Heritage Gwalior - 16th Century - Tansen - The King of Indian Classical Music

Raja Man Singh was a great lover of music and had instituted multiple learning centers for Indian classical music. He patronized various masters of classical music and “Gwalior Gharana” flourished during this period. It is believed that 16 of the 36 singers of Emperor Akbar’s court, as named in Aine-Akbari, came from Gwalior, including the legendary musician Mian Tansen – the most famous musician at the court of Akbar. Regarded as one of the treasured “nine jewels” of the court, Tansen was an exponent of the Dhrupad.  Legend has it that by the intense allure of his mellifluous voice - Tansen could make thunderclouds appear, followed by rain. His ragas (melodies) caused lamps to light up and held animals and birds spellbound.

Tansen, was born a Hindu, named Ramtanu Pandey, but later converted to Islam under the influence of his music guru, Mohammed Ghaus. The name Tansen was given to him by Man Singh, and much later Akbar conferred the honorific title of “Mian” on him. Tansen, is considered the greatest singer-musician ever born in India. Young Tansen was one of Man Singh’s  court musicians and learnt and practiced music with Man Singh’s gujri wife Mrignayani who herself was a music lover. He became part of Akbar’s court when he was around 60 years of age and for rest of his life enriched Indian classical music with his prolific work, creating music that is regarded in highest esteem even today. Several of his raga compositions have become mainstays of the Hindustani tradition, and these are often prefaced with Mian ki ("of the Mian"), e.g. Mian ki Todi, Mian ki Malhar, Mian ki Mand, Mian ka Sarang; in addition he is the creator of major ragas like Darbari Kanada, Darbari Todi, and Rageshwari.

The sufi saint Mohammed Ghaus, was not only Tansen’s music guru but also his parent’s spiritual master.  It is believed that Mohammed Ghaus helped Babur annex the Gwalior Fort. According to local folk lore, he also granted the boon of a son to Tansen’s  parents, and is therefore venerated as Tansen’s janma daata (the giver of life). According to another version, Mohammad Ghaus was an Afghan prince.  Whatever be the truth, his mazaar (tomb) suggests that he was a man held in great esteem. The tomb is made very close to the eastern gate to the Fort, designed in the typical Mughal style, and is a grand structure that arrests one’s attention. The path leading to it is flanked by a garden decorated with roses and other flowers.

Built in the late 16th century, the tomb is square-shaped built with stone, with huge towers which are crowned by small domes. The building is enclosed on all sides by delicately carved filigree in stone, over which rises a large dome – once inlaid with blue tiles. The tomb is a pilgrimage centre for both the Hindus and the Muslims. The structure is an amazing architectural masterpiece and is made of huge walls with “jali”, or the filigree, work in all its intricacies and glory.

Its amazing to see filigree as intricate and delicate as a lace, but actually carved in stone. The “jali” work on stone walls is a contribution of Gwalior to other parts in north India.

Right next to the tomb of Mohammad Ghaus is the mazaar (tomb) of the simple and humble mazaar of Tansen, lying in piece next to his Master.

Heritage Gwalior - 16th Century - End of Romance, Begining of a Long Doom

Few years after Man Singh’s death the Fort eventually fell to Ibrahim Lodhi and soon went to Babur, the first emperor of the Mughal Dynasty. The buildings and palaces made my Man Singh where music, beauty and love once thrived were converted into prisons and torture houses. A beautiful rounded “Bawri”, a stepped well, made by Man Singh to collect water for the population living on the Fort, was converted into state prison. This stepped well is accompanied by a large open hall with 84 pillars. The hall  was later used as a prison by Aurangzeb and pillars were  used to keep the 52 kings who  were later freed with Sikh Guru Hargobind Singh Sahib.

The indoor bath for queens at one of the underground floors which used to be filled with fragrance and flower petals at one time, was used as torture dungeon for royal prisoners, mainly Murad by his brother Aurangzeb, who later killed him on the reasons of treason. 

Heritage Gwalior - 15th Century - Mriganayani

While Raja Man Singh is remembered very highly for the peace and glory he brought to Gwalior region, he is also very fondly remembered for his love to his eighth wife, a love affair that has now become a lore.

Once when Man Singh was hunting in jungles surrounding Gwalior, he came to a gurjar village next to river Sank. On his way he encountered two wild buffaloes fighting with each other. While fighting, the buffaloes ended up entwining their horns, such that they both got stuck and were not able to untangle. No one in Raja’s hunting group nor in the villagers gathered to see Raja, had courage to help the buffaloes. Suddenly a young girl from the village came out and without any fear went ahead and helped the buffaloes untangle themselves. This act impressed Man Singh to no end. That the girl was extremely beautiful added to the enigma. Her name was Ninni. Man Singh put a flower garland around Ninni to express the mark she had made on him and left the village. Some days later Man Singh arranged another hunting trip in the same area. This time, Ninni was asked to be a part of the hunting group. During the hunt, Ninni killed a tiger with her fierce arrows. Man Singh was floored again to see such a mix of beauty and strength. Man Singh proposed Ninni, to marry him and be his eighth wife. Ninni responded saying that she can go with him only if he gets water from her village river Sank, to Gwalior. After all, it was water from Sank that had made her as strong and beautiful as she was. Man Singh agreed to build a canal from Sank to Gwalior. She also put a condition that she will not stay with the first seven wives Man Singh had, as they may not respect her for lack of class and caste. Man Singh promised to make a new palace for her and keep her pride.

Thus Man Singh married Ninni and named her Mriganayani, the doe-eyed one, and made her his eighth wife. A new palace was made at the foot of Fort hillock, on the way to Man Mandir’s entrance, Hathi Pol. This palace is called Gujari Mahal. Fresh water from river Saank was brought to Gujari Mahal through a canal and one can see beautiful aqueducts running in the palace, which must have been flowing Saank water at that time.

Mriganayani was a true match for Man Singh as she too was a great lover of music. She learnt music from the greatly respected musician in Man Singh’s court, Haridas who had also been the early teacher of the greatest in Indian Classical Music, Mian Tansen. In fact Mriganayani shared a very friendly relationship with Tansen, and they remained in touch long after Tansen moved to Delhi. Another great musician, Baiju, who is mostly known through the lore surrounding him, was a fellow student of Haridas at the time of Tansen and Mriganayani.

The palace currently houses Gwalior’s  Archaeological Museum. The museum hosts an impressive collection of Hindu and Jain sculptures and artifacts found in and around Gwalior, dating from 400BC.  It also is the proud home of an exquisitely carved Salabhanjika sculpture that is considered as one of the most beautiful and valuable in its kind.

Heritage Gwalior - 15th Century - Man Mandir

Raja Man Singh built 3 beautiful monuments on Fort that are testimonies to his love for architecture. One of these is a remarkable palace called “Man Mandir”, which can be considered the crown jewel of Gwalior’s architectural wealth. The palace sits at the eastern wall of the fort and is the main building next to the northern Gate called Hathi Pol, as it was the way for elephants. The Palace is built in Rajasthani or Rajput architecture but with some very surprising elements like frescos in unusual colors like turquoise, green and yellow, of geese and crocodiles with entwined tails. The parapet wall of the palace depicts elephants, peacocks and trees. This large palace was primarily used as Man Singh’s residence and has multiple courts, rooms, auditoriums etc. The elaborate description of the palace in Babur’s autobiography Baburnama describes it to have six large main domes on the north wall that were gold plated and interior walls of rooms and salons to be studded with precious and semi-precious stones. These were later looted by the Lodis who captured the Fort after Man Singh. One can still see the hollow depressions where the stones might have been studded.

Two inner courts inside the palace are enclosed by a series of apartments all around, which have perforated screens or “jalis”. The “Jali” or “Jhilmili” as they are fondly called are astonishing example of craftsmanship on stone and get even more refined and complex in design in later decades as seen on the tomb of Mohammad Ghaus. Jalis became integral part of moghul architecture of later years and can be seen in monuments in Agra and Delhi. The inner courts of Man Mandir have an ornately carved facade. They are decorated with carved brackets in the form of lotus petals, friezes on the walls of colourful tiles and with projecting upper balconies. The southern façade, however, depicts figures of elephants, tigers and ducks. The feature which makes it truly unique is that it has 6 floors out of which three are above the ground and 3 below, out of which the lowest one is now closed. There is not much natural light in the underground floors but one can feel the circulation of air as the north wall of even the underground floors has windows opening to fresh air, as the palace sits on the edge of hill top.

One can only imagine how the Man Mandir would have looked in past when its 6 golden domes atop the hillock would have caught morning rays. No wonder there are beautiful accounts of the palace and Fort in various documentation of Moghul court.

Heritage Gwalior - 15th Century. Man Singh Tomar and the Golden Period

After the Tomar dynasty was started by Veer Singh in Gwalior in the late 14th Century, the area saw a mostly peaceful period of around 100 years during which a series of Tomar kings ruled Gwalior and brought peace, prosperity, cultural and political eminence to the region. Veer Singh was succeeded by his son Uddharan but he could remain a king only for two years as he lost his life. Uddharan was succeeded by Veeramdev Singh who ruled for the next 20 years. Veeramdev Singh was succeeded by Ganapati Dev who was succeeded by Dongarendra Singh. Dongarendra Singh made strong relationships with neighboring kings and ensured peace and prosperity for Gwalior. His rule lasted till 1450 and this was a period that saw much cultural patronization, in music, literature, architecture, sculpture styles et al. He was succeeded by his son Keerti Singh who followed his father’s footsteps and Gwalior continued to flourish. Keerti Singh ruled till 1480 and was succeeded by Kalyanmal who ruled only for five years.  Kalyanmal was a learned man and had translated the biography of sufi paigambar Suleiman into Sanskrit. Kalyanmal was succeeded by his son Man Singh who ruled till 1518. Man Singh Tomar brought the most prosperous time to Gwalior and has left the most remarkable contribution to Gwalior’s heritage.

Man Singh ascended the Gwalior throne in 1486, inheriting a peaceful kingdom made prosperous by his ancestor kings. The thirty years for which he ruled were a mix of peace and war time. Gwalior was surrounded by multiple Muslim Sultanates when Man Singh came to power. In north, Punjab and Delhi region were ruled by Lodis. Malwa was ruled by Sultan Gayasuddin who was later succeeded by his son Mahmud II. Gujrat in west was ruled by Mahmud Bardhara. All of them were fiercely hostile to Indian/Hindu religion and culture and brought destruction to temples, buildings, statues and other cultural artifacts. In this difficult situation Man Singh formed friendly alliances with neighboring smaller provinces to safeguard the Gwalior region and its population. He was a friend of Maharaja Sangram Singh of Mewar. He also had relationships with neighboring small provinces of Etawah and Dhaulpur, which at multiple times became the frontier for battles when Gwalior was attacked by the Sultans of Delhi.

Delhi Sultan Behlal Lodi wanted to attack Gwalior, so he attacked Dhaulpur which is a little beyond Agra. The king of Dhaulpur gave him 60kg of gold and stopped him. He planned to attack Gwalior again next year, but this time he first went after Etawah and defeated the Chauhan king Shakti Singh. He moved towards Gwalior after that but died on his way. Behlol was descended by his son Sikandar Shah Lodi who extended friendship towards Man Singh and thus Gwalior's peaceful years continued. But Sikandar Lodi had too many enemies and after few years due to some political situation, Man Singh had to give shelter to some of Lodi’s enemies. This breached the friendship between Man Singh and Lodi, and Man Singh failed to placate Lodi through diplomacy. Lodi decided to attack Gwalior. For that he first attacked Dhaulpur and perpetrated fierce loot and destruction on Dhaulpur. After this he moved his army towards Gwalior. Man Singh’s son Vikramaditya and Dhaulpur's king Vinayak Pal Dev led Gwalior’s army and surrounded Lodi’s army near Morena. Out of sheer good fate, Sikandar’s army caught some infectious disease and Sikander had to retreat his army and enter a treaty under which Dhaulpur was given back to its ruler Vinayak Pal Dev.
But Sikander Lodi was a war monger. After a few years he again decided to attack Gwalior. This time he moved a very large army, and wrecked havoc in Dhaulpur one more time. After defeating Dhaulpur he moved towards Gwalior and Man Singh and his men fought with them in the jungles of Jaura and defeated them. This time Sikandar did not retreat from Dhaulpur and started getting ready for yet another attack on Gwalior. But this time as the war preparations were on, Sikander got very sick, and eventually could not attack Gwalior during the lifetime of Man Singh. In 1516AD, Maharaja Man Singh passed away and after some time Sikander died too.

Interestingly, even though Raja Man Singh had to constantly be warring to safeguard Gwalior’s sovereignty, he was also a man who had great love for music, literature, architecture and other arts. Arts and culture flourished like never before under his patronage. The Gwalior Gharana is a name to reckon with in Hindustani Classical Music although it is not so popular what with changing times. The most important contribution to Indian classical music from Gwalior is Raga Dhrupad, which originated from the court of Raja Man Singh, as is documented in Akbar’s biography Ain-e-Akbari. Even though Raga Dhrupad can be traced back to 1st Century AD, as its mention is found in Bharat’s Natya Shastra, Man Singh is credited for reviving it and making it popular in times to come. He also wrote a book on music and dance, called “Mankutuhal” which got translated to Farsi by the Subedar of Kashmir at the time of Aurangzeb, and thus reached faraway lands.