumtaz Mahal, and Aurangzeb's
sister, the Princess Jahan Ara Begum, were poetesses of note, as was his
daughter, Zeb-un-Nissa.
The spread of knowledge and
intellectual development is linked up with the growth of libraries. Printing
was not introduced in northern India till after the end of the Muslim rule,
but hundreds of katibs (calligraphists) were available in every big city,
and no Muslim noble would be considered cultured, unless he possessed a
good library. The royal palaces contained immense libraries. According
to Father Manrique, the library of Agra in 1641 contained 24,000 volumes,
valued at six and a half million rupees.
Literature
Persian was the language
of Mughal intellectual life. Since the Ghaznavid occupation of Lahore in
the beginning of the eleventh century, Persian had been the official language
of the Muslim government and the literary language of the higher classes,
but with the advent of the Mughals it entered a new era. Hitherto Persian
had reached India mainly from Afghanistan, Turkistan, and Khorasan, and
had many common features with Tajik. With the establishment of closer relations
between India and Iran after Humayun's visit to that country, and the arrival
of a large number of distinguished Iranis in the reign of Jahangir and
later Mughal rulers, the linguistic and literary currents began to flow
from Iran itself. Shiraz and Isfahan now replaced Ghazni and Bukhara in
literary inspiration, with considerable refining of the language as a result.
A large number of prominent
Irani poets, including Urfi, Naziri, Talib, and Kalim, migrated to India,
and at times the level of Persian literature was higher in Mughal India
than in Iran. Unluckily the style of poetry, which was popular in both
countries at this time, was the subtle and involved type made popular by
Fighani of Shiraz. This school of poetry culminated in Bedil, the best
known poet of Aurangzeb's reign. His similes and metaphors are often obscure,
but his poetry is marked by great originality and profundity of thought.
From love, the traditional preoccupation of Persian poets, he turned to
the [[242]] problems of life and human behavior, and in certain
circles (particularly in Afghanistan and Tajikistan) he ranks high as a
philosophical poet. But the two poets who outshone all others in a distinguished
group were Faizi and Ghalib. Faizi (1547–1595), whose genius matured before
the large-scale immigration of poets from Iran and the introduction of
the "new" school of poetry, was the brother of Abul Fazl. As Akbar's poet-laureate,
his poetry mirrors a triumphant age. Ghalib (1796–1869), who was attached
to the court of the last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah, began in the style
of Bedil, but soon outgrew it and came under the spell of the immigrant
Irani poets—Urfi, Naziri, Zahuri, and Hazin. His maturer work epitomizes
all that is best in the different schools of Mughal poetry—the profundity
and originality of Bedil's thought, combined with the polished diction
of Urfi and Naziri. He wrote largely of love and life, but the deep, melancholy
note in his poetry reflects the sad end to which the Mughal empire was
drawing in his day.
Next to poetry, history and
biography were most extensively cultivated during the Mughal period. Historians
include Abul Fazl (1551–1602), whose comprehensive Akbar Nama is
one of the most important historical works produced in India; Badauni (1540–1615),
who wrote with bias and even venom, yet who was a consummate artist, a
master of the telling phrase, and capable of evoking a living picture with
a few deft strokes; the intelligent and orderly Firishta; Khafi Khan; and
the author of Siyar-ul-Mutakhkhirin, the last of the great Mughal historical
works./4/ Among biographical
works, Babur's autobiography, originally written in Turkish, but soon translated
into elegant Persian by Abdul Rahim Khan-i-Khanan, is the best. There were,
however, other biographical works, including the comprehensive Ma'asir'ul-umara
dealing with the Mughal nobility, and numerous biographies of saints, poets,
and statesmen. A very interesting historical work written during Aurangzeb's
reign is Dabistan-i-Mazahib, which has been translated into English
under the misleading title "School of Manners," but which is really a "History
of Religions." [[243]] The author, who belonged to the band of the
writers and thinkers around Dara Shukoh, gives considerable first-hand
information about non-Muslim sects./5/
The Persian literature produced
in India is of interest not only for its intrinsic worth, but also for
the influence it exercised on the formation and shaping of regional literatures,
especially those cultivated by the Muslims. In addition to vocabulary and
general influence on thought, it contributed a number of literary genres
to the regional languages, provided models for the writers, and supplied
themes for many major literary works. Indeed, apart from Islam itself,
the Persian literary heritage has been the most important basis of the
cultural unity of Muslim India.
It is characteristic of the
Mughals that, next to Persian, the language which received the greatest
patronage at court was Hindi. The practice started in Akbar's day of having
a Hindi kavi rai (poet-laureate) along with the Persian malik-ul-shuara.
Already Muslim poets such as Jaisi and Kabir had enriched the Hindi language.
Among Hindus, the greatest Hindi poet of Akbar's days was the famous Tulasidas,
whose career was spent far from the worldly courts. There were, however,
well-known Hindi poets amongst Akbar's courtiers. Raja Birbal (1528–1583)
was the kavi rai, but the works of Akbar's famous general Abdul Rahim have
been better preserved. A skillful writer in Hindi, Abdul Rahim furthered
the development of the language by extending his patronage to a number
of other poets who used it. The title of kavi rai continued to be conferred
even in Aurangzeb's time, and two of his sons, Azam and Muazzam, who ascended
the throne as Bahadur Shah, were known to be patrons of Hindi literature.
It is interesting to observe that during the later Mughal period Hindi
poets like Bihari followed the same ornate style which was popular with
the contemporary Persian poets.
Until the decline of the
empire Urdu literature received scarcely any encouragement at the Mughal
courts, but it was systematically nourished in the south by the Sufi saints
and the Deccani kings. [[244]] Nusrati, a poet attached to the court
of Bijapur, wrote masnavis (or narrative poems) in a language remote
from modern Urdu but within its tradition. The first collection of Urdu
lyrics was written by Sultan Muhammad Quli Qutab Shah (r.1581–1611), the
king of Golkunda and founder of the city of Hyderabad. Modern Urdu poetry
really began, however, with Wali (1667–1741), who came in contact with
the spoken Urdu of the Mughal camp during the long campaigns of Aurangzeb
in the Deccan. He blended the Deccani and Gujarati idioms with the polite
and more sophisticated language of the north, and following the traditions
of standard Persian literature, he produced poetry which set a literary
fashion in Delhi. He transferred to Urdu poetry ideas and images with which
readers of Persian poetry were familiar; and thus enriched, Urdu could
replace Persian poetry. Although a proportion of Wali's verse is in Deccani
idiom, a good proportion is in polished Urdu.
Once Urdu was adopted as
the medium of literary expression by the writers of the metropolis, its
development was rapid, and it soon replaced Persian as the court language
and principal literary language of Muslim India. The process of change-over
to the new literary language was facilitated by certain other factors.
The invasion of Delhi by the Persian monarch Nadir Shah in 1739 and the
massacres perpetrated by his army must have led to a revulsion of feeling
against everything Persian—including the language. An acute literary controversy
of the period further hastened the process. Hazin, a major Persian poet
who came to India to escape Nadir Shah, was subjected to great hardship
in the unsettled conditions prevailing at that time, and in a controversy
with Arzu, the foremost local writer of Persian verses, expressed his contempt
for the Persian poetry written in India. Some local writers sided with
him, but the general effect of the controversy must have been to set people
thinking about the advisability of writing in Persian.
Thus the ground was prepared
for literary change-over. What was needed was the appearance of talented
writers in the new language to give it a literary status. This was provided
by Mazhar (1699–1781), Sauda (1717–1780), the Sufi poet Dard (1719–1785),
and above all Mir (1724–1808)—popularly known as the four pillars of classical
[[245]] Urdu poetry. Both Sauda and Mir had been trained by Arzu
to write in Urdu rather than in Persian.
The encouragement which the
growth of regional languages and literatures received in the regional Muslim
kingdoms has already been outlined. Muslim rulers, unhampered by any religious
devotion to Sanskrit, freely patronized Bengali, Kashmiri, Hindi, Deccani,
and other languages of the people. This trend was most powerful in the
regional kingdoms which grew up after the weakening of the Delhi Sultanate.
Persian continued as the court language in these kingdoms; but local languages
were freely patronized, and became respectable vehicles of literary expression.
The literary trend under
Mughal rule was not exactly in the same direction. The establishment of
a well-organized central government at Delhi, with cohesive control over
the outlying regions, resulted in greater linguistic unification, and the
influence of Persian became far more dominant. Mughal rule, however, indirectly
assisted the regional literatures. Apart from the direct patronage of Hindi
at the Delhi court, the conditions in the country helped the regional literatures.
The general peace and tranquillity; greater prosperity, particularly in
urban areas; the more general diffusion of education; and the patronage
of literature by the Mughal emperors and the nobility, led to extensive
literary activity, from which the regional literatures benefited. By now
they had developed so much that they could not wither away by want of direct
court patronage, and the general prosperity in the country was enough to
sustain them. The result was that a marked literary activity in the regional
languages continued along with the cultivation of Persian, and particularly
in the later part of Mughal rule there was a great outburst of literary
activity in Bengali, Deccani, Hindi, Sindhi, Pushto, Kashmiri, and other
regional languages.
Architecture
Architecture, which had already
achieved a high level of development under the sultanate, reached the pinnacle
of its glory under the Mughals. Although Babur's stay in India was brief,
and he was preoccupied with the conquest of the country, he found time
to summon [[246]] from Constantinople pupils of the great Ottoman
architect Sinan, to whom he entrusted the construction of mosques and other
buildings. Time has dealt harshly with buildings constructed in his reign
and that of Humayun, and only four minor ones have survived. These buildings
exhibit no trace of local influence and are distinctly foreign.
Akbar's most ambitious project
was his new capital and the numerous buildings at Fathpur Sikri, the seat
of the imperial court from 1569 to 1584. Some of the buildings there are
dominated by the Hindu style of architecture, reflecting the emperor's
regard for the Hindu tradition. But Persian influences were equally strong
in his day, as can be seen in the magnificent tomb for Humayun built early
in 1569 at Delhi. Akbar's efforts were not confined to tombs, mosques,
and palaces, but included fortresses, villas, towers, sarais, schools,
and reservoirs or tanks. He built two major fortresses at Agra and Lahore.
The Lahore fort, which was built on the banks of the Ravi, at about the
same time as that at Agra, was planned and constructed on practically the
same grand scale. The buildings within the Lahore fort were greatly altered
by Shah Jahan and later by the Sikhs, but much remains in the original
form. A striking feature of the fort is the carved decoration, representing
living things. This may indicate merely the predominance of Hindu craftsmen,
and a lax overseer, but more likely it can be ascribed to Akbar's own predilections.
Akbar's death in 1605 was
followed by a pause in building activities of the Mughals. His successor,
Jahangir, was interested less in architecture than in painting and gardens.
Akbar's tomb at Sikandar and some other buildings were constructed during
his reign, but Jahangir's greatest contribution was in laying out the large
formal gardens which adorn many cities of Kashmir and the Punjab. The Mughal
garden is a regular arrangement of squares, usually in the form of terraces
placed on a slope (for easy distribution of water), with pavilions at the
center. Artificial pools with numerous fountains form an important part
of the plan, and the flagged causeways are shadowed by avenues of trees.
Babur and Akbar had made a beginning in this direction, but during Jahangir's
reign a number of lovely gardens came into existence, such as the Shalamar
Bagh and the Nishat in Kashmir. Jahangir's beautiful mausoleum at Shahdara
near Lahore was probably [[247]] planned by the emperor himself,
but it was completed in the next reign, by his widow Nur Jahan. It suffered
serious damage in the reign of Ranjit Singh, when the marble pavilion in
front of the building, which offered a central point of interest, was removed.
It cannot be fairly judged after the spoliation by the Sikhs, and in any
case it lacks many noble features of the Taj Mahal, but even now it is
a beautiful building, decorated by inlaid marbles, glazed tiles, and painted
patterns. Not far from Jahangir's resting place Nur Jahan lies buried in
a very unpretentious tomb.
Shah Jahan was the greatest
builder amongst the Mughals. One secret of his success was the liberal
use of marble. He replaced many sandstone structures of his predecessors
in the forts of Agra and Lahore and other places with marble palaces. This
change in the material itself facilitated a corresponding change in architectural
treatment. Rectangular forms gave way to curved lines, and the art of the
marble cutter gave a new grace and lightness to the decoration. The style
of Shah Jahan's principal edifices is basically Persian, but is distinguished
by the lavish use of white marble, minute and tasteful decoration—particularly
the open-work tracery which ornaments the finest buildings, giving them
their distinctive elegance. Among the more famous of his buildings are
the Pearl Mosque and the Taj Mahal at Agra, the Red Fort and Jama Masjid
at Delhi, palaces and gardens at Lahore, a beautiful mosque at Thatta in
Sind, a fort, palace, and mosque at Kabul, royal buildings in Kashmir,
and many edifices at Ajmer and Ahmadabad.
Aurangzeb was not a great
builder, but among buildings of merit erected in his reign is the great
Badshahi Mosque of Lahore, completed in 1674. Its construction was supervised
by Fidai Khan Kuka, Master of Ordnance, whose engineering skill and experience
enabled him to design and erect a building of great size and stability.
It is one of the largest mosques in the subcontinent, if not in the world.
There is a great dignity in its broad quadrangle leading up to the facade
of the sanctuary. Its ornamentation is boldly conceived, but perhaps representing
Aurangzeb's puritanical taste, this is sparingly introduced. For this reason
the building suffers in comparison with the Great Mosque at Delhi.
[[248]] After Shah
Jahan Mughal architecture declined even at the capital, although some interesting
buildings were erected from time to time. The tomb of Safdar Jang at Delhi,
built in 1783, is indicative of the decline in the architectual standards,
which was to become more manifest in the hybrid structures exhibiting European
and Mughal influences at Lucknow.
Painting
As patrons of painting the
Mughals gave the world a legacy of enduring beauty. The particular styles
of painting which developed in India had their origin in the courts of
the relatives of the Mughals at Herat and elsewhere. Babur himself, although
he had some painters in his service, made no efforts to foster the art
in his newly won empire.
To Humayun must go the credit
for the founding of the Mughal school of painting. During his wanderings
in Persia and what is now Afghanistan he came across painters who had studied
under Behzad, and persuaded Khwaja Abdul Samad and Mir Sayyid Ali, the
pupil of Behzad, to join his court at Kabul in 1550. They accompanied him
to Delhi, forming the nucleus of the Mughal school.
This school was properly
developed under Akbar, who organized it with his usual zeal. It was under
his direct supervision, and the more prominent of the hundred or so painters
were granted ranks in the governmental structure as mansabdars or ahadis.
The painters worked in a large building at Fathpur Sikri, and, according
to Abul Fazl, "the works of all painters are weekly laid before His Majesty
by the daroghas (supervisors) and the clerks; he then confers rewards according
to the excellence of workmanship or increases the monthly salaries."
Khwaja Abdul Samad was the
head of the establishment and was known by the title of shirin qalam
(or "sweet pen"), referring to his skill in calligraphy. Later he became
master of the mint (1577) and subsequently was appointed diwan at Multan.
There was a small number
of Persian artists, and, in course of time, a preponderance of Hindus.
They had had previous training in wall-painting, [[249]] and joined
with the Persian painters between 1570 and 1585 in decorating the walls
of Akbar's new capital. They were quick to learn the principles and techniques
of Persian art, and the joint efforts of Persian and Indian artists soon
led to the rise of the distinct style of Mughal painting. The foreign artists
included Khwaja Abdul Samad, Farrukh Beg, and Khusrau Quli. Among the Hindus
Basawan Lal and Daswant were preeminent. Occasionally many artists collaborated
in the painting of a single picture, the leading artists sketching the
composition and other painters putting in the parts at which they were
expert.
Akbar's artists specialized
in portraiture and book illustration. The emperor's album containing likenesses
not only of Akbar and the royal family but of all the grandees of the realm
has been lost, but many examples of book illustrations of the period have
survived: Razm Nama at Jaipur, Babur Nama in the British
Museum, and the Akbar Nama in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Akbar's traditions were maintained
by Jahangir, who was proud both of his artists and his own critical judgment.
"As regards myself," he wrote in his Memoirs, "my liking for painting
and my practice in judging it have arrived at such a point that when any
work is brought before me, either of deceased artists or those of the present
day, without the names being told me, I say on the spur of the moment that
it is the work of such and such a man. And if there be a picture containing
many portraits, and each face be the work of a different master, I can
discover which face is the work of each of them. If any other person has
put in the eye and eyebrow of a face, I can perceive whose work the original
face is, and who has painted the eye and eyebrows."/6/
The main remnants of Jahangir's principal picture albums are in the State
Library of Berlin, while another album, which was taken away by Nadir Shah
during his sack of Delhi, is in the Imperial Library at Tehran.
A special skill developed
by Indian painters in Jahangir's time was the production of extremely faithful
copies of paintings. The emperor appreciated gifts of paintings from foreign
visitors, and Sir Thomas [[250]] Roe records that once when he presented
a painting in the morning, by the evening several copies had been prepared
by the native artists. They were such accurate copies that Roe had some
difficulty in spotting the original. Jahangir's best known painters were
Agha Raza of Herat and his son Abul Hasan; the Kalmuck artist, Farrukh
Beg; Muhammad Nadir and Muhammad Murad, both of Samarqand; Ustad Mansur,
the leading animal painter; Bishan Das; Manohar; and Govardhan. These and
many others were constantly in attendance on the emperor at the capital
and during his travels. They were commissioned to paint any incident or
scene that struck the emperor's fancy. When a Mughal embassy visited Persia
it was accompanied by the painter Bishan Das, who painted for Jahangir
the likenesses of the Safavid king and his courtiers. The court painters
have left a record of the public men of note that is probably unequalled
for fidelity and artistry. It is regrettable that these portraits have
not yet been utilized as a source material for social history.
Under Shah Jahan painting,
like all the other arts, continued to flourish. He reduced the number of
court painters, keeping only the very best and forcing others to seek the
patronage of the princes and the nobles; but the art did not suffer by
this. Dara Shukoh was a patron of painting, and nobles like Zafar Khan,
the governor of Kashmir, who had a beautiful anthology of the works of
the living poets prepared, illustrated with their paintings, employed many
artists. Other painters set up studios in the bazaars. An interesting feature
of the period, typical of the general predominance of the indigenous elements
in various spheres—in the secretariat, literature, and music—was that only
one Persian artist was employed by Shah Jahan. The preponderance of the
Hindus among court painters is indicative of the emancipation of the local
school from dependence on Iran, as well as the importance of Hindus in
all spheres of life. The excellence of Mughal painting depended not only
on the taste of individual ruler but on his prosperity, and with the disintegration
of the empire, the artists migrated from the capital to other centers like
Oudh and Hyderabad, where artistic standards quickly declined.
Music
[[251]] Mughals patronized
music lavishly, and in this Akbar led the way. Abul Fazl gives the names
of nearly forty prominent musicians and instrumentalists who flourished
at Akbar's court. The principal artists came from Gwalior, Malwa, Tabriz
(in Iran), and Kashmir.
The most famous musician
of the period was Tansen. According to some Muslim chroniclers, he was
brought up in the hospice of Shaikh Mohammad Ghaus of Gwalior, but Hindu
tradition describes him as a disciple of Swami Haridas. It is not certain
whether he formally adopted Islam, but his son, Bilas Khan, was certainly
a Muslim. "A singer like him," wrote Abul Fazl, "has not been in India
for the last two thousand years." He was not very popular with conservative
Hindu musicians, who held him responsible for the deterioration of Hindu
music. He is said to have falsified the ragas./7/
Although Tansen made some
changes, the variety of music most extensively cultivated at Akbar's court
was the ancient dhrupad. The same tradition was continued by Bilas Khan,
the inventor of bilas todi. Music received great encouragement under Shah
Jahan. He had thirty prominent musicians and instrumentalists at his court,
who were generously rewarded for good performances. The stately dhrupad
continued its sway, though there was a marked tendency towards beautification
and ornamentation. The khiyal, or ornate, school of music was beginning
to assert itself.
Aurangzeb had himself studied
music, but his deepening puritanism led him to abandon it on religious
grounds. In 1688, he disbanded the large band of musicians attached to
the royal court. A famous story is told of how the court musicians, seeking
to draw the emperor's attention to their distressing condition, filed past
his balcony carrying a gaily dressed corpse upon a bier and chanting mournful
funeral songs. When the emperor asked what it was, they told him that music
had died from neglect and that they were taking its corpse to the burial
ground. He replied at once: "Very well, make the grave deep, so that neither
voice nor echo may issue from it."/8/
[[252]] While during
Aurangzeb's reign music ceased to enjoy royal patronage, its popularity
with the upper classes was firmly established, and a number of books on
the history and theory of Indo-Muslim music were written during this period.
One of the most famous was the Rag-darpan (The Mirror of Music),
written by Fakirullah (Saif Khan), who was at one time governor of Kashmir.
It purports to be a translation of Man-Kauthal, written at the court
of Raja Man Singh of Gwalior, but contains much additional information
derived from other sources. With the reaction against Aurangzeb's puritanism
under his grandson Jahandar Shah and his great-grandson Muhammad Shah Rangila,
music had an unprecedented vogue. In conformity with court tastes, the
khiyal came into its own. The khiyal developed slowly, and drew from many
sources. Literally the term means, "thought, imagination, phantasy," and
technically it stands for imaginative or romantic music. As the Arabic
origin of the word signifies, this music developed after the advent of
the Muslims, but traditionally its themes echo the Hindu legends of Krishna
and his Gopis. Probably the court musicians, catering to the interest of
their patrons, found it expedient to adapt the legends and treatment which
had been developed by musicians and Bhagats of the Krishna cult. This variety
of music did not gain a firm footing at the Delhi court until the decline
of the Mughal empire, and is closely associated with the court of Muhammad
Shah Rangila (r.1719–1748).
With the weakening of the
Mughal empire and the setting up of provincial governments, music was encouraged
in provincial capitals, and just as Lucknow became the refuge of Urdu poets,
musicians in northern India flocked to the court of the nawab-wazirs of
Oudh. At Lucknow, music underwent some important changes. With the breakup
of the empire and the loss of the patronage of a formal court, the musicians
had to cater to popular tastes. As a result, the quality and the variety
of music underwent a subtle change, with two forms of popular music originating
in Lucknow. One of these was thumri, love music that makes a sensuous appeal
through repetition of words and musical phrases. The theme is human love,
not a symbolic representation of divine longing as in the older music.
The other form, tappa, found inspiration in folk music, a source that had
previously [[253]] been ignored by court musicians.9 Through such
developments as these, the music of the courts became part of the life
of the ordinary people of North India.
N O T E S
/1/ François Bernier,
Travels in the Mogul Empire A.D. 1656–1668, trans. by A. Constable
(London, 1914), pp. 155–57.
/2/ Bernier, pp. 352–53.
/3/ William Sleeman, Rambles
and Reflections of an Indian Official (London, 1844), II, 283.
/4/ Selections from the
writings of many of these historians are found in H. M. Elliot and John
Dowson, The History of India as Told by Its Own Historians (London,
1867–1877).
/5/ The Dabistan or
School of Manners, trans. by David Shaw and Anthony Troyer (3 vols.;
Paris, 1843).
/6/ Memoirs of Jahangir,
trans. by Alexander Rogers and H. Beveridge (London, 1909), II, 20–21.
/7/ A. H. Fox-Strangways,
The Music of Hindostan (Oxford, 1914), p. 84.
/8/ Herbert Popley, The
Music of India (Calcutta, 1921), p. 20.
/9/ S. A. Halim, The
Muslim Year Book of India, 1948–1949 (Bombay, 1949), p. 118.
