In these columns, Sarod player Joydeep Mukherjee, shares his research on the extinct Indian music instruments and explores ways to revive them. Mukherjee’s training in music started in 1987 as a 4-year-old. He is a disciple of Sangeetacharya Pranab Kumar Naha (a direct disciple of Pt. Radhika Mohan Maitra) and started to perform from very young age. Gradations from All India Radio & Door Darshan and empanelment from Indian Council for Cultural Relation (ICCR) happened eventually and in 2019 he left his job ( he is also an engineer and did his B.Tech. and MBA (First Class 2nd) from Symbiosis, Pune), he ventured full time into classical music.
In the previous episode, we discussed about Surshringer. Pt. Radhika Mohan Maitra had also created 3 new instruments: The Mohanveena in 1948 (mix of Sarod, Surbahar and Veena and it a bridge instrument between Sarod and Surshringer – totally different than the instrument created by Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt in early 90s), The Dilbahar in 1956 (just the reverse of Mohanveena) and the Nabadeepa in 1967 (mix of Surshringer and Esraj). However, after the untimely death of Pt. Maitra, these instruments almost vanished from the professional stage.
In this episode, we will discuss about Radhika Mohanveena.
It was in 1943, when the young Sarod player, 26-year-old Radhika Mohan Maitra, played Jugalbandi in Surshringar with Ustad Sadiq Ali Khan on Veena at a private concert in Lucknow which was attended by many great musicians of that time. Post the concert Maitra felt the necessity of a 3-in-1 instrument which would have the tonal quality of the Veena, resonance to that of the Surbahar and sweetness cum faster ‘bol-bani’ playing capability to that of a Sarod. Knowing the difficulty of playing Surshringer, he was trying to find a bridge instrument between Surshringer and Sarod by which the “baaj” of Surshringer could be implemented in an instrument that could be played by Sarod players without any difficulty.
After some years of experimentation, in 1948, he came up with a design of an instrument which looked like an amalgamation of Surbahar and Sarod. In the new instrument the essence of Surshringer, Veena, Surbahar and Sarod was incorporated. Amazed by its design and sound quality, Thakur Jaidev Singh, the then producer of All India Radio named the instrument as “Mohan Veena” after the name of Pt. Maitra in 1949. Hence Mohanveena got registered with All India Radio in 1949. He also recorded an interview of Pt. Maitra along with a recital in the same year.
Listen to Pt. Maitra playing Mohanveena here
It was one of the most successful experiments of him where he played several National Programs and numerous AIR recordings on this instrument, which are now the assets of AIR archives. In this instrument the goat skin of the Sarod was replaced by light wood and the huge ‘tabli’ of Surbahar/ Surshringer is minimised. The bridge was flattened and one smaller bridge was added like the Surbahar for sympathetic strings, i.e. ‘Jawari’ component has been added. During 1990s, the Doordarshan did a documentary on this instrument entitled “Mohanveena – a Genesis”.
However, post his retirement from the professional stage in 1977 and following his untimely death in 1981, the instrument became almost extinct. Further, during 1991 when the world famous instrumentalist Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt named his self created modified and upgraded Guitar as “Mohanveena” and popularized this instrument across the world, today, hardly any people especially outside Bengal, remembers the creation of Pt. Radhika Mohan Maitra. A sample All India Radio National program recording of Pt. Maitra of 1960 is attached as a You-Tube link for your reference.
I worked on this instrument for two years 2018-2020 and it was really successful. I also played it in a couple of international music conferences before the lockdown (International Dhrupad Festival, Varanasi & International Veena Mahotsavam in Chennai).
2 thoughts on “Reviving the forgotten instruments of Indian music – 2”
Pt. Mukherjee is perhaps the only successor of Senia Shahjahanpur Gharana who is taking all the aspects Pt. Radhika Mohan Maitra ahead. A great torch bearer of the legendary legacy, am eager to wait more from him in the current episodes. Yesterday only I have gone through all his YouTube videos after reading these articles. God bless him.
It’s high time that Pt. V M Bhatt should change the name of his instrument which is nothing but a modified slide guitar. In the radio announcement it’s clearly saying the instrument of Pt. Maitra as Mohanveena. Pt. Bhatt might not aware about Mohanveena, but Pt. Ravi Shankar? Radhu Babu was his contemporary and am sure out of sheer ignorance and disrespect towards him, Pt. Bhatt named his instrument as Mohanveena. Kaha main, Kaha Radhubabu. Kaha Raja Bhoj Kaha Gangu Teli!!
Pt. Mukherjee is perhaps the only successor of Senia Shahjahanpur Gharana who is taking all the aspects Pt. Radhika Mohan Maitra ahead. A great torch bearer of the legendary legacy, am eager to wait more from him in the current episodes. Yesterday only I have gone through all his YouTube videos after reading these articles. God bless him.
It’s high time that Pt. V M Bhatt should change the name of his instrument which is nothing but a modified slide guitar. In the radio announcement it’s clearly saying the instrument of Pt. Maitra as Mohanveena. Pt. Bhatt might not aware about Mohanveena, but Pt. Ravi Shankar? Radhu Babu was his contemporary and am sure out of sheer ignorance and disrespect towards him, Pt. Bhatt named his instrument as Mohanveena. Kaha main, Kaha Radhubabu. Kaha Raja Bhoj Kaha Gangu Teli!!