My first meeting with Padmabhushan Pandit Chhannulal Mishra seven years ago at Varanasi was truly a strange and exciting one. It was past 11 p.m. An eerie silence pervaded the precincts of the Sankatmochan Temple. A terrorist attack at the temple in the recent past had caused the vast expanse to be dotted by security guards. We were invited to a room upstairs and encountered this long silver-haired charming music-guru, with a huge vermilion mark on his forehead. The greater surprise was the venerable late Veerbhadra Mishraji, Mahant of the temple and a truly graceful activist associated with the Save Ganga Movement. A certain magic engulfed the hour as music lessons bound the two men in a guru-shishya context, and we were a humble witness, feeling blessed. A greater honour followed. Panditji treated us to two compositions in raga Jaijaivanti and Des playing on his harmonium with great enthusiasm.
Early music training under his father Pandit Badri Prasad Mishra led Chhannulalji to Ustad Abdul Ghani Khan of Kirana gharana. Thakur Jaidev Singh, musicologist and philosopher, well-versed in Sanskrit and Kashmiri Shaivism, also disciple of Ustad Fayyaz Khan of Agra gharana nurtured Chhannulal’s scholarship. Occupying a prime place among male thumriyas , Chhannulalji’s versatility embraces a range of semi-classical forms including chaiti, hori, kajri and dadra . He believes in the power of the word and its meaning for bhavabhivyakti and underscores the need for exploiting its potential in khyal music as well. His clear understanding of the literary content and the aesthetic dynamics involved in the sahitya, raga and laya of musical compositions infuses his exposition with a bewitching clarity. He shares a rich tradition with Badi Motibai, Rasoolan Bai, Siddeshwari Devi and Girija Devi as an inheritor of the ‘Purab ang’ thumri of the Benares gharana . Chhannulalji vehemently advocates the need to preserve the rich body of Indian music of which classical music is only a part, including semi-classical forms, folk and sugam-sangeet .
Chhannulalji’s personality is dominated by the world-view of ancient texts on music and the Indian aesthetic tradition, mythology and folklore and in particular, Tulsidasji’s Rama Charita Manas and Kabirdas’s poetry. Lord Shankara of Benares who created the universe by playing his damaru 14 times, Rama accompanied by Sita, Lakshmana and Hanuman, Krishna, Radha and the gopika s, all inhabit his inner world. His conviction that Sanskrit is the life-source of Knowledge, without which shastras and ancient texts can never be understood, finds expression in his tremendous communication onstage and vigorous discourse offstage as well.
Panditji performed at Bengaluru recently accompanied by his illustrious son Pandit Ramkumar Mishra on tabla and Pandit Ravindra Katoti on harmonium as part of Sursagar’s ‘Living Legends and Budding Masters’ series. Introducing music as the underlying principle of the universe, he stated that between sa , the saakaara Brahman and ni , the niraakaara Brahman exist the five elements of creation. His statement that swara is the medium through which we can attain God instantly brought to mind, the Benares legend Ustad Bismillah Khan’s word that ‘Music, sur , and Namaz ’ are the same but different paths to Allah. ‘ Ganga hamari mata hai’ , Chhannulal identified himself with emotion. He proudly described Benares as shringaranagari where shringara rasa reigns among men and the gods and musicians who create ras -hence the name Bana-ras . Again, while he vocalised shehnai gamaks in his bol-banao thumri , the musical connection with Khansaab glowed.
Chhannulalji chose raga Puriyakalyan for exploration through vilambit and expanded the chhota khyal composition Bahut din beete . He impressed the audience by the popular Vataapi Ganapathim Bhaje in Hamsadhwani, highlighting the soulful features of the Carnatic composition in Hindustani classical style. A Jhinjhoti bhajan on Lord Hanuman and a teen-taal bandish in raga Bahar preceded the much awaited Benares-ki-thumri . Panditji enumerated several rich forms of thumri - bol-banao, bol-baant, bhaava-nritya, gat-bhaava, bandish-thumri, ghanakshari and so on. He also described how alaap assumes different contours as alaap, alaapanam and aalapi in dhrupad, khyal and thumri respectively, adding that thumri-alaap invariably accommodates elements from dhrupad and khyal-alaap . Chhannulalji demonstrated the emotional subtleties involved in the Purab, Paschim and Gaya ang-ki-thumaris employing distinct bols to highlight the nuances in bhaava . Sketching the ornamentation-oriented thumri as a refined genre that elaborates the elements of thumak or dance, sahitya and sangeeta , he rendered the celebrated Byaakul bhayee Brajbhaama baansuriya na bajaavo Shyam in Mishra Khamaj. The placement of Khatka, girgiri, tappa ang and murki in the frame of the saahitya was done with exquisite discretion making the thumari a delightful experience. He mesmerised the audience by eight kinds of beseeching- baasuriya na bajaao- by the ashtasakhis of Krishna.
Following Tore naina khilade katar sajni - the dadra featuring Chhannulalji’s characteristic confluence of Benares and Punjab gayaki , came the season-specific chaiti. Sajia se saiyan rooth gaye , the lilting song by a woman addressing the koel , with the refrain Ho Rama was highly pleasing. Hori s are associated with the arrival of spring and a riot of colours and Benarasi-horis are considered more classical in nature. He began with the interesting Radhika-hori , the bright-hued rang daarungi with its explicit intention of colouring Krishna into a woman and adorning him with mehndi .
The hori, khele mashaane me holi digambar celebrated the exclusive Holi, which Lord Bholenath plays everyday at the Manikaranika ghat in Varanasi unlike the Krishna Holi that is seasonal. The site of the cosmic-play is the graveyard where the unclad Lord of the Firmament dances with ghosts and spirits. The creator of gitam, vaadyam and nrityam prefers to play holi with chitaabhasma rather than colours, to the beat of damaru . This cosmic-holi espousing vaiaragyabhaava is an antithesis of all the sensuality and festivity associated with the colourful Krishna- Radha holi. Panditji concluded the concert with a Kabirdas composition Duniya darshan ka hai mela unfolding the temporal nature of the world in its search for truth.
Pandit Ramkumar Mishra, grandson of tabla legend Anokhelal Mishra and disciple of Pandit Chhotelal Mishra played outstanding tabla throughout, with stunning power and clarity, responding to the rhythmic dynamics of every musical form that Chhannulal explored. Pandit Ravindra Katoti’s filigree-work was soulful and his supportive bearing on harmonium earned the vocalist’s appreciation at crucial turns.
