The Music of Hindostan c16.66

c16.66

The typical form of Hindu song, a development of the *Pada* and *Bhajana*, untouched by Mohammedan influence, is the *Dhrūpad* (*Dhruva-pāda*—*dhruva*, ‘firm’, ‘enduring’; *pāda*, ‘quarter-verse’; *Dhruva* is a name also for the ‘constantly recurring verse’ or ‘burden’ of a song). The *Dhrūpad* has a free masculine character; its words are religious, but not exclusively so. It is in slow time, and in selected *Tāls*—*Surphaktā*, *Chautāl*, and *Dhamār*—the ionic and anapaestic metres in fact; and since to perform it requires a good command of the breath, there is a saying—‘The man who has the strength of five buffaloes, let that man sing *Dhrūpad*’. When there is any doubt about the exact form of a particular *Rāg*, appeal is made not to the Sanskrit authorities, but to the traditional form of *Dhrūpad*. In that the *Rāg* is to be found in its purity with its *mūrchhanas* (the ‘consonant’ notes ornamented); a *Rāg* without these is called *Jhil* or *Dhun*. But the *Dhrūpad* is free from other grace-notes; and since these are considered essential to Hindu song, the *Dhrūpad* is somewhat at a discount; it is considered, for instance, unsuitable for public performance. Further, since most songs demand a compass of two and a half octaves, and since this can only be attained by *falsetto*, this kind of voice is prized for its ‘liveliness’, and the natural (*dhruva*) voice neglected; so that *Dhrūpad* singers are apt to form a special class. The great representative of the style was Rajah Mān of Gwalior (died 1518).