On the auspicious days of Dhanteras and Roop Chaudas, rasikas were invited to a two-day soiree of ‘Viral Yantra-Sangeet’ (rare musical instruments). For this, the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Golpark, Kolkata joined hands with Jalsaghar and its beacon Robin Paul who is known for his penchant for digging up historical mines to unearth uncommon jewels. Curated by Paul and presented at the prestigious Vivekananda Hall, this event promised to showcase six such string instruments which saw the glory in the King’s courts, but are difficult to perform and hence have a very few exponents now.
Since rare is often rusted, one did not expect much; but it sprang a very pleasant surprise when the sheer dedication of their exponents resulted in quite a few sparkling presentations. Among them Pandit Joydeep Ghosh, the final artiste of the soiree – better known as an erudite sarod maestro, gave a sterling version of raga Saanjh Swarawali (invented by Ustad Vilayat Khan) on his surshringar – apparently a grandiose, larger version of sarod.
But, according to Ghosh, “its small gourd and the neck, to which the strings are attached, are features of the Mahati Veena. The finger-board with the metal plate is very much like the type of Rabab which Mian Tansen used to play. And the main body is similar to the Kachhapi Veena or kachhuwa sitar with its flat gourd resembling the back of a tortoise.”
It is believed that this instrument was first made by Syad Kalb Ali Khan Bahadur, the Nawab of Rampur. But according to many, it was introduced by the descendants of Tansen – Ustad Pyare Khan, Basat Khan and Jaffar Khan in early 19th century. Mohammed Ali Khan, son of Basat Khan was a surshringar maestro who lived in Rampur and Lucknow. Surshringar was restricted to dhrupad. In keeping with the tradition, Ghosh played an elaborate aalap, enriched by long sustained notes, deliberate meends and heavy gamaks. The jod in varied tempos and with different rhythmic patterns was followed by varieties of jhala along with the accompaniment of pakhawaj, beautifully played by Achintya Bhattacharya.
Majestic tone
One gathered that albeit rarely played, dilbahar and Mohan-veena – two inventions of Pandit Radhika Mohan Maitra are very close to several Bengali musicians’ hearts. Niladri Sen, another learned instrumentalist, groomed under several gurus including his father Robi Sen and Pandit Santosh Banerjee, enthralled with his short and sweet version of raga Kaushidhwani replete with a good blend of emotion and skill in aalap and gatkaris, ably supported by Debashis Sarkar’s tabla in medium jhaptal and fast teental. The majestic tone of the instrument, a la sarod, had sitar like light movements.
As told by Sen, “Radhubabu had shaped dilbahar with sarod’s skin-clad tabli (drum) and sitar’s long fretted neck; while his Mohan-veena (the original one, recognised by the All India Radio in 1948) has sitar’s wooden drum and sarod’s metal plectrum.” Very sensibly, the very next item showcased Mohan-veena. Bhawani Shankar Dasgupta, son-disciple of Pandit Buddhadev Dasgupta, played an elaborate aalap in raga Nayaki Kanada that enhanced the deep tone of this beautiful instrument.
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