How Dhrupad exponent Mukund Dev Sahoo is reviving Hindustani classical music’s Vedic pulse

In 2016, when Mukund Dev Sahoo’s ‘Chhote Guruji’, the late Ramakant Gundecha, Padma awardee and the second of the famous Gundecha brothers, wanted him to return to Odisha to popularise Dhrupad, considered the most ancient style of Hindustani classical music, he neither had the inclination nor the courage to the take the “risk”. “I was already earning well teaching Dhrupad music in Bhopal and coming back to Odisha to start over from scratch and that too with a style that only a few people knew was a big risk,” says Sahoo.

A few years later, it took his beloved Guruji’s untimely death, a lethal pandemic and a moment of epiphany during a 40-day solitary ‘sadhana’ in the Himalayas for Sahoo to realise that his life’s mission was not just to popularise Dhrupad, but also to revive the musical form. Sahoo has taken it upon himself to re-introduce Vedic verses called “Pada” to Dhrupad singing, which he says were lost after the advent of the Mughals in India. He has named his Gharana ‘Deva Vani Dhrupad’, an offshoot of the Dagar Vani (school of the Dagar brothers) and a name that resonates with its earlier identity of being a temple music.

Also read: Why SPB's son refuses offers to recreate his father's voice using AI

Carrier of a legacy

A resident of Karanjasul in Bhograi block of Odisha’s Balasore district, Sahoo, after completing a five-year bachelor’s degree at Utkal Sangeet Mahavidyalaya in Bhubaneswar, learnt Hindustani music in the Gwalior Gharana from Guru Vijayanada Nayak in the state capital for four years and in the Agra Gharana from renowned vocalist Pandit Arun Kashalkar in Mumbai for three years.

Already smitten by the performance of the Gundecha brothers at a concert in Bhubaneswar during his college days in 2007, an opportunity for Sahoo to play the tanpura alongside the virtuosi at a recital in Mumbai in 2013 opened up avenues to learn from them. He stayed at their ‘gurukul’ in Bhopal for six years to learn the ropes of Dhrupad and continues to learn from them to this day.

Sahoo, who opened the Dhrupad Music Foundation in 2020 in Bhubaneswar, is now imparting the tradition to over 70 students, including at least 40 from different states and 20 from Europe and the US.

What is Dhrupad?

Dhrupad, the name being a portmanteau of the Sanskrit words ‘Dhruva’, meaning calm or immovable, and ‘Pada’, meaning verse, is a meditative form that, unlike the more popular Khyal style, incorporates a chanting style in its performance. The musical style traces back its origin to the time of Swami Haridas, a spiritual poet and musician, also the guru of Tansen, one of the nine ‘jewels’ in Emperor Akbar’s court.

Also read: Rhythm of Dammam: Untold story of Siddi community, India’s forgotten African tribe

The ‘aalap’, which follows the rhythmic patterns of ‘bilambit’ (slow), ‘jod’ (medium) and ‘jhala’ (fast), is the most longest and significant part of a Dhrupad performance and is succeeded by a ‘bandish’ (melodic composition). “The bandish was not originally a part of Dhrupad performance, and was borrowed from Haveli Sangeet after it started being performed in the Mughal court,” says Sahoo.

Vedic chants vs meaningless syllables

While Swami Haridas’ compositions were written for Lord Krishna, in the later years, when Dhrupad became a popular form of music in the Mughal court, lyrics were penned eulogising the emperor. “Even though Tansen, through his famous Dhrupad compositions, preserved the music form, the Vedic verses in his era and later got replaced by meaningless syllables,” says Sahoo.

“For instance, Dagar Vani uses meaningless syllables in the aalaap like ‘Ra Na Na Na, Te Ta Ra Na Na, Ri Re Na Na,’ which do not carry any literal meaning. Sanskrit scholars say they are corrupted remnants of mantras used in Dhrupad singing in the earlier times. There are many Dhrupad musicians who still stick to these ‘nom tom’ syllables in their performances,” Sahoo adds.

Significance of dialogue in music

But, unlike his contemporaries, Sahoo has introduced Sanskrit chants to compositions that he performs and teaches. “My aalaaps wouldn’t have syllables like ‘Ra Na Na Na’. I would rather sing ‘Hari Om Ananta Narayana, Tarana Taarana Tyum’ while adhering to the metre and grammar of Dhrupad,” he says.

Emphasising the need of ‘samvad’ or dialogue in music to communicate with the audience, Sahoo says a genre cannot be popularised if the layman doesn’t understand it. He says this is one of the reasons why styles such as Khyal — which originated from Dhrupad — and Thumri became popular while Dhrupad remained in the shadows.

Also read: How Maroon 5, which make their India debut on December 3, made it big

“Dhrupad music is made not only for the extraordinary, the so-called intellectuals but also for the ordinary people,” he adds.

Blessings of the guru

Sahoo’s style, however, did not get the immediate approval of his gurus. “By then, Chhote Guruji was no more. And when Bade Guruji, Umakant Gundecha, learnt about my decision, his first question was ‘Why did you do it?’ But he changed his opinion after he listened to my rendition. Ever since, he has unfailingly attended several of our festivals in Odisha, supporting me in every step,” Sahoo says.

Sahoo’s style of Dhrupad has been recognised by All India Radio and Doordarshan and was widely accepted by musicians at the 50th International Dhrupad Mela in March 2024.

Responsibility of a tradition

Besides collaborating with international artistes and art houses like Habib Tanvir’s Naya Theatre, Bharatanatyam dancer Lata Munshi, and Flamenco dancer Marisol Valderrama Guerrero, Sahoo has also made models walk the ramp to the sound of the Deva Vani Dhrupad rendition.

Every year, on the occasion of World Music Day, his academy organises an event to felicitate a selected Dhrupad artist with the Odisha Dhrupad Ratnajyoti award while hosting a concert of all his disciples.

Also read: How Bollywood item songs have devolved, lost the plot over the years

Besides organising Dhrupad workshops and lectures, the Dhrupad Music Foundation also has been hosting ‘Baithak series’ or home concerts on its YouTube channel, featuring performances by renowned artistes since 2020.

“Since 2019, we have been organising the Sa-Ma Arpan event in memory of my guru, Ramakant Gundecha. In 2020, we hosted the ‘Ek Raag Series’, in which international artistes explained to participants how the same raag can be performed in different ways in Dhrupad, Khayal, Bollywood and western music,” Sahoo says.

What it takes to be Dhrupadiya

Even though Dhrupad doesn’t demand a mellifluous voice to be learnt, Sahoo says mastering it needs utmost dedication and freedom from ego. “You may have learnt classical music for a decade, but it will take a good couple of years just to get a grasp on the way notes are used in Dhrupad. So you have to come with a clean slate.”

It takes years of riyaaz (practice) for Dhrupad vocalists to culture their voice to produce refined ‘shrutis’ or microtones, which when emanated could bring a sense of tranquility and relaxation to a listener’s mind — just like the sounds of a Tibetan bowl, of the pitter-patter of rain or that of a gurgling stream evoke.

Also read: How Sri Lankan rapper M.I.A. brought marginalised voices into the mainstream

“The sound must flow effortlessly from the navel, the chest, the throat, the nose and the head to produce these microtones,” Sahoo says. His student, Suryanarayan Pani, who also teaches music, says there is little awareness about the musical style in the state. “Only a handful of people are aware of the style and its spiritual and therapeutic nature. The allure of quick fame on social media and reality shows has also made people lose interest in musical forms which demand practice and dedication,” he says.

‘Dhrupad not bound by religion’

When asked, Sahoo laughs at allegations that accuse Savarna Hindu musicians of the 20th century of having propagated a ‘fake revival’ of Dhrupad to connect it to a Vedic past and the Shastras and, in the process, deny credit to its practitioners hailing from Islamic and marginalised backgrounds for their contribution to the style.

“We are musicians, not fanatics. Hindu Dhrupad singers wouldn’t be singing songs composed by Tansen, eulogising Akbar, if they had plans to erase its Islamic links,” says Sahoo.

Also read: Vijaya Bhaskar: A multilingual music composer’s ragas-to-riches journey

“And no one would ever deny the contribution of Muslim Dhrupad singers to the genre. In fact, Dhrupad wouldn’t have reached us had it not been for a pair of Muslim brothers. The Dagar lineage of musicians wanted to keep the style in the family. But Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar and Ustad Zia Fariduddin Dagar decided to break the mould and open their doors to the world,” he adds.

Between faith and music

Asked if his introduction of Vedic mantras in the musical form would be accepted by musicians from other faiths, Dev says it was never about religion. “I felt connected to Vedic hymns and realised the need for their re-introduction to the genre because of my Vaishnav upbringing. Someone else from another community may have a different perspective and they are free to practise it.”

Also read: Ustad Rashid Khan leaves behind a legacy in Hindustani classical music

“Besides Hindustani music has had a rich history of cultural exchange irrespective of religion. Ustad Rashid Khan has sung so many ‘bhajans’ and so have many Muslim musicians. Any kind of reluctance found today is only because of the polarised atmosphere we are living in,” he says.

Relevance of Dhrupad today

But why would a musical form that relies on hymns and chants and needs years of practice to be perfected, have takers in an age when the attention span of an average human is confined to one-minute social media reels?

“Dhrupad is very much relevant today because of its therapeutic properties. I have software engineers as students who spend long shifts before the computer and learn music to de-stress. They get into a trance once they start riyaaz,” Sahoo says.

Also read: Shall we sing you to sleep: How a Lullaby project makes you sit up and take note

Comparing Dhrupad with Khyal, he says the latter, like any other song, makes the mind restless, while the former, when heard or best sung, creates a vibration and resonance that puts the mind in a meditative trance, putting a stop to all thoughts.

“That is precisely why it is called Naad Yoga or the connection established with the universe through sound. We can educate and discipline the mind by learning this form of music,” he adds.