Music during the Mughal era emerged as one
of the most experimented forms of art. Several new forms of music like Qawwali, Sufi music and Bhakti
music gained prominence.The Mughals
loved music. Babar is said to have
composed songs. Akbar loved music
and his court had eminent musicians like Tansen
of Gwalior and Baz Bahadur of
Malwa. Tansen composed several ragas, notable among them was Raag Darbari.
The most influential musician of the Delhi
Sultanate was Amir Khusrau, who is
sometimes called the father of Modern Classical Hindustani music. He composed
in Arabic, Turkish, Persian and Braj Bhasha. He invented several ragas
like Yaman Kalyan, Zeelaf and Sarpada. He is credited with the
invention of the Khayal form. He also
introduced Qawwali in India.
The
influence of Persian music during the medieval history of India was evident
with forms like Ghazals and others. However, the Bhakti movement characterised by the Shaivite (devotees of Lord Shiva) and Vaishnavite (devotees of Lord Vishnu) sects also became popular.
Some of the exponents of this form were Meerabai,
Jayadeva and others. Meerabai sang
in praise of Lord Krishna and her bhajans are popular even today.
Akbar, the most successful and benevolent Mughal emperor encouraged music
practised by Hindus and Muslims. On the other hand, Aurangzeb banned songs and dance in the royal court due to his
religious beliefs. Despite this, several new music forms became popular during
his era.
Raja
Mansingh Tomar of Gwalior is credited with popularising
Hindi as a language for classical songs. He also wrote a book called ‘Mankutuhal’ (Book of Curiosity) during the time which outlines the musical
trends followed during the era. Songs in popular languages were composed and
written by Nanak and Kabir.
Nanak, the founder of Sikhism,
believed in ‘Ek Onkar’ (one God). He was against idol worship and casteism. He believed
in singing songs in praise of that one supreme god. Kabir’s dohas were important in the sense that
they advocated the unity of religions along with valuable social messages.
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