Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande
Encyclopedia
Pandit Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande (August 10, 1860 – September 19, 1936) was an India
n musicologist who wrote the first modern treatise on Hindustani Classical Music
(The north Indian variety of Indian classical music
), an art which had been propagated earlier for a few centuries mostly through oral traditions. During those earlier times, the art had undergone several changes, rendering the raga
grammar documented in scant old texts outdated.
Raga
s used to be classified into Raga (male), Ragini (female), and Putra (children). Bhatkhande reclassified them into the currently used Thaat
system. He noted that several ragas did not conform to their description in ancient Sanskrit texts. He explained the ragas in an easy-to-understand language and composed several bandishes which explained the grammar of the ragas. He borrowed the idea of lakshan geet from the Carnatic music
scholar Venkatamakhin
.
, Mumbai
. He was educated at Elphinstone College
in Mumbai and Deccan College
in Pune
. He graduated with a degree in Law in 1885 and joined the legal profession in 1887. Later he served a short stint as a lawyer in the High Court
in Karachi
.
During his college days, Bhatkhande began learning sitar
playing from Vallabhdas. He later learned vocal music from Raojiba, a Dhrupad
singer. He also trained in other aspects of classical music under Belbagkar, Ali Husain Khan, and Vilayat Hussain Khan. He became a member of Gayan Uttejak Mandali, a musical circle in Mumbai.
s and pandits, and researching music. He began the study of ancient texts such as the Natya Shastra
and Sangeet Ratnakara.
After the death of his wife and his daughter, Bhatkhande abandoned his legal practice and devoted the rest of his life to systematizing the prevailing forms of Hindustani music and building on that system a coordinated theory and practice of music. During his travels in India
, he spent time in Baroda, Gwalior, and Rampur
; an unverified claim says he collected some works of Tansen
. Ustads like Mohammad Ali Khan, Asgar Ali Khan, and Ahmed Ali Khan of Jaipur gave him more than 300 precious compositions of the Manarang Gharana.
Bhatkhande's first published work, Swar Malika, was a booklet containing detailed descriptions of all prevalent ragas. In 1909, he published Shri Mallakshaya Sangeetam, in Sanskrit, under the pseudonym 'Chatur-pandit'. To make this cultural heritage accessible to the common man, he published commentary on his own Sanskrit grantha in Marathi over a span of several years; it was published over four volumes bearing the title: Hindustani Sangeet Paddhati. These volumes form today the standard text on Hindustani music, an indispensable starting point for any student of Hindustani Classical Music. His disciple S N Ratanjankar, famous musician Shri. Dilip Kumar Roy, Ratanjankar's disciple K. G. Ginde, S.C.R.Bhatt, Ram Ashrey Jha 'Ramrang' , Sumati Mutatkar
and Krishna Kumar Kapoor are among the notable scholars who followed in the footsteps of Bhatkhande. His notation system became standard and though later scholars like Pt. V. D. Paluskar, Vinayak Narayan Patwardhan and Pt. Omkarnath Thakur introduced their improved versions, it remained a publisher's favorite. It suffered a setback with onset of desktop publishing, which found inserting marks above and below Devanagari text cumbersome; as a result, books carrying compositions yielded to theoretical texts. A recently developed notation system Ome Swarlipi follows the logical structure introduced by Pt. Bhatkhande but uses symbols instead of Devanagari alphabets.
After travelling widely and having discussions with practitioners of various schools, Bhatkhande arranged all the raga
s of Hindustani classical music
across 10 musical scales, called thaats. Though the thaats do not encompass all possible ragas, they do cover the vast majority, and are a key contribution to Indian musical theory. The thaat structure corresponds to the melakarta
system of raga arrangement in Carnatic music
, the south Indian variety of Indian classical music
.
Bhatkhande wrote all of his works under one of the two pseudonym
s, Vishnu Sharma and Chaturpandit.
In 1926, Rai Umanath Bali and his nephew Dr. Rai Rajeshwar Bali, then education minister of United Provinces, established Maris College of Music in Lucknow
, Bhatkhande preparing the course material. The college is now renamed Bhatkhande College of Hindustani Music, now known as Bhatkhande Music Institute
(Deemed University
). Preparation of that course material was a landmark achievement of Bhatkhande since musical knowledge used to be passed on orally in earlier times from Gurus and Ustads to their disciples.
Bhatkhande prepared the Hindustani Sangeet Karmik Pustak Malika as a series of textbooks. He also started the tradition of the All India Music Conferences to provide a common platform for discussion between Hindustani and Carnatic classical musicians.
and a thigh fracture in 1933. He died in 1936 on Ganesh Chaturthi
day.
The Post and Telegraph Department of India paid homage to Bhatkhande by releasing on September 1, 1961 a commemorative stamp containing his portrait.
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n musicologist who wrote the first modern treatise on Hindustani Classical Music
Hindustani classical music
Hindustani classical music is the Hindustani or North Indian style of Indian classical music found throughout the northern Indian subcontinent. The style is sometimes called North Indian Classical Music or Shāstriya Sangeet...
(The north Indian variety of Indian classical music
Indian classical music
The origins of Indian classical music can be found in the Vedas, which are the oldest scriptures in the Hindu tradition. Indian classical music has also been significantly influenced by, or syncretised with, Indian folk music and Persian music. The Samaveda, one of the four Vedas, describes music...
), an art which had been propagated earlier for a few centuries mostly through oral traditions. During those earlier times, the art had undergone several changes, rendering the raga
Raga
A raga is one of the melodic modes used in Indian classical music.It is a series of five or more musical notes upon which a melody is made...
grammar documented in scant old texts outdated.
Raga
Raga
A raga is one of the melodic modes used in Indian classical music.It is a series of five or more musical notes upon which a melody is made...
s used to be classified into Raga (male), Ragini (female), and Putra (children). Bhatkhande reclassified them into the currently used Thaat
Thaat
A thāt is a mode in northern Indian or Hindustani music. Thāts always have seven different pitches and are a basis for the organization and classification of ragas in North Indian classical music.- System :...
system. He noted that several ragas did not conform to their description in ancient Sanskrit texts. He explained the ragas in an easy-to-understand language and composed several bandishes which explained the grammar of the ragas. He borrowed the idea of lakshan geet from the Carnatic music
Carnatic music
Carnatic music is a system of music commonly associated with the southern part of the Indian subcontinent, with its area roughly confined to four modern states of India: Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu...
scholar Venkatamakhin
Venkatamakhin
Venkatamakhin also known as Venkateshwara, was a prominent musicologist and composer of Carnatic music; renowned for his Chaturdandi Prakashika in which he explicates the melakarta system of classifying ragas...
.
Early life
Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande was born in 1860, into a Chittapawan Brahmin family in WalkeshwarWalkeshwar
Walkeshwar is an affluent area in South Mumbai, India, at the north-western end of the Marine Drive loop, and is most famous for Walkeshwar Temple and Banganga Tank.-Etymology:...
, Mumbai
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
. He was educated at Elphinstone College
Elphinstone College
Elphinstone College is an institution of higher education affiliated to the University of Mumbai. Established in 1856, it is one of the oldest colleges of the University of Mumbai. It was exalted as a prestigious seat of learning during the British Raj and is generally observed for its vibrant alumni...
in Mumbai and Deccan College
Deccan College (Pune)
Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research Institute is a post-graduate institute of Archeology and Linguistics in Pune, India.Established October 6, 1821, Deccan College is one of the oldest institutions of modern learning in India...
in Pune
Pune
Pune , is the eighth largest metropolis in India, the second largest in the state of Maharashtra after Mumbai, and the largest city in the Western Ghats. Once the centre of power of the Maratha Empire, it is situated 560 metres above sea level on the Deccan plateau at the confluence of the Mula ...
. He graduated with a degree in Law in 1885 and joined the legal profession in 1887. Later he served a short stint as a lawyer in the High Court
High Courts of Pakistan
There are five High Courts of Pakistan, each of four based in the capital city of one of the four provinces. The government has proposed a fifth high court to cover the Islamabad Capital Territory. This proposal was blocked by the Lahore High Court but that decision was overturned by the Supreme...
in Karachi
Karachi
Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...
.
During his college days, Bhatkhande began learning sitar
Sitar
The 'Tablaman' is a plucked stringed instrument predominantly used in Hindustani classical music, where it has been ubiquitous since the Middle Ages...
playing from Vallabhdas. He later learned vocal music from Raojiba, a Dhrupad
Dhrupad
Dhrupad is a vocal genre in Hindustani classical music, said to be the oldest still in use in that musical tradition. Its name is derived from the words "dhruva" and "pada"...
singer. He also trained in other aspects of classical music under Belbagkar, Ali Husain Khan, and Vilayat Hussain Khan. He became a member of Gayan Uttejak Mandali, a musical circle in Mumbai.
Research in music
Bhatkhande traveled throughout India, meeting with ustadUstad
Ustad is an Arabized Persian word is a honorific title for a Muslim man in South Asia. The title precedes the name and is usually used for well regarded teachers and artists, most often musicians. It is applied and used via informal social agreement. It is abbreviated as ut. or ud.-References:*...
s and pandits, and researching music. He began the study of ancient texts such as the Natya Shastra
Natya Shastra
The Natya Shastra is an ancient Indian treatise on the performing arts, encompassing theatre, dance and music. It was written during the period between 200 BC and 200 AD in classical India and is traditionally attributed to the Sage Bharata.The Natya Shastra is incredibly wide in its scope...
and Sangeet Ratnakara.
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, he spent time in Baroda, Gwalior, and Rampur
Rampur, Uttar Pradesh
Rampur is a city and a municipality located in Rampur District in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Rampur district is located at Longitude 78-0-54 to 69-0-28 East and Latitude 28-25 to 29-10 North and spans an area of 2,367 km².It also gave its name to a former princely state of British...
; an unverified claim says he collected some works of Tansen
Tansen
Mia Tansen is considered among the greatest composer-musicians in Hindustani classical music. He was an extraordinarily gifted vocalist, known for a large number of compositions, and also an instrumentalist who popularized and improved the rabab .He was among the Navaratnas at the court of the...
. Ustads like Mohammad Ali Khan, Asgar Ali Khan, and Ahmed Ali Khan of Jaipur gave him more than 300 precious compositions of the Manarang Gharana.
Bhatkhande's first published work, Swar Malika, was a booklet containing detailed descriptions of all prevalent ragas. In 1909, he published Shri Mallakshaya Sangeetam, in Sanskrit, under the pseudonym 'Chatur-pandit'. To make this cultural heritage accessible to the common man, he published commentary on his own Sanskrit grantha in Marathi over a span of several years; it was published over four volumes bearing the title: Hindustani Sangeet Paddhati. These volumes form today the standard text on Hindustani music, an indispensable starting point for any student of Hindustani Classical Music. His disciple S N Ratanjankar, famous musician Shri. Dilip Kumar Roy, Ratanjankar's disciple K. G. Ginde, S.C.R.Bhatt, Ram Ashrey Jha 'Ramrang' , Sumati Mutatkar
Sumati Mutatkar
Sumati Mutatkar was an Indian classical music vocalist and musicologist from the Agra gharana of Hindustani classical music, and a Professor of Department of Music in University of Delhi....
and Krishna Kumar Kapoor are among the notable scholars who followed in the footsteps of Bhatkhande. His notation system became standard and though later scholars like Pt. V. D. Paluskar, Vinayak Narayan Patwardhan and Pt. Omkarnath Thakur introduced their improved versions, it remained a publisher's favorite. It suffered a setback with onset of desktop publishing, which found inserting marks above and below Devanagari text cumbersome; as a result, books carrying compositions yielded to theoretical texts. A recently developed notation system Ome Swarlipi follows the logical structure introduced by Pt. Bhatkhande but uses symbols instead of Devanagari alphabets.
After travelling widely and having discussions with practitioners of various schools, Bhatkhande arranged all the raga
Raga
A raga is one of the melodic modes used in Indian classical music.It is a series of five or more musical notes upon which a melody is made...
s of Hindustani classical music
Hindustani classical music
Hindustani classical music is the Hindustani or North Indian style of Indian classical music found throughout the northern Indian subcontinent. The style is sometimes called North Indian Classical Music or Shāstriya Sangeet...
across 10 musical scales, called thaats. Though the thaats do not encompass all possible ragas, they do cover the vast majority, and are a key contribution to Indian musical theory. The thaat structure corresponds to the melakarta
Melakarta
Melakarta is a collection of fundamental ragas in Carnatic music . Melakarta ragas are parent ragas from which other ragas may be generated. A melakarta raga is sometimes referred as mela, karta or sampurna as well.In Hindustani music the thaat is equivalent of Melakarta...
system of raga arrangement in Carnatic music
Carnatic music
Carnatic music is a system of music commonly associated with the southern part of the Indian subcontinent, with its area roughly confined to four modern states of India: Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu...
, the south Indian variety of Indian classical music
Indian classical music
The origins of Indian classical music can be found in the Vedas, which are the oldest scriptures in the Hindu tradition. Indian classical music has also been significantly influenced by, or syncretised with, Indian folk music and Persian music. The Samaveda, one of the four Vedas, describes music...
.
Bhatkhande wrote all of his works under one of the two pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
s, Vishnu Sharma and Chaturpandit.
Institutions
Bhatkhande started schools and colleges in India for systematic teaching of Hindustani music. In 1916, he reorganized the Baroda state music school, and later, with the help of the Maharaja of Gwalior, established the Madhav Music College in Gwalior.In 1926, Rai Umanath Bali and his nephew Dr. Rai Rajeshwar Bali, then education minister of United Provinces, established Maris College of Music in Lucknow
Lucknow
Lucknow is the capital city of Uttar Pradesh in India. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of Lucknow District and Lucknow Division....
, Bhatkhande preparing the course material. The college is now renamed Bhatkhande College of Hindustani Music, now known as Bhatkhande Music Institute
Bhatkhande Music Institute
Bhatkhande Music Institute is a renowned music institute in Lucknow. Established in 1926 by Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande, it was declared a deemed university by University Grants Commission in 2000, and offers music education in Vocal Music, Instrumental, Rhythms, Dance, Musicology and Research and...
(Deemed University
Deemed University
Deemed university is a status of autonomy granted to high performing institutes and departments of various universities in India. This status of ‘Deemed-to-be-University’, is granted by Department of Higher Education, Union Human Resource Development Ministry, on the advice of the University Grants...
). Preparation of that course material was a landmark achievement of Bhatkhande since musical knowledge used to be passed on orally in earlier times from Gurus and Ustads to their disciples.
Bhatkhande prepared the Hindustani Sangeet Karmik Pustak Malika as a series of textbooks. He also started the tradition of the All India Music Conferences to provide a common platform for discussion between Hindustani and Carnatic classical musicians.
Death
Bhatkhade suffered paralysisParalysis
Paralysis is loss of muscle function for one or more muscles. Paralysis can be accompanied by a loss of feeling in the affected area if there is sensory damage as well as motor. A study conducted by the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, suggests that about 1 in 50 people have been diagnosed...
and a thigh fracture in 1933. He died in 1936 on Ganesh Chaturthi
Ganesh Chaturthi
Ganesh Chaturthi , also known as Vinayaka Chaturthi is the Hindu festival of Ganesha also called Vinayagar in Tamil Nadu, the son of Shiva and Parvati, who is believed to bestow his presence on earth for all his devotees in the duration of this festival...
day.
The Post and Telegraph Department of India paid homage to Bhatkhande by releasing on September 1, 1961 a commemorative stamp containing his portrait.
External links
- Biography of Pt. Bhatkhande at IndiaPost on the occasion of commemorative stamp release
- Another biography of Bhatkhande
- Bhatkhande Sangit Vidyapith
- Bhatkhande Music Institute University
- Online catalogue of Hindustani Classical Music related books and publications
- Excerpts from Bhatkhande's SangeetShastra