Worshipping Chamundi – The Spirit of Navaratri

BEGUM PARWEEN SULTANA & USTAD DILSHAD KHAN

We feature during this Navaratri, music from the duo of Parween Sultana and Dilshad Khan. They performed in Parvathi 22 years ago. In this concert, they have sung a beautiful khayal with words of prayer to Goddess Saraswati, the deity conferring the gifts of music and arts. Then follow a thumri and bhajan in Pahadi. They round off the concert with their signature bhajan “Bhavani” in Mishra Bhairavi.

This concert is significant on many levels. The famous city of Mysore, with its presiding deity of Chamundi and the celebrated Dassara Navaratri festival, attracts musical stalwarts from all parts of the world. Just as the Maharaja was the patron of philharmonic music and western composers, he was also a great Sri Vidya "upasaka" and Carnatic composer in his own right. So Mysore symbolizes a very open milieu for excellence in music, and also symbolises the spirit of Devi worship (especially during the Navaratri festival). Navaratri is dedicated to worshiping the Devi in her forms of Saraswati, Lakshmi and Chamundi or Bhavani.

CHAMUNDI DEVI - MYSORE [ Courtesy: shobhakarandlaje.com ]

We also offer our respectful remembrances of the great Vidwan Madurai Mani Iyer, whose birth centenary is on 25 October 2012. We feature here a fine article ( "Periyava & Music" - CLICK ) by Mr B. M. N. Murthy [see Footnote], which narrates how this Maha Vidwan was known for his wonderfully beautiful and worshipful music.

We reproduce (partially from the article):

Happy Navaratri!

Concert Details

Begum Parween Sultana & Ustad Dilshad Khan – Hindustani Vocal Duet

Held at Parvathi, October 10, 1990

Song List

01.Hamsadhwani Khayal *** 02. Thumri – Pahadi *** 03. Nandanandana Giridhari Bhajan*** 04. Bhavani Dayani – Bhajan – Mishra Bhairavi ***

[ FOOTNOTE: Mr. B.M.N. Murthy has had a very distinguished career in Civil Engineering, retiring from professional life as Chief Engineer at LIC, India. What has been very remarkable in his life, is his rare collections and subsequent writings on India's great heritage and achievements. Many people, particularly the younger generations, have been very thankful to him for disseminating this knowledge to them. The Hindu, as we tagged previously, also wrote on his inspired efforts. From time to time, we too draw on his articles. He hails from a family of renowned "Vaidikas" connected very closely with the House of Sringeri ]

"The effervescence of gay abandon" : Begum Parween Sultana

South Indian cuisine is so variegated and tasty that it is impossible to tire of it, and everyone craves for the tangy and sharp taste of the savouries day after day. The sweet dishes are not far behind, and after any festive meal, the one question asked by those who missed the feast is, “what was the sweet dish?”

So one has to wonder about the almost fatal attraction that sweet dishes from eastern India have for us south Indians. It is difficult to get past 'rossa gulla', but 'ras malai 'and 'misthi doi ' take one’s consciousness to a different plane indeed. Such is the ceaseless joy of life’s surprising beauty.

We talk of taste, delight and surprise also in music. When Begum Parween Sultana, hailing from eastern India, descended on the southern musical scene In the seventies, people were simply mesmerised. One could not but help think of Goddess Saraswathi. Her resonant voice, her regal demeanour, her vocal calisthenics, her roof-blowing top octave, her measured modulation, all left the listener in a stunned silence of musical nirvana.

And surely, the Begum came and regaled the rasikas in Parvathi too!

Begum Parween Sultana has been conferred the title “Sangeet Samraa~jni” by the Assam government. She was born in 1950 in Nowgong, Assam, and trained under her husband Ustad Dilshad Khan of Patiala Gharana.

[ Courtesy The Hindu. Click link for the interview of Parween Sultana and Dilshad Khan ]

Patiala Gharana boasts famous exponents like Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Begum Akhtar, and thumri singers Naina Devi and Girija Devi.

Begum Parween Sultana is the youngest-ever winner of the Padma Shri award (1976). She began performing at the age of 12. No mention of Parween Sultana is complete without her unforgettable rendition of “Bhavani Dayani” in Bharavi. There is also a fine film song in her voice (Khudrat 1980).

We now feature a fine Concert ( Ramanavami series, date 5 April 1977 ) held in "Parvathi" for the delight of the devoted rasikas.

[ 01 Madhuvanti Khayal - 02 Misra Khamaj Thumri - 03 Misra Piloo Surdas Bhajan - 04 Bageshri Bhajan - 05 Manj Khamaj Bhajan ]

REMEMBRANCE OF DAYS IN "PARVATHI"

[ Dr. S Dandapani, retired as Professor of Educational Psychology from the Regional College of Education, Mysore NCERT after three decades of teaching graduate and post graduate students besides guiding Ph.d. scholars. He did his M.A. in Psychology from Presidency College, Madras and a Ph.D. in Education from the University of Mysore. He was also a Fullbright Scholar in the USA under the East-West Center Exchange Program. The following text is extracted from the letter whose motif is shown above ]

" .... you brought musicians from all over India (including Parveen Sultana!) to regale Mysoreans during Sri Ramanavami...we, some of the connoisseurs reflect back to the memorable days of celestial music that we heard in your sprawling house. Those were unforgettable days...I used to pack my children and my wife to ....listen to the music of Jesudas and others with my tape recorder. I used to watch your supervising the 'pandalwalas' , erecting the structures a few days before the festivals with a hand fan to cool yourself. You used to look strikingly smart and sleek with your simple half-hand white shirt and dhoti and 'angavastram'. Your ancestral house with a lovely lawn in front, a portico, a sprawling drawing room where the portraits of your father and mother would be hung on the wall, your Puja room where your daughter also used to join the archana by the Purohit to do puja to Sri Rama....You were very fond of Madurai Somu! The great MDR with his tuft used to regale us with his baritone voice. I witnessed the concert of Radha- Jayalakshmi ....."

1975- RK NARAYAN, TOO, REMEMBERS FROM WASHINGTON D.C.