Tansen
{{Short description|Hindustani composer (c. 1493 – 1589)}}
{{other uses}}
{{EngvarB|date=July 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2020}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| honorific_prefix = Mian
| name = Tānsen
| caption = Portrait of Mian Tansen, {{circa|1585–90}}{{cite book|author1=Stuart Cary Welch|author2=Metropolitan Museum of Art|title=India: Art and culture, 1300–1900|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MEvZaVmBQtgC&pg=badk
|year=1985|publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art|isbn=978-0-03-006114-1|pages=171–172}}
| image = Tansen of Gwalior. (11.8x6.7cm) Mughal. 1585-90. National Museum, New Delhi..jpg
| image_upright = .80
| background = non_vocal_instrumentalist
| associated_acts = Swami Haridas
| birth_name = Ramtanu
| birth_date = {{circa|1493}}
| birth_place = Gwalior, Tomar Kingdom
(modern day Madhya Pradesh, India)
| death_date = 26 April 1589 (aged 96) {{cite book|author=Abul Fazl|title=Akbarnama|translator=Henry Beveridge|publisher=Asiatic Society of Bengal|page=816}}
| death_place = Gwalior, Mughal Empire{{cite book|author=Susheela Misra|title=Great masters of Hindustani music|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Li4uAAAAMAAJ|year=1981|publisher=Hem Publishers|page=16}}
| genre = Hindustani Classical Music
| occupation = Musician, Instrumentalist, Vocalist, Music Studies
| years_active = Till 1562: Raja Ramchandra Singh, Rewah
After 1562: Emperor Akbar
| label =
}}
Rāmtanu ({{circa|1493}} – 26 April 1589), popularly referred to as Mian Tānsen ({{lit|the Learned One}}), or Sangeet Samrāt ({{lit|Monarch of Hindustani Music}}), was a Hindustani classical musician. Born into a Hindu Gaur Brahmin family in Gwalior,{{Cite web|title=Tansen, Famous Hindustani Classical Singer Tansen|url=https://www.indiaonline.in/about/personalities/singers/tansen|access-date=2022-01-15|website=indiaonline.in}} he learnt and perfected his art in the northwest region of modern Madhya Pradesh. He got his first break as musician and composer in the court of Raja Man Singh Tomar of Gwalior and spent most of his adult life in the court and patronage of the Hindu king of Rewa, Raja Ramchandra Singh (r. 1555–1592), where Tānsen's musical abilities and studies gained widespread fame.{{cite book|author=Bonnie C. Wade|title=Imaging Sound: An Ethnomusicological Study of Music, Art, and Culture in Mughal India|url=https://archive.org/details/imagingsoundethn0000wade|url-access=registration|year=1998|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-86841-7|pages=[https://archive.org/details/imagingsoundethn0000wade/page/108 108]–110}} This reputation brought him to the attention of the Mughal Emperor Akbar. In 1562, at about the age of 60, Tānsen joined Akbar's court, and his performances became the subject of many court historians.
Numerous legends have been written about Tānsen, mixing facts and fiction, and the historicity of these stories is doubtful.{{cite book|author=Nazir Ali Jairazbhoy|author-link=Nazir Ali Jairazbhoy|title=The Rāgs of North Indian Music: Their Structure and Evolution|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hGLRqLscf78C&pg=PA19|year=1995|publisher=Popular Prakashan|isbn=978-81-7154-395-3|pages=19–20}} Akbar considered him one of the Navaratnas Nine Ministers (the nine jewels) and gave him the title Mian, an honorific, meaning learned man.{{cite book|last=Davar|first=Ashok|title=Tansen – The Magical Musician|year=1987|publisher=National book trust|location=India}}
Tānsen was a composer, musician and vocalist, to whom many compositions have been attributed in northern regions of the Indian subcontinent. He was also an instrumentalist who popularized and improved musical instruments. He is among the most influential personalities in the North Indian tradition of Indian classical music, called Hindustani. His 16th-century studies in music and compositions inspired many, and he is considered by numerous North Indian gharana (regional music schools) to be their lineage founder.{{cite book|author1=Andrea L. Stanton|author2=Edward Ramsamy|author3=Peter J. Seybolt |display-authors=etal |title=Cultural Sociology of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa: An Encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nVN2AwAAQBAJ |year=2012|publisher=SAGE Publications|isbn=978-1-4522-6662-6|page=125}}{{cite book|author1=Bruno Nettl|author2=Ruth M. Stone|author3=James Porter |display-authors=etal |title=The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: South Asia : the Indian subcontinent|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZOlNv8MAXIEC |year=1998|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-8240-4946-1|pages=376–377}}
Tānsen is remembered for his epic Dhrupad compositions, creating several new rāgs, as well as for writing two classic books on music, Sri Ganesh Stotra and Sangita Sara.{{cite book|author=Bonnie C. Wade|title=Imaging Sound: An Ethnomusicological Study of Music, Art, and Culture in Mughal India|url=https://archive.org/details/imagingsoundethn0000wade|url-access=registration|year=1998|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-86841-7|page=[https://archive.org/details/imagingsoundethn0000wade/page/117 117]}}
Early life
Tansen's date of birth is unclear, but most sources place his birth about 1493 CE, or between 1493 and 1506. His biography is also unclear and many conflicting accounts exist, with some common elements. Historical facts about Tansen are difficult to extract from the extensive and contradictory legends that surround him.{{cite book|author=Bonnie C. Wade|title=Imaging Sound: An Ethnomusicological Study of Music, Art, and Culture in Mughal India|url=https://archive.org/details/imagingsoundethn00wade|url-access=registration|year=1998|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-86841-7|pages=[https://archive.org/details/imagingsoundethn00wade/page/113 113]–114}}
According to the common elements in the various stories, Tansen's name as a child was Ramtanu.{{cite news |title =Profile: Tansen — the mesmerizing maestro |author=Maryam Juzer Kherulla |publisher=Dawn newspaper |url=http://dawn.com/weekly/yworld/archive/021012/yworld5.htm |date=12 October 2002|access-date=18 November 2024|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071121000709/http://dawn.com/weekly/yworld/archive/021012/yworld5.htm |archive-date =21 November 2007|df=dmy-all}} His father Mukund Ram (also known as Mukund Gaud or Mukund Chand){{cite book |author=Sunita Dhar |title=Senia gharana, its contribution to Indian classical music |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZbgHAQAAMAAJ |year=1989 |publisher=Reliance |isbn=978-81-85047-49-2 |page=19}} was a wealthy poet and accomplished musician of Gwalior, who for some time was a Hindu temple priest in Varanasi. According to some versions of the story, it is believed that Tansen was born profoundly mute and did not speak until the age of 5.
Tansen learnt and perfected his art in the city of Gwalior, in modern-day Madhya Pradesh. He began his career from the Imperial Court of Gwalior Kingdom and spent most of his adult life in the court and patronage of the Hindu king of Rewa, Raja Ramchandra Singh, where Tansen's musical abilities and studies gained him widespread fame and following. He was a close confidant of Raja Ramchandra Singh, and they used to make music together. Tansen's reputation brought him to the attention of the Mughal Emperor Akbar, who sent messengers to Raja Ramchandra Singh, requesting Tansen to join the musicians at the Mughal court. Tansen initially refused to go and sought to retire instead into solitude, but Raja Ramchandra Singh sent him to Akbar's court. In 1562, about the age of sixty, Tansen who was still a Vaishnava musician, arrived for the first time in Akbar's court.{{cite book|author=Edmour J. Babineau|title=Love of God and Social Duty in the Rāmcaritmānas|url=https://archive.org/details/loveofgodsociald0000babi|url-access=registration|year=1979|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-0-89684-050-8|page=[https://archive.org/details/loveofgodsociald0000babi/page/54 54]}}
Tansen's influence was central to create the Hindustani classical ethos as we know today. He was instrumental in establishing the very first musical gharana the "Gwalior Gharana". A number of descendants and disciples trace him to be their lineage founder. Many gharanas (schools) of Hindustani classical music claim some connection to his lineage. To these gharanas, Tansen is the founder of Hindustani classical music.{{cite book|author=Bruno Nettl|title=Heartland Excursions: Ethnomusicological Reflections on Schools of Music|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wZZ1_pQJnKEC&pg=PA68 |year=1995|publisher=University of Illinois Press|isbn=978-0-252-06468-5|page=68}}, Quote: "This is a recital of the identities of their teachers, perhaps the teachers' own teachers and association with gharanas, or schools, of musicianship, and often an attempt to link the main performer of the day through student-teacher genealogies to one of the early great figures of music, such as the revered Tansen, the mythical culture hero and founder of Hindustani music". When he was a member in the court of Mughal Emperor Akbar he was forced to sing Raga Deepak (dieing song) by his enemies. He was saved by Singing Raga Megh by his daughter and her friend
Schooling
File:Akbar and Tansen visit Haridas.jpg watching as Tansen receives a lesson from Swami Haridas. Imaginary situation depicted in Mughal miniature painting (Rajasthani style, c. 1750 AD).]]
The legendary oral versions about Tansen's early life and schooling particularly differ depending on whether the story has origins in Hindu legends (Vaishnavism) or Muslim legends (Sufism). The Hindu bhakti saint, poet and court musician of Raja Man Singh Tomar of Gwalior Swami Haridas was the major influence on Tansen. In Islamic biographies, the Sufi Muslim mystic named Muhammad Ghaus Gwaliori is said to have influenced Tansen. According to Bonnie Wade – a professor of Music specializing in South Asia Studies, Swami Haridas is widely accepted to have been Tansen's teacher, and it is clear that Tansen connected with Muhammad Ghaus as well, but the evidence suggests that Tansen is less affiliated with either religion, more with music.{{Cite web |title=Tansen |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Tansen}}
Tansen showed musical talent at the age of 6. At some point, he was discipled to Swami Haridas, for a brief period, the legendary composer from Vrindavan and court musician of the stellar Gwalior court of Raja Man Singh Tomar (1486–1516 AD), specialising in the Dhrupad style of singing. His talent was recognised early and it was the ruler of Gwalior who conferred upon the maestro the honorific title 'Tansen'. Haridas was considered to be a legendary music teacher in that time. It is said that Tansen had no equal apart from his teacher. From Haridas, Tansen acquired not only his love for dhrupad but also his interest in compositions in the local language. This was the time when the Bhakti tradition was fomenting a shift from Sanskrit to the local idiom (Brajbhasa and Hindi), and Tansen's compositions also highlighted this trend. During some point of his apprenticeship, Tansen's father died, and he returned home, where it is said that he used to sing at a local Shiva temple in Gwalior.{{citation needed|date=December 2016}}
Hagiographies mention that Tansen met the Sufi mystic Muhammad Ghaus. The interaction with Ghaus brought a strong Sufi influence on Tansen.{{cite book | author=Wade, Bonnie C. | title=Imaging Sound : An Ethnomusicological Study of Music, Art, and Culture in Mughal India | publisher=University of Chicago Press | year=1998 | isbn=0-226-86840-0 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/imagingsoundethn00wade/page/113 113–114] }} Later in his life, he continued to compose in Brajbhasha invoking traditional motifs such as Krishna and Shiva.{{cite book | author=Wade, Bonnie C. | title=Imaging Sound : An Ethnomusicological Study of Music, Art, and Culture in Mughal India | publisher=University of Chicago Press | year=1998 | isbn=0-226-86840-0 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/imagingsoundethn00wade/page/114 114–115] }}
The presence of musicians like Tansen in Akbar's court was an attempt to accept and integrate the Hindu and Muslim traditions within the Mughal Empire.{{cite book | author=Wade, Bonnie C. | title=Imaging Sound : An Ethnomusicological Study of Music, Art, and Culture in Mughal India | publisher=University of Chicago Press | year=1998 | isbn=0-226-86840-0}} Tansen became one of the treasured Navaratnas (lit. nava=nine, ratna=jewel) of Akbar's court. He received the honorific title Mian there, and the name Mian Tansen.
= Compositions =
{{listen
| header = Malhar, common raga performed by Tansen
| type = music
| image = none
| filename = Rag Megh Malhar - NCERT.ogg
| title = 1. Malhar
| description =
| help = no
}}
Tansen's musical compositions covered many themes, and employed Dhrupad. Most of these were derived from the Hindu Puranas, composed in Braj Bhasha, and written in praise of gods and goddesses such as Ganesha, Saraswati, Surya, Shiva, Vishnu (Narayana and Krishna avatar).{{cite book |author=José Luiz Martinez |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OwJRnFIcM4cC&pg=PA186 |title=Semiosis in Hindustani Music |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |year=2001 |isbn=978-81-208-1801-9 |pages=186–187}}Françoise Delvoye (1990), Tânsen et la tradition des chants dhrupad en langue braj, du XVIe siècle à nos jours, Thèse d'État non publiée. Paris : Université de la Sorbonne Nouvelle (in French), {{oclc|416547961}}; For a review, see Allison Busch (2010), Hidden in Plain View: Brajbhasha Poets at the Mughal Court, Modern Asian Studies, Cambridge University Press, Vol. 44, No. 2 (MARCH 2010), pages 275, 267-309 He also composed and performed compositions dedicated to eulogizing kings and emperor Akbar.
File:Akbar, Todarmal, Tansen and Abul Fazal, Faizi and Abdur Rahim Khan-i-Khana in a court scene (16th Century A.D.).jpg Court along with Todarmal, Abul Fazal, Faizi and Abdur Rahim Khan-i-Khana c.16th century]]
Family
Tansen married to a girl named Hussaini who was from Gwalior, and from this marriage he had four sons and one daughter namely: Surat Sen, Sarat Sen, Tarang Khan, Bilas Khan and Saraswati. All five became proficient musicians of Gwalior in their own right, his daughter Saraswati later married to Misri Singh, a notable veena player and music composer from Singhalgarh, who was the grandson of Raja Samokhan Singh of Kishangarh.{{cite journal|last=Haldar|first=Amal|title=Miya Tansen|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.506796/page/n153/mode/2up|journal=The Modern Review|volume=CXV|issue=2|date=February 1964|page=131}} One legend states that Tansen had also been married to a daughter of Akbar named Mehrunissa, for which he had to convert to Islam.{{cite book|last=Dhar|first=Sunita|title=Senia Gharana, Its Contribution to Indian Classical Music|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZbgHAQAAMAAJ|year=1989|publisher=Reliance Publishing House|isbn=978-81-85047-49-2|page=24}}
Death
The year of the death of Tansen, like much of his biography, is unclear. According to one version, written by Islamic historians, Tansen died in 1586 in Delhi, and that Akbar and much of his court attended the funeral procession which was completed according to Muslim customs in Gwalior.{{cite book|author=Stephen F. Dale|title=The Muslim Empires of the Ottomans, Safavids, and Mughals|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vNmaBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT160 |year=2009| publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-316-18439-4|page=160}} Other versions, written in Akbarnama, written by Abul Fazl, as well as by Hindu historians give 26 April 1589 as the date of his death and that his funeral observed mostly Hindu customs.{{cite book|author=Bonnie C. Wade|title=Imaging Sound: An Ethnomusicological Study of Music, Art, and Culture in Mughal India|url=https://archive.org/details/imagingsoundethn00wade|url-access=registration|year=1998|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-86840-0|page=[https://archive.org/details/imagingsoundethn00wade/page/115 115]}}{{Cite book|last=Fazl|first=Abul|title=Akbarnama|publisher=Asiatic Society of Bengal|pages=816|translator-last=Beveridge|translator-first=Henry}} Scholars states reason to refute the viewpoint of Tansen being converted to Islam due to his belief on Hindu tradition and various composition on Hindu gods. However, his composition shows no trace of Islamic influence.{{cite web | url=https://archive.org/details/imagingsoundethn00wade/page/115/mode/1up?view=theater | title=Imaging sound : An ethnomusicological study of music, art, and culture in Mughal India | date=1998 }} Tansen's remains were buried in the mausoleum complex of his Sufi master Shaikh Muhammad Ghaus in Gwalior. Every year in December, an annual festival, the Tansen Samaroh, is held in Gwalior to celebrate Tansen life and legacy.{{cite news|url=http://www.hindu.com/mag/2004/01/11/stories/2004011100040100.htm
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20040930093656/http://www.hindu.com/mag/2004/01/11/stories/2004011100040100.htm
|url-status = dead|archive-date=30 September 2004
|newspaper=The Hindu newspaper|title= Strains of a raga ... in Gwalior|date=11 January 2004|access-date=18 November 2024|author=Roshan Shahani}}
Popular culture
Several Hindi films have been made on Tansen's life, with mostly anecdotal story lines. Some of them are Tansen (1943), a musical hit produced by Ranjit Movietone, starring K. L. Saigal and Khursheed Bano.{{cite book|last1=Nettl|first1=Bruno|last2=Arnold|first2=Alison|title=The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: South Asia : the Indian subcontinent|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZOlNv8MAXIEC&pg=PA525|year=2000|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-8240-4946-1|page=525}} Tansen (1958) and Sangeet Samrat Tansen (1962). Tansen is also a central character, though remaining mostly in the backdrop, in the historical musical Baiju Bawra (1952), based on the life of his eponymous contemporary.{{citation needed|date=December 2016}}
File:Mia Tansen by Lala Deo Lal.jpg|Modern Artist impression of Tansen
File:Photo Mian Tansen 1580.jpg|Mughal painting of Tansen c.1580
File:Tansen Tomb - panoramio.jpg|Tansen's tomb in Gwalior, near the tomb of his Sufi master Muhammad Ghaus
File:Tansen's tomb (16290416076).jpg|Inside Tansen's tomb
File:Fatehpur Sikri anup-talao-crp.jpg|Fatehpur Sikri audience chambers, with Anup Talao on the left.
File:Tansen mughal.jpg|20th century depiction of Tansen
Legacy
=Tansen award=
File:Stamp of India - 1986 - Colnect 167172 - Miyan Tansen.jpeg
A national music festival known as 'Tansen Samaroh' is held every year in December, near the tomb of Tansen at Hazira, Gwalior as a mark of respect to his memory. The Tansen Samman or Tansen award is given away to exponents in Hindustani Classical music.
=Buildings=
The fort at Fatehpur Sikri is strongly associated with Tansen's tenure at Akbar's court. Near the emperor's chambers, a pond was built on a small island in the middle, where musical performances were given. Today, this tank, called Anup Talao, can be seen near the public audience hall Diwan-i-Aam – a central platform reachable via four footbridges. It is said that Tansen would perform different ragas at different times of day, and the emperor and his select audience would honour him with coins. Tansen's supposed residence is also nearby.
=Miracles and legends=
The bulk of Tansen's biography as found in Akbar court historians' accounts and gharana literature consists of inconsistent and miraculous legends. Among the legends about Tansen are stories of his bringing down the rains with Raga Megh Malhar and lighting lamps by performing Raga Deepak.{{cite book|author1=George Ruckert|author2=Ali Akbar Khan|title=The Classical Music of North India: The first years study|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uWIJAQAAMAAJ|year=1998|publisher=Munshiram Manoharlal|isbn=978-81-215-0872-8|page=270}}{{cite book|last=Deva|first=Bigamudre|title=Indian Music|year=1995|publisher=Taylor & Francis|location=India}} Raga Megh Malhar is still in the mainstream repertoire, but raga Deepak is no longer known; three different variants exist in the Bilaval (thaat), Poorvi (thaat) and Khamaj (thaat) thaats. It is not clear which, if any, corresponds to the Deepak of Tansen's time. Other legends tell of his ability to bring wild animals to listen with attention (or to talk their language). Once, a wild white elephant was captured, but it was fierce and could not be tamed. Finally, Tansen sang to the elephant who calmed down and the emperor was able to ride him. Besides this, there is also the theory of him being the inventor of rabab-a stringed instruments.
=Crater=
References
{{reflist|30em}}