Mishrit or jod ragas are a tricky area of Indian
Classical Music. A person like me cannot create and launch a new sammishran, unless I am, and also am considered- an authority. The Gharana I belong to, Gwalior, being one
of the oldest and traditional, is not that excited about sammishran. Readers might have seen the movie Sur Sangam (based on Sankarabharanam)
– Pt. Shivasankar Shastri (Girish Karnad) is furious with his daughter when she
uses re in Kalawati- that was Pt. Ravi Shankar’s
innovation historically which became a big issue one day.
There are some reasons for the
orthodox approach. Firstly, the
traditional ragas have survived the test of time and can never be nine-day
wonders like Gandhi Malhar. Naturally
a new mishran has not stood the test
of time. Over time, virtually all viable combinations must have survived as
known ragas. Some authorities like Ustad Amir Khan have tried all 5040 swara combinations, called the merukhand, and found that only around 168
are melodious. All facets of human emotions have been covered by the system. Secondly, a raga follows strict grammar
and if you seriously launch a new raga, who will be the referee? Who will
decide the rules of vaadi-samvaadi or chalan
etc.
Even then, as more and more
practitioners and shrotas or
listeners could reach this music, it was clear that nothing should be static,
and our music must be freed of chains to the extent possible. Geniuses like Pt.
Ravi Shankar and Pt. Bhimsen Joshi experimented with ragas and some like Jansammohini or Kalashree are now frequently sung. It is like the English language,
where also the authority of Oxford is a thing of the past.
The mishrit raga Bageshri Ahir
Bhairav which we are discussing here was created and played in this shape by
Pt. Hari Prasad Chaurasia sometime and was found by us in a family collection.
That was the first time we had heard of this innovation of the greatest
flautist, and was put on youtube by me:
I, guided by my guru Mrs. Shubhangi Ghan analysed the raga out of academic interest, particularly as it was an attempt to combine two dramatically opposite ragas so far as the performance timing is concerned, that too, two gayaki ragas, on flute. It is easy to reach the swara from the composition, but very difficult to attempt the reverse. The earlier one is like finding the landline number at a given address, and the latter, like locating a lost friend with the last five digits of her or his cell number. Moreover as our guru Pt. Ramashray Jha ‘Ramrang’ used to say, the raw swaras are the same, the way they are used determines the raga.
I, guided by my guru Mrs. Shubhangi Ghan analysed the raga out of academic interest, particularly as it was an attempt to combine two dramatically opposite ragas so far as the performance timing is concerned, that too, two gayaki ragas, on flute. It is easy to reach the swara from the composition, but very difficult to attempt the reverse. The earlier one is like finding the landline number at a given address, and the latter, like locating a lost friend with the last five digits of her or his cell number. Moreover as our guru Pt. Ramashray Jha ‘Ramrang’ used to say, the raw swaras are the same, the way they are used determines the raga.
Add to that the challenges
in producing a non-shuddh swara on the flute and the innate beauty of the flute which keeps distracting you!
To begin, I repeat below the
theory of mishran or jod given very crisply by swarganga.org :
The basic principles in combining
two raag is the constituent raags should complement each other. The emotional
effect of combining them should be pleasing and not disturbing, and not only
for intellectual curiosity. There are at least two forms of Jod raag.
ü One raag is given predominance than the other. For
example in Raag Basant Bahaar, Basant
is considered the main raag to which Raag Bahaar is combined.
ü The other way of combining is to use the notes of
one raag and Chalan (melodic movement) of the other. For instance in Raag Megh Malhar, the notes belonging to
Raag Saarang are used and the raag is sung in the manner employed by
the Malhaar group.
There are three ways these raags
are created:
1. Combining the Aaroha
of one raag and the Avaroha of another.
2. To have each tetrachord composed of notes of
different raag (either shuddha or vikrit).
3. Use phrases from two or more raags and alternate between them.
One may add that in this
case, it is somewhat like trying to make a mixture of oil and water. An organic
bonding has to be there between the two ragas and here the creator achieves it
perfectly. In the process, he has tried all the 3 methods given above.
Since Bageshri is uttarang pradhan the
presence of Bageshri is felt more as
the recital progresses. It is then that you see phrases like GA MA DHA MA DHA
ni DHA ni DHA and MA DHA MA DHA ni DHA ni SA NI DHA (*)
It starts with Ahir Bhairav only. As Panditji tells,
this is a morning concert. The use of swaras
is as follows:
Ø Use
of komal gandhar gives rise to shades
of Bageshri
Ø Initial
nyas on madhyam and andolan on rishabh is as per Ahir Bhairav, as in phrases like ga MA re PA GA MA re ni ni SA GA
MA re and MA ga re SA..
The highlight of the jod is the presence of kafi notes. The commonality of the two
ragas which makes the jod viable is
that both the ragas adhere to kafi thaat in uttaranga. In the latter part of the recital, we see kafi related swar samoohs which contain the aabhas
or impression of both the ragas, for example:
MA DHA ni DHA PA which is
one of the Ahir Bhairav strings
related to kafi angg.
MA DHA MA DHA ni DHA around
20.18 minutes
Ga MA DHA around 34.00 to
34.40 minutes
The taans at the end are mostly based on Ahir Bhairav, presumably the josh
comes because it is a morning concert.
To sum up, it was/is a very
interesting innovation. Separately, both ragas emit gambhirya. But it abounds with ati karun
rasa created by phrases like MA GA re SA and ample use of karun swaras like komal gandhar and komal
rishabh, as well as kautuhal rasa
created by the streamers of Bageshri
and Ahir Bhairav that flow from the kafi junction in the uttaranga. One keeps anticipating these
treats.
The raga deserves to
be played and heard more! Instead of oil and water, audience awaits eagerly for a combination of petrol and match-stick…! Was Bilaskhani Todi the last one such? (**)
Finally, isn’t the name a bit cumbersome?
Finally, isn’t the name a bit cumbersome?
(*) if capitalised, notation
stands for shuddha, if small, komal, only in case of madhyam, capitalised is shuddha and small is teevra.
(**) Composed and sung by grieving Ustad Bilas Khan at the funeral of his father Tansen, fusing Todi and Asawari
(Special thanks to Sanjiv Bokil for his inputs)
