A PAPER ON

THE IMPORTANCE OF
LAYA IN AGRA GHARANA

BY AISHWARYA RAO

M-MUS. (PART-1)

MUMBAI UNIVERSITY
Sr.n Topic Page
o No.
1. References 3

1. Origins 3

6
2. Classification of the six major Gharanas of Indian Classical Music as
per Vamanrao Deshpande

3. Features of Agra Gharana 8

a) Maintaining the purity of the raga 8

b) Importance of the Bandish 8

c) Presenting a Raag in accordance with its emotive character 9

d) Filling of the ‘Shadja’ 9

e) Importance given to laya 10

4. Agra Gharana and Laya 11

References

1. Samarth Nagarkar- THE AGRA GHARANA:AMONG THE PILLARS OF

RAGA SANGEET PARAMPARA- http://www.samarthnagarkar.com/samarth-
nagarkars-blog/2017/9/4/the-agra-gharana-among-the-pillars-of-raga-
sangeet-parampara

2. Prof. R.C. Mehta- Indian Classical Music and Gharana Tradition

3. N. Jayavanth Rao- Agra Gharana- https://www.sahapedia.org/agra-gharana-0

4. Pt. Babanrao Haldankar- Aesthetics of Agra and Jaipur Traditions

5. Deepak Raja- Khayāla Vocalism: Continuity Within Change

Origins:

The foundations of the Agra gharana were laid in the 13 th Century when
Alauddin Khilji declared war on and defeated King Ramchandra of Devgiri
(present day Daulatabad). While this would otherwise have gone down in
history as just another one of his several conquests, what is noteworthy is that
he was then persuaded to give Devgiri back by his court poet, Amir Khusro, on
the condition that the Devgiri court musician Gopal Nayak would accompany
them back to Delhi. Gopal Nayak then established the dhrupad tradition of the
Nauhar Bani in Delhi. Among his disciples were the musicians Alakh Das,
Khalak Das and Malakh Das and Lohang Das. Their descendants went on to
migrate from Delhi to Agra.

Among the descendants of Alakh Das was the legendary Sujan Das ‘Nauhar’
(or Sujan Singh Nauhar) a musician in the court of Emperor Akbar whose
musical prowess was said to rival that of Miyan Tansen. Akbar was very fond of
Sujan Das and persuaded him to convert to Islam and perform the Haj, after
which he came to be known as Haji Sujan Khan, a name greatly revered by all
musicians of the Agra Gharana. The story of lamps being kindled upon the
rendering of Raag Deepak is, like most musical miracles, generally attributed to
Tansen, but some believe that the feat was performed by Haji Sujan Khan, after
which Akbar conferred on him the title of ‘Deepak Jyot’.

Indeed Prof. R.C. Mehta in his book Indian Classical Music and Gharana
Tradition refers to a dhrupad attributed to Haji Sujan Khan in which the words
Deepak Jyot appear, which seems to give some credence to this story.

स्थायी: ब्याहन आया बाजत ढोल मं गल,

घोंगल निशान धराया...

अन्तरा: आसीस मोर कं गना मे हन्दी सोहे , पग सोने सजाया...

आभोग: नर नारी मिल मं गल गावत,

सखियन टोन्ना चलाया,

 आगॆ मोहम्मदशाह पीछे दीपक ज्योत गु णन सराया

चिर जु ग जियो अलखदास को द ल्ू हा,

मियाँ जी ने मं गल गाया...

The above dhrupad describes the wedding of Sujan Khan’s son Alakhdas which
was also attended by Miyan Ji Tansen. Indeed some believe that Sujan Khan
was actually Tansen’s son-in-law. This distinguished line of the Nauhar Bani
was continued by Sujan Khan’s son Surgyan Khan. Their descendants
continued to be informally attached to the Mughal court until the Indian Sepoy
Mutiny of 1857.

Two notable members of the Nauhar Bani were Sarasrang (Dayam Khan
Nauhar) and his son Shyamrang (Qayam Khan Nauhar). It is said that Nathan
Peerbaksh, the doyen of the Gwalior gharana learnt dhrupad and dhamar
bandishes from them on the basis of which he created khayals. The famous
composition “Nevar ki jhankaar” in Raag Chayanat is attributed to Sarasrang.
He was the last member of the dynasty to add the title “Nauhar” to his name.

It is thought that Shyamrang lived during the period of Mohammed Shah and
was a contemporary of the musicians Sadarang and Adarang. He had four
sons- Junghu Khan, Soosu Khan, Gulab Khan and Khudabaksh. Khudabaksh
had a gruff voice, which was deemed unfit by his family to learn the intricacies
of the dhrupad gaayki of the Nauhar Bani. They gave him the nickname
“Ghagge” and refused him musical training in spite of his tremendous passion.
Desperate, he ran away from home and went to Gwalior where he begged
Natthan Peerbaksh to teach him khayal gaayki. Natthan Peerbaksh, who had
himself learnt dhrupads from Khudabaksh’s grandfather Sarasrang took pity on
him and agreed to train him. It is said that Ghagge Khudabaksh stayed with
Natthan Peerbaksh for 12 years and mastered khayal gaayki. At the end of this
term, it is said that Natthan Peerbaksh himself said that he had never heard
such a melodious voice and gave him permission to return to Agra.
When he went back home, his brothers were astonished to hear him display a
masterful blend of his ancestors’ dhrupad traditions and the khayal traditions of
Gwalior. He was then entrusted with the work of training the next generation in
this new style. He thoroughly groomed his nephew Sher Khan and his own sons
Ghulam Abbas Khan and Kallan Khan. Ghulam Abbas Khan and Kallan Khan
were not only great musicians but teachers par excellence and taught all the
musicians of the three generations succeeding them, prominent among them
being Natthan Khan (Sher Khan’s son), Faiyaz Khan (Ghulam Abbas Khan’s
grandson), Vilayat Hussain Khan (Natthan Khan’s son) and Khadim Husain
Khan (Natthan Khan’s grandson).

Futhermore, social class and matrimony also played an important role in the
growth of musical traditions. Marriages between families of musicians brought
about an exchange of musical repertoire. Musicians placed a very high value to
their ragas and compositions and believed it to be their only true wealth. It is
believed that ragas and bandishes were, in many cases, part of the dowry that
was to be paid from one family to the other. The Atrauli Gharana of the
Gobarhari Bani, of which the legendary Mehboob Khan ‘Daras Piya’ was the
most prominent musician, thus influenced the music of the Agra Gharana.
Natthan Khan married Daras Piya’s sister Jasiya Begum and Faiyaz Khan
married Daras Piya’s daughter. Later, Daras Piya’s son, Ata Hussain Khan
became Faiyaz Khan’s disciple and stayed with him for many years. Also, some
of the great musicians and teachers of the Agra Gharana, like Khadim Hussain
Khan, Latafat Hussain Khan and Sharafat Hussain Khan were born in the
Atrauli line but were taught by doyens of both the Agra and the Atrauli
Gharanas. Thus they performed a beautiful amalgam of the two styles. It then
aptly came to be known as the Agra-Atrauli Gharana.

The Agra Gharana thus absorbed all these diverse influences, without forgetting
its roots, for over a century and blossomed into a complete and multifaceted
gharana.
 Classification of the six major Gharanas of Indian Classical Music
as per Vamanrao Deshpande

According to the musicologist Vamanrao Deshpande in his book Indian Musical

Traditions – An Aesthetic Study of Gharanas in Hindustani Music, there are six
major gharanas or styles of Hindustan Music:

1. Agra

2. Gwalior

3. Jaipur-Atrauli

4. Patiala

5. Indore/ Bhendi Bazaar

6. Kirana

He classified the gharanas on a continuum defined by rhythmic orientation and

melodic orientation as the two polarities. With reference to the two extremities,
he observed that rhythm is the the principle of motion while melody is the
principle of repose. The bias towards the rhythm end indicates animation,
playfulness and dynamism; while a bias towards the melody end is soothing,
tranquilizing and even depressing. Pandit Arvind Parikh described it in another
way in a recent baithak organised by him. According to him certain music is
meant to be listened to wide-eyed, while another type of music is meant to be
heard with the eyes shut. This perfectly describes the difference between the
gharanas at the two extremes of Deshpande’s classification.

Deshpande placed Agra at the rhythmic end of the axis and Kirana at the
melodic end.

Jaipur-Atrauli and Gwalior are both placed at the centre of the axis, but
according to Deshpande, there is a distinction between the two gharanas. While
he regards Gwalior to be a simple fusion of melody and rhythm, he considers
Jaipur-Atrauli to be a complex fusion of the two. Patiala and Indore/Bhendi
Bazaar are placed towards the melody-oriented half of the spectrum.
Features of Agra Gharana:

1. Maintaining the purity of the raga .

Singers of the Agra gharana work hard to maintain the purity of the
raag by observing the proportion of each and every note in a phrase of
the raag. For example the phrase “नि सा ग म ग ssss रे सा” is
representative of Raag Bihag. Even a slight change in the phrase “नि
सा ग म ssss ग रे सा” would affect the purity of the raag. According to
Vidushi Lalith Rao in the Hindu, “We believe that a raga is formed not
just by the notes but by certain phrases that characterise or give you a
clear picture of the raga. Also, there are a lot of ragas that are
common to Agra and Jaipur-Atrauli gharanas. A fine line separates
one raga from another. So one should maintain the contours of the
ragas to keep its authentic swaroop intact.”

2. Importance of the Bandish.

The bandish in Agra gharana is treated as the principal vehicle to

render the raag. Thus the bandish is extremely important; indeed, the
maestros of the Agra gharana have composed some extremely well-
loved and famous bandishes. Indeed some of these bandishes have
contributed to the preservation of rare raags.
The use of the bandish as the primary vehicle of raag presentation
has given rise to an interesting practice called Mukhadabandi in Agra
vocalism. The practice involves taking up a phrase from a pre-
composed bandish and converting it into a pseudo mukhda.
Eg. In the famous bandish “झन झन झन झन पायल बाजे ” in Raag Nat
Bihag, Ustad Sharafat Hussain Khan would convert the second line
“जागे मोरी सास ननदिया” and the third line “और दोरनिया और जे ठनिया” into
pseudo-mukhdas.
This creates an illusion of the musician having drifted into a different
bandish until he returns to the main bandish.
 This practice has been inspired by the thumari genre and greatly
enhances the colourful quality of khayal renditions.

3. Presenting a Raag in accordance with its emotive character.

The Agra gharana treats every raag as an independent entity. This

approach is also followed in Jaipur and Gwalior gharanas. As per this
approach, not only does each raag have its independent entity, but
also its individual character- both grammatical and emotive, and the
application of certain sensitive swaras in a characteristic way (स्वर
लगाव) is consequential to reflect the character of the raag.

4. Filling of the ‘Shadja’.

As per the musicologist Deepak Raja in his book ‘Khayal Vocalism’,

‘the Agra Gharana is known for its full-throated and aggressive
vocalization inspired by its dhrupad roots. This approach to voice
production and delivery gives it a bias towards staccato intonation and
a marked angularity of melodic contours’. In Agra gaayaki, while
singing the Vilambit Khayal, the vocalist tends to emphasise the notes
characteristic of the raag before taking phrases that end with ‘shadja’,
that is, reverting to the shadja. This process is called filling of the
shadja. According to Babanrao Haldankar, one of the several factors
that contribute to render the Agra gaayki extremely tuneful is the filling
of the shadja. This reinforcement of the shadja is also observed in the
Kirana Gharana.
As per Sandeep Bagche in Naad: Understanding Raga Music, ‘Sa is
the basic note on which the entire structure of the raga rests. It is
periodically repeated to maintain the inherent unity of the raga”. He
adds: “The power of the voice and its resonance is used to emphasise
the ‘sa’ to establish it. This aspect of dhrupad is maintained by
frequent use of minds and gamaks in alaps and avoiding
embellishments such as murkis.”
5. Importance given to laya.

In the Agra gharana, the guru insists that the disciple master not only
the raag and its notes, but also the taal during training. The nuances
of the laya, the feet of the taal, and every single beat is well-thought-
out in this style of singing. Because of the influence of the Dhrupad
style on the gayaki of this gharana, performances of artistes of the
Agra gharana are oriented throughout around the taal.
Agra Gharana and laya:

1. Since the Agra gharana has been derived from the dhrupad style of the
Nauhar bani, some elements of dhrupad singing are still prevalent. In most
gharanas the vistaar is carried out more as an introduction to the raag. It is
short, usually in aakar and does not have any involvement of laya. However the
Agra gharana has retained the dhrupad system of singing the vistaar as a
precursor to the composition and tala. Syllables such as ‘Ri Da Na Na, A Ta Na,
Ta Na Ri Na’ are employed to create a meter. This form of raga-alap/vistaar is
called the nom-tom-alap. The singer gradually increases the speed at which he
utters the nom-tom. Although there is no use of any percussion instrument at
this stage, the various meters heard in the nom-tom aalaap beautifully combine
rhythm and melody, thus creating a charged atmosphere among the listeners.

Thus from the very beginning laya is used in order to create excitement and
animation. This use of rhythm from the get-go is a hallmark of the Agra
gharana.

2. In the Agra gharana, the vilambit khayal and the madhyalaya may be set to
any taal including teentaal, jhumra, ektaal, tilwada, ada chautaal, and rupak.
The taal is selected as per the bandish. There is always scope for elaboration in
these bandishes, and there is also plenty of scope to do layakari. The Vilambit
khayal or bada khayal is never sung in too slow a tempo. As per Babanrao
Haldankar in Aesthetics of Agra and Jaipur Traditions the laya of the Vilambit is
in conformation with the laya of the theka. Technically this is called thet theka.

3. The bandish in the Agra gharana is treated as the principal vehicle to render
the raag. This too is a carry-over of the dhrupad legacy. Teaching several
bandishes in each raag has also been the means of imparting knowledge of
rare raags to the students of Agra gharana. The opening line or phrase of a
bandish is known as the mukhda. Mukhda literally means face, and in this
context, it would mean the face of the composition or the raga itself. The term
mukhda also denotes the part from the opening of the bandish until the Sam
(the first beat of the tala cycle). It is constructed in a way that shows an
important characteristic feature of the raga and also allows for layakaari.
4. After doing nom-tom, singers in the Agra gharana tend to make the use of
‘bol’ or words in the alaap. According to Ulhas Kashalkar, this is because
singers from the Agra gharana tends to reveal the framework of the raag during
the vistaar, unlike singers from say the Kirana gharana. While ‘swar’ and ‘laya’
are the foundational elements in music, words are used in order to give rise to
‘rasa’ or ‘emotion’. When words are accompanied by rhythm, they give rise to a
sentient ambience. The various designs of the sounds created by the words
(aakar, iikar, uukar) work together with the rhythm to make the resulting music
more effective.

5. ‘Amad’ or the approach to the sam is especially important. The expansion of

the laya along with the bol leads to the use of improvisation and play with the
bol. The approach of a singer from the Agra gharana has been explained as
follows by Babanrao Haldankar in his book Aesthetics of Agra and Jaipur
Traditions ‘Taal is nothing but laya in a concretized form. Thus various taals are
various concretized forms of laya. If this laya is oriented with musical
expression, the later also becomes concretized. Thus, just to catch the sam
correctly does not denote mastery over laya. The musical expression must
speak the form of the table whenever possible. In the Vilambit khayal, the singer
has the entire span of the aavartan for musical expression. During layakari, the
starting vajan of the bol is maintained throughout the process until the sam is
reached. If there is to be any change in the vajan, the changed vajan is kept
consistent with the previous vajan, or if not, skilfully woven in such a manner
that it is felt to have evolved from the previous vajan, thereby giving a concrete
form to the total expression. This whole process creates a well-knit composition.

Sometimes, the artist who has achieved this does take certain liberties in order
to arouse excitement in the mind of the listener, by pretending to miss the sam
when it approaches yet catching the sam with precision.

6. There is also freedom to repeat the bol, wherever necessary, especially if the
words in the bandish are less. This is in sharp contrast to the norm observed by
some musicians of the Jaipur-Atrauli gharana, where bols are used only once in
the aavartan. The basic approach of the Agra gharana is to maintain the tempo
or the laya of the bol once layakari is started, so as to establish consistency and
continuity in expression.’

7. It is also said that in the Agra gharana, much more importance is given to the
cultivation of laya. As per Pt. Bhatkhande, students of the Agra gharana would
be trained first in laya, and then in swar. As per Ustad Khadim Hussain Khan,
this is because the search for tunefulness is finite. A disciple poor in
tunefulness can be developed to be tuneful after taking due pains, after which
the journey to be tuneful ends. The path to master laya, however, is endless.
There can be an infinite number of patterns of laya. As per Khan saheb “Laya is
like air. You cannot catch it.”

This is precisely why there is an endless struggle to attain mastery over taal
and laya. The aim of this struggle is not just to catch the sam precisely. The
mastery is to be used as a means to plan and weave the designs and phrases
precisely and to catch the sam with amad.

8. The dhrut or chota khayal is usually set in either teentaal or in ektaal, in

contrast to the variety of taals used in the vilambit khayal. Hoever there is an
incredible amount of complexity within the khayal. Often, every line of the
chhota khyal starts from a different matra. Several artistes of the gharana have
expressed various emotions in their bandishes but the common thread in all of
them is formed by the attractive first stanza and rhythmic wording. The
uniqueness of an Agra gharana bandish is that almost every line of the bandish
can be used as a Mukhda showing a new angle of the raga and increasing the
scope for more layakaari or rhythmic play. Mukhdas are picked up from
unusual, varied matras and the structure of the bandish is aptly fitted into the
taal cycle with distinctive poise, which is a landmark of the gharana. The
bandish in Sur Malhar ‘गरज गरज चह ूऔर डर पावे ‘ composed by Faiyaz Khan
starts from the third matra.

9. Tihaayis are used in both the vilambit and dhrut bandishes and is a favourite
rhythmic variety for singers of the Agra gharana. Often compositions are found
with the tihaayi as an integral part of the bandish.

eg.1 The bandish ‘ऐसो धीटलं गर कर बरजोरी’ in Raag Shankara by Nanhe Khan
 "ऐसो धीटलं गर कर बरजोरी और ठिठोरी

निपट निडर मोरी ना माने ना माने ना माने "

2 The dadra “चलो हटो जावो जावो सै याँ ” composed by Faiyazkhan in Raga
Sohini

"चलो हटो जावो जावो सै याँ

नहीं बोलू रे नहीं बोलू रे नहीं बोलू रे ,

प्रे मपिया तु म अपनी गरज की,

जिया की बात नहीं खोलू रे , नहीं खोलू रे , नहीं खोलू रे "

10. The treatment of taans in the Agra gharana is consistent towards a bias
towards the laya or the rhythm. Singers tend to be biased towards boltaans-
taans taken using whole clusters of words of the bandish. What is unique about
the taans is that there is a strong inclination on the part of the singers towards
multiple intonation per swar, with its 3 stroke and 4 stroke taans, akin to the
pattern of taans on plucked instruments in the early 20 th century.

Irrespective of the melodic patterning, Agra vocalists always keep one eye on
the rhythmic cycle and its metric subdivisions.