The Last Maharaj of Lucknow The Last Maharaj of Lucknow: The kathak maestro returns to revive the dance form and salvage his ancestral home All of Kaiserbagh is in a jam. The traffic snarl around the famed Safed Baradari-a white, twelve-door pavilion built by Nawab Wajid Ali Shah in the 1850s-tells you that laidback Lucknow has been jolted somewhat. It would seem the entire city has turned up to relive a forgotten history. Birju Maharaj, 76, has returned after a gap of some years to perform where his ancestors had danced at the courts of the nawabs of Awadh and laid the foundation of what is now known as the Lucknow Gharana of kathak. He has come for the annual Mahindra Sanat Kada Festival organised by Madhavi Kukrejas NGO by the same name. With music, dance, storytelling, theatre, Awadhi food, textiles, qawwali, chikan embroidery and other crafts on display, it has become the must-attend event on the local festival calendar. It took a Punjabi womans drive to bring about a cultural renaissance in this hubris-ridden city, says historian Saleem Kidwai, who belongs to the old Lucknowi elite. Birju Maharaj strikes a peacock pose at the Lucknow festivalI am so happy to be back in the city of my birth, announces the veteran kathak master as he takes the stage. I dance all over India and the world but dancing here is different. I was born here, just down the road at Gola Ganj. My father, my uncles and my grandfather and his brother, and two generations before them, all lived and danced here, he adds. Over the last hundred years, fate, fame and fortune took them away-to Raigarh, Rampur, Bombay (as it was called then) and Delhi, which became the capital of free India. Now I really wish to return to Lucknow, says the Delhi-based Maharaj of kathak, upon whom the government bestowed the Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian honour, in 1986. Over the next two hours, Birju and his troupe of dancers and musicians, led by his prime disciple Saswati Sen and son Jaikishan Maharaj, keep the audience riveted under a tented pandal despite the winter chill. Lucknow kathak is a compelling combination of bodily grace, complex rhythms, lyrical melody and narrative mime. What began as a storytelling (kathakaar) tradition where the narrator sang, spoke, mimed and danced to mythological tales in temple courtyards, developed into a highly sophisticated canonised form of court dance under the patronage of the nawabs of Awadh, especially the last prodigal Wajid Ali Shah whose deposement by the British led to the war of 1857. This evening, apart from surprisingly agile footwork and pure dance sequences, Birju Maharaj sings and mimes to a thumri in the raga Gaur Mallar that his grand-uncle Bindadin Maharaj had composed. Time stands still as the ageing master transforms before your unbelieving eyes into a bashful maiden complaining of the pranks played by Krishna. His mastery over bhaav batana (art of telling an idea/tale through mime and song) is truly transporting. With large luminous eyes, facial expressions, animated hand gestures and minimal body movements, he casts a spell that makes you experience the narrative as if you were living it from the inside. Maharaj has a tremendous imagination that converts the whole world, even everyday things he sees around him, into an abstract language of gesture and rhythm, says leading critic Leela Venkataraman. Indeed, from the chirping of birds in nature to the editing of a film in an editing suite to the moving of files in a government office-nothing escapes the amazing art of Birju Maharaj. Old timers in Lucknow and Delhi still remember his uncle Shambhu Maharaj for this art with great nostalgia. Birju, too, touches his ear in respect, a gesture commonly used by subcontinental musicians and dancers when recalling a revered teacher or master, when he talks of Shambhu Maharajs bhaav batana. My father, Achchhan Maharaj, died when I was very young. After his death, I honed my skills under my uncles Lachchhu Maharaj, who lived in Mumbai, and Shambhu, who taught at Sumitra Charat Rams Bharatiya Kala Kendra in Delhi, he says. Achchhan Maharaj, originally named Jagannath Prasad, went to colonial Delhi in 1936 to teach at the Hindustani School of Music and Dance started by Jawaharlal Nehrus friend Nirmala Joshi. Among his first students from among the girls of the so-called respectable Delhi families were Kapila Vatsyayan, Reba Vidyarthi and Sharan Rani Mathur. Before coming to Delhi, he had done long stints in the courts of Raja Chakradhar Singh in Raigarh and Nawab Raza Ali Khan in Rampur. A rotund man, he was nonetheless so nimble on his feet that the famous vocalist Ustad Faiyyaz Khan said of him: Though built like an elephant, Achchan Maharaj is so graceful that it seems a fairy is dancing on a bed of sugar candy. Horrified by the pre-Partition riots in Delhi, he returned to Lucknow only to die suddenly in the summer of 1947, aged 64. By then, his nine-year-old son Brijmohan (Birju) had already started performing and took on the responsibility of looking after his widowed mother. After my fathers death, I learnt from both my uncles though mostly by observing them practice and perform, says Birju. Baijnath Prasad, the middle brother better known as Lachchhu Maharaj, had made Mumbai his domain and taught many filmstars of yesteryear-from Meena Kumari, Nargis, Kumkum and Waheeda Rehman, down to Jaya Bachchan. He also choreographed dance sequences for several films including the Thaare Rahiyo song in Kamal Amrohis Pakeezah. Shambhunath Prasad or Shambhu Maharaj, the youngest brother, lived and taught in Lucknow and Delhi. He was a great singer and famous for his mesmerising bhaav bataana and mellifluous thumris. Their ancestral home, or what remains of it, is situated in a modest locality called Gola Ganj, less than a mile from Wajid Alis Kaiserbagh. It used to be called Kalka-Bindadin ki deodhi (Kalka-Bindadins abode). The roof of the main house has fallen but the arched mehrabs and walls made of thin Lucknowi lakhori bricks boast of a hoary past. Shambhu Maharajs family still lives at the rear end of the house. I want to restore this historic house and bring kathak back to Lucknow, says the Maharaj, hoping that the present political dispensation in Uttar Pradesh will help him achieve that goal. This is where it all began, he reminisces, where I grew up flying kites from Babbans shop around the corner. I recall playing Holi in the empty drums of Hamid bhais laundry across the street (Hamid Rizwis son now owns all of Lucknows laundries, besides a few hotels and restaurants). The maulvi sahib of the nearby mosque was quite tolerant of our music and dance throughout the year, and we in turn would not put on our ghungroos or play loud music during Muharram. There was never a Hindu-Muslim riot in Lucknow in our time. This family of Katthaks (caste) came from Handiya, a village in Allahabad district, and got patronage here even before Nawab Wajid Alis time. Wajid Ali was Awadhs Nero. A poet, composer and dancer, he was so immersed in the pursuit of pleasure that he had little time to administer his kingdom. He had given this house, which became famous among musicians and dancers across India, to Birjus grandfather and grand-uncle Kalka Prasad and Bindadin Maharaj. The duo had become so famous for their art that not only were they invited by many other Indian princes to perform at their courts, but also every nautch girl or tawaif worth her salt from Kolkata to Mumbai, including the legendary Gauharjaan, came to Lucknow to be trained by them here. Bindadin was a prolific composer and left behind hundreds of musical compositions that are sung and danced all over India even today. Birju remembers how, on Thursday evenings (jumme raat, the Sufi day of samaa) Shambhu Maharaj would sit under a guava tree in the courtyard with his close friends and perform informally for them. It was not public performances, but intimate mehfils, where he was at his best, he says, pointing to the guava tree which has refused to die despite years of ruin all-round. Kathak, too, will survive like the guava tree, long after the tales of nawabs and colonial concubines are gone and the world has changed. In the meanwhile, if we restore Kalka-Bindadins house, wed only be doing our duty to history. The lucknow LINEAGE One family has dominated kathak since the days of the nawabs 1. WAJID ALI SHAH (1822-1887), the last nawab of Awadh, was a singer-dancer and composer. He patronised the ancestors of Birju Maharaj and gave them a house to live in Lucknow. 2. THAKUR PRASAD was Wajid Alis court dancer, along with his cousin Durga Prasad, and they taught the nawab. Durga Prasads two sons became famous as the Kalka-Bindadin duo. 3. KALKA Prasad was also in Wajid Alis court. He was celebrated for his amazing footwork and command over complex rhythms. Along with his brother Bindadin, he became famous all over India. 4. BINDADIN MAHARAJ was a great Krishna devotee and composed hundreds of songs that are sung and danced even today. He taught his three nephews who dominated kathak in the 20th century. 5. ACHCHHAN MAHARAJ was described so because he was achchha or good. The very model of agility and grace despite his heavy build, he not only taught his younger brothers but also many pupils from all over India. He is Birju Maharajs father. 6. LACHCHHU MAHARAJ the second brother, was lacheela, light in body. He started with New Theatres in Kolkata and then moved to Mumbai where he directed several dance sequences and taught several film stars as well. 7. SHAMBHU MAHARAJ the youngest of the trio, is still remembered for his mesmerising mime and singing abilities. He taught in Delhi for many years and is survived by his sons, Rammohan and Kishenmohan Maharaj. 8. BIRJU and JAIKISHAN MAHARAJ son and grandson of Achchhan Maharaj. Birju has dominated the kathak scene since the 1960s as a performer and also as a teacher. He continues to perform and teach all over the world even today. Jaikishan is a chip off the same block. Read more at: indiatoday.intoday.in/story/birju-maharaj-kathak-maestro-ancestral-home/1/344853.html
Posted on: Fri, 31 Oct 2014 10:33:10 +0000
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