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Wazir Khan (Rampur)

Ustad Mohammad Wazir Khan (1860–1926) served as the head of Arbab-e-Nishat (Music Department of Rampur State) during the period of Nawab Hamid Ali Khan of Rampur.[1] He was also an excellent playwright who established the Rampur theatre in the building of club Ghar in Rampur.

Wazir Khan
BornMohammad Wazir Khan
1860
Rampur, Rampur State, British India
Died1926 (aged 66)
Rampur, Rampur State, British India
Pen nameWazir (Urdu poetry), Gauhar Piya (Hindi poetry)
OccupationMusician
Playwright
Poet
Musicologist
NationalityIndian
Period1860 – 1926
GenreHindustani Classical Music
Musical Theatre
Notable worksVilayati Chakkar (Urdu Novel)
Risala mousibi

Early life and background

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Wazir Khan was born in 1860 in the former Rampur State to Ameer Khan Beenkar. [2][3] He was the descendant of Naubat Khan and Hussaini (Tansen's daughter).[1] Besides music, Wazir Khan's interests spanned many fields and areas. He was also a professional playwright, poet, published author, painter, passionate photographer, and a well-practiced calligrapher. Primarily he used to do calligraphy in Arabic and Persian.He used to conduct magic shows once in a year and went for a country tour annually. In poetry, he was the student of the noted poet Daagh Dehlvi. As a musicologist, he wrote the Risala Mausibi. In addition, Wazir Khan was proficient in many languages, such as Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Hindi, Bangla, Marathi and Gujarati.

Cuisine

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All the Naubat Khanis were fond of good food. They were able to develop their own cuisine. Rice preparations were included in their meals and Kabab featured regularly. Rakabdars from the court of Awadh were employed in their kitchens. Both Nawab Hamid Ali Khan of Rampur and Ustad Muhammad Wazir Khan travelled together to Mumbai, Mussorie and other places regularly. Both the Nawab and Ustad Wazir Khan used to took their Rakabdars with them to these destinations. They used to throw banquet for each other and other dignitaries. Lavish meals were served and there were copious amounts of food of all kinds.

It was said that if anyone from this family doesn't take dessert after each meal then he is not a Naubat Khani.

The preparation at their kitchens was so rich in ingredients that once Nawab Hamid Ali Khan said that if this family was not fond of such good food, they could have houses made of gold and silver.[2]

Era of Opulence

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Ustad Mohammad Wazir Khan along with his brother Tehsildar Mohammad Fida Ali Khan held a jagir of 4 villages. Two villages Dhanari Sharkhi(big village) and Naya Gaon(small village) in present day Rampur and one more village in present day Uttarakhand and fourth village near district Shahjahanpur. Ustad Muhammad Wazir Khan's family members held jagirs in Tekari Raj in Bihar with an annual revenue of Rs 20,000, jagir in Banda, Banaras and jagir in Nepal.[4] Ustad Muhammad Wazir Khan held great relationship with the Maharaja of Banaras,Maharaja of Darbhanga Raj,Maharaja of Gwalior,Maharaja of Maihar, Maharaja of Jammu & Kashmir, Maharaja of Tripura and many more heads of the princely states. Maharaja of Kishangarh State and Maharaja of Indore State personally visited the place of Ustad Muhammad Wazir Khan in Rampur.

Weaponry

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In addition to family weapons including Khanda which the family of Naubat Khan possessed and was redesigned on the design of Hazrat Ali's Zulfiqar,the Nawab of Rampur Hamid Ali Khan issued atleast 4 guns in the name of Ustad Mohammad Wazir Khan.The details of which are given in the PhD thesis: Ustad Mohammad Wazir Khan and his prominent disciples by Rati Rastogi,RohilKhand University.Each gun was recognised by a Number assigned by the State armoury. Tehsildar Mohammad Fida Ali Khan,the younger brother of Ustad Muhammad Wazir Khan owned a licensed branded Revolver till his death in December 1947.[5]

Havelis

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  • Haveli at Bazariya Mullah Zareef given to Bahadur Hussain Khan by Nawab Yusuf Ali Khan on 26th April 1857.
  • Haveli at Katra Jalaluddin,Rampur owned by Ameer Khan Khandara
  • Haveli and Deewan khana in Qazi Gali,Rampur owned by Tehsildar Muhammad Fida Ali Khan ( father of Imtiyaz Ali Khan).
  • A palatial state residence given to Ustad Mohammad Wazir Khan in front of Rampur Fort.[6]

Career

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Ustad Muhammad Wazir Khan travelled a lot after his departure from Rampur and visited Delhi where he met the grandsons of Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar who gave him a Qasida praising Ustad Muhammad Wazir Khan.He visited Banaras and met the Maharaja of Banaras who owed Rs 12,500 to his father Ameer Khan Beenkar. Maharaja of Banaras asked Wazir Khan to take the amount of Rs 12,500 with a condition to join the Banaras court.Ustad Muhammad Wazir Khan denied this offer and left the amount with the Maharaja of Banaras. [7] He stayed in Bhopal State but did not pursued Nawab Shah Jahan Begum of Bhopal for a career in Music as she was a lady.From there he travelled to Hyderabad on the invitation of Daagh Dehlvi as he was his father's s close friend.He also joined briefly as the Head of the Indore Music department,where he taught music to the Maharaja of Indore.He was also invited to Darbhanga Raj, Madras and remained there for sometime.He then travelled to Calcutta and stayed there for almost 8 years. In Bengal Raja of Panchetgarh,Raja of Gobardang,Raja Dunisheel, Zamindar Taraprasad and Maharaja Bahadur Sir Jatindramohan Tagore were his great devotees and admirers. Tagore's father Hara Kumar Tagore was the disciple of Ustad Basit Khan who was the grandfather of Ustad Muhammad Wazir Khan.Raja of Gauripur Birendra Kishore Roy Chaudhary wrote the book Hindustani Sangeet mein Tansen ka Sthan and dedicated it to his music teachers Ustad Muhammad Wazir Khan and his Uncle Ali Muhammad Khan,the Rajguru of Banaras who stayed with the Maharaja of Banaras in Ramnagar Fort. Ustad Muhammad Wazir Khan was again invited with great respect to Rampur by Nawab Hamid Ali Khan.In Rampur he taught music to Nawab Hamid Ali Khan of Rampur,[8] Allauddin Khan,[9] Hafiz Ali Khan,[10] and Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande. Alauddin Khan went on to establish the modern Maihar Gharana, with disciples such as Ali Akbar Khan (son), Annapurna Devi (daughter), Pandit Ravi Shankar (son-in-law), Nikhil Banerjee, Vasant Rai, Pannalal Ghosh, Bahadur Khan, and Sharan Rani.[2]

 
Wazir Khan (centre) with other musicians

Struggle of Alauddin Khan

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Wazir Khan lived like a prince and it was not easy for a commoner to approach the musician directly. Alauddin was quite desperate to become his disciple and it is said that one day he threw himself in front of the Nawab's vehicle.[11] The Nawab of Rampur was pleased with Alauddin's perseverance so he sent the vehicle to fetch Wazir Khan and Alauddin was made the disciple of Wazir Khan. Wazir Khan taught Alauddin nothing for two years and only began to teach him when he came to know about the hardships Alauddin's wife was facing at home.[12]

 
1907 Ford owned by Ustad Wazir Khan, the earliest Ford car in Calcutta
 
Imtiyaz Ali Khan, nephew of Wazir Khan

Family tree

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  •   I. Samokhan Singh, Raja of Kishangarh.Imperial forces fought with the forces of Mughal Emperor Akbar.Samokhan Singh was Killed in battle.
    •   II. Jhanjhan Singh, Yuvraj Sahib of Kishangarh. Present in the battle and was killed.
      •   III. Misri Singh (Naubat Khan), Yuvraj Sahib of Kishangarh. Put under house arrest. Accepts Islam. Akbar confers title of Khan.Emperor Akbar arranges Naubat Khan's marriage to Saraswati, the daughter of Tansen. Jahangir confers the title of Naubat Khan and promotes him to the rank of 500 personal and 200 horse.

[13][14][15]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Mukhopādhyāẏa, Kumāraprasāda (2006). The Lost World of Hindustani Music. Penguin Books India. ISBN 9780143061991.
  2. ^ a b c Khanna, Shailaja (15 April 2021). "The ustad behind Senia gharana". The Hindu newspaper. Archived from the original on 2 July 2021. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
  3. ^ Hamilton, James Sadler (1994). Sitar Music in Calcutta: An Ethnomusicological Study. Motilal Banarsidass Publishe. ISBN 9788120812109.
  4. ^ Hindustani Sangeet mein Tansen ka Sthan, a book by Raja Birendra Kishore Roy Chaudhary
  5. ^ Ustad Muhammad Wazir Khan and his prominent disciples,Phd thesis by Rati Rastogi,Rohilkhand University
  6. ^ Ustad Muhammad Wazir Khan and his prominent disciples,Phd thesis by Rati Rastogi,Rohilkhand University
  7. ^ Ustad Muhammad Wazir Khan and his prominent disciples,Phd thesis by Rati Rastogi,Rohilkhand University
  8. ^ Rampur ki Sadarang Parampara by Saryu Kalekar, 1984 New Delhi Publications
  9. ^ Lavezzoli, Peter (24 April 2006). The Dawn of Indian Music in the West. A&C Black. ISBN 9780826418159.
  10. ^ Neuman, Daniel M. (15 March 1990). The Life of Music in North India. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 9780226575162.
  11. ^ Mehta, Ved (15 December 2013). Portrait of India. Penguin Books. p. 75. ISBN 9789351182771 – via Google Books.
  12. ^ Nettl, Bruno; Arnold, Alison; Stone, Ruth M.; Porter, James; Rice, Timothy; Olsen, Dale Alan; Miller, Terry E.; Kaeppler, Adrienne Lois; Sheehy, Daniel Edward; Koskoff, Ellen; Williams, Sean; Love, Jacob Wainwright; Goertzen, Chris; Danielson, Virginia; Marcus, Scott Lloyd; Reynolds, Dwight; Provine, Robert C.; Tokumaru, Yoshihiko; Witzleben, John Lawrence (1998). The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: South Asia : the Indian subcontinent. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9780824049461.
  13. ^ Ustad Mohammad Wazir Khan and his prominent disciples, PhD thesis by Rati Rastogi, RohilKhand University.
  14. ^ Islamic Culture Journal by Prof. Abdul Haleem, October 1945, P.P 357-386
  15. ^ Moorthy, Vijaya (2001). Romance of the Raga. Abhinav Publications. ISBN 9788170173823.
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