Locating the Descendants of Miyan Tansen, 434 Years After His Inteqal

If many melodies of Tansen’s melody, be it Mian ki Todi or Mian ki Malhar, mesmerized the Mughal Emperor Akbar nearly 434 years ago, his descendants continued to carry the tradition in centuries to come.

It continues even today!

Unbelievable it may sound, but the musical lineage of Mian Tansen is very much alive. The passage of four centuries undoubtedly is a long span of time, but the fact remains that his direct bloodline descendants are among those who have kept the flames of the Deepak (lamp) of music flickering all these years.

Incidentally, it was Deepak Raga which the legends say once endangered the life of Tansen but the Mian survived, thanks to Rag Megh Malhar sung by his two daughters.

Here, we have a little mystery. History says that Tansen fathered only one daughter, Saraswati, from his (supposed to be first) wife Hussaini, a musical prodigy.

Yet legend says that when Tansen felt sick due to excessive pressure on his mind, heart and body from singing Raag Deepak, it was his two daughters who sang Megh Malhar. We know Saraswati was his recognized daughter. But legend says that two daughters sang the song.

Who was the second daughter?

Was she the daughter of Mehrunnissa, a Mughal Shahzadi and believed to be one of the daughters of Emperor Akbar? Though we don’t know her name, legends are not always baseless. Some element of truth always remains with them. If the legend says that two daughters sang Megh Malhar, it may be true. But we don’t have historical proof that Tansen had two daughters. But the legend says two daughters sang Megh Malhar…

Tansen’s son-in-law Naubat Khan (painting by Ustad Mansoor, around 1600)

Since Saraswati was mentioned as daughter of Hussaini, was the second daughter that the legend refers to, Hussaini’s second daughter, or even a daughter of Shahzadi Mehrunnissa?

Abul Fazl, contemporary court writers and quasi-historical references don’t mention this second daughter but there are facts that relate to the love story of Tansen and Hussaini.

Tansen was first married to Hussaini, a musical prodigy. How he met Hussaini at the court of Rani Mrignaini in Gwalior has historical reference.

Mohammad Ghaus, the first Guru of Tansen, was greatly revered by Rani Mrignaini of Gwalior. Muhammad Ghaus would often take Tansen to the royal court of Rani Mrignaini.

Hussaini, a musical prodigy, was in her court. It was at this royal court that Tansen and Hussaini met, fell in love and married.

Of Tansen’s (supposed to be) second marriage to Mehrunnissa, a Mughal Princess, we have some references indicating that Emperor Akbar solemnized the marriage of Tansen with Mehrunnissa. And though we don’t have authentic historical evidence, it is believed that Mehrunnissa was one of the daughters of Akbar.

Mehrunnissa and Tansen had two sons: Hamirsen and Tanras Khan. We cannot historically track the second daughter of Tansen, if she, at all, was a daughter of Mehrunnissa.

Let us now return to Hussaini’s children.

Gwalior, tombs of Mohammad Ghaus and Miyan Tansen

Hussaini had only one daughter Saraswati and four sons: Surat Sen, Sarat Sen, Tarang Khan and Bilas Khan. All of them were experts in vocal and instrumental rendition of Ragas.

Here, there is a little twist in the lineage of Tansen.

Thus, Tansen likely had seven children. But no references to the second daughter can be historically or documentarily obtained. It is only the legend of Rag Deepak that alludes to this second daughter. Even that too is not historically documented or proven.

As Rag Deepak creates maximum body heat of the singer, it is only Megh Malhar that can mitigate the heat as the song of this Raag brings rains.

The largely circulated legend has it that once Akbar asked Tansen to sing this Rag. Tansen said it was quite risky as the atmosphere in the royal court room may turn heated and those present may feel their body heat going up.

Akbar turned quite curious.

One thing is really great about this Mughal Emperor. Sangeet, Rag and Ragini fascinated him. It was this fine-trait of his character that even made him walk up to the hut of Swami Haridas, the Guru of Tansen, in a jungle.

 Akbar considered Sangeet a means of spiritual attainment, some sort of a link to the cosmos, universe. He was told that Swami Haridas creates a wonderful spiritual atmosphere with his Rag, Ragini.

It is quite natural that Akbar could not resist the temptation of listening to Swami Haridas. Hence, he asked Tansen to request his Guru to come to the Royal Mughal Court. But he knew that Swami Haridas, like his earlier Guru Muhammad Ghaus, disliked performing in the Royal Courts.

It was this musician and Sufi Saint Ghaus who had referred Tansen to Swami Haridas. Although Muhammad Ghaus was a teacher of the Mughal Emperor Humayun, he avoided performing before the Royalties.

Incidentally, the tomb of Tansen lies just beside his earlier Guru’s Muhammad Ghaus in Gwalior. Probably, Tansen learnt Sufism from this Pir. Tansen, perhaps many would not know, was a scholar in both Sufism and Vaishnavism.

No wonder Muhammad Ghaus, the person who translated a lost Sanskrit treatise, the Amrtakunda, into Persian with the name Bahr al-Hayat, had massive influence on Tansen. Perhaps, Tansen’s universality of religion was a result of his close association with Muhammad Ghaus.

Sorry, our thread of the legend of Akbar listening to the music of Swami Haridas got lost briefly. Let us return to the legend.

Tansen knew his Guru would not come to the Royal Court and sing. He told this to the Mughal Emperor. But Akbar insisted. He said that if Swami Haridas refuses to come to his court then he would go to the jungle and hear him sing.

Then the Mughal Emperor and his Navratna Tansen left for the jungle.

Akbar wore the dress of a poor peasant and accompanied Tansen. They reached outside the hut in the jungle.

But then, there was a problem! Nobody could force Haridas, the Swami, to sing. For this, Tansen wove quite an intelligent plot. While beginning his singing, Tansen purposely committed a mistake.

Swami Haridas, listening to Tansen sing, suddenly pointed out the mistake. This meant he had to sing to show what would have been the right way to sing. And the Swami sang to correct the notations of his disciple Tansen.

Akbar was simply mesmerized. He left the place silently.

The flight of the bards of Tansen’s family to different places in contemporary Hindustan mainly began in the later 17th and early 18th centuries.

From media reports, I found that the young Sarangi player Nabeel Khan is one of the direct descendants of Mian Tansen. It is great information as we have lost track of the bloodline descendants of Tansen over the generations since his death in 1589.

Quite a few summers ago, maybe 25 or so, I happened to be in Maihar in Madhya Pradesh for election news coverage. As a music lover, Maihar is a pilgrimage for me as Ustad Allauddin Khan, a Bengali like me, catapulted this place into the global map due to his presence there.

It was here that his son-in-law Pandit Ravi Shankar learnt how to play different musical instruments as a young lad. Ravi Shankar was (first) married to Baba Allauddin’s daughter Annapurna.

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At Maihar, I was told that Baba (Ustad Allauddin Khan) learnt to play different instruments from the great Wazir Khan, direct descendant of the family of Tansen.

I also leant the strange fact that in the Hindustani classical musical fraternity, not all were allowed to play certain instruments, such as those reserved exclusively for members of the Beenkar gharana.

The Beenkar family or gharana (often termed the Beenkar dynasty) was founded by Tansen’s son-in-law Naubat Khan. One of the Mansabdars of Akbar, he was an exponent of the Rudra Veena (Bin). According to the Tuzk-e-Jehangiri, he was also known as Ali Khan Karori and was also made a revenue collector.

Naubat Khan’s marriage with Saraswati, Tansen’s daughter, was arranged by Akbar himself.

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In search of the lost bards of Tansen’s family, through researches I found that this Beenkar Music Dynasty can help us track down some of Saraswati’s blood kin.

Saraswati’s son was Lal Khan, the Chief Court Musician of Emperor Shah Jehan. Shah Jehan gave him the title of Guna-samundra (Ocean of Virtues) due to his musical mastery. Lal Khan, a Beenkar, was married to Bilas Khan’s daughter. Bilas Khan was the son of Tansen.

We know Sadarang (Naimat Khan) and his nephew Adarang (Feroze Khan), who performed in the Royal Court of Mughal Emperor Muhammad Shah, were both descendants of Tansen.

Reminding us of the fact that Akbar would often ask Tansen to sit next to him, the chief court musician of Rampur, Wazir Khan also had his seat beside the Nawab, thus maintaining the Akbar-Tansen tradition. Wazir Khan was a descendant of Tansen.

In the development of Hindustani classical music, the Nawab of Rampur played a key role. He had, unbelievable as it may sound, nearly 500 singers and instrumentalists in his employ. Wazir Khan Sahib was the chief musician and employed Baba Alauddin Khan in the musical troupe of the Nawab of Rampur.

Wazir Khan Sahib told Baba Alauddin Khan he could use any instrument except those reserved for members of the Beenkar Gharana.

It is here that I first came to know that in the musical fraternity, some instruments are still reserved and preserved for the family members of Tansen. This is an interesting fact. Tansen’s son-in-law Naubat Khan was the founder of the Beenkar Gharana.

We get a glimpse of Tansen, his musical talents and some scant information about his children in Abul Fazl’s Ain-i-Akbari. Similarly, Tuzk-e-Jahangiri, the autobiography of the Mughal Emperor Jehangir, also talked about Tansen with scattered references to his descendants.

Till the time of Emperor Shah Jehan, most of the bloodline descendants of Tansen lived in Agra, Delhi, Banaras and other places in northern Hindustan. But they scattered to almost all parts of India after the final decline of the Mughal Empire in 1857-58.

Immediately after Tansen’s death, the Tansen Gharana was divided mainly into three branches. These Gharanas were headed by his sons and son-in-law:

. Surat Sen (his Gharana, initially, was active mainly in Jaipur and then spread all over India)

. Bilas Khan

. Naubat Khan

If you conduct some research on Tansen’s descendants, you will also come across the truth that Aurangjeb Alamgir, the Mughal Emperor, was not at all against music.

This is established from the fact that his two chief court musicians were Kushal Khan Kalawant Gunasamudra (great-grandson of Tansen) and Bisram Khan. Both were direct descendants of Miyan Tansen.

This fact proves that Aurangjeb was not at all against music. It may be mentioned that the Mughal Emperor was an accomplished Veena player. Hardly anyone knows that Aurangjeb patronized the descendants of Tansen. Take Ras Baras Khan Kalawant to exemplify. He was the one of the great grandsons of Tansen.

 Aurangzeb after a veena recital

After the death of Aurangjeb in 1707, some of the Beenkar or Kalawant family members started moving to Varanasi, Lucknow, Rampur and different other places due to the political disturbances in Delhi and Agra.

The misrule of Muhammad Shah and attack on Delhi by Nadir Shah in 1739 prompted many great grandchildren of Tansen to move to different kingdoms across contemporary Hindustan. Ghaddar or the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 further gave impetus to the flight of bards of Tansen’s family.

Several of such bards thronged the Banaras-Varanasi-Kashi areas. Some of them were invited by the Raja of Kashi and Varanasi to be in their courts. The Kashi Raja had gifted land free of taxes to Jaffer Khan and some other Kalawants of Tansen’s family.

Some of them were settled in Lucknow and other parts of Oudh Raj and received due royal patronage.

 Tansen (on green), Firoz Khan ‘Adaarang’ (bearded), Ni’mat Khan ‘Sadaarang’ (on been), Adarang’s disciple Karim Khan, and his son Khushhal Khan ‘Anup’ (on tanpura)

As you intensify your search for the bards of Tansen’s family, you find that the Senia Gharana was greatly developed and popularized by them in the post-Muhammad Shah ‘Rangeela’ era, in both the vocal and instrumental realms. The best example can be Ustad Maseet Sen, the 6th generation member of Tansen’s family.

And from the 16th generation of Tansen’s family, Padma Bhushan Abdul Rashid Khan attained much prominence in Kolkata, a city where he lived all through his active musical life. Descendant of Surat Sen, he died in Kolkata in 2016. His body was taken to Rae Bareli proving that family members of Tansen are still living in this city.

We have located some of the lost bards but failed to get any whereabouts of the second daughter of Tansen. Who was she? Can anybody do some researches to find her, please?