Music and arts of MP: Tansen to Bhil painting

Every December, musicians from across India gather in Gwalior beside the tomb of Tansen for the Tansen Samaroh, one of the oldest classical music festivals in the country. It is a fitting tribute. Madhya Pradesh has been one of the great homes of Indian music for five centuries, and it is also home to some of India's most admired tribal art: the dotted, colourful worlds of Gond and Bhil painting.

For MPPSC, this topic works in two ways. Prelims asks direct matching questions: which gharana, which city, which artist, which festival. Mains uses the same material for answers on MP's cultural heritage, tribal identity and the role of state institutions in keeping art alive. This guide covers both.

Classical music: the Gwalior tradition

Raja Man Singh Tomar and dhrupad

Gwalior's musical story begins with Raja Man Singh Tomar (late fifteenth and early sixteenth century), a patron of dhrupad, the austere, devotional style of Hindustani vocal music. A treatise on music, the Mankutuhal, is attributed to his court. The state's music and arts university at Gwalior is named after him.

Tansen

• Tansen (sixteenth century) is traditionally said to have been born at Behat, near Gwalior.
• He trained in dhrupad; tradition names Swami Haridas among his teachers.
• He served Raja Ramchandra, the Baghela ruler of the Rewa region, before joining Akbar's court, where he was counted among the "nine gems".
• His tomb is in Gwalior, in the complex of the tomb of the Sufi saint Muhammad Ghaus.
• The Tansen Samaroh is held there every December, and MP's Tansen Samman honours eminent Hindustani musicians.

The gharanas

A gharana is a lineage of musicians sharing a style passed from teacher to disciple. Two of India's most important began in present-day MP.

The Gwalior gharana is a vocal (khayal) tradition. The Maihar gharana is mainly an instrumental tradition: sitar, sarod, surbahar and flute. That distinction is a common Prelims trap.

Gwalior was named a UNESCO Creative City of Music in 2023, which makes it a useful recent example in answers on cultural heritage.

Musicians linked to MP

Tribal and folk art

Gond painting

• Grew out of the Gond community's tradition of painting walls and floors for festivals and rituals, in the Mandla–Dindori region.
• Jangarh Singh Shyam (1962–2001), from Patangarh village in Dindori, took it onto paper and canvas. He was brought to Bharat Bhavan by the artist J. Swaminathan, and his work reached galleries in India and abroad. The style he started is often called Jangarh kalam.
• Features: animals, trees, deities and myths filled with dots, dashes and fine lines in bright colours. Every artist develops a personal filling pattern, almost a signature.
• Artists of the Patangarh school, such as Bhajju Shyam and Durga Bai Vyam, have received national honours including the Padma Shri.
• Gond painting has a GI tag.

Bhil art

• The Bhil community of western MP (Jhabua, Alirajpur, Dhar) paints with rows of dots in bright colours: animals, festivals, the forest and daily life.
• Bhuri Bai, from Pitol in Jhabua, was among the first Bhil artists to paint on paper. She came to Bharat Bhavan as a construction worker, was encouraged to paint by J. Swaminathan, and received the Padma Shri in 2021.

Pithora

Pithora paintings are ritual wall paintings, full of horses and deities, made among the Bhil, Bhilala and Rathwa communities of western MP and neighbouring Gujarat. They are painted to fulfil a vow or mark an occasion, not as decoration.

Older traditions

• Rock art: the Bhimbetka rock shelters near Bhopal, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, hold paintings from prehistoric times onward.
• Bagh caves (Dhar): Buddhist cave paintings often compared with Ajanta.
• Mandana: floor and wall designs drawn with white on a red-earth base, common in Malwa and neighbouring Rajasthan.

Institutions and festivals

For Mains: how to use this topic

Question: "Discuss Madhya Pradesh's contribution to Indian music and art." (250 words)

Outline:

1. Introduction: MP as a meeting point of courtly, devotional and tribal traditions.
2. Classical music: Man Singh Tomar and dhrupad; Tansen; the Gwalior gharana as the oldest khayal gharana; Maihar and Allauddin Khan's disciples.
3. Modern figures: Kumar Gandharva and Malwa's folk; the sarod tradition of Gwalior; Lata Mangeshkar and Kishore Kumar.
4. Tribal art: Gond painting (Jangarh Singh Shyam), Bhil art (Bhuri Bai), Pithora; GI protection.
5. Institutions: Bharat Bhavan, the Tribal Museum, IGRMS, Tansen and Kalidas Samaroh, state awards.
6. Challenges: fewer young learners in the guru–shishya system; tribal artists' fair pay and copying of designs.
7. Conclusion: living traditions need patrons, markets and teaching, not only museums.

Practice

1. Tansen's tomb is located in: (a) Gwalior (b) Rewa (c) Agra (d) Ujjain
Answer: (a). It stands in the complex of Muhammad Ghaus's tomb.

2. Which is regarded as the oldest khayal gharana? (a) Kirana (b) Jaipur-Atrauli (c) Maihar (d) Gwalior
Answer: (d). Maihar is mainly instrumental.

3. Baba Allauddin Khan is associated with: (a) Gwalior gharana (b) Maihar gharana (c) Dhrupad Sansthan (d) Bharat Bhavan
Answer: (b).

4. Jangarh Singh Shyam is associated with: (a) Bhil art (b) Pithora (c) Gond painting (d) Mandana
Answer: (c). Bhuri Bai is the Bhil artist.

5. Bharat Bhavan in Bhopal was designed by: (a) B. V. Doshi (b) Charles Correa (c) Laurie Baker (d) Le Corbusier
Answer: (b). It opened in 1982.

6. Match the musician with the MP town: Kumar Gandharva, Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar.
Answer: Dewas, Khandwa, Indore.

Mains-style (short, 150 words): What are the distinctive features of Gond painting, and how did it reach a national audience?

Revise this

• Man Singh Tomar, dhrupad, Mankutuhal
• Tansen: Behat, Rewa, Akbar, tomb at Gwalior, Tansen Samaroh (December)
• Gwalior gharana (khayal) vs Maihar gharana (instrumental); Allauddin Khan's disciples
• Kumar Gandharva, Hafiz Ali Khan, Lata, Kishore: towns
• Gond, Bhil, Pithora, Mandana: community and identifier
• Bharat Bhavan 1982, Charles Correa, four wings

For the dances that go with this music, read folk dances of MP; for GI-tagged crafts, crafts and GI products of MP; and for the full list of state honours, MP's awards and cultural institutions.