Forever a gharana man
GAUTAM CHATTERJEE
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Pandit Mallikarjun Mansur’s musical essence lives on even 16 years after his demise.
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Immortal legacy Pandit Malikarjun Mansoor.
At Pandit Mallikarjun Mansur’s performance on 17th August, 1992, it was as if the musical notes were visible to him while he sang. It was to be his last performance but no one knew it then. He passed away less than a month later on 12th September. The words (of the bandish) were “Tum Bin Maiko Kalana Parat Hai, Beet Gaye” in raga Hem Nat.
“I am a gharana man. The gharana system is vital to our tradition. My guru Manji Khan Saheb once told me that the end of your tradition means your own end. But if you end your rasa yatra, the rasa of tradition will continue. So don’t live with this ego that you are the last,” he often said. In these 16 years since his demise, his rasa yatra continues, as his presence lingers in the minds of his listeners.
Autobiography
This rasa yatra was best expressed in “Naana Rasa Yatre” (“My Journey through Rasa”) which he wrote with Ramesh Nadkarni in Kannada and published in 1984. Pandit Mansur’s son Pandit Rajshekhar Mansur translated this into English from Kannada in 2005.
“My discipleship with Manji Khan Saheb had a premature ending. There was much of the Jaipur gharana that I wanted to learn about. With this desire, I went to Mumbai and met Ustad Alladiya Khan Saheb to seek his advice about the future course. He was then quite old so he suggested that I take taleem from his son Burji Khan,” he writes in his book. There are some uncommon ragas which we know and relish only due to Pandit Mansur, like Vihagda, Meerabai Ki Malhar, Basanti Kedar, Basanti Kanada, Adambari Kedar, Sukhiya Bilawal, etc. Why did he have these unusual preferences? “They are not unusual,” he clarified, explaining, “They might be rarely heard. But they are important. I try to put all the required notes before the sahriday listeners (those whose appreciation stems from the heart, not merely from the intellect). If you don’t improvise the old ragas, how long will they exist? It is essential for a sadhak vocalist (aspirant on the musical path) to improvise the raga, irrespective of whether it’s familiar or unfamiliar, in such a manner that it gleams within the heart of listeners.”
The 81-year-old Pandit Mansur was always willing to sing an old or a reborn raga, despite his advanced age. His satvik (purified) emotions reflected through his spiritual existence. His heightened emotions allowed him to accurately touch notes and create a heartfelt bandish. He was proud to belong to Dharwad, as Gangubai Hangal, Bhimsen Joshi and even Kumar Gandharva were from there. “How and why has he left us before me,” he asked when Kumarji passed away in April 1992. He continued, “When I was 12, I participated in dramas and this continued till my adolescence. Later Kumar and I sang for dramas from behind the side curtains. Now he is no more and I am still alive. I feel he is still singing behind the curtain, which is now invisible.”
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