Echoes...
Among all the accolades showered on Ustad Bismillah Khan, no mention has been made of a small but significant event that had Agra agog with excitement: the maestro playing the shehnai at the Taj Mahal in the mid 1950s. He wasn't a legend at that time but still attracted a goodly following among music lovers of the Agra Gharana, led by Aqeel Ahmed Khan and his cousin, Ustad Latafat Hussain Khan, both scions of the illustrious family of Ustad Faiyaz Khan.
Bismillah Khan had arrived quietly from Delhi by the Punjab Mail and went to the Taj in a tonga to attend the Urs of Shah Jahan (another one of Mumtaz Mahal is also observed). During these annual functions the shehnai is played from the Naubat Khana, just atop the main entrance gate. Khan Sahib bowed his head and heard the pensive notes so different from the joyous ones that enliven a wedding.
He then went past the avenue of cypress trees and the lotus pond, up the steps of the main platform and into the Cenotaph Chamber, where he paid his respects to the Emperor and Empress. There were no restrictions on entry then and Ustad could freely make a round of the chamber, where the band of Israfil's angels guard the dead.
Bismillah Khan then walked to the rear of the monument, sat down near the Eastern minaret, gazed at the Yamuna and started playing his shehnai. The strains were heavenly and one thought the fast flowing river all the way to Allahabad carried them. It was the best tribute that could have been paid to Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal. The Ustad later resumed his onward journey by the Toofan Mail, but his shehnai notes had mystically preceded him to Prayag.
R.V. SMITH
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