اندور گھرانا

इंदौर घराना

Vocal Gharana Indore Mid 20th century

Founded By

ا�, یر خان

اندور گھرانا ہندوستانی خیال گائکی کا ایک گھرانا ہے جس نے بیسویں صدی میں امیر خان (1912 تا 1974) کے گرد شکل پائی، جن کی پرورش اندور میں ہوئی۔ اس کا مرکز اتی ولمبت خیال ہے، جو مالنی نائر کے بقول معمول سے بھی سست ہوتا ہے۔ یہ انداز، جس کے آغاز کا کوئی سال درج نہیں، 1934 کے آس پاس امیر خان کے بمبئی منتقل ہونے اور فروری 1974 میں کلکتہ میں ان کی وفات کے درمیان تشکیل پایا۔ رودر وینا کا ایک الگ سلسلہ، اندور بینکار گھرانا، خود کو بندے علی خان سے جوڑتا ہے، جو 1860 کی دہائی سے اندور کے درباری موسیقار تھے۔

امیر خان کے والد شاہ میر خان اندور میں سارنگی بجاتے تھے، اور انہوں نے بیٹے کو پہلے یہی ساز سکھایا، پھر میرو کھنڈ اور سرگم پر مبنی گائکی۔ مسرا کے مطابق شاہ میر خان کے گرو بھینڈی بازار گھرانے سے تھے، جبکہ امرناتھ کی یادداشتوں پر پارتھو دتا کے تبصرے کے مطابق شاہ میر خان کا کسی گھرانے سے کوئی سلسلہ نہیں تھا۔ مسرا کے نزدیک امیر خان پھر بھی خود آموز ہیں۔ انہوں نے اپنی دھیمی لے کیرانہ گھرانے کے عبدالوحید خان سے لی، اپنی تانیں، یعنی سُروں کی تیز دوڑ، رجب علی خان سے، اور اپنی سرگم، یعنی سُروں کے ناموں پر گائے جانے والے حصے، امان علی خان سے۔ امل داس شرما کے مطابق انہوں نے عبدالوحید خان کا شاگرد بنے بغیر ان کا انداز جذب کیا اور ان کی دعائیں پائیں۔ ان کی جائے پیدائش پر بیانات مختلف ہیں: مسرا کے مطابق کلانور، جی این جوشی کے مطابق اندور، اور سریش چاندونکر کے مطابق مہاراشٹر کا اکولا۔

امیر خان ولمبت خیال کے لیے جھومرا، یعنی 14 ماتراؤں کی تال، اور تلواڑا کو ترجیح دیتے تھے۔ اپنے ولمبت خیال میں انہوں نے میرو کھنڈ سمویا، یعنی چند سُروں کے ایک چھوٹے گروہ کو الٹ پلٹ کر راگ کھڑا کرنے کا طریقہ۔ انیش پردھان کی تحریر سرگم میں گائی جانے والی تیز میرو کھنڈ تانوں کا ذکر کرتی ہے، اور مسرا کے مطابق بول آلاپ اور بول تان، یعنی گیت کے الفاظ پر فی البدیہہ گائکی، ان کے ہاں نہیں تھے۔ پارتھو دتا کا تبصرہ کمار پرساد مکھرجی کی یہ رائے نقل کرتا ہے کہ ان کی راگ کی بڑھت عبدالوحید خان کے کیرانہ انداز کے سب سے قریب تھی۔

امیر خان سارنگی کے بغیر گاتے تھے، اور تانپورے اور سادہ طبلہ ٹھیکے کو ترجیح دیتے تھے۔ مسرا کے مطابق ترانہ، جسے انہوں نے مقبول بنایا، تیزی چاہنے والے سامعین کے لیے ان کی واحد رعایت تھا۔ ان کا ماننا تھا کہ اس کے بول معنی رکھتے ہیں۔ توشنیوال کے مطابق یہ بول فارسی ہیں، اور جوشی کے ہاں درج ہے کہ ان کے ترانوں میں فارسی اشعار ہیں۔ توشنیوال کے مطابق انہوں نے سُر رنگ کے تخلص سے بندشیں بنائیں۔ ان کے شاگردوں میں امرناتھ، اے کانن، کنکنا بنرجی، تیج پال سنگھ اور پورابی مکھرجی شامل ہیں۔ امرناتھ نے، جن کے نزدیک امیر خان اندور گھرانے کے بانی تھے، ان کی وفات کے بعد اس انداز کی تدریس کی۔ دربار ٹرسٹ کے مطابق راشد خان اور نکھل بنرجی ان کے سلسلے سے باہر کے ان موسیقاروں میں شامل ہیں جنہوں نے ان سے استفادہ کیا۔

اہم فنکار

  • امیر خان، بانی اور گلوکار، 1912 تا 1974
  • امرناتھ، شاگرد، تدریس اور بندش سازی
  • کنکنا بنرجی، شاگرد اور گلوکار
  • اے کانن، شاگرد اور گلوکار
  • تیج پال سنگھ، شاگرد اور گلوکار، سنگھ برادران میں سے ایک
  • پورابی مکھرجی، شاگرد اور گلوکار
  • شری کانت باکرے، شاگرد، مسرا کی فہرست میں نام شامل
  • شانتی شرما، گلوکار، امرناتھ سے تعلیم یافتہ

ماخذ

  • Susheela Misra, Great Masters of Hindustani Music (1981)
  • Partho Datta، امرناتھ کی Prophets of Indore پر تبصرہ، The Book Review (2008)
  • Malini Nair، Scroll.in، امرناتھ اور اندور گھرانے کی میراث پر (2024)
  • Aneesh Pradhan، Scroll.in، امیر خان اور ترانے پر مضامین (2014)
  • Amal Das Sharma, Musicians of India
  • Bhushan Toshniwal، India Art Review، امیر خان پر مضمون (2021)
Sign in to follow
شیئر کریں

Origins & History

Amir Khan was born in 1912, and accounts differ on where. Susheela Misra gives Kalanaur, G. N. Joshi Indore, and Suresh Chandvankar Akola in Maharashtra, adding that the family had moved from Kalanaur and settled in Indore. His father, Shahmir Khan, was a sarangi player at the Indore court. He trained his son first on sarangi, then in singing built on merukhand and sargam. Misra names Chajju Khan and Nazir Khan of the Bhendibazaar gharana as Shahmir Khan's teachers, while Partho Datta's review of Amarnath's memoir says he had no gharana lineage.

Amir Khan then built his style from singers he heard. He took his very slow tempo from Abdul Wahid Khan of the Kirana gharana, his taans from Rajab Ali Khan of Dewas and his sargam from Aman Ali Khan. Amal Das Sharma writes that he absorbed Abdul Wahid Khan's style without becoming his disciple, and that the older singer blessed him. Misra still calls Amir Khan self-taught.

He came to Bombay around 1934, aged about 22, and in 1936 served Chakradhar Singh of Raigarh for about a year. The style took shape over the rest of his career, and his singing came to be known as the Indore gharana. He died in a car accident in Calcutta on 13 February 1974.

"Amir Khan's sole concession to the speed-loving contemporary listeners was the Tarana"

— Susheela Misra

Ustad Amir Khan, in Great Masters of Hindustani Music (Hem Publishers, 1981)

تاریخی ٹائم لائن

1912

Amir Khan is born

Amir Khan is born in 1912. Accounts differ on where, and he grows up in Indore, where his father is a sarangi player at the court.
c. 1934

Move to Bombay

Amir Khan comes to Bombay around 1934, aged about 22. The Indore style takes shape over his career from these years.
1936

Service at Raigarh

At his father's request Amir Khan joins the service of Maharaj Chakradhar Singh of Raigarh, where he stays for about a year.
1949

Amarnath becomes a disciple

Amarnath, who first heard Amir Khan on the radio in 1942, ties the thread as his formal disciple in 1949.
1974

Death of Amir Khan

Amir Khan dies in a car accident in Calcutta on 13 February 1974. Amarnath goes on to teach the Indore style.

Lineage & Legacy

The guru-shishya tradition passed down through generations

Amir Khan's father trained him, and the style Amir Khan built passed to disciples from several backgrounds. One early disciple was Amarnath, who heard him on the radio in 1942 and became his formal disciple in 1949. Amarnath later taught the style in his turn, and his own students carry it on.

First teacher

Shahmir Khan

Sarangi player and first teacher

Sarangi player at the Indore court and father of Amir Khan. He taught his son sarangi first, then moved him to singing drilled on merukhand and sargam.
Guru-Shishya Tradition

Founder

Amir Khan

1912-1974

Founder and vocalist

Formed the Indore style from his father's training and from the singing of Abdul Wahid Khan, Rajab Ali Khan and Aman Ali Khan. He sang khayal and tarana and composed bandishes.
Guru-Shishya Tradition

Amir Khan's disciples

Amarnath

Disciple, teacher and composer

Born in Jhang, he became the principal teacher of the Indore style after Amir Khan's death. Malini Nair credits him with around 200 compositions.

Kankana Banerjee

Disciple and vocalist

Named among Amir Khan's disciples in Susheela Misra's list of his pupils and in Malini Nair's account of his early students.

A. Kanan

Disciple and vocalist

One of Amir Khan's early disciples. The name is also spelt A. Kannan, and Misra includes him in her list of the singer's pupils.

Tejpal Singh

Disciple and vocalist

One of the Singh Brothers, the vocal duo who learned from Amir Khan. He later wrote a biography of his teacher.

Poorabi Mukherjee

Disciple and vocalist

Listed by Susheela Misra among the pupils of Amir Khan, together with Srikant Bakre.
Guru-Shishya Tradition

Amarnath's students

Shanti Sharma

Vocalist, student of Amarnath

Malini Nair calls her Amarnath's brightest student. Amarnath taught her the Indore style he had learned from Amir Khan.

Rekha Bhardwaj

Vocalist, student of Amarnath

Named by Malini Nair, with Shanti Sharma, among the students of Amarnath, who passed on the Indore style he learned from Amir Khan.

The gharana system is rooted in the guru-shishya (teacher-disciple) tradition, where musical knowledge and style are passed down through direct apprenticeship over three or more generations.

Key exponents

  • Amir Khan, founder and vocalist, 1912-1974
  • Amarnath, disciple, teacher and composer
  • Kankana Banerjee, disciple and vocalist
  • A. Kanan, disciple and vocalist
  • Tejpal Singh, disciple, one of the Singh Brothers
  • Poorabi Mukherjee, disciple and vocalist
  • Srikant Bakre, disciple, in Misra's list of pupils
  • Shanti Sharma, vocalist, student of Amarnath

موسیقی کی خصوصیات

Distinctive style, techniques, and aesthetic philosophy

Overall Style

Indore singing starts from an ati-vilambit khayal, slower than the usual slow tempo, and develops the raga within it through merukhand: a method that builds the raga from permutations of a small group of notes. Aneesh Pradhan writes of rapid merukhand taans sung in sargam, the note names. Misra notes that bol-alap and bol-taan, improvisation on the words of the song, were absent from Amir Khan's singing.

Ati-vilambit khayal

The slow khayal is taken even slower than the norm. Amir Khan favoured jhoomra, a tala of 14 beats, and tilwada for it.

Merukhand

The raga is built from systematic permutations of a small group of notes. Toshniwal quotes Amir Khan on drilling 5040 taan patterns with his father.

Sargam taans

Fast taans are sung in sargam, the note names, and in akaar, on the open vowel. Misra notes that bol-taans on the words of the song were absent.

Low voice, plain setting

Misra hears his voice at its best in the low mandra notes. He sang with tanpura and a plain tabla theka, and avoided sarangi accompaniment.

Signature Repertoire

Khayal is the core, and the tarana is the form Amir Khan made his own. He held that its syllables carry meaning, and Aneesh Pradhan hears a Persian connection in his taranas. Toshniwal credits him with bandishes and taranas under the pen name Sur Rang. Misra writes that he never sang thumri in concert, though his disciples heard him sing it in private. He also sang for films, among them Baiju Bawra and Goonj Uthi Shehnai.

Compare with Similar Gharanas

Understand how اندور گھرانا differs from other traditions

Select a Gharana to Compare:

اندور گھرانا
(Current)		 کیرانہ گھرانا
(Comparing)
قِسم Vocal Vocal
ماخذ Indore Kairana
Era Mid 20th century Late 19th century
Style Indore singing starts from an ati-vilambit khayal, slower than the usual slow tempo, and develops the raga within it through merukhand: a method that builds the raga from permutations of a small group of notes. Aneesh Pradhan writes of rapid merukhand taans sung in sargam, the note names. Misra notes that bol-alap and bol-taan, improvisation on the words of the song, were absent from Amir Khan's singing. The Kirana style centres on the swara: the exact intonation and expression of each note. A singer unfolds the raga note by note in slow vilambit tempo, with an extended alap, and the emphasis falls on melody more than rhythm. The recording producer G. N. Joshi named precise tunefulness, a graceful presentation of the bandish and disciplined raga development as the gharana's marks.
View کیرانہ گھرانا Details

Influence & Legacy

After 1974 the style passed on through Amarnath's teaching to students such as Shanti Sharma and Rekha Bhardwaj. Malini Nair writes that several musicians outside the line cite Amir Khan's raga expansion as an influence. The Darbar trust names Rashid Khan, Nikhil Banerjee and Ajoy Chakrabarty among them. The older Indore Binkar line of Bande Ali Khan, court musician of Indore from the 1860s, is a separate rudra veena tradition.

اکثر پوچھے جانے والے سوالات

What is the Indore gharana?

The Indore gharana is a school of Hindustani khayal singing formed in the 20th century by Amir Khan, who grew up in Indore. It is known for very slow ati-vilambit khayal, raga development through merukhand permutations of a few notes, and fast taans sung in sargam.

Who founded the Indore gharana?

Amir Khan (1912 to 1974) founded the Indore gharana, and his singing came to be known by that name. The style took shape over his career, from his move to Bombay around 1934 until his death in 1974. His disciple Amarnath also held him to be the founder of the Indore school.

Which musicians belong to the Indore gharana today?

The Indore line continues through Amir Khan's disciples and their students. Amarnath taught the style after 1974, and Malini Nair names Shanti Sharma and Rekha Bhardwaj among his students. Amir Khan's own disciples include Kankana Banerjee, A. Kanan, Poorabi Mukherjee and Tejpal Singh of the Singh Brothers.

How does the Indore gharana differ from the Kirana gharana?

The Indore gharana adds fast merukhand taans in sargam to the very slow tempo it shares with the Kirana gharana. Amir Khan took that tempo from the Kirana singer Abdul Wahid Khan, and his taans and sargam from other masters. Partho Datta's review cites Kumar Prasad Mukherji's view that his raga elaboration came closest to the Kirana style.

Why is it called the Indore gharana if Amir Khan may have been born in Kalanaur?

The gharana is named after Indore because Amir Khan grew up there, where his father was a sarangi player at the court. His birthplace is disputed: Susheela Misra gives Kalanaur, G. N. Joshi Indore, and Suresh Chandvankar Akola, who writes that the family came from Kalanaur and settled in Indore.

Is the Indore khayal gharana the same as the Indore Binkar gharana?

No. The Indore khayal gharana is Amir Khan's vocal school of the 20th century. The Indore Binkar gharana is an older rudra veena line that traces itself to Bande Ali Khan, a court musician of Indore from the 1860s. The two are separate lines that happen to share the city's name.

What is merukhand and how does the Indore gharana use it?

Merukhand is a method of building a raga from systematic permutations of a small group of notes. Amir Khan's father drilled him in it from boyhood, and he used it to shape the slow khayal and his fast taans, sung in sargam. Toshniwal quotes him on practising 5040 taan patterns.

What part does the tarana play in Indore gayaki?

The tarana is a fast form Amir Khan made his own and popularised. Susheela Misra calls it his sole concession to listeners who wanted speed. He held that tarana syllables carry meaning, and composed taranas himself, under the pen name Sur Rang in Toshniwal's account.

Have more questions? Contact our support team and we'll be happy to help!