EVOLUTION OF THUMRI

Author(s): Sunil K. Bose

Source: India International Centre Quarterly, Vol. 3, No. 4 (October 1976), pp. 291-293
Published by: India International Centre
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Notes & News 291

nothing about it. The pioneering work of Margret Sanger led to the
commercial availability of birth control pills, and today over 50 million
women use them. Consequently, the family size has dwindled. Yet the
national policy on suburban housing continues to be based on the assump
tion that an American mother would have 4 to 5 children. There have
been profound changes in the age of marriage. Younger people seek more
fulfilling of supportive family lives. Thirty to forty per cent of the families
eat all meals outside the home and have not more than two children.
Americans live largely in a man-made world. They eat, sleep, live—all
under artificial conditions. Social institutions are undergoing great stress
because of the change in values. Another significant attitudinal shift
is the decline of people's willingness to submit to arbitrary authority.
This trend leads to greater alienation from outmoded institutions, but it
also results in reduced toleration and alienation from oneself.
Ninety-five million people receive formal education in schools. Yet,
the type of curriculum which the schools have has no relevance to the
changing needs of the society. Similarly, the governmental machinery
itself is undergoing a crisis due to the growing power of some 60-80,000
local Governments.
It would thus be seen that while technology is accelerating change
and America is evolving into a post-Industrial society, it has at the same
time to learn to break the shackles of old values and traditions as well as
of institutions, and to learn to be more responsive to change.

M. S. Iyengar

EVOLUTION OF THUMRI*

Thumri stands out as one of the major and most popular form
traditional music today, and almost all performing artists invariably con
their recitals with a thumri which is a pretty composition with an
design. Its erotic subject-matter based mainly on the Bhakti (De
cult, can be traced from the time of Jaydeva, Ramanuja and Rama
It reached its climax of popularity during the time of Shri Chaitan
(c.l6th century a.d.) whose Nagar Kirtan (Hare Krishna Hare Rama)
the masses into emotional ecstasies.
The inspiration behind the evolution of thumri was the cult of
Vaishnavism, particularly that of Krishna which portrayed divine love. In
later years, the philosophies of Vaishnavism and Sufism were the guid
ing force in the evolution of both thumri and kathak.
Thumri style of singing evolved in the main out of festival and seasonal
folk songs viz., Holi, Chaiti, Sawan, Kajri, Dadra etc. of eastern Uttar
-Pradesh. Some scholars believe that the thumri style of music and the kathak

•Summary of a talk given at India International Centre on May 1, 1976.

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292 Sunil K Bose

form of dance originated during the reign of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah of
Lucknow. The origins of thumri, however, are much earlier since it is a
classical as Hori-Dhamar both from the point of view of literary conten
and rhythmic similarity. But both the thumri and kathak styles were mor
or less reoriented during the reign of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah in the 19th
century.
By the 18th century according to Professor D.P. Mukherjee, our music
particularly the dhrupad and dhamar styles had gained in sweetness and
subtlety, but had lost its pristine simplicity, grandeur and vigour. Eventually
it degenerated into vocal gymnastics. The protest against such painful
acrobatics gave rise to other romantic and graceful forms like khayal
and thumri. Thumri was then further developed and popularized in the
Lucknow durbar.
However, we know that the great saint-musician Haridas Swami of
Brindaban (Guru of Mian Tansen) also composed and sang innumerable
dhamar songs in praise of Lord Krishna and Radha. This type of song is
still sung in the temples of Mathura and Brindaban during the festivals.
Dhrupad was mainly sung in praise of the Lord Shiva or the Moghul
Kings or the grandeur of nature, while the dhamar and thumri were based
on the various episodes from the life of Lord Krishna. The thumri com
position thus expresses divine love, which is also vividly interpreted and
graphically communicated by the kathak dancer through spectacular
action, rhythmic movement and gesture. Though the meanings of the
terms dhrupad and khayal have been broadly defined, thumri is yet to be
defined. However, a study of Vaishnava literature and of compositions by the
Vaishnava poets in Maithili (particularly the Kirtan of Bengal) as also the
traditional Hori-Dhamar and thumri songs provide some clues. These lead
one to believe that the term thumri is a combination of two words thum
and ri i.e. thumakat rijhawat suggesting thum-kata chal (or pleasing and
soul-uplifting movements of Radhikaji). This appears to fit in well with
the traditional subject matter of thumri.
Thumri and tappa are usually considered by some orthodox classicists
as being decadent. This view is erroneous. Despite the ravages of time,
the purely classical thumri style of singing has remained more or less un
impaired. Very rare traditional chijas (compositions of thumri in
jhaptal, teental and ektal) in suddha ragas are still available which, if
properly demonstrated, will bear testimony to this fact. In the early
part of this century, confusion arose between drut-khayal and some bandish
thumris based on the Tarana style; but the Bol-banana style of thumri as
demonstrated by Ustad Moizuddin Khan and Bhaiya Sahib Ganpat Rao
has served to establish its individuality.
The beauty of thumri style of singing lies in the artist's ability to
convey musically as many shades of meaning as the words of a song can
bear. The soul of a thumri is bol (interpretation and expression of a
word) in tune with various appropriate moods or Rasas, the rendering of
which is a gift of temperament and mood. Meend, murkies, kan, jhatka,

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Notes <£ News 293

pulkar, etc. play a vitally important role in developing bo Is (i.e. bol

banana or 5o/-making), and as such there is hardly any scope for the
use of gamak or heavy tana, sargam etc. in thumri. It is, therefore impera
tive that the singer should clearly study and understand the deeper thought
and mood of each word of the song, before demonstrating it. In other
words, thumri may be called the expression of the artists' soul and perso
nality, as also of his or her aesthetic genius.
There are two main styles in thumri, the Lucknow and the Benares.
The Gaya and the Punjab styles of thumri were introduced much later. The
best exponents of thumri during the early years of this century were Bhaiya
Sahib Ganpat Rao of Gwalior, Ustad Moizuddin Khan of Benares and
Nawab Chhamman Sahib of Rampur. The earlier famous thumri com
posers had been Qadar Piya, Sanad Piya, Lallan Piya and Bindadeen
Maharaj of the Lucknow durbar. Thumri enjoys much greater freedom
than even khayal, so far as the ragas, technique and rendering are con
cerned. Its rendition being difficult, many of our well-known khayal
singers often fail to demonstrate a thumri artistically. Some outstanding
modern exponents of the genuine and representative styles of thumri are
Rasoolan Bai, Sidheswari Devi and Girija Devi of Benares, Begum
Akhtar of Lucknow (whose judicious subtle and graceful blending of the
Purab and Punjab styles gained considerable popularity), besides Zamiruddin
Khan and Pyara Sahib of Calcutta, Dhela Bai of Gaya and Bade Ghulam
Ali Khan of Punjab. It will not be out of place to mention here that
Sangitacharya Girija Shankar Chakravarty of Bengal, who died rather a
premature death some years ago, was largely responsible for training,
popularizing and maintaining the perfect style of thumri singing, as
expounded by the great Bhaiya Sahib Ganpat Rao and Moizuddin Khan.
It is unfortunate that quite a number of outstanding musicians have
taken undue liberty with this graceful and divine art-form, without pro
perly assessing and appreciating its deeper literacy significance. Conse
quently they have been responsible, albeit unwittingly, for marring and
damaging its dignity and stature. On the other hand, it is indeed encour
aging that some of the enlightened music directors in the world of films
have started making copious use of and popularizing thumri and dadra
and other traditional styles of music. Some of these traditional compo
sitions have not only attracted rave notices and proved to be "box office
hits" but have also provided an infinitely rewarding and soul-satisfying
aesthetic experience. If such attempts continue there is no doubt that not
only thumri and dadra but also other forms of our classical and traditional
music viz, dhrupad, dhamar and khayal etc. will reach the masses and
regain their legitimate stature in the near future. It is therefore, necessary
that our universities, academies and cultural institutions should take
lively interest and concrete measures to ensure that this graceful form of
traditional music is not allowed to languish through neglect.

Sunil K. Bose

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