Rahman-Dagar court case: A Hindu devotional art form and its Muslim custodians

Wasifuddin had alleged that Rahman’s song ‘Veera Raja Veera’ had the exact musical foundation, composition and rendition style as that of the Shiva Stuti, a devotional piece performed by the celebrated dhrupad exponents late Ustad Nasir Faiyazuddin and Ustad Nasir Zahiruddin Dagar (known as Junior Dagar Brothers), his father and uncle respectively.

Are the Shiva Stuti and the Rahman song similar?

The Shiva Stuti has often been sung as a finale piece at dhrupad concerts because of the crescendo that builds with an accelerated tempo, a sharp contrast to the contemplative mood of the art form.

The tune of ‘Veera Raja Veera by Rahman is indeed the same, although the instrumentation used is different.

What has the Delhi HC held now?

A Bench comprising Justices C Hari Shankar and Om Prakash Shukla observed that the Junior Dagar Brothers could be regarded as performers of the Shiva Stuti, but not as its original composers or authors.

They added that in Indian classical music, “the music is transmitted orally through generations without formal documentation or any notations. If such a presumption [of performers being creators] were accepted, it would enable any performer to take any old compositions into their authorship by merely recording them and publishing them first, thereby copyrighting what is unprotected and is in public domain…”

Writing down musical notations is a Western classical concept. Mozart, Bach, and Beethoven all wrote their music.

The court is right that Indian music is transmitted through oral legacy, and its approach is consistent with how the law defines ownership of music (through writing it down). But for music scholars and aficionados, there is more to the story.

Wasifuddin has claimed that the composition, in the late night raga Adana, was created by his uncle Ustad Zahiruddin Dagar, and was recorded in 1978 in Amsterdam. Zahiruddin’s diary, in Wasifuddin’s possession now, has the Shiv Stuti written in it.

Notations of Indian compositions were very often not written down after being composed. Often, the lyrics were penned to fit the melody that had been composed in one’s head. Zahiruddin’s diary has the Shiv Stuti written down, but not its actual notational composition.

In case of dhrupad and a lot of Hindustani classical music, primacy has always been given to the composition, with lyrics mostly secondary. For example, in this case, it is possible that the composition would have been created first and the idea that Shiva Stuti suited that melody came later. The music world, including anyone who sings this piece, including artistes such as Gundechas and Uday Bhawalkar, have attributed the piece to the Junior Dagars.

What is dhrupad?

Dhrupad (meaning ‘structured’) is a style of rendering a raga under a rigid composition and rhythm structure and is either sung or played on a rudra veena with a pakhawaj and tanpura. Dhrupad is believed to be the oldest form of Hindustani classical music extant today. With its complex grammar and aesthetics, it is primarily a form of worship, in which offerings are made to the divine. Many of the texts sung in dhrupad are drawn from Hindu devotional poetry, specially from that of the Bhakti Movement.

Dhrupad is also more rigid than khayal or thumri, in which the rhythm and sonic structure can vary and is improvised. Dhrupad isn’t folk and erotic like a thumri and does not have taans and sargams like a khayal.

Dhrupad concerts are regularly featured in France and Germany, while in India, the genre commands smaller audiences today. In Europe, it is treated as a lesson in deep listening practice. The various tours to Europe by the Dagar family in the 1960s and thereafter, followed by recordings on European labels, helped build this following.

In a piece titled ‘Dagars of Delhi, A Tradition Lives On’, published in The New York Times in 1983, noted music critic Jon Pareles wrote, “Compared with the Dagars of New Delhi, Bach and his family were a flash in the pan”.

The Dagar lineage

The renowned Dagar family of musicians traces its musical lineage to Swami Haridas (Tansen’s guru). For generations, the family, among a few others, has been custodians of dhrupad. Such has been their contribution that the Dagar family’s style of dhrupad rendition is known as Dagarvani.

The tradition traces its history back to Baba Gopal Das Pandey, father of Ustad Behram Khan, known to be the pioneer of the Dagar musical gharana. As the legend goes, the 18th-century Mughal ruler in Delhi, Muhammad Shah Rangila, once offered a paan to Gopal Das, who accepted it. This led to his ostracisation from the Brahmin community, and Gopal Das decided to convert to Islam. Since then, generations of Dagars, as practising Muslims, have continued to pray to Saraswati and chant hymns from the Vedas.

Behram Khan was in Jaipur and carved out a reputation as a musician of rare brilliance. He eventually taught his brother’s grandsons, Allabande and Zakiruddin Khan, a duo who soon rose to prominence as leading dhrupad vocalists of their era. They were employed in the Alwar and Udaipur courts, respectively.

Ustad Zahiruddin Dagar and Ustad Faiyazuddin Dagar were Allabande’s grandsons and sons of a brilliant and visionary musician, Nasiruddin Khan, who died at the peak of his career. Nasiruddin Khan’s older sons, Nasir Moinuddin Dagar and Aminuddin Dagar, formed the much-revered Senior Dagar brothers duo.