Volume 1 Issue 1                                                                                                           

Gandharvam, A Refereed Journal of Sachin Debbarman Memorial Govt. Music College

 

Faqirullah and his work- Tarjuma-i-Mānakutuhal & Risāla-i- Rāgadarpan

By Likeshwar Verma

 

The history of Indian music is full of materials which can be classified under different heads and the treatises on music, written by different authors are one of them. These important texts are the principal materials of constructing an authentic history of Indian music. The Tarjuma-i-Mānakutuhal  & Risāla-i- Rāgadarpan  compiled by Faqirullah during the 17th century A.D. is a combine text on music. Saifuddin Mehmood Alias was the son of Tarbiat Khan Bakhshi of Emperor Shahjahan came from Sirhind.  Being a devout Sufi he assumed the pen name Faqirullah and better known by that name. Tarjuma-i-Manakutuhal’ means translation of ‘Manakutuhal’. Faqirullah added other essentials in this translation to enable the seekers to become less dependent upon Bharat-Sangita, Sangitadarpana and Sangitratnakara, further he explains the reason of designating the treatise (Risala) Ragadarpan that objects like high mountains and huge forests, even, get clearly reflected into a small mirror. This text is valuable in various point of view like : it is one of the few important texts which sheds significant light on the music of the Mughal period because the foreign tunes of Central Asian, Turko-Iranian and Perso-Arab were incorporated in the Indian music.

India has glorious tradition of history in the field of Music, Literature, Painting, Architecture, Philosophy and Religion etc. The history of Indian music is full of materials which can be classified under different heads and the treatises on music, written by different authors are one of them. These important texts are the principal materials of constructing an authentic history of Indian music. Scholars have been continuously attempting to collect, rearrange, assimilate and consolidate the old treatises composed in various languages but still lots of works are to be done in the texts composed in languages other than Sanskrit.

The music works like The Geetaprakash of Swami Krishnadasa, the Ragtarangini of Lochan-Kavi as well some of the Persian books like Tarjuma-i-Mānakutuhal  & Risāla-i- Rāgadarpan  of  Faqirullah and the Ma’danul-moosiqui of Hakim Mohammad Karam Imam are the landmarks of history of Indian music of the medieval period of north India.1 The Tarjuma-i-Mānakutuhal  & Risāla-i- Rāgadarpan  compiled by Faqirullah during the 17th century A.D. is a combine text on music.

Saifuddin Mehmood Alias was the son of Tarbiat Khan Bakhshi of Emperor Shahjahan came from Sirhind.  Being a devout Sufi he assumed the pen name Faqirullah and better known by that name. In the view of his constant presence at the court he was a favourite . When Maharaja Jaswant Singh with bravery attempted to stop the path of Aurangzeb’s army and engaged in a fight, a number of famous officers had been killed. Some fortunate one on other hand separated themselves from opposing force and paid their respects to Aurangzeb; among them was Faqirullah. He was treated with favor , given the rank of 1,500 with 700 horses and granted the title of Saif Khan. 2

Saif Khan served as a governor of Delhi, Kashmir, Multan, Bihar and  Allahabad many times. He inherited his father’s straightforwardness and honest approach to work. As Saif Khan was a hot disposition and arrogant of his record of good service and knowledge of warfare, he didn’t pay due regards to the chief-officers and didn’t hesitate even to oppose the Emperor. He was dismissed several times by Aurangzeb and favored again due to his quality of service. He ordered to replace Islam Khan as governor of Kashmir during visit of Aurangzeb to Kashmir. He accompanied Aurangzeb and very soon gained control the territory of ‘Vilayet-i-Urdu’ after twenty days of continual fighting through unapproachable land. After that he added to the royal territories Gilgit and Barshal and for the first time of history Tibbat-i-Buzurg also made to form part of Mughal India.3 In 21st year he was sent to as a governor of Bihar and then of Allahabad where he passed away peacefully in 1095 A.H.(1684)A.D.4  If  we want further information about Faqirullah  we can still visit to Bahadurgarh which is a famous historical place in Panjab(india). The place was originally called Saifabad, founded by Saif Khan(faqirullah) later named as Bahadurgarh  to pay respect to the ninth Sikh Guru Teg Bahadur. Saif Khan had cordial relations with Guru Teg Bahadur . It is said that the Guru stayed for nearly two months at this place before he went to Delhi and attained martyrdom at the hands of Aurangzeb.(The Tribune,Saturday Plus,October 10,1998).

‘Tarjuma-i-Mānakutuhal  & Risāla-i- Rāgadarpan’ has been translated in Hindi by Harihar Niwas Dwivedi (1954) and published with name ‘Mansingh Aur Manakutuhal’ 5 which is valuable to understand about the work of  Faqirullah. But English translation by Shahab Sharmadi which is edited and annotated with lots of  his efforts has really unwrapped this treatise for research. It has been published in Kalamulashashtra series by Indira Gandhi National Centre For the Arts, New Delhi in 1996.

Professor Sharmadi writes “It is reasonable to surmise that the Pothi-Manakutuhal could not have been a larger work than it appears to be ; and that its main and most important theme ought to have been classification of ragas and delineation of their genera, as the present translation also indicates. The rest of the work rendered into Persian, comprising the main bulk of it, should,  therefore, be believed to have been an independent efforts altogether; and that its two parts – the one ‘Tarjuma-i-Manakutuhal’ and the other ‘Ragadarpana’ itself- are the separate treatises. That is why the writer concerned calls the one Tarjuma and other Risala. It is strange that ‘Allama Shibli, who had with him a complete and authentic copy of this work, did allow the mistake, already committed by Sir William Jones. Ousely and Garden de Tacy and several others, to get perpetuated and the entire work passed on as a translation.” 6 Aacharya Brihaspati also said that Faqirullah’s ‘Ragadarpan’ is Persian translation ‘Manakutuhal.’7 Faqirullah also writes:

“ It should be clear to the eliminated mind that I have simply translated from Manakutuhal, Ragasagara and Ragaprakash. Apart from it, whatever has been added by me on the basis of my research (dariyaft), is open for correction.”7

‘Tarjuma-i-Manakutuhal’ means translation of ‘Manakutuhal’. Faqirullah added other essentials in this translation to enable the seekers to become less dependent upon Bharat-Sangita, Sangitadarpana and Sangitratnakara, further he explains the reason of designating the treatise (Risala) Ragadarpan that objects like high mountains and huge forests, even, get clearly reflected into a small mirror.8

 ‘Tarjuma-i-Mānakutuhal  & Risāla-i- Rāgadarpan’ is divided in ten chapters: In chapter one, Faqirullah describes the reason for the compilation the text and says, the copy of ‘Manakutuhal’ came to his knowledge by 1073 Hijra (1663) written by Raja Mansingh Tomar of Gwalior, who assembled contemporary  musicians like Nayaka Bhinnu, Nayak Bakhshu, Nayak Pandavi and had discussion with them about Raga-Raginis and their Putra ragas. Further he discusses about the ragas written in Manakutuhal then describes the formation of ragas and their relations with each other in chapter two. Chapter three is about association between raga-raginis and different seasons. In chapter four he illustrates the Indian names of swaras and their relations with the sound of birds, kinds of Margi and Desi ,song forms other than Dhrupada etc. Four categories of instrument; Tat, Bitat, Ghana and Sikhara along with Nayak-Nayika Bhed is discussed in chapter five. De-merits of composer cum performing musician is described in chapter six and the kinds throat-qualities; Khahala, Narata, Bhombaka and Misrita  are given in chapter seven. Chapter eight is about qualification of Vaggeyakar , nine is about characteristics of Vrindagana (Orchestra). Faqirullah ends with introduction of contemporary  vocalists and instrumentalists like  Sheikh Bahauddin Barnawi, Sheikh Sher Mohammad, Lal Khan Kalawant and many others in chapter ten.

The period of Aurangzeb is considered to be desiccated regarding development of music and most of the foreign historians tried to prove that Aurangzeb was enemy of music. But translation of  ‘Sangitparijat’ by Roshanzamir (an employee of Aurangzeb), work of Faqirullah, Ebad Muhhamad Khani’s as ‘Risala dar Kamilkhani’, ‘Asamisur’ and ‘Risala dar Amalebino Thathkhani’ are remarkable  in this regard.9 

The work of faqirullah is valuable in various point of view like : it is one of the few important texts which sheds significant light on the music of the Mughal period because the foreign tunes of Central Asian, Turko-Iranian and Perso-Arub were incorporated in the Indian music. On the basis of this work the development of Dhrupada and Khayal can be traced from their inception to fully developed form. He gives short descriptions about outstanding forms, contemporary musicians and instruments in this text which provides a clue of certain important developments in music.

References :

  1. Prajnananda,Swami, A history of Indian music, volume one, published by Ramakrishna Vedanta Math. Calcutta-6, page no 5.
  2. Sams-Ud-Daula, Nawab,Khan, Shah Nawaz and Havy Abdul, Maathir-ul-Umara translated by H. Beveridge , revised, annoted and completed by Baini Prasad, Calcutta Oriental  Press Ltd, Culcutta-1952, page no 683.
  3. Sharmadi ,Shahab, Tarjuma-i-Manakutuhal  & Risala-i-Ragadarpan(English Translation), published by Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts,1996,page no ix .
  4. Sams-Ud-Daula, Nawab,Khan, Shah Nawaz and Havy Abdul, Maathir-ul-Umara translated by H. Beveridge , revised, annoted and completed by Baini Prasad, Calcutta Oriental  Press Ltd, Culcutta-1952, page no 684.
  5. Dwivedi, Harihar Niwas,Mansingh Aur Mankutuhal, published by Vidya Mandir Prakashan Murar (Gwalior), Samvat-2010.
  6. Sharmadi ,Shahab, Tarjuma-i-Manakutuhal  & Risala-i-Ragadarpan(English Translation), published by Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts,1996,page no ix .
  7. Brihaspati Aacharya,Musalman aur bhartiya sangeet page no 76, Rajkamal Prakashan New Delhi.
  8. Sharmadi ,Shahab, Tarjuma-i-Manakutuhal  & Risala-i-Ragadarpan(English Translation), published by Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts,1996,page no ix .
  9. Page no 13,ebid.
  10. Brihaspati Aacharya,Musalman aur bhartiya sangeet, Rajkamal Prakashan New Delhi, page no 76.