Allauddin Khan
Allauddin Khan (
Bangla: āĻ"āĻ¸ā§āĻ¤āĻžāĻĻ āĻāĻ˛āĻžāĻāĻĻā§āĻĻā§āĻ¨ āĻāĻžāĻ¨, also known as
Baba Allauddin Khan) (
1862â"
1972), was a
Bengali Indian classical
sarodiya and multi-instrumentalist and one of the greatest music teachers of the 20th Century, father of
Ali Akbar Khan and
Annapurna Devi and
guru to
Ravi Shankar,
Nikhil Banerjee, Vasant Rai,
Pannalal Ghosh and other influential musicians. He himself was a disciple of many great musicians, most importantly the legendary
Wazir Khan.
Allauddin Khan was born in Shibpur village in
Brahmanbaria, in present-day
Bangladesh, the son of Sabdar Hossain Khan, also known as Sadhu Khan. Alluddin's elder brother, Fakir Aftabuddin, first taught him some music in the home.
At the age of ten, Allauddin ran away from home to join a
jatra band, a traditional
Bengali form of theater. This experience exposed him to the rich folk tradition of Bengal. After some time, he went to
Kolkata, and was accepted as a student by singer Gopal Krishna Bhattacharya, alias Nulo Gopal. Allauddin committed to a 12-year practice program; However, Nulo Gopal died of plague after the seventh year. Khan then became a disciple of Amritalal Dutt, a close relative of
Swami Vivekananda and music director at Kolkata's Star Theatre, with the goal of becoming an instrumentalist. At this time, he also took lessons in
European classical violin from a Mr Lobo, a bandmaster from
Goa.
Alauddin Khan got interested in sarod after a concert at Jagat Kishore Acharya's,
zamindar of Muktagachha, where he listened to Ahmed Ali Khan, a student of Asghar Ali Khan (
Amjad Ali Khan's grand-uncle). Alauddin became his student, and studied the sarod under him for five years. His next step was to go to
Rampur for lessons from
Wazir Khan beenkar, court musician of the
Nawab there, and one of the last direct descendants of the legendary
Tansen. Through him, Alauddin was given access to the
Senia gharana (Tansen school of music), arguably north India's most coveted body of musical knowledge. He later became the court musician of Brijnath Singh
Maharaja of
Maihar Estate in Central Province.
During his time as a court musician, Allauddin Khan completely reshaped the Maihar gharana of Indian classical music. The Maihar gharana was established in the 19th Century, but Khan's contribution was so fundamental that he is often thought to be its creator. This was a period of rapid change for Hindustani instrumental music, thanks not least to Allauddin Khan, who infused the
beenbaj and
dhrupad ang, previously known from the
been,
surbahar (bass sitar) and sur-sringar (bass sarod), into the playing of many classical instruments.
For though he gave concerts on the sarod, Allauddin played many instruments, something that shaped his pedagogy. He put together an orchestra with Indian instruments, the Maihar String Band, and while his son,
Ali Akbar Khan, was taught the sarod, his daughter
Annapurna Devi learned the surbahar, students such as
Ravi Shankar and
Nikhil Banerjee played the
sitar and
Pannalal Ghosh the
bansuri bamboo flute. Of course Ravi and Ali Akbar Khan were to be very famous and spread this gharana over the world â" something that Allauddin himself had started when, in
1935â"
1936, he went on an international tour with
Uday Shankar's dance troupe.
Allauddin stayed at Maihar from 1918 to his death. In 1955, he established an institution for higher studies in music called Maihar College of Music. He was given the
Sangeet Natak Academy Award in
1952, and the
Padma Bhushan and
Padma Vibhushan â" India's third and second highest civilian decorations â" in
1958 and
1971, respectively.
When many people hear the name Allauddin Khan, they think of a grumpy old man (after all, he lived to 110) with a hot temper but a heart of gold â" anecdotes about him range from throwing a
tabla tuning hammer at the Maharaja himself to taking care of disabled beggars. (Nikhil Banerjee said that the tough image was "deliberately projected in order not to allow any liberty to the disciple. He always had the tension that soft treatment on his part would only spoil them".)
Allauddin was a very religious man, and though
Muslim by name, was strongly devoted to the goddess
Saraswati, in the form of Sarada Devi, to whom there stands an old and famous temple atop a hill in Maihar. This is why Allauddin, despite more lucrative offers from other courts, never left Maihar, refusing to move away even for hospital treatment â" he would rather die near Sarada Devi than live someplace else.
A few years before the turn of the century, he married Madanmanjari Devi (
1888â"?). He had one son and sarod heir,
Ali Akbar Khan, and three daughters, Sharija, Jehanara and
Annapurna Devi. After Sharija got married, and her jealous mother-in-law burnt her
tanpura, Allauddin decided not to train his other daughters, but Annapurna proved so talented he changed his mind. She later married and divorced
Ravi Shankar.
Allauddin Khan was fond of
sankeerna (compound) ragas, and created many ragas of his own, including Arjun, Bhagabati, Bhim, Bhuvaneshvari, Chandika, Dhabalashri, Dhankosh, Dipika, Durgeshvari, Gandhi, Gandhi Bilawal, Haimanti, Hem-Behag, Hemant, Hemant Bhairav, Imni Manjh, Jaunpuri Todi, Kedar Manjh, Komal Bhimpalasi, Komal Marwa, Madanmanjari, Madhabsri, Madhavgiri, Malaya, Manjh Khamaj, Meghbahar, Muhammed, Nat-Khamaj, Prabhakali, Raj Bijoy, Rajeshri, Shobhavati, Subhabati, Sugandha and Surasati. Many of these have not become common Maihar repertoire; Manjh Khamaj is perhaps the best known. Some of Allauddin's recordings have been released on CD, on the
Great Garanas: Maihar compilation in RPG/
EMI's
Chairman's Choice series.
Raga (1971). Directed by
Howard Worth.
West Bengal Government has instituted
Allauddin Purashkar in 1982, the highest award for musical excellence in the state.The government of Madhya Pradesh named its official body for music after the great twentieth century educationist -- Ustad Allauddin Khan Sangeet Academy. The music academy centred at
Bhopal, apart from other promotional activities, organises a grand three-day festival to perform in which the artistes invited consider a life-time honor. The overnight concert ususally held in February or early March when nights are chilly in
Maihar starts with compostions of Baba (as he is respectfully referred to) are played by the members of orchestral band he had formed and trained.
Maihar Band has seen its fortune rise and dwindle with times. Today managed by Maihar College of Music he had founded and looked after by Ustad Allauddin Khan Sangeet Academy today, the Band has only eleven artistes out of eighteen sanctioned. The unique feature of this orchestra is the instrument created by Ustad Allauddin Khan out of old gun-barrels. These barrels are kept loose on a wooden plate about four feet wide and can be switched to create the sequence of notes required. In construction this resembles
Kashth Tarang, but
Nal Tarang (
Misra, Lalmani.
Bharatiya Sangeet Vadya, p. 254)has tinkling sonorous sound.
*
www.allauddinkhan.org "One day I heard him speaking out rather candidly, 'Don't you see that I am a grandsire? Don't I feel like taking them (meaning his grandsons) in my arms â" patting and loving them? But I am afraid it may spoil them.' Here was the inner voice which could be heard seldom or never. Beneath the veil of toughness was the soft and tender soul bubbling with humanity." (
My Maestro As I Saw Him, essay by Nikhil Banerjee printed in the booklet to
Afternoon Ragas, Raga Records Raga-211)
