Scindias and Their City of Music
Gwalior has been designated as the Creative City of Music in the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN), which is a big honour for the residents of this beautiful city in the ‘heart of India’ Madhya Pradesh. The history of Gwalior is incomplete without a family of Maratha warriors which ruled it for many years, contributing substantially in making its foundational civic infrastructure and several prestigious educational institutions which exist even today.
The author is referring to the Scindias. They contributed significantly in the expansion of the Maratha Empire, conquering the capital Delhi in 1771. Apart from their plethora of military achievements, they were great benefactors and promoters of music and contributed to the same by not just supporting musicians financially but also providing them a holistic ecosystem where they can nurture their talents.
As per musicologist and harmonium player Vaibhav Kunte “Bhaiya Ganpatrao Shinde (Scindia) of Gwalior (1852-1920) was the pioneer of solo Harmonium playing in India. Using the technique of scale changing (Shadja-Chālan) and combination of various Ragas (Raga Mishran) which is a more familiar task for Harmonium players, he shaped up a new method of improvising Thumari, which was later popularized by famous Thumari singers such as Gauhar Jan, Malka Jan, Moujuddin, Pyara Saheb. He also encouraged the use of Harmonium in Thumari and his disciples such as Jungi Khan, Bashir Khan, Babban Khan, Girijaprasad Chakrawarti, Shyamnath Khatri followed his playing style.”
Scindias themselves learned music and supported other musicians from the days of Maharaja Mahadji Scindia also known as “The Great Maratha.” He conquered Gwalior and it was declared the capital of the Scindia kingdom by his adopted son Maharaja Daulatrao Scindia in 1810. Since then the Gwalior Gharana has got systemic protection and encouragement by the Scindia Durbar. As per musician Dr. Abhay Dubey “During king Mansingh’s reign the Dhrupad style was invented in the same fashion during Scindias’ days the Khayal style emerged” (Note: As the Dhrupad style emerged during king Mansingh’s reign, the Khayal style emerged during Scindias’ days.) and as per renowned musician of Gwalior Babasaheb Poonchwale “In the nineteenth century, during the rule of four Scindia monarchs, Daulatrao Scindia, Jankojirao Scindia, Jiyajirao (Jayajirao) Scindia and Madhavrao (Madho Rao) Scindia, Khayal singing had developed completely.”
When it comes to benefaction and support to music, Gwalior became a state of high order with enormous prestige, specially during the reign of Maharaja Jayaji Rao Scindia. He was interested in learning Indian classical music, did Riyaaz under the guidance of Ustad Hassu Khan & Haddu Khan and learned Sitar playing from Ustad Amir Khan. Famous musicians from all over the country started coming to Gwalior to get patronage from Maharaja Scindia. It has been mentioned by Tushar Pandit in his book ‘Bhartiya Sangeet ke Mahan Sangeetkar: Shankar Pandit’ that “Jayaji Rao (Scindia) king of Gwalior once escorted Ustad Haddu Hassu, Nathu Khan to Jaipur. Both the singers presented an unparalleled art of vocal music. The kings and the audience were amazed and since then a proverb came into prevalence “Gwalior is a home of Music”. Ustad Hassu Khan’s disciples Pandit Ramakrishnabuwa Dev and Pandit Vasudeorao Joshi were appointed as court-singers by Maharaja Scindia to promote music in the Gwalior court. Baalkrushnabuwa Ichalkaranjikar, who was born in 1849 near a town of ‘Ichalkaranji’ in a small village called ‘Bedag’, learnt singing style of the Gwalior Gharana from Pandit Vasudeorao Joshi, doing great service of his Guru. It was by Baalkrushnabuwa Ichalkaranjikar that the Gwalior Gharana of Music was brought to Maharashtra.
Maharaja Jayajirao Scindia’s son Maharaja Madho Rao Scindia took forward his legacy of supporting musicians and was instrumental in setting up a music college in Gwalior, Shri Madhav Music School.
Pandit Bhatkande had a desideration that Gwalior, where tomb of maestro Tansen is, being such a sacred place should have an institution to impart education and training of the art of music. He met a noble of the Scindia State, Balwantrao Bhaiya Saheb Scindia, who was also son of then late Maharaja Jayajirao Scindia, for help and got an assurance from him that he will inform the then Maharaja of Gwalior Madho Rao Scindia about Pt. Bhatkande’s vision. It was in Bombay that Pt. Bhatkande met the Maharaja of Gwalior himself. Maharaja Madho Rao Scindia had visited Bombay with Balwantrao who informed him about Pt. Bhatkande. Maharaja Madho Rao invited this maestro to his magnificent Samudra Mahal Palace in Bombay for a meeting. He even visited the music college established by Pt. Bhatkande at the Fort area in Bombay to learn more about how education can be imparted using “Swarlipi.” Scindia had made up his mind to establish a music college in Gwalior, and then invited Pt. Bhatkande to participate in the Ganeshotsav organised in Shivpuri in Scindia State. During his participation in the Bhajan week in Shivpuri he was quite impressed by the musical talent of Maharaja Scindia who sang Bhajans during the Ganeshotsav.
After the Ganeshotsav, Maharaja Scindia made a committee to plan for the establishment of a music college in Gwalior. It was decided by this committee that along with the establishment of a music college in Gwalior, seven musicians from Gwalior should be sent with a scholarship of 30 rupees per month to the music college of Pt. Bhatkande in Bombay to learn about “Swarlipi.” As per the recommendations of this committee, Vishnubua Deshpande, Krishnrao Date, Baburao Gokhale, Bhakarrao Khandeparkar, Balwantrao Bhajani, Chunnilal Kathak, and Rajabhaiya Poonchwale were sent to Bombay to learn “Swarlipi” in May 1917. They learned “Swarlipi” from Pt. Bhatkande and designed the syllabus of the music college in Bombay and returned to Gwalior in December 1917. On 10 January 1918 “Shri Madhav Music School” was founded.
This institution has given several illustrious alumni to the world. It is said an apple never falls far from the tree, and Maharaja Madho Rao Scindia’s son Maharaja Jiwajirao Scindia too developed a deep interest in music. His wife, former Rajmata of Gwalior and one of the founding members of Bharatiya Janata Party, Vijaya Raje Scindia wrote in her autobiography “My husband and I shared a passion for listening to music. As a boy, he had been taught music by another pillar of the Gwalior Gharana Pandit Krishnarao. Although he had not been able to make a musician of my husband, he had inculcated in him a liking for music strong enough to enable him to sit through and to enjoy the periodical Baithaks at which the Ustads of the Gwalior school or other invited guests gave virtuoso performances.”
By Mr. Arunansh B. Goswami, Head, Scindia Research Centre
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