पखावज

Parts Of Pakhavaj

https://www.facebook.com/WorldPakhawaj

पखावज - Fast भजनी कहरवा , उठान | दुष्यंत

पखावज उत्तरी भारत का एक थाप यंत्र है. मृदंग पखावज और खोल लगभग समान संरचना वाले वाद्य यंत्र हैं.आधुनिक काल में गायन, वादन तथा नृत्य की संगति में पखावज का प्रयोग विशेष तौर पर किया जाने लगा है.पखावज एक वाद्य यंत्र है जो चमड़े से मढ़ा हुआ होता है और ऐसे वाद्यों को अवनद्ध कहा जाता है. वर्तमान में भी भारत के लोकसंगीत में ढोल, मृदंग, झांझ, मंजीरा, ढप, नगाड़ा, पखावज, एकतारा आदि वाद्य यंत्रों का प्रचलन है।.पखावज मृदंग की तुलना में कुछ अधिक लम्बा होता है तथा इसमें डोरियों को कसने हेतु लकड़ी के कुछ गुटके लगे होते है.

पखावज का इतिहास अत्यन्त प्राचीन नहीं है. 15वीं शताब्दी तक किसी भी संगीत पुस्तक या अन्य किसी भी स्थान पर पखावज का कोई भी उल्लेख नहीं मिलता. प्राचीन तथा मध्यकाल में ताल वाद्य के रूप में मृदंग का उल्लेख मिलता है. जानकारों का अनुमान यह है कि मृदंग के आकार बनावट में थोड़ा परिवर्तन कर मृदंग को ही पखावज कहा जाने लगा होगा. कहा जाता है कि अमीर खुसरो पखावज बजा रहे थे. उसी समय यह दो टुकड़ों में टूट गया. तब उन्होने इन टुकड़ों को बजाने की कोशिश की जो कि काम कर गया। इस प्रकार तबले का जन्म हुआ.

पखावज की उत्पत्ति किस प्रकार हुई, इस संबंध में मृदंग ही प्रमुख आधार माना गया है. आचार्य भरतकालीन निर्मित त्रिपुष्कर वाद्य के तीन अंग आंकिक, आलिंग्य, उध्र्वक थे. अंकित -‘यह वाद्य लेटाकर बजाया जाता था इस वाद्य के दो मुख थें. आलिग्य – इस वाद्य का एक मुख था उध्र्वक यह खड़ा बजाया जाता था, इस वाद्य का भी एक ही मुख था. कालान्तर में त्रिपुष्कर के दो अंग विलुप्त हो गए. केवल अंकित वाद्य ही प्रचलित रहा. यही वाद्य आगे चलकर कुछ परिवर्तन के साथ मृदंग, पखावज के रूप में प्रचलित हुआ.

बता दें कि रामचरित मानस में प्रयुक्त बाजत ताल पखावज बीना, अथवा बाजत ताल मृदंग अनूपा तथा घंटा घंटि पखावज आउज आदि पंक्तियों के जाहिर होता है कि चार-पाँच सौ वर्ष पूर्व पखावज शब्द प्रचलन में आ गया था. दोनों पक्षों से बजने के कारण मृदंग का नाम पक्षवाद्य हुआ और कालान्तर में इसे पखबाज कहा जाने लगा. यह नाम आज भी महाराष्ट्र में प्रचलित है. धीरे-धीरे पखबाज पखावज कहा जाने लगा.

भारत के प्रसिद्ध पखावज वादकों के नाम हैं- पंडित मदन मोहन, पंडित भोलानाथ पाठक, पंडित अमरनाथ मिश्र.
एक विचार कहता है कि पखावज फारसी शब्द है. अन्य विचार यह है कि पखावज शब्द भी संस्कृत से बना तद्भव शब्द है. अर्थात् पक्षवाद्य इस का अपभ्रष्ट रूप पखावज. पक्ष, इस शब्द का अर्थ होता है बाज़ू. और पक्ष-वाद्य यानी ऐसा वाद्य जिस की (2) बाजुएं होती है. अर्थात् मृदंग और पखावज एक ही वाद्य के दो विभिन्न नाम हैं. परन्तु पखावज यह शब्द विशेषतः उत्तर भारत में विकसित मृदंग के रूप के लिए प्रयुक्त किया जाता है. मृदंग का दक्षिण भारत में जो रूप विकसित हुआ है उसे पखावज नहीं कहते हैं. उसे केवल मृदंगम् कहते हैं

Reff http://thehindi.in/have-you-heard-pakhawaj/ .

As with the tabla, the pakhavaj rhythms (or tala) are taught by a series of mnemonic syllables known as bol. The playing technique varies from that of tabla in many aspects. Most remarkably, the artist hits the bass face - which would be the left side of pakhavaj for a right-handed person - with the whole palm instead of with the finger tips as is done with a tabla. The treble face - which would be the right side of the pakhavaj for a right-handed person - is played with varied configurations of the fingers to produce different bols according to a given rhythm, whereas the traditional mode is to use the whole hand in order to produce the pure and perfect sound, called 'chanti'.

In traditional pakhavaj styles a student would learn a number of different strokes which produce a specific sound. These are remembered and practised with corresponding syllables i.e. mnemonics. This memorisation is often referred to as पढ़न्त in Hindi. While pakavaj mnemonics share some similarity with the tabla mnemonics, the interpretation of the same mnemonics may be different in pakhavaj and vary according to the respective gharana - e.g. the Nana Panse gharana and the Nathdwara gharana.

Indian classical music tradition encourages the percussionist to verbally recite the rhythm as expressed in these mnemonics. Since the percussionist is expected to improvise one's own rhythms, having a good knowledge of mnemonics helps in finding a common ground with the musician who a percussionist accompanies. As a percussionist may be required to play the rhythm quite fast at times (i.e. the drut laya) - these mnemonics are designed to assist fast recital by the percussionist.

The following are some mnemonics that are popular.

1. दिन (din) - This sound is made by gently hitting the centre of the treble face with all fingers except the thumb and leaving the hand quickly enough to allow a resonating sound. The resonant sound thus produced often serves as a bridge to the next mnemonic in the rhythm.
2. ता (ta) - This sound is made by waving the hand from down to up while brushing the top of the treble face with the part of the hand slightly below the little finger. This produces a resonating sound which often serves as the last mnemonic of the rhythm's sub-cycle.
3. घे (ghe) - This sound is made by hitting the bass part with all fingers except the thumb closed.
4. धा (dha) - This is a compound mnemonic composed of घे and ता and is thus played with both hands simultaneously on the pakhavaj.
5. तिट (tiTa) - This sound is produced on the treble face in two parts. Both parts are muted hits and are produced by leaving the hand on the face to suppress the resonance that would have been caused if the hand were to quickly hit the face (i.e. taken away immediately). The first part is a muted hit with the middle, ring and little finger and the second part is a muted hit with just the index finger.
6. क (ka) - This sound is produced on the bass face with a muted hit with all fingers of the hand.
7. न (n) - This is a muted sound made on the treble face with the middle and ring fingers.
8. ना (na) - This is similar to the equivalent sound in tabla. The ring finger needs to be on the border separating the syahi (black center of the treble face) while the index finger is used hit the edge and lifted immediately to produce a resonating tone (higher than that of the center).
9. तिन (tin) - This sound is similar to ना(na) but the index finger is used to hit the मैदान (maidan) - the area between the outermost ring and the inner circle (syahi).
10. कत (kata) - This is a compound sound produced made by playing क(ka) and ता (ta) in succession (not simultaneously like in धा - dha).
11. गन (gan) - This is a compound sound produced made by playing क(ka) and न (n) in succession.
12. गदि (gadi) - This is a compound sound produced made by playing क(ka) and दिन (din) in succession.

Alternative names are sometimes used for some of the mnemonics (bol) in order to assist fast recital. For example, घे (ghe) could also be pronounced थुन् (thun) and तिट (tiTa) could also be pronounced as किट(kiTa).

A basic exercise that a beginner is expected to learn is playing a theka (pattern) in a particular tala or rhythmic cycle. For example, the simple bols for chautal or chartal (unrelated to chowtal - the folksong style from the Bhojpuri-speaking region) in 12 beats are as follows:

|धा धा | दिन ता | तिट धा | दिन ता | तिट कत | गदि गन |

| dha dha | din ta || tiTa dha | din ta | tiTa kata | gadi gana |

Learners typically advance to practising relas (which are compositions performed at high tempo/laya).

Another tala used often in compositions is Dhamaar tala(14 beats) - which follows the scheme of 3-2-2-3-4 and sometimes 3-2-2-3-2-2 - varying according to the particular correspondence. The theka for Dhamara tala is |Ka dhi ta | dhi ta| dha S |Ga di na | di na ta S | Another impressive tala is Sultala(10 beats) or Sur-fank tala following the scheme of 2-2-2-2-2 notable by the theka of | Dha kete | Nak Dhi | Ghere Nak | Gad Di | Ghere Nak |

A few other talas used in the pakhavaj are the Therwa (7 beats/3-2-2) tala, Matta tala(9 beats/4-2-3 and sometimes 4-1-4), Teentala (16 beats/4-4-4-4) and Pancham Sawari(15 beats/3-4-4-4). These are not as common.

Nana Panse, Nathdwara and Kudai Singh may be the primary surviving gharanas of pakhawaj but there are at least 11 styles that can be traced in recent history - Jaawli, Mathura, Punjab, Kudau Singh, Nana Saheb Panse, Naathdwara, Bishnupur, Gurav parampara, Mangalvedhekar, Gwalior, Raigarh, Gujarat, Jaipur and Jodhpur. Given the long history of the instrument, it is difficult to be exhaustive with the list of prominent pakhavaj players, but here are a few prominent pakhavaj players from recent times.

1. Lala Bhagwandas
2. Nanasaheb Panse
3. Kudau Singh
4. Purshottam Das (1907-1991)
5. Swami Pagal Das Ji (1920-1997)
6. Pandit Raja Chhatrapati Singh (1919–1998)
7. Pandit Shrikant Mishra (1952-2012)
8. Pandit Ayodhya Prasad
9. Pandit Taranath Rao
10. Pandit Purushottam Das
11. Manik Munde
12. S. V. Patwardhan
13. Arjun Shejwal
14. Ramji Upadhyay
15. Govindrao Burhanpurkar
16. Pandit Murlidhar Sharma
17. Tota Ram Sharma
18. Akhilesh Gundecha
19. Pandit Ravi Shankar Upadhyay
20. Mohan Shyam Sharma
21. Shri Chanchal Bhattacharya
22. Pandit Dalchand Sharma
23. Mridangacharya Sri Gurudas Ghosh
24. Pandit Prabal Nath

Mridang was also called muraj and later on in the thirteenth century it was known as maddalam. In the medieval period, after fifteenth century, there was yet another name for this instrument pakhavaj or pakhvaj. This instrument with its new name, which is a distorted version of pakh+ouj = pakhavaj or paksh+vadya = pakhvaj, became a major percussion instrument of North Indian classical music, whereas the instrument with other regional characteristics and with the name mridangam, developed in the Carnatic system. Though the name mridang has not faded into oblivion and is occasionally used as synonym for pakhavaj, the latter is the more popular and commonly used name for this instrument in north India. Pakhavaj acquired a place of great importance in Hindustani music till the nineteenth century. It was the only accompanying instrument of the dhrupad style of singing and for the instruments played in dhrupad style such as been, rabab, sursingar and surbahar, etc., and thus was looked upon with great reverence. With the fall of dhrupad and with the advent of khayal in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, pakhavaj also lost its reigning position, and made way for the tabla. Pakhavaj is mainly an instrument to be played upon with open hand (thapi), which suppresses the delicateness of bols of khayal, thumri and sitar, whereas the tabla is played with fingers. It is a more supple and delicate instrument and suits the temperament of delicate and emotive kinds of musical forms such as khayal, thumri and sitar.

The instrument is barrel shaped with an asymmetrical convexity towards the left. In fact, the drum has a barley shape (yavakriti), one of the shapes referred to in Bharat's Natya Shastra and it is hollowed out of a block of wood. The wood used is of sheesham, khair, red sandalwood, vijaysar, etc. The total length of the instrument varies between two to two-and-a-half feet, the bulge is of about ninety centimetres circumference. The right face, which is smaller than the left, is the tuning face and emits the higher pitch, its circumference being about sixteen to twenty centimetres, i.e. six to eight inches. The circumference of the left face is about twenty-five centimetres, i.e. around ten inches. The circumference of the two faces is variable and is always kept in relation to the size of the instrument. The parchment called 'pudi' is prepared from two membranes, the inner complete skin and the outer peripheral ring. The two faces are held by braids (gajra) and connected by leather straps, which are sixteen in number and called ghat or ghar. The skin used for pudi parchment is of goat, whereas the baddhi or the braces are made of buffalo leather. Between the braces there are eight tuning blocks. For tuning, the blocks are pushed with a hammer to the left or the right; the pitch can be raised or lowered by this process. The blocks used in pakhavaj are bigger than those used in tabla. The preparation of the pudi of the right face is done exactly as the pudi prepared for the right tabla. But for the left face no black paste (syahi) is used. Instead a temporary mixture of wheat or barley flour mixed with water is applied at the time of the concert, which is carefully scraped off just after the programme. There is no fixed weight or standard quantity of dough that should be applied, but the artist judges it by experience. The intention is to get the pitch of the left face just half of the right face, or if the half is not possible, it is reduced to one-third. The application of dough on the faces of percussion instruments is an old tradition, which is a very special characteristic of Indian drums. Till a few years ago the application of dough, as done on the left face of the pakhavaj, was also prevalent with the left drum of the tabla, but later it was substituted with a permanent mixture, i.e. 'syahi', which appeared more convenient. In some parts of Punjab, this is still prevalent in respect of the tabla. Application of the dough works in two ways, i.e. it controls the pitch of the left face and also gives depth and resonance to the tone, which leaves a majestic, sober impression on the listener.

While playing, the player sits with his legs crossed, the pakhavaj is kept horizontally on the ground or in the lap and played with palm and fingers. The instrument is equally suitable for accompaniment as well as for a solo performance and has to its credit a vast repertoire developed for centuries by stalwart pakhavaj players.

Some of the great pakhavajies of recent times are: Purushottam Das (Nathdwara), Ayodhya Prasad (Rampur), Pagaldas (Ayodhya), Raja Chhatrapati Singh (Bijana), Lala Keval Kishan, Makkan Pakhavaji, Ambadas Agle (Indore), Totaram Sharma (Mathura) and Ramashish Pathak. In the younger generation Dalchand Sharma (Delhi), Devakinandan Goswami (Indore) and Ramjilal Sharma (Lucknow) have shown remarkable talent and perseverance in this field.