Institutionalization in Classical Music

We often forget that we live in a world where Balma moso raho na jaye in raga Lalit ushers in the sun every morning and Guru Bin Gyan Na Pave in raga Marwa sees him off at dusk. Piya  bin nahi avat chain in raga jhinjhoti bereaves the loss of Sun every late evening as Phulwan ki gendanwa maika na maro in raga jaunpuri welcomes the beautiful dawn again. This is a world created by pundits and ustads of classical music who guarded it so zealously that entry to it was restricted to only their sons and son in laws and often only to a deserving shagird.  Access to this world was not allowed to interested masses as a stranglehold was maintained on the treasures of not only the compositions but also the basic structure of ragas and other necessary nuances.

As we probably know this delightful world has its own clock and its own language. SA, RE, GA, MA, PA, DHA, NI, SA are the eight letters of the musical alphabet. They are called notes, individually and an Octet, collectively. You may notice that there are two SAs in the octet. The last SA is very different from the first SA when we hear them and in fact the last SA is the first note of the next octet. These notes must be heard to be enjoyed. As we hear, we feel that some of them are flat and some sharp in their tone. This distinction was carefully utilized in both Hindustani and Carnatic  classical music and five new notes were introduced. They are flat (Komal) RE , Komal GA, Sharp (Tivra) MA, Komal DHA and Komal NI and so a full twelve-tone scale is formed.

These Komal or Tivra notes are used as per some rules. These rules were formed by a number of Ustads and Pandits who practised the art of Hindustani classical music. Venkatmakhi, the famous south Indian musician of 17^th century said that there are 19 such combinations that historically exist out of a possible 72. Pandit Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande reduced it to a more manageable combination of 10. Pt Bhatkhande did an extensive research and travelled across the length and breadth of the country, met numerous experts and practitioners of classical music and was able to conclude that each one of these 10 combinations can be represented by one major raga.

These combinations were given a delightful name of Thaat (manner or style) and each was named after a principal raga. These Thaats are Bhairav, Asavari, Bhairavi, Bilawal, Kafi, Kalyan, Khamaj, Marva, Poorvi and Todi. These Thaats stood for unique musical ideas and were distinguished by use of scale, phrases, performance practices and internal vigour of the principal raga.

Pt Bhatkhande stands tallest among the legends and doyens who have contributed to the growth of classical music in India among the interested masses. His scientific classification of musical practices and standardization of notes led to a systematic and easy study of classical music even among the people who did not have the good fortune of knowing or receiving education from a Pandit or an Ustad. His magnum opus “Hindustani Sangeet Paddhati” is a book in four volumes spread over 2000 pages in the form of a logical dialogue between a teacher and a pupil on the topic of music. Marris College of Music in Lucknow was established by him and is today called Bhatkhande Sangeet Vidyapeeth. There are several such schools in the country today.

Pt Bhatkhande was a lawyer by profession. He studied at Elphinstone college Bombay and practiced law at Bombay and Karachi High courts. After the early death of his wife and his daughter he devoted himself to the cause of music. He wrote books and essays under the pseudonym Chatur Pandit. It is probably more than a mere coincidence that he was born on the day of Janmashtami in 1860 and passed way on the day of Ganesh Chaturthi in 1936.