In pages of fading manuscripts, a family searches for treasured musical notes

When the family arrived in Delhi in 1810, their patron had given them a house in Dharampura, in the bylanes of old Delhi. Now known as Goswamiji ka Mandir in Dharampura , large parts of the property have been sold off but the family has been able to hold on to parts of it.

A temple hall which, the family says, could once hold “over 100 people”, is unrecognisable today. Five shops operate out of the premises.

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The great grandson of Kunwar Shyam, Manmohan Lal Sharma (86), was the last member of the family to receive a formal musical training. Indira Goswami, 65, Sharma’s sister-in-law, fondly recalls performances by musicians in the house. “Ustad Alladiya Khan Pakhawaji used to perform in the temple with my father-in-law. His pakhawaj is still in our house,” she says.

“People used to say that if you are praised for your music by Goswamiji, it is as noteworthy as the praise garnered at the Allahabad sangeet sabha,” she adds.

Today, traces of ‘Kunwar Shyam Gharana’ — a tradition of Dhrupad Bhakti music — can only be found in crumbling books of music which his descendants have inherited.

In the last few years, Sharma and his family members have tried to archive the manuscripts of Kunwar Shyam’s compositions. They set up a website in 2014 with some of the compositions, along with recordings of the songs sung in a traditional manner.

The family is busy deciphering moth-eaten manuscripts, said to have been written by Kunwar Shyam and his disciples. “I have been in touch with musicians about holding a concert to showcase these compositions,” says Sharma’s daughter Meenakshi.

“Our family history is disappearing. With the advent of radio and TV, the tradition of music, as a form of temple art, has disappeared,” says Abhay, Indira’s son.