The royal patronage had always been a key factor in the development of any art form. In the auspices of royal patronage, the art form obtained an elite stature, the artists got stability and peace required for artistry. History has witnessed the art reaching its zenith in the period of stable rulers, and the art form is indeed in its golden period where the ruler himself is an avid art connoisseur and artist. Kathak has witnessed such a golden period in the reign of Raja Chakradhar Singh of Raigarh.
Born on 19th August 1905 on the auspicious day of Ganesh Chaturthi,
chakradhar Singh ruled the Raigarh province from 1924 to 1947. Their Gond
Dynasty family was staunch Vaishnav and a cultured art-lovers’ family. His father Bhupdev was into music and both his uncles played
pakhavaj and tabla. Chakradhar received his basic training of taal from his
uncles.
Raja Chakradhar Singh received diverse
and authentic training in accordance
with the training and education norms of contemporary princes. Acharya Mahavira
was appointed to make him familiar with the literature. He learned Sanskrit from
Sadashiv Pandit. His detailed Sanskrit training enabled him not only to pen his work in Sanskrit but
also to coin Sanskrit terminology for Kathak. The Kathak held an elite position in the Raigarh Darbar even before Maharaj
Chakradhar. Jagannath Prasad from Jaipur Gharana was appointed as the
Nritya-acharya in the court. Pandit Jayalal Maharaj himself adorned the same
position in the reign of Maharaj for many years after 1930. Chakradhar Singh
himself was his disciple. Lucknow Gharana doyen Acchan Maharaj also blessed
Raigarh court for some years who gave the Lucknow Gharana training to the
Maharaj and other disciples. Maharaj played this much-required role of being the protector of both the gharanas, supporting and respecting the gurus of both the gharanas and training
many dancers in Raigarh in both the
styles. Maharaj himself learned and researched both the styles in-depth from
these two doyens of Jaipur and Lucknow, and furthermore alloyed the aspects of
both gharanas to develop an independent style, which further came to be
known as the Raigarh Gharana.
Apart from this, Raja Chakradhar Singh, in his initial years was also trained under many stalwart gurus such as Dhandhe
Khan, Hanuman Prasad, Shiv Narayan who visited the Raigarh darbar occasionally.
In addition to Kathak, he received the talim of tabla from the renowned tabla
Ustad, Munir Khan saheb, and learned pakhavaj from Thakur prasadji. He also was
trained for vocal music from Nanhe babu. Raja was fond of many other crafts
like kite-flying, hunting, etc.
Raja chakradhar rejuvenated the art-atmosphere of Raigarh. It is only because of his efforts, the name Raigarh was added in bold letters in the history of Kathak.
Chakradhar Singh had more inclination towards Jaipur gharana owing to his talim from Pandit Jaylal Maharaj. He preferred to perform in Vilambit laya more. However, he made it a point to train the junior dancers in Raigarh with both gharanas and additionally trained them with his own style and own compositions.
Chakradhar Singh experimented largely in the traditional format of Kathak. Paran and tukras are an essential parts of the taal presentation in Kathak. Maharaj composed many innovative paran compositions and also coined unique names for them suiting their bols or choreography. To name a few, dal-badal paran, chamak-bijali paran, kilkil paran (having bird sounds), gajavilas (imitating elephant walk), Dawanal (wildfire), Durga lasya, Navaras paran, Raj-vilas, Madhugunj ( bee humming), Kallolini, Kadamb, etc. He also experimented in presenting Nritta bandish along with some abhinaya. This was part of his efforts to attract the audience of Raigarh that was otherwise not familiar with the nuances of Kathak. Thus, creating a learned audience is yet another contribution of Maharaj Chakradhar.
Even if Maharaj has taken extensive formal training of Kathak he himself could hardly perform publicly owing to his royal status. Nonetheless, many people still narrate the stories of his expertise. It is said that once performing in his inner circle, accepting someone’s challenge, he had demonstrated 20 types of Matki uthane ke prakar. Moti mahal of Raigarh resonated with Kathak bols in that period. Maharaj not only supported the artists but also made the provision of required infrastructure wisely such as separate rooms for Riyaz, then called talim-khana, performance halls. He also made available lodging facilities for the artists coming to Raigarh. Many aspiring dance students from a poor backgrounds or many folk-dancers were supported and provided with the authentic Kathak training. Many of these dancers further succeeded as professional Kathak dancers.
The famous Moti-mahal had daily Kathak performances and special events on festival days. The festivals like Hori, Basant-Panchami, and Ganesh Chaturthi (which was also the birthday of Maharaj) was flooded with various dance and music events.
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| Moti Mahal |
These festivals had two different platforms for performances. One platform was for common people where amateurs performed, and another platform was for invited guests where special artists from all over India used to perform. Raigarh court then had become a dream-platform for every artist in India. Many stalwarts visited Raigarh in this period. Their ceaseless discussions were then proved to be major resources for Chakradhar Singh who penned many scholarly works. Kathak was in its transformative phase and the valley between the theory and practice, Shastra and prayog were deepening. The dance in the practice was less corresponded to the dance described in scriptures and this distance even increased after a number of elements were infused from the Islamic and other dance traditions. Reconfiguring the shastras for Kathak was then the need of an hour. Who else can be the authority for this work than Maharaj Chakradhar singh who was a scholar and performer? He strived to re-establish the theory of Kathak and authored several works on Kathak and music in general.
Works by Chakradhar Singh:
Chakradhar Singh authored a book named as Nartan-sarvasva which is considered as handbook for Kathak. However, this book is not published and even the manuscript is yet unedited. Maharaj’s family has retained the manuscript. This work written in the golden period of Kathak can be good documentation about various transformations in Kathak. This work has covered all the aspects of Kathak. Maharaj has coined novel Sanskrit words for various concepts in Kathak such as Trichakri for chakradar.
Another major work is Taltoynidhi. It is said that Chakradhar Singh has covered the taal cycles from 1 matra to 380 matras in this work. The complexity of the period reflects perfectly here. Various taal cycles are given with a visual colourful representation in the form of a chakra or mandala. This visual representation of taal is unique and calls for further in-depth study. In those days of limited knowledge resources, artists then protected their compositions as their own wealth and give and take of these compositions was quite a sensitive issue. Maharaj had collected extensive number of bandish’s, sometimes by pleasing various Ustad’s and sometimes in exchange of some remuneration. Taltoynidhi is said to be the huge collection of such compositions and hence this work is considered as a huge compilation of bol parans.
Murajvarnapushpakar is another work by Chakradhar Singh that encompasses the dance as well as the percussion spectrum. This book has pictorial descriptions of choreographies of many bols as well as definitions of technical terms. This work is also unexplored and unpublished. If edited and published, this work can prove to be a good glossary for Kathak.
Chakradhar Singh has authored another remarkable work on vocal music namely Raagratnamanjusha. The unique concept of the family tree of Raagas as per their Thaats is the characteristic of this work.
Raja was well-verse in Sanskrit and Urdu and has written other works in both these languages. Some of them are published but most of them remain unexplored in manuscript form. Kavyakanan, Shabdakalpadrum, Myachakra, Ramyaras, Jashn-e-farahat are some of them.
Maharaj was revered as the scholar and connoisseur of art in the art fraternity. He presided the All India Music Conference in 1938 held at Allahabad. His presidential speech reflects his progressive attitude toward blending modernity and tradition. In 1939, a special music festival was organized to welcome Viceroy Lord Linlithgow. Maharaj’s disciples Kartik and Kalyan performed in this festival and he himself accompanied them playing tabla. Maharaj was then conferred with title Sangeet Samrat at this festival.
Raja Chakradhar had provided the best possible Kathak training to many disciples and thus shaped many Kathak artists. Above mentioned Kartik and Kalyan Maharaj were such senior disciples. This pair was appreciated in the dance festivals all over the world. Apart from them, Pandit Firtu Maharaj, Shree Barman Lal, Anujram, Ramlal are other disciples of Chakradhar Singh who became renowned Kathak artist. Barmanlal performed in the troupe of Madam Menaka. Ramlal was a disciple of Pandit Kartikram who now heads the Chakradhar Nritya Kendra, Bhopal.
Dal Badal Paran :
नगन धेत-तधे
तडन्न धा धा, किड् धे-धे-धे, धडन्न धिट
धिट धगन क-त,
धगन क-त,
तिट तिट धिट
धिट – तडन्न तकिट तक
दिगगिन्नाड धित
तगन्न धा
(ताधा, तिटकता
घेतिट तगन तागे तिट गदिन तान धा) 3 (धेत धेत दिगन्नाड धिट)
(From Sangeet
Kalavihar October 2013)
