RMIM Archive Article "228".
From the RMIM Article Archive maintained by Satish Subramanian
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# RMIM/C Archives..
# Subject: Immortals: Baiju Bawra vs. Tansen
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# Posted by: moin@ellis.uchicago.edu (irfan moinuddin)
# Sources: "Some immortals of Hindustani Music" by Smt. Susheela Misra
#
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Baiju and Tansen
by
Susheela Misra
"Some Immortals of Hindustani Music" by Smt. Susheela Misra
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RMIM music-lovers,
All of you must have heard of Baiju Bawra. And I don't know any-
body who hasn't heard of Tansen. So, I am greatly excited to
bring to you the immortalized story of the clash of the immor-
tals: Baiju Bawra vs. Tansen. The following is a narration of
the story by Sushila Misra in her book entitled "Some Immortals
of Hindustani Music".
First some background concerning the motion picture entitled
Baiju Bawra, which portrays Tansen and Baiju Bawra (also an
excerpt):
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Baiju and Tansen Sushila Misra Some Immortals of Hindustani Music
Baiju Bawra's name is generally taken in the same breath as
Tansen's and both have become legendary figures in Hindustani
music. Stories of their mutual rivalry and musical contests have
held the public imagination for such a long time that a motion
picture entitled 'Baiju Bawra' and its songs became an all-time
hit chiefly because of the two famous khayal maestros Ustad Amir
Khan and Pt D.V. Paluskar who did playback singing for the roles
of Tansen and Baiju Bawra respectively. The embellishments they
provided to the melodies made for immense popularity. Although
these two great masters flourished during the golden age of
dhruvpads, the film's music director took the liberty of placing
them in the khayal era, obviously because modern audiences can
appreciate khayal singing which is in vogue now, while very few
can relish the dying dhruvpad form today.
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Now, the story, with some narration about Baiju's life:
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Baiju was born in a poor brahmin family in village Chapaner in
Gujarat; his realname was Baijnath Misra. He lost his father
early in life, and his young widowed mother had to struggle hard
to bring him up all alone. An ardent devotee of "Murali Manohar
Krishna" (the Lord of the flute), she used to tell the boy
numerous stories about Krishna. Naturally, Baiju became an
equally devout Krishna-bhakta, and he spent the major part of his
life as a religious mendicant and sangita-sadhaka (Music devo-
tee). Baiju's mother decided to leave her unhappy native village
to go and live in Brindavan where she could spend all her time
worshipping Krishna ("Bhagawan Banke Behari". After a long and
exhausting trek, the young mother and son reached the banks of
river Yamuna in Brindavan. As they rested, Swami Haridas hap-
pened to pass that way on his way to his humble astram in Nidhu-
ban Nikunj after his bath in the river. Through his supernatural
insight, he was able to foresee the great musical gifts and
potentials in the boy as in the case of Tanna Misra (Tansen's
boyhood name) later. When Swami Haridas sought the permission of
Baiju's mother, she was only overjoyed that her little son would
now be groomed by the great saint-musician, and that she could
now devote all her time to worship "Banke Bihari" in the temple.
Swami Haridas took Baiju under his care and trained him according
to the ancient Gurukula traditions. With his extraordinary musi-
cal gifts, his rigorous sadhana, and the saintly guru's
blessings, Baiju became an outstanding dhruvpad singer and an
excellent composer, with a highly devotional temperament that
made him turn away from worldly wealth and material possessions.
According to the story, one day when Baiju was practising Raga
kedara in a deeply meditative mood in a secluded place, he was
disturbed by the wailing of a newly born infant from a bush
nearby. He was amazed and delighted to find a lovely baby boy
who had obviously been abandoned in that lonely spot by a heart-
less mother. Baijnath had so far been totally free from any
worldly attachments; but his compassionate nature induced him to
pick up the helpless infant and take him home. Ironically, he
became as deeply attached to the boy as if he were his own son.
Baiju named him Gopal, trained him into a fine musician, and he
also placed him under his own guru Swami Haridas for advanced
training.
Baiju's fame spread and he was invited by the Raja of Chanderi to
become his court musician. In Chanderi, Baiju was held in high
esteem. Gopal also gained wide popularity, and two pretty and
talented girls-- Kala and Prabha, became his disciples. After
some time, Gopal married Prabha. When a little girl was born to
them, they named her Meera. Baiju's cup of happiness was full.
He was deeply attached to his family, and little Meera became the
apple of his eye. According to some scholars, it was about this
time that Baiju was invited to Gwalior where reached the height
of his fame. He became the music-guru of the talented Rani Mir-
ganayani.
Baiju and family lived mostly in Chanderi. Once when he had gone
out of Chanderi, Gopal was sitting in a lonely place and ela-
borating a dhruvpad in Raga Kalyan (Yaman) so beautifully that
his music attracted some Kashmiri merchants on their way to
Gwalior. Knowing that their cultured ruler would be pleased to
have such an accomplished musician as his court artiste, they
tempted Gopal with many baits such as wealth, honour, gifts and
fame. Gopal succumbed and became a selfish and ungrateful son
and an avaricious person,forgetting all the love and care that
Baiju had lavished on him and his family and all the precious
musical wealth that Baiju had lovingly passed to him. Without
waiting for Baiju's return, and without even taking the permis-
sion of Raja Rajsingh, their kind royal patron, Gopal at once
left for Kashmir, forcing his unwilling little family also to
accompany him. When Baiju returned, loging to be with his little
Meera, and found them gone, the shock was so deep that he lost
his mental balance. Soon he came to be known as "Baiju Bawra",
the eccentric or "crazy Baiju".
He left his empty home like a religious mendicant and began to
wander from place to place, looking for his little Meera. Care-
less about his food and clothes and wandering through woods,
dales, and across lonely mountains, he became an object of pity,
although his musical excellence remained undiminished. Hearing
of the tragic turn in his favourite disciple's life, Swami Hari-
das is said to have shed tears of sorrow. Tansen had heard such
high words of praise from their guru about Baiju that he yearned
to meet his guru-bhai. Tansen ahd already become a favourite
court-musician of Raja Ramachandra Badhela of Rewa State to whom
the former confided his wish. With the royal patron's consent,
Tansen decided to try a ruse to find the wandering and homeless
Baiju. Like the kings of ancient times, he announced a musical
Digvijaya in which he challenged all contemporary musicians to
come for a musical contest with him. When the challenge reached
Baiju's ears, he felt that as a senior disciple of Swami Haridas,
he had to vindicate his own reputation. He accepted the chal-
lenge and reached the venue which had been grandly decorated for
the most widely publicised contest.
Tansen was there in his rich courtly garments, while Baiju
arrived in his tattered clothes. The details of the contest
between these two masters bring to mind many of the clourful Rag-
mala paintings. As Tansen commenced his masterly unfolding of
Ragini Todi (perhaps his own creation Miyan-ki-Todi), the deer
from the neighbouring forests came leaping and stood listening
entranced. Tansen put a costly necklace around the neck of one
of them. As soon as he stopped singing, the entire herd rushed
back into the woods. Now it was for Baiju to meet the challenge
of attracting the deer back into the palace and retrieving
Tansen's costly necklace.
Baiju is believed to have accomplished this amazing feat through
his rendering of Raja Mrgaranjini which could mean "a raga that
could hypnotize mrga or deer," or a gaga named after Rani Mri-
ganayani.
Now it was Baiju's turn to challenge Tansen. According to
lengends he sung Raga Malkauns so powerfully that a stone slab in
front melted and then he inserted his precious Tanpura into the
wax-like liquid which solidified as soon as he stopped singing.
Tansen had to melt the stone through some appropriate and potent
raga and retrieve Baiju's precious Tanpura intact. Tansen needed
no more proofs to identify the great Baiju about whom he had
heard such high praise from their saintly guru Swami Haridas.
Tansen touched the feet of his senior "guru-bhai" and the two
great musicians embraced each other with tears of love in their
eyes.
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Though clearly fictitious, the story conveys the power of music
and the admirable ability of the musicians.
From the RMIM Article Archive maintained by Satish Subramanian