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An Evening with Raga MaruBihag Rajan P. Parrikar Rajan P. Parrikar is a recognized expert on Indian Classical music and shares his knowledge freely with those interested in the subject. He has written a series of articles on Classical Indian Music some of which have been archived on Sawf. Click here to read Rajan's earlier articles.

Namashkar.

The much-loved Raga MaruBihag is of fairly recent vintage. In Raga Darshan, the author Manikbuwa Thakurdas speaks of an older Raga Maru as its progenitor. Be that as it may, the MaruBihag in currency is widely acknowledged to be a product of Atrauli-Jaipur founder Alladiya Khan's prodigious imagination. Over the years and in the course of its journey across regions, the rAga has acquired quaint touches and flavours reflecting the idiosyncrasies of some of the more creative minds.

Throughout the discussion M=shuddha madhyam and m=teevra madhyam.

MaruBihag's core being is beholden to Kalyan; supporting material is supplied by Bihag. The two angas are mediated by peculiar melodic gestures as we shall shortly see. The Aroha/avarohana set may be stated as follows:

N' S M, G, m P, N, S" :: S" N D P, m G, m G (S)R, S

It is demonstrated in the following clip -

http://www.sawf.org/audio/marubihag/aroha_avaroha.ram

Since the Aroha/avarohana provides no more than a silhouette of the rAga, a few lines will be devoted to fleshing out its central features. The rishab and dhaivat are varjya in the ascending movement. The high relative occurrence of the teevra madhyam over the shuddha is part of the rAga's Kalyan heritage. The pancham is the most important nyAsa sthAna, the centre of melodic gravity, anchoring most of the action. Traditionally, an overwhelming number of compositions in MaruBihag have situated their 'sam' on the pancham. The shaDaj, gandhar and nishAd are also nyAsa bahutva swaras. The case of the rishab merits special mention. That swara is characteristically intoned with a kaNa of the shaDaj, to wit (S)R, S. The R is thus elongated and approached via the shaDaj, as in m, GRSR, S. The dhaivat is occasionally rendered deergha as in PD PD (P)m or from the tAra S" as in N S" D, P.

The contribution from Bihag is distinctly observed in a couple of prayogas such as P' N' S G or R N' S G. The other more dramatic of these is the piquant introduction of the shuddha madhyam: S M, M G. This foray is often concluded by the Kalyanic m G (S)R, S. These coming together of these movements represents the confluence of the Kalyan and Bihag angas. There is also an implicit Bihag influence in the construction of MaruBihag phrases such as N' S G m P or Gm P N. Whereas the teevra madhyam tilts the development assuredly towards Kalyan, the underlying melodic locus derives from Bihag. This subtle interplay of the two melodies is characteristic of MaruBihag. Remember, however, that Bihag is a Bilawal-anga rAga. Interestingly, S.N. Ratanjankar has conceived a rAga named Marga Bihag with an entirely Bihag-like motion but with the proviso that only the teevra madhyam is employed.

The verbalizing above is of limited efficacy if it is not supported by actual demonstration. Much of the foregoing discussion is now compressed in the following two clips, elucidating the key elements of the poorvAnga and uttarAnga. Note that the kaNa-swara (in parenthesis below) is not explicitly intoned. The voice in these - and the earlier A/A - clips is of Nachiketa Sharma.

S (m)G m P, m G, m G (S)R, S
P'N'SM, M G, S (m)G (P)m P

http://www.sawf.org/audio/marubihag/chalan_poorvanga.ram

GmPN, N S", PNS"G", m" G" (S")R", S
N S" D, P, PD PD (P)m, mP mP (m)G
P'N'SM, G, G N D P m G (S)R, S

http://www.sawf.org/audio/marubihag/chalan_uttaranga.ram

We inaugurate the MaruBihag fest with a lovely song from the movie EK RAAZ, composed by Chitragupta, and delivered in the magnificent voice of Kishore Kumar: pAyalawAli dekha nA -

http://www.sawf.org/audio/marubihag/kishorekumar.ram

MaruBihag is entrenched in popular Indian imagination primarily due to the Mohammad Rafi-Lata Mangeshkar number from SEHRA, composed by Ramlal. It is hard to overstate Lata's extraordinary abilities with sAhitya and swara. So much came so naturally to her: tum to pyAra ho -

http://www.sawf.org/audio/marubihag/lata_rafi.ram

The most influential carrier and transmitter of Alladiya Khan's memes was Kesarbai Kerkar. The original MaruBihag composition, rasiyA ho nA jA, has travelled far and wide and is sung in various textual interpolations. A couple of points merit comment in this Kesarbai rendition. At about 0:19 into the clip the shuddha madhyam comes in a very Bihag-like S G M, not often observed today. The other item of note is a very explicit kalyAN-esque m D N beginning at around 0:21. This is eschewed by almost all but the Atrauli-Jaipur musicians. Some peculiar tAna constructions distinguish Kesarbai's rendition and these are left to the reader to figure out. A longer recording of Kesarbai, alas, probably doesn't exist -

http://www.sawf.org/audio/marubihag/kesarbai.ram

The second-generation representative of Atrauli-Jaipur, Mallikarjun Mansur. This is classicism at its highest and most sublime -

http://www.sawf.org/audio/marubihag/mansur.ram

Bismillah's extraordinary musicianship is stamped all over this gem of a recording -

http://www.sawf.org/audio/marubihag/bismillah.ram

Bhimsen Joshi sings his version of rasiyA ho nA. Notice the maverick shuddha madhyam as he launches the antarA via mana chintA. The druta cheez is the well-known taRapata rainA dinA -

http://www.sawf.org/audio/marubihag/bhimsen.ram

Roshanara Begum, rasiyA ho nA -

http://www.sawf.org/audio/marubihag/roshanara.ram

In July 1995 Kashinath Bodas gave a private concert in Berkeley, California. Two weeks later he passed away in Canada. A clip of the Berkeley recording is offered. I am on the harmonium and Pranesh Khan is on the tablA. The beautiful composition is by Omkarnath Thakur's disciple, Balwantrai Bhatt "Bhavrang": begi tuma A'ao sundarwA (notice the unusual placement of the 'sam' on the teevra madhyam) -

http://www.sawf.org/audio/marubihag/kashinathbodas.ram

I am given to understand that the late Shri Bodas's younger sister is a middle-class, middle-aged, mid-size vocalist. I also understand that the lady has some "thoughts" on Tarana, although it must be conceded that these "thoughts" are not visible to the naked eye. The lady is encouraged to apply to graduate school where perhaps these "thoughts" may be taken a bit more seriously and an assessment could be made of the lady's fitness for admission to a doctoral degree program.

Ramashreya Jha "Ramrang" has composed marvelously in MaruBihag. Here we have him sing his druta composition celebrating the wedding of the four princes of Ayodhya. The introduction of the shuddha madhyam in the antarA on his mudrA "rAmrang" (here it does double duty) is pure magic.

Aja re badhAvA bAje Avadha nagara meN

kuNwara chAri byAhi ghara Aye
Ananda "rAmrang" Dagara Dagara meN

http://www.sawf.org/audio/marubihag/ramrang.ram

Another druta composition of Jha-sahab, this time by Shubha Mudgal:

mana le gayo sANwarA
sakhi ri morA lAge kaise jiyarA

dei gayo peera dheera lei gayo ri
neera bahe nainA lAge dukha dainA
'rAmrang' jaba sudha Aye hiyarA

http://www.sawf.org/audio/marubihag/shubhamudgal.ram

Aftab-e-Mausiqui Faiyyaz Khan's recording brings down the curtain on our MaruBihag fest. Take note of the komal nishAd, employed here as a vivAdi swara, at 6:30 into the clip -

http://www.sawf.org/audio/marubihag/faiyyazkhan.ram

Some readers may have noticed a subtle coupling between Ragas MaruBihag and Hemant mediated through a murchanA, with the possibility of AvirbhAva of one rAga in the other.

Raga Amritavarshini

A recent import from the Karnataka stream, this rAga bears some likeness to MaruBihag. It is an auDav-jAti rAga with the swara set: S G m P N. In Jitendra Abhisheki's vast melodic imagination was conceived this beautiful Marathi nATyageeta, delivered by Asha Khadilkar, from the drama DHADILA RAMA TINI KA VANI: le'oo kashi valkalA -

http://www.sawf.org/audio/marubihag/ashakhadilkar.ram

Abhisheki himself, in a classical posture -

http://www.sawf.org/audio/marubihag/abhisheki.ram

Addendum: Amir Khan's unpublished rendition of Raga Maru Kalyan is offered here without comment. It is left as an exercise to the reader to figure out the details of the rAga.

http://www.sawf.org/audio/marubihag/amirkhan_marukalyan.ram

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