Finding the Divine in classical music

Banaras, or Varanasi as it is now called, is a city of the Ganga, weavers and temples. It is also known for music; Banaras thumri and Banaras tabla today dominate the music world; and it is at the classical music festival, Sankat Mochan Samaroh held annually that the entire music world gets together to perform for the six days all night extravaganza, featuring approximately 50 concerts and over 100 artists.

Held on Lord Hanuman’s birth anniversary, so with varying dates, the festival has been an annual feature for more than 90 years now, according to the current head of the temple, Shri Vishwambharnath Mishra. He is a lineal descendent of the family of Goswami Tulsidas, who established the temple Sankat Mochan. The festival is held within the temple complex, another unique feature of the festival.

What started informally as a gathering of local artists annually to mark the birth day of Lord Hanuman slowly got established into one of the biggest music festivals in the country. Experimentally, the four- day annual festival was extended to six days last year, but as the organiser Mahant Vishwambharnath Mishra ruefully commented, “Ab peeche nahin hath sakte; ab 6 din hee rahega. Itne artists aana chahte hai (We cannot now take a step back again. Now the duration of the festival has to be six days. There are so many artists who wish to perform.).”

The who’s who of the classical world congregate together to give haazari (pay obesisance) at the temple. The concert is in the nature of an offering to the Lord, and no concert fees are charged.

This year’s lineup included Chitra Singh, who was due to sing after a long hiatus, after the death of her son, and then singing partner and husband Jagjit Singh. Sadly, however, she sat on the stage but could not sing. Others included Pt Shiv Kumar Sharma, Pt Ulhas Kashalkar, Sonal Mansingh, Ustad Rashid Khan, Hariharan, Anup Jalota, Niladri Kumar, Pt Tarun Bhattacharchya, Pt Ajay Pohankar, dancer Pt Ratikank Pohapatra and Pt Ajoy Chakravorty,

A first this year is quawalli by the Nizami quawals of Ajmer Sharif, and unexpectedly, George Brooks, the US- based saxophone jazz artist, who will be performing with violinist Deepak Pandit and shehnai  exponent Bhaskar Nath. These innovations are sanctioned, it is believed by a Divine authority — it is believed that nothing can happen in the temple precincts without Lord Hanuman’s concurrence, said Mahant Mishra, a profoundly devout man.

Percussion is always a very important aspect in Banaras and the festival this year sees innovative percussion acts — jugalbandi between banaras gharana doyen Pt Kumar Bose on the tabla with Dr Yella Venkateshwar Rao on mridangam, Pt Anindo Chatterji and his son Anuvrata, Pt Suresh Talwalkar’s ensemble, and a tabla solo by London- based Pt Sanju Sahai.

Every year, the festival also encourages local artists, young artists and even senior artists who are not commercially popular. The arrangements at the temple are simple — an existing platform becomes the stage, the audience sits on the floor in the courtyard in front of the stage, on the sides, on the roof in front, and, in fact, even away from the stage. Huge TV screens are erected to accommodate the more than 2,000 listeners. Seating arrangements are totally egalitarian — you can be sitting next to a rickshaw puller or the artist who will perform next!

As Mahant Mishra said, “There is no VIP culture here; there is only the performer and the audience.” Since the concerts go on all night, it is quite usual to curl and sleep for a bit before waking up for the next item!

The audience’s way of expressing appreciation is not your ordinary prolonged clapping, or a standing ovation. Instead they raise their hands in the air and lustily hail the Lord “Har Har Mahadeva”!

 Ustad Nishat Khan says, “Mujhe ye andaaz unka bahut hee accha lagta hai. (I love their way of showing great appreciation.)” It’s a beautiful tradition they are maintaining. “Bahut khaas baat hai unki; sab ke liye nahi karte (It’s a very special gesture of theirs; they don’t honour all artists, only who is really praise worthy.).”

I first played here in the 1980s – I don’t remember the exact year. I think I am the first member of my family to play here.

Several avid listeners travel every year to attend the  festival.

A retired official from Bikaner travels annually to this festival as he believes the quality of music here is of a higher level, offered in a non-commercial spirit. When asked why he comes so far, and that too in the extreme heat, he said, “Vohi artists ko aap Kolkata, Dilli mein sunno, who baat nahi hoti (It’s not the same thing when you hear the same artists perform in Kolkata or Delhi.).”

Shri Vishwambharnath Mishra  is an unlikely priest — Professor of electronics, he is keeping alive a tradition of education in the family (his father the late revered Shri Veerbhadra Mishra was head of the Department of engineering at the BHU. However, he takes his duty as keeping alive this tradition of music very seriously. “Music has always been a part of the temple history since it was established. The stanzas in the Vinaypatrika, (one of the most famous poems written by Tulsidas) are set to raga, so clearly from his time, 400 years ago; our classical musical tradition has been linked to this temple. I regard the concerts here as divine music.”

Niladri Kumar sums up, “I was 12 years old when I first played at Sankat Mochan with my father, and I feel blessed to be able to perform time and time again. I do not know of any other festival which has this pious feeling in listeners and artists alike; there is both passion and prayer at Sankat Mochan”.