Story of Pakhawaj

Lord Shiva’s dance and origin of Mridanga

According to some scholars, Mridang is the aadi vadya of Indian classical music and it was created by Lord Brahma himself.

According to another legend, when Lord Shiva killed the demon Tripurasur, out of joy and ecstasy He started dancing but as the dance was without any laya, the earth started trembling, shaking and sinking towards the rasaatal (the lower areas of universe).

Lord Brahma was worried about the situation of the earth and to overcome the crisis he immediately invented mridanga from Tripurasur’s body parts and instructed Lord Ganesha to play it.

When Lord Shiva heard the sound of mridanga, He became intoxicated and excited and started dancing according to the beats played by Ganesha. This is how the mridanga & taals originated.

Origin of Pushkar Vadyas & Mridanga according to Natya Shastra

According to another story, famous Sage Swati Muni and Narad Muni himself are the creators of the Pushkar Vadyas.

Pushkar in Sanskrit has three meanings i.e. lotus, pond and rain. Once Swati Muni went to a pond to fetch water, suddenly it started raining and due to wind flow, big and small drops started falling on the lotus petals and created melodious sound notes. Swati Muni was astonished to hear the beautiful sound beats and carried them in his heart to his ashram. There he instructed Vishvakarma (chief architect of demigods) to create an instrument to produce the notes. Vishvakarma created a three headed instrument containing mrit (mud) which was called Pushkaras it could produce the similar sound notes as Swati Muni heard at the pond and on the lotus petals.

Later wood and metal came into use to build the body of the Pushkar instrument and that was the origin of the Mridang and other instrument where leather is used for heads.

Although Pushkar is no longer in use, mridanga continues to dominate the world of percussion in Indian classical music.

Mridanga was fully developed and widely used during Ramayan and Mahabharat eras as mentioned in these epics. Veena and Mridanga were very popular instruments during that time period. Also the some figures and statues found during the excavation of Mohenjo-Daro and Harrapa shows an instrument which looks like mridanga, played with both the hands and is hanging around the neck of the person through a rope. Various sixth and seventh centuries rock cuttings at various temples and caves in India clearly depict the usage of Pushkar and Mridanga during that period.

Mridanga is the combination of two Sanskrit words, mrit (mud) + anga (has two meanings, body or a part of body). Clearly mridanga means an instrument which is completely or partially made out of mud. However in some scriptures, mridanga is also recommended to be made out of wood.

It is assumed that to produce the sound note by the skin head and to generate a clear tone and to tune the sound note, wet mud was applied on the heads of percussion instruments. Mud was later replaced by more permanent syahi.

Origin of Pakhawaj

Various names of Pakhawaj – Pakahwaj is also known as – Mridang, mardal, muraj, madal and pakhawaj. These names are commonly used by various poets in their compositions and poetry.

Muslim invasion and dynasties have greatly influenced the culture and thought process of Indian civilization. It impacted more the music of North India rather than the South. Therefore some scholars feel that this influence has contributed in its own way to add beauty and a new life of melody, (both in compositions and poetry) to the North Indian music. On the other hand the South Indian Music continued in its pure original form and in a way lack the beauty aspect of this influence. We can clearly see the difference between both North Indian and South Indian classical music styles and compositions today.

Word “Pakhawaj” is originated from Persian phrase “pakh awaz” – one which creates mild sound. Pakh has another meaning that is the area of hands from underarms to elbow. Mridanga, where there is strong movement of Pakh is required to create awaz (sound or beat) may be named as Pakhawaj.

Pakhawaj name came into common practice during the period of Emperor Akbar. Many Brij Bhasha poets such as Surdas, Nand Das adi and ashtachaap poets have also called it pakhawaj as well as mridanga in their compositions. 

As per my discussion with Pandit Dalchand Sharma Ji, Pakhawaj is the original Mangal Vadya (auspicious instrument played during religious and cultural ceremonies).

Pakahwaj is still mandatory accompanying instrument with Dhrupad, Kathak, Haveli Sangeet and Samaj Gayaki of any sampradya.

Also Pakhawaj is itself played successfully as a solo instrument.

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