Chanderi and the legend of Baiju Bawra

Shailaja Khanna

Madhya Pradesh and Gwalior, in particular, has an old link with classical Indian music. The vocal Khayal gharana of Gwalior is considered the seniormost of all vocal schools. And when you are talking about Gwalior, Chanderi is a little town in the heart of the country, denied its due place in musical history.

Man of myths

The small town, which became part of the erstwhile Gwalior state in the 19th century, is said to be both the birth and death place of Baiju Bawra, one of the least known, but nonetheless, one of the most venerated figures in Indian music. Baiju Nayak, as he was known (Nayak is an honorific for a master of music), is said to have died in Chanderi where his samadh (memorial) still exists. Nearby are the ruins of the old Chanderi Fort perched on the top of a hill overlooking the modern town of Chanderi.

Accessibility to the town is limited — the nearest airports of Bhopal and Gwalior are several hours drive away. Even the nearest rail head is 37 km away. Yet, when one enters Chanderi valley, surrounded by immense greenery and boasting several ancient architectural landmarks, the weariness of the journey melts away. The quaint layout of the town, rocky and hilly landscape and profusion of heritage sights makes it utterly charming. 

Architectural marvels abound — there is an 11th century old Raja Rani palace, an old Narasimha Temple, and an adjoining Badal Mahal gate.

Thanks to a 1952 Hindi film, a layman’s idea of Baiju Bawra is that of a man made crazy by love. However, this does not seem an accurate representation. The musical legend instead has it that he was regarded crazy due to his temperament of being a mendicant (fakir) searching for music. The film also focuses on the rivalry between him and Tansen, again a purely speculative thing.

Myths apart, dhrupads composed by Baiju Nayak are even today sung by most Dhrupad singers. Ustad Wasifuddin Dagar, one of the finest Dhrupad exponents today, and the repository of an ancient tradition unbroken for 20 generations, explained that though not very many details about Baiju’s life are known, he was indeed a saint and a great musician. The Ustad lamented that Baiju Nayak has been misrepresented in modern times. He said that there were originally four schools (vanis) of Dhrupad, Baiju perhaps belonged to the Gaurahari vani, he said.

Birth of an instrument

During Baiju Bawra’s days, the main instrument in use was rudraveena. Ustad Bahauddin Dagar, a 20th generation Dagar vani musician, and the leading rudraveena player in the world today, very beautifully explained the origin of his modified rudraveena. He highlighted how the old traditional veena was made of bamboo. “It was very fragile with the frets placed on the bamboo and melted wax liable to be displaced. It weighed only 3 kg. To produce a longer meend and create a more stable instrument capable of being heard on a concert platform in the 21st century, my father Ustad Zia Moiuddin Dagar used teak wood and enlarged the two tumbas (rounded ends of the veena) to generate more resonance. This resulted in the instrument becoming much heavier, approximately 11 kg, so it could no longer be played, with one tumba resting on the shoulder like the traditional way. So the way of holding it was changed to resemble the pakar (hold) of the South Indian saraswati veena (the saraswati veena is held at an angle not straight against the body). These physical modifications have resulted in changes in how the rudraveena is held.”

Chanderi would be home to more such stories and more of our history, only we need to delve deeper and find out. One hopes the musical glory of the town is revived in our modern times.