Indian
Culture and Traditions
Monsoon
Ragas
By Vimla Patil
Though rain has inspired joyous dances and music all over
the world, India has a unique heritage of Monsoon Ragas which were composed and
sung by legendary masters like Mia Tansen to initiate welcome showers to
India’s parched forests and fields so that the land would be blessed with
plenty…The music they composed has inspired painters, dancers and
writers for generations……
‘A lifetime of showers moistens the soul’, says an ancient
proverb. And the shimmering, crystal-clear nuances of these beautiful words
apply more to India’s
colourful Monsoon culture than to any other art movement in the world. Rain and
the magical season of Monsoon have always been the throbbing heart of Indian
life and culture. Whether we are talking about music – classical, folk as well
as devotional – dance, painting or sculpture, rains and their incessant music
are a recurring theme in India’s
many-splendoured art treasure, and not without excellent reason! It is
well-known that India’s
entire economy depends upon the timely coming of the Monsoons. Vignettes of
farmers looking longingly at the skies for the first signs of fleecy black
water-bearing clouds are familiar in our daily life. Folk songs welcoming the
first thunder showers and streaks of lightning are sung in every village even
today. The diverse dialects of India’s
far flung villages are replete with songs welcoming the rains and their message
of bounty.
Indeed, the ancient Vedic culture of India believed in the propitiation of the rain
gods to bring life to the parched plains of India where the Aryans settled in
the pre-historic age. The Parjanya Sukta and the Aap Sukta of the Rigveda and
the Varuna Sukta of the Yajurveda were sung in scientifically worked out metres
and recited with specific musical notes to initiate the onset of rains each
year before the season of showers set in. Musical geniuses in ancient India believed
that specific notes, sung in certain phrases, could encourage the skies to
darken and bring a downpour of rains. In fact, this practice of propitiating
the rain gods continues even in modern India whenever there is fear of a
delayed Monsoon.
The Monsoons in India had another wonderful nuance.
Many men, travelling away from their homes as army-men or businessmen, returned
home when the skies became heavy with rain and were reunited with their waiting
wives or lovers! The joyful yearning of romance after long separations, the
meeting of lovers under umbrellas on dark, rainy nights and their clandestine
trysts in thunder-lit forests – all these were themes of songs in classical as
well as folk literature and were sung to specific melodies or Ragas, woven with
specific notes.
Somewhere along the way, these phrases of musical notes
became known as Monsoon Ragas in the classical music system of India. Many
scholars say that the birth of Monsoon Ragas – as they are known today –
happened during the Medieval Ages when Rajput Rajas and Mughal Emperors as well
as Kings and Nawabs in various states, created an era of prosperity and riches
rarely seen in Indian history. Many rulers of such dynasties patronised
musicians, dancers and painters at their royal courts and treated them with
great honour. The jewel among such artists was unquestionably Mian Tansen
(1506-1589) who was counted among the Navaratnas – nine gems – at Emperor
Akbar’s court. Honoured as the greatest musician India
has produced, Mian Tansen (born Tannu Mishra in Gwalior in a Hindu family), was the disciple
of Swami Haridas, a famous scholar-musician of the times. Mian Tansen not only
learnt the basic Ragas of Hindustani music from his guru but also created his own
melodies adding his name Mia to several of them. Tansen was deservedly called
the Nada Siddha or the Achiever of Godhood through music and melodies! Tansen
recognized six basic Ragas of Hindustani music among which was Megh which he
described in his own words, "Raga Megh manifests itself when the rain
clouds crowd the sky.” Tansen mastered all Ragas and created his own melodies
which are a proud part of India’s
music heritage even today. He raised his singing to such a divine level that
legends say that he could actually bring on rains when he sang Monsoon Ragas
like Megh, Megh Malhar or his own compositions like Mian Ki Malhar. He could
tame wild elephants with his music and bring flames to unlit lamps by singing
the Deepak Raga.
However, Monsoon Ragas became a popular theme during this
golden age of Indian music. History says that Mian Tansen and one of India’s
greatest poet-saints, Surdas, were close friends and shared their musical
expertise. Surdas also created the Monsoon Raga Sur Malhar. His father Ramdas
too, was a learned musician and contributed Ramdasi Malhar to the rich
cornucopia of music! Other than these, Monsoon Ragas that found expression
during this creative age were Madhu Malhar, Mishra Mel Malhar, and Dhulia
Malhar and of course the more gentle Goud Malhar! There were several varieties
of Malkauns, Sarang and other ragas which were specific to the Monsoon.
Akbar’s reign became the golden age of Hindustani music
with 36 great masters singing at his court. Abul Fazal writes in Ain-e-Akbari
that Akbar himself was a great scholar of music and that he hand-picked each of
the gems at his court. However, as was the style of those days, these Monsoon
Ragas were sung in conservative compositions called
Dhrupads and Dhamars, which were steady and serious in expression.
Dhrupads and Dhamars, which were steady and serious in expression.
It was much later, at the decadent court of Mohomed Shah
Rangeela (1719-48) that two new musicians – Feroz Khan and Niamat Khan – began
to sing in the more vibrant Khayal Gayaki style, bringing a fresh, romantic
ambience to the magical renditions of the same Monsoon Ragas composed some
centuries earlier. History says that Mohomed Shah was so crazy in his love of
music that these two musicians occupied seats before him in his durbar and that
they were called Sadarang and Adarang in their innumerable compositions, which
are sung even today.
It was during this time that Hindu-Muslim (Sufi) cultures
graciously merged to create a culture of celebration and romance with rain and
the monsoons as their common theme. The romance of Radha and Krishna,
the eternal lovers, became a theme of rain songs. So did the constant longing
of a beloved waiting for her lover to return home. This latter theme attracted
many poet saints of India
and a vast body of devotional compositions based on Monsoon Ragas became the
rage. For example, Surdas wrote “Nisdin Barsat Nain Hamare…Sada rahat pavas
ritu hamper, jabse Shyam sidhare...(My eyes have not stopped raining…For
me, it’s Monsoon forever since Krishna has
left me). Tulsidas, the great author of the Ram Charit Manas, sang, “Ghana
Ghamand Nabha Barsat Ghora, Piyabin Tarsat Man Mora ” in a Monsoon Raga to
allude to the allegory that just as all rain water falling from the skies flows
to merge with the ocean, all living beings flow finally into the shining pool of
divinity. Meerabai, Kabir, Surdas, his father Ramdas, Tulsidas – and many other
poets and saints of the middle ages were reportedly not only spiritual masters,
but also master musicians and sang their songs in Monsoon Ragas whenever they
wanted to express longing for the divine soul.
The object of their single-minded devotion, Krishna –
whose name Ghanashyam indicates that he is dark like the Monsoon clouds and who
was born on a rain-stormy night in the holy Monsoon month of Shravan – became
an icon of the Monsoon season and songs dedicated to him were composed in these
soul-soothing ragas. As the Krishna-Radha romance permeated into folk music and
dance as well as into the celebration of festivals, songs about their love
created a treasure-house of Kajris, Shravan jhoolas, chaitis, thumris and other
light classical music compositions with an edgy eroticism.
So also, folk songs acquired the glittering border of
Monsoon Ragas to describe the romance of these divine lovers. Krishna
himself became the icon of the Raga Megh Malhar and was seen in many paintings
as the initiator of the Monsoon! This legend found itself not only into Hindu
culture, but also in the Sufi and Sikh thought. A vast number of schools of
miniature paintings expressing the concepts all these religions showed Krishna as the central figure of romance and the
embodiment of the magic of the Monsoon with melodies specially written for the
season. Krishna, according to all these poets,
was the quintessential god of love, romance and benevolence who came in the
form of rain to ‘shower’ his mercy and love on the world.
It was natural to associate him with Monsoon Ragas, songs,
paintings and dances! For example, Guru Arjun Dev, the fifth Guru of the Sikhs,
included the Raga Megh Malhar for his songs in the Guru Granth Sahib. These are
accompanied by a beautiful painting of Krishna
as the personification of the Raga Megh Malhar, blowing his divine conch to
invite the rains. Krishna stands under a
cloudy sky, watched by two Gopis, while cranes fly to the safety of their nests
as lightning flashes in the sky! The same thought is expressed beautifully in
the Sufi poetry of Kahlil Gibran:
“I am dotted silver threads dropped from heaven
By the gods, Nature then takes me, to adorn
Her fields and valleys.
I am beautiful pearls, plucked from the
Crown of Ishtar by the daughter of Dawn
To embellish the gardens…
The voice of Thunder declares my arrival
The rainbow announces my departure
I am like earthly life, which begins at
The feet of the mad elements and ends
Under the upraised wings of death
By the gods, Nature then takes me, to adorn
Her fields and valleys.
I am beautiful pearls, plucked from the
Crown of Ishtar by the daughter of Dawn
To embellish the gardens…
The voice of Thunder declares my arrival
The rainbow announces my departure
I am like earthly life, which begins at
The feet of the mad elements and ends
Under the upraised wings of death
Centuries have passed since all these masters sang Monsoon
Ragas and wrote rain songs to celebrate water as the life-giving force of this
earth. The beauty and appeal of Monsoon Ragas has not diminished even in this
age of Bollywood beats and memorable songs like Bol Re Papihara in Miyan
ki Malhar (from the film Guddi) and Ghanan Ghanan (from the film Lagaan)
continue to haunt music lovers. The importance of water as the symbol of the
fluidity of life has not lessened even today and an urgent awareness of
environment conservation has become a world-wide movement.
*Translation of the Parjanya Sukta from the Rigveda sung
in Monsoon Ragas with specific metres:
“Then the winds blow…
Then the lightning’s fall…
Then, the flora sprouts and grows
Then the space overflows,
Then the land prepares for the welfare
When Parjanya the Rain God protects the earth by waters!”
Rigveda 8.53 Parjanya Sukta
“Then the winds blow…
Then the lightning’s fall…
Then, the flora sprouts and grows
Then the space overflows,
Then the land prepares for the welfare
When Parjanya the Rain God protects the earth by waters!”
Rigveda 8.53 Parjanya Sukta
* Translation of the Aap Sukta from the Rigveda also sung
to Monsoon Raga with specific metres.
The waters that rain in the skies,
The waters that spring themselves from below the earth
And flow in the canals
And go towards the ocean
The waters that are clean and sacred
These goddesses of water may protect me here”
The waters that rain in the skies,
The waters that spring themselves from below the earth
And flow in the canals
And go towards the ocean
The waters that are clean and sacred
These goddesses of water may protect me here”
Monsoon Ragas were so popular in the artistic renaissance
of India
that every school of miniature painting used this theme to create some unique
and cherished paintings. Of specific interest are the Ragamala paintings based
on the concept of illustrating musical modes in a pictorial manner. The popular
melodies were verbally personified with great details in the Sangeeta
Ratnakara, a music treatise of the 12th century which lists the presiding
deities of each Raga and the painters used these to create collections of
paintings based on the images created by words and music. One of most beautiful
paintings in this style is the picturization of the Raga Megh by artist Madho
Das of Narsinghgarh; it is presently on view at the National
Museum, New Delhi.
Legend says that Emperor Akbar, the patron of Mian Tansen
(who is honoured as the greatest musician of India) wanted to meet his Guru
Swami Haridas. He was told that if he went as the Emperor, the music-master
would not see him. So Akbar went dressed as an ordinary man, holding Tansen’s Tanpura
as his assistant and became a devotee of Swami Haridas ever after. When Akbar
said that Mian Tansen was the greatest musician ever, Tansen replied that he
could never match the music of Swami Haridas because while Tansen sang to
please an emperor, Swami Haridas sang only for the ‘emperor of emperors’ –
namely God.
The Jehangir
Nama mentions that when the great Sufi Saint Shaikh Saleem Chishti was on his
death bed, he asked Emperor Akbar to fetch Mian Tansen to his bedside so that
he could hear his music before he quit his earthly body!
Astrophysics
And Why Mantras Are Repeated 108 Times
By sanjayrao
Experience has taught me that every single Hindu/Buddhist
custom (given Buddhist roots in Hinduism) had deep factual scientific reasons.
In most cases, the reasons why we do what we do, has been lost over centuries
of mindless practice. Yet we continue the practice in a sort of a Pavlovian
conditioning, without verifying the reasons for it.
I always wondered why most mantras are recommended to be
read, and are repeated 108 times. 108 is an odd number, Why not 107 times or
109 times? How did ancient Indians arrive at this number?
Here is the breath taking scientific reason for repeating
a mantra 108 times, dating back to around 8000 years or more.
In India,
Astrophysics, Astrology and spiritualism have been intertwined since the dawn
of time. The Sun and the Moon in astrology have the largest effect on human
fortunes due to gravitational effects, this influences astrological predictions
The ancient Indians about 5000 BC or
beyond figured out an incredible ratio. They figured out and accurately
calculated that the diameter of the sun multiplied 108 times gives you the
distance from the earth to the sun, and correspondingly, the diameter of the
moon multiplied 108 times gives you the distance from the earth to the moon.
Western astronomy just managed to catch
up just in the last 200 years with these estimates.
108 therefore becomes an amazing cosmic ratio of the
closest two planets that effect earth and human fortunes.
Here are the numbers:
1) Diameter of the sun = 864327 miles. ( Multiplied by
108 = 93,347,351 Miles)
Distance from the sun (as the earth has an elliptical orbit)
minimum 91 million
miles to maximum 94.1 million miles.
2) Diameter of the moon= 2159 miles (Multiplied by 108 =
233,172 miles)
Distance of earth to moon is minimum 225,622 miles to a maximum of
252,088 miles (as the moon too has an elliptical orbit.
The mind boggling question that remains is how did ancient
Indians 8000 years back calculate with such precision the diameters and
distances of planets and then arrive at such incredible ratios? When the
western world was flat and western scientists just a few hundred years back
‘discovered the earth was round’, many centuries prior to that we were
calculating diamaters of distant planets and their distances from the sun.
Mantras were
therefore requested to be repeated 108 times to ward off negative planetary
influences that may influence the desired outcome of the prayers.
Om Tat Sat
(Continued...)
(My
humble salutations to
Ms.Vimla Patil ji, Sanjayrao and hindu samskrit dot com for the collection)
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