Pt.Vishnu Narain Bhatkhande 'Chatur Pandit' is the propagator of the 'Thaat paddhati' of classification of all Raags under 10 Thaats based on the 72 'Malekarta' paddhati of Carnitik Music system detailed in Pt.Vyankatmukhi's treatise 'Chaturedandi Prakashika'' . This system is considered incomplete by Pt.Vishnu Digamber Paluskar Gharana musicians prominent among them being Pt.Omkar Nath Thakur and Pt.Vinayak Rao Patvardhan mainly on the ground that there are many inconsistencies in the Thaat system, which are unable to explain many aspects of Indian Classical Music. But the Thaat Paddhati is more popular as compared to the system propagated by Paluskar parampara.
Pt. Vinayak Rao Patwardhan in his 'Raag Vigyan' volume 2 and Pt.Omkar Nath Thakur in his 'Sangeetanjali' Volume 6 has dealt at length discussed in detail all the shortcomings of the Thaat Paddhati, but at the same time recognised the valuable contribution made by Pt.Bhatkhande by establishing a base for the theoretical aspects of our Classical Music, which was hidden from public view due to all the Texts being in Sanskrit and the practitioners of our Music being mostly Muslims since 17th century, who were ignorant about it for obvious reasons.
" Some glaring inconsistencies pointed out by the above scholars are as under:-
1. In khamaj thaat komal nishad has been mentioned but in the Raag of the same name both the forms of nishad are used. This inconsistency is also in Poorvi thaat with the Raag Poorvi using both the madhyams.Use of both nishads in Malhar,two gandhars in Jaijaiwanti, both madhyams in Lalit are another examples' This has been classified as 'ati vyapti dosha'
2. Bhoop Raag having all shuddha swaras has not been included in Bilawal Thaat.
3. In Kalyan Thaat janya Raags Kedar, Hamir, Bihag, Gaud Saarang etc.shuddha madhyam is used extensively and teevra madhyam is used less. Besides in Kedar shuddha madhyam is the 'Prana swara' and komal nishad is also helpful in building the Raag.So the question arises why Kedar has been classified under Kalyan Thaat.?
4. In Kafi Thaat komal ga and ni have been taken, but in its many 'Janya Raags' shuddha ga and ni are frequently used.
5. In Raag Alahiya Bilaqwal of Bilawal Thaat use of both nishads is compulsory. In other prakars of Bilawal, komal nishad is more or lesss used regularly.But there no place of konmal nishad in Bilawal Thaat.
6. If there is liberty to include any other swara which is not in the Thaat, then how will the Thaat System work? For example in Bilawal by including teevra madhyam we will get Kalyan Thaat or by including shiddha madhyam in Kalyan Thaat we get Bilawal Thaat, and similarly in Poorvi by including shuddha madhyam we get Bhairav Thaat, and by including teevra madhyam in Bhairav we get Poorvi Thaat and likewise by adding shuddha nishad in Khamaj we get Bilawal and in Bilawal by adding komal nishad we get Khamaj. Then what will be the rule to control the structure of the Raag ?
The above examples illustrate the irregularity, inconsistency and incompleteness in the Thaat System and the same shortcomings are found in the 'Janya Raags'. We know that the Thaat has been described as the originator (Janak) and the Raags as 'janya' i.e. born out of the Janak. here the question arises that when a particular attribute is absent in the seed , then how will it be present in the fruit ?
Thus we have seen the shortcomings of Thaat system and derivative Raags of the Thaat system."
A question was raised by Shri Bose as to why Raag Marwa is considered as a 'Sandhiprakash Raag' when according to Bhatkhande ji, a sandhiprakash raag must have komal re and dha, whereas in Marwa dha is shuddha. One will find frequently such statements in the Theory propagated by Bhatkhande that the inconsistency is as an exception. But there should be a limit to such exceptions.
Now coming to the merits and demerits of both the systems, the system propagated by Shri O.N Thakur dealt in great detail in his treatise Samgeetanjali 6 volumes and other works based on old Sanskrit Texts, is very complicated and not easily understood by average musician who is not adept in Sanskrit Language.Pt. Bhatkhande has gone for simplification of the same and in the process the above inconsistencies have crept in.. He has clearly stated in his books that his word is not final and he has invited the future generations of Musicians and Musicologists to further the work done by him. Unfortunately after his demise, very few Musicologists and Musicians adept in both Theory and Practice of Music were born and no significant breakthrough has been made in the field of Theory of Music in interpreting or furthering the old theory trapped in Sanskrit Texts. Shri Thakur has stressed the need for a breakthrough in this field and has hoped that a new system will be evolved combining the proven elements of all the systems.
Now coming to the question raised by Shri Bose, I find in a book on theory of music 'Sangeet Kaumudi' by Shri Vikramaditya S. Nigam that he has mentioned that (i) In Raags with komal re and dha known as sandhiprakash raag, re will always be komal but dha can be teevra also, but ga and ne are always teevra. He has not quoted any old text in support. (ii)For raags with re and dha teevra, re ga and dha are always teevra and ni can be komal or teevra (iii) For raags with ga and ni kommal, ga is always komal, re and dha can be komal or teevra. I could not find any Old Sanskrit Text in support to the above classification of Raags by "Samaya Chakra".
Pt. Vinayak Rao Patwardhan in his 'Raag Vigyan' volume 2 and Pt.Omkar Nath Thakur in his 'Sangeetanjali' Volume 6 has dealt at length discussed in detail all the shortcomings of the Thaat Paddhati, but at the same time recognised the valuable contribution made by Pt.Bhatkhande by establishing a base for the theoretical aspects of our Classical Music, which was hidden from public view due to all the Texts being in Sanskrit and the practitioners of our Music being mostly Muslims since 17th century, who were ignorant about it for obvious reasons.
" Some glaring inconsistencies pointed out by the above scholars are as under:-
1. In khamaj thaat komal nishad has been mentioned but in the Raag of the same name both the forms of nishad are used. This inconsistency is also in Poorvi thaat with the Raag Poorvi using both the madhyams.Use of both nishads in Malhar,two gandhars in Jaijaiwanti, both madhyams in Lalit are another examples' This has been classified as 'ati vyapti dosha'
2. Bhoop Raag having all shuddha swaras has not been included in Bilawal Thaat.
3. In Kalyan Thaat janya Raags Kedar, Hamir, Bihag, Gaud Saarang etc.shuddha madhyam is used extensively and teevra madhyam is used less. Besides in Kedar shuddha madhyam is the 'Prana swara' and komal nishad is also helpful in building the Raag.So the question arises why Kedar has been classified under Kalyan Thaat.?
4. In Kafi Thaat komal ga and ni have been taken, but in its many 'Janya Raags' shuddha ga and ni are frequently used.
5. In Raag Alahiya Bilaqwal of Bilawal Thaat use of both nishads is compulsory. In other prakars of Bilawal, komal nishad is more or lesss used regularly.But there no place of konmal nishad in Bilawal Thaat.
6. If there is liberty to include any other swara which is not in the Thaat, then how will the Thaat System work? For example in Bilawal by including teevra madhyam we will get Kalyan Thaat or by including shiddha madhyam in Kalyan Thaat we get Bilawal Thaat, and similarly in Poorvi by including shuddha madhyam we get Bhairav Thaat, and by including teevra madhyam in Bhairav we get Poorvi Thaat and likewise by adding shuddha nishad in Khamaj we get Bilawal and in Bilawal by adding komal nishad we get Khamaj. Then what will be the rule to control the structure of the Raag ?
The above examples illustrate the irregularity, inconsistency and incompleteness in the Thaat System and the same shortcomings are found in the 'Janya Raags'. We know that the Thaat has been described as the originator (Janak) and the Raags as 'janya' i.e. born out of the Janak. here the question arises that when a particular attribute is absent in the seed , then how will it be present in the fruit ?
Thus we have seen the shortcomings of Thaat system and derivative Raags of the Thaat system."
A question was raised by Shri Bose as to why Raag Marwa is considered as a 'Sandhiprakash Raag' when according to Bhatkhande ji, a sandhiprakash raag must have komal re and dha, whereas in Marwa dha is shuddha. One will find frequently such statements in the Theory propagated by Bhatkhande that the inconsistency is as an exception. But there should be a limit to such exceptions.
Now coming to the merits and demerits of both the systems, the system propagated by Shri O.N Thakur dealt in great detail in his treatise Samgeetanjali 6 volumes and other works based on old Sanskrit Texts, is very complicated and not easily understood by average musician who is not adept in Sanskrit Language.Pt. Bhatkhande has gone for simplification of the same and in the process the above inconsistencies have crept in.. He has clearly stated in his books that his word is not final and he has invited the future generations of Musicians and Musicologists to further the work done by him. Unfortunately after his demise, very few Musicologists and Musicians adept in both Theory and Practice of Music were born and no significant breakthrough has been made in the field of Theory of Music in interpreting or furthering the old theory trapped in Sanskrit Texts. Shri Thakur has stressed the need for a breakthrough in this field and has hoped that a new system will be evolved combining the proven elements of all the systems.
Now coming to the question raised by Shri Bose, I find in a book on theory of music 'Sangeet Kaumudi' by Shri Vikramaditya S. Nigam that he has mentioned that (i) In Raags with komal re and dha known as sandhiprakash raag, re will always be komal but dha can be teevra also, but ga and ne are always teevra. He has not quoted any old text in support. (ii)For raags with re and dha teevra, re ga and dha are always teevra and ni can be komal or teevra (iii) For raags with ga and ni kommal, ga is always komal, re and dha can be komal or teevra. I could not find any Old Sanskrit Text in support to the above classification of Raags by "Samaya Chakra".
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