The Mallick brothers, Prashant and Nishant, who performed in Jalandhar, uphold Darbhanga’s intricate Dhrupad legacy

In the vast ocean of Dhrupad, they sail on their family’s 13 generations worth of musical wisdom and a passionate love for the medieval saints, who sung delicate paeans to Krishna in the Braj heartland. At the 149th Harivallabh Sangeet Sammelan in Jalandhar, as the young brothers, Pt Prashant (42) and Pt Nishant Mallick (37), unfolded the Darbhanga-Senia traditions of Mithilanchal, they spoke about their roots, journey and the intricacies of Dhrupad tradition.

In 2020, they performed at the Harivallabh Sangeet Sammelan during the pandemic amidst vaccine mandates and strict social distancing protocols. This year, they were greeted with an intense rainy spell! Rooted in the soil of Bihar, they carry a piece of generational wealth at all times—a diary listing all their painstakingly collected verses from Mithila’s folk verses, to Gurbani; Meera, Surdas, Kabir and the poetry of Braj’s Ashtchaap (eight seals) saints.

As the tradition goes

On the history of the Darbhanga Dhrupad music, they say, “Darbhanga Gharana is connected to the Senia tradition, which is essentially Tansen’s legacy. It is about 450 to 500 years old. Our ancestors were court musicians, legends, vaggeyakars (those who employ both verse and music in their compositions) and kalavants (artistes), in royal courts. Our great grandfather Pt Ram Chattur Mallick was the last court singer. At that time, musical practices were cultured, nuanced and took place in mehfils (congregations). This is an era of Youtube and Spotify. People don’t want to attend concerts even while being in the same city. But the rasa (juice) of music is in a pandal. That souful connection with an artiste can’t be established through Youtube. “Tansen banne se pehle ‘Kansen’ banna zaroori hai (before we become Tansen, it is essential we be a good listener).” In the court singing, Dhrupad used to be sung in certain ancient and traditional, ceremonial ragas. “It has four stages of bandishes—sthayi, antara, sanchari and abhog. And it is sung in padas (literary compositions) by our legendary poets.”

Speaking on challenges to retain the ancient glory of Dhrupad, they share, “Today we see that sometimes in the name of simplifying Dhrupad, we make it so plain that it seems like a khayal bandish. Whatever be the raga, Dhrupad is best savoured in traditional form. A lot of places still generously propagate Dhrupad. Many good artistes in the discipline continue to thrive. There are many Dhrupad Samarohs (events), the Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi and Doordarshan do their bit to promote it and there are festivals dedicated to it in Kolkata and Benares, which has a 50-year-old Dhrupad fair.”

Vast experience

The brothers have explored the poetry and padas (verses) of Meera, Kabir, Soor Das, and Tulsidas, all medieval poets, as also 15th to 17th century poets and saints like Swami Muktanand, Premanand and Devanand, who served Lord Swami Narayan. “From the Sikh tradition, we are incorporating Gurbani verses into bandishes of rare ragas like Jaitsree, Devgandhari and Jaijaiwanti. One such a project, we will also be shooting at a Gurdwara in Agra,” they say.

Speaking on folk and Ashtchaap poets, they add, “We come from Mithilanchal in Bihar. At Darbhanga, Vidypati was a renowned poet. In the Maithili script, there are many verses from Mithilanchal, which are sung by people and are also employed for Dhrupad. The Ashtchaap were eight poets from Braj region whose creations are sung in the Dhrupad tradition and Haveli singing traditions of the Braj land of Mathura and Vrindavan. Hailing from Braj region, spanning 84 kos (a kos comprises 1 to 3 miles), these poets were Swami Surdas, Kumbhandas, Krishnadas, Govind Das, Paramanandas, Chitasvami, Chaturbhujdas and Nanda Das.”

Dhrupad being a very strict musical discipline, does it allow room for experiment? “Dhrupad is a big tree. Can you add anything to an ocean or the sky? Dhrupad has no limitations, it is already complete with all colours. If we can even master some ragas in Dhrupad, it’s God’s blessing. We haven’t dabbled into fusions but have mixed genres—Dhrupad and Carnatic. Though I don’t think we can employ the banjo, guitar and drum vibe into our music,” they say.

Future wise

As for the future of their legacy, they share, “Sangeet vidya aadi se dev kaal tak nirantar behti rahi hai—aise hi behti rahegi (musical wisdom has flown for centuries and will continue to flow). There can’t be another artiste like the ones who are gone. But we are very certain a legend will be produced in every generation. Seniors have scattered their knowledge to countless disciples. This is meant to be bestowed and shared. It’s not ours. We also got it from somewhere. Its value increases with sharing.”