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{{Short description|Hindustani musician and composer (c. 1493/1500 – 1589)}}
{{other uses}}
{{EngvarB|date=July 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2020}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = Tansen
| caption = Portrait of Mian Tansen painted around 1585-1590<ref>{{cite book|author1=Stuart Cary Welch|author2=Metropolitan Museum of Art|title=India: Art and culture, 1300-1900|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MEvZaVmBQtgC&pg=badk
|year=1985|publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art|isbn=978-0-03-006114-1|pages=171–172}}</ref>
| image = Tansen of Gwalior. (11.8x6.7cm) Mughal. 1585-90. National Museum, New Delhi..jpg
| image_upright = .80
| background = non_vocal_instrumentalist
| associated_acts = [[Swami Haridas]]
| birth_name = Ramtanu Pandey
| birth_date = {{circa|1493 or 1500}}
| birth_place = [[Gwalior]], [[Tomaras of Gwalior|Tomar Kingdom]]
<br/> (modern day [[Madhya Pradesh]], [[India]])
| death_date = 26 April 1589 (aged 89-96) <ref>{{cite book|author=Abul Fazl|title=Akbarnama|translator=Henry Beveridge|publisher=Asiatic Society of Bengal|page=816}}</ref>
| death_place = [[Delhi]], [[Delhi Subah]], [[Mughal Empire]]<ref>{{cite book|author=Susheela Misra|title=Great masters of Hindustani music|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Li4uAAAAMAAJ|year=1981|publisher=Hem Publishers|page=16}}</ref>
<br/> (modern day Delhi, [[India]])
| genre = [[Hindustani Classical Music]]
| occupation = musician, instrumentalist, vocalist, music studies
| years_active = Till 1562: Raja Ramchandra Singh, [[Rewa (princely state)|Rewah]]<br> After 1562: Emperor [[Akbar]]
| label =
}}

'''Miyan Tansen''' ({{circa|1493/1500}} – 26 April 1589), also referred to and commonly known as '''Sangeet Samrat''' ({{lit|Monarch of Music}}) or '''Mian''' ({{lit|the Learned One}}) was a [[Hindustani classical music|Hindustani classical musician]].<ref name="Wade1998p108"/> Born in a Hindu [[Gaur Brahmin]] family,<ref>{{Cite web|title=Tansen, Famous Hindustani Classical Singer Tansen|url=https://www.indiaonline.in/about/personalities/singers/tansen|access-date=2022-01-15|website=www.indiaonline.in}}</ref> he learnt and perfected his art in the northwest region of modern [[Madhya Pradesh]]. He began his career and spent most of his adult life in the court and patronage of the Hindu king of [[Rewa (princely state)|Rewa]], Raja Ramchandra Singh (r.1555–1592), where Tansen's musical abilities and studies gained widespread fame.<ref name="Wade1998p108">{{cite book|author=Bonnie C. Wade|title=Imaging Sound: An Ethnomusicological Study of Music, Art, and Culture in Mughal India|url=https://archive.org/details/imagingsoundethn0000wade|url-access=registration|year=1998|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-86841-7|pages=[https://archive.org/details/imagingsoundethn0000wade/page/108 108]–110}}</ref> This reputation brought him to the attention of the Mughal Emperor [[Akbar|Mohammad Akbar]], who sent messengers to Raja Ramchandra Singh, requesting Tansen to join the musicians at the Mughal court. Tansen did not want to go, but Raja Ramchandra Singh encouraged him to gain a wider audience, and sent him along with gifts to Akbar. In 1562, about the age of 60, the [[Vaishnavism|Vaishnava]]<ref name="Babineau1979p54">{{cite book|author=Edmour J. Babineau|title=Love of God and Social Duty in the Rāmcaritmānas|url=https://archive.org/details/loveofgodsociald0000babi|url-access=registration|year=1979|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-0-89684-050-8|page=[https://archive.org/details/loveofgodsociald0000babi/page/54 54]}}</ref> musician Tansen joined the Akbar's court, and his performances became a subject of many court historians.<ref name="Wade1998p108"/>

Numerous legends have been written about Tansen, mixing facts and fiction, and the historicity of these stories is doubtful.<ref name=nazir19>{{cite book|author=Nazir Ali Jairazbhoy|author-link=Nazir Ali Jairazbhoy|title=The Rāgs of North Indian Music: Their Structure and Evolution|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hGLRqLscf78C&pg=PA19|year=1995|publisher=Popular Prakashan|isbn=978-81-7154-395-3|pages=19–20}}</ref> Akbar considered him one of the [[Navaratnas]] Nine Ministers (the nine jewels), and gave him the title Mian, an honorific, meaning learned man.<ref name="davar">{{cite book|last=Davar|first=Ashok|title=Tansen – The Magical Musician|year=1987|publisher=National book trust|location=India}}</ref>

Tansen was a composer, musician and vocalist, to whom many compositions have been attributed in northern regions of the Indian subcontinent. He was also an instrumentalist who popularized and improved musical instruments. He is among the most influential personalities in North Indian tradition of [[Indian classical music]], called ''Hindustani''. His 16th-century studies in music and compositions inspired many, and he is considered by numerous North Indian ''gharana'' (regional music schools) to be their lineage founder.<ref name=stanton125>{{cite book|author1=Andrea L. Stanton|author2=Edward Ramsamy|author3=Peter J. Seybolt |display-authors=etal |title=Cultural Sociology of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa: An Encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nVN2AwAAQBAJ |year=2012|publisher=SAGE Publications|isbn=978-1-4522-6662-6|page=125}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=Bruno Nettl|author2=Ruth M. Stone|author3=James Porter |display-authors=etal |title=The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: South Asia : the Indian subcontinent|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZOlNv8MAXIEC |year=1998|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-8240-4946-1|pages=376–377}}</ref>

Tansen is remembered for his epic [[Dhrupad]] compositions, creating several new ''[[raga]]s'', as well as for writing two classic books on music ''Sri [[Ganesh]] [[Stotra]]'' and ''Sangita Sara''.<ref>{{cite book|author=Bonnie C. Wade|title=Imaging Sound: An Ethnomusicological Study of Music, Art, and Culture in Mughal India|url=https://archive.org/details/imagingsoundethn0000wade|url-access=registration|year=1998|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-86841-7|page=[https://archive.org/details/imagingsoundethn0000wade/page/117 117]}}</ref> Miyan Tansen Was a musician of Akbar's Court

==Early life==
Tansen's date and place of birth are unclear, but most sources place his birth about 1500 CE, or between 1493 and 1506. His biography is also unclear and many conflicting accounts exist, with some common elements. Historical facts about Tansen are difficult to extract from the extensive and contradictory legends that surround him.<ref name=wade114>{{cite book|author=Bonnie C. Wade|title=Imaging Sound: An Ethnomusicological Study of Music, Art, and Culture in Mughal India|url=https://archive.org/details/imagingsoundethn00wade|url-access=registration|year=1998|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-86841-7|pages=[https://archive.org/details/imagingsoundethn00wade/page/113 113]–114}}</ref>

According to the common elements in the various stories, Tansen's name as a child was Ramtanu.<ref name=dawn>{{cite news |title =Profile: Tansen — the mesmerizing maestro |author=Maryam Juzer Kherulla |publisher=[[Dawn (newspaper)|Dawn]] |url=http://dawn.com/weekly/yworld/archive/021012/yworld5.htm |date=12 October 2002 |access-date=2 October 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071121000709/http://dawn.com/weekly/yworld/archive/021012/yworld5.htm |archive-date =21 November 2007 |df=dmy-all}}</ref> His father Mukund Ram Sen (also known as Mukund Pande or Mukund Ram)<ref>{{cite book |author=Sunita Dhar |title=Senia gharana, its contribution to Indian classical music |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZbgHAQAAMAAJ |year=1989 |publisher=Reliance |isbn=978-81-85047-49-2 |page=19}}</ref> was a wealthy poet and accomplished musician, who for some time was a Hindu temple priest in [[Varanasi]].<ref name=dawn/>

Tansen learnt and perfected his art in the region around [[Gwalior]], in modern [[Madhya Pradesh]]. He began his career and spent most of his adult life in the court and patronage of the Hindu king of [[Rewa (princely state)|Rewa]], Raja Ramchandra Singh, where Tansen's musical abilities and studies gained him widespread fame and following.<ref name="Wade1998p108"/> He was a close confidant of Raja Ramchandra Singh, and they used to make music together. Tansen's reputation brought him to the attention of the Mughal Emperor [[Akbar]], who sent messengers to Raja Ramchandra Singh, requesting Tansen to join the musicians at the Mughal court. Tansen initially refused to go, sought to retire instead into solitude, but Raja Ramchandra Singh, encouraged him to gain wider audience, and sent him along with gifts to Akbar. In 1562, about the age of sixty, Tansen still a [[Vaishnavism|Vaishnava]] musician arrived for the first time in Akbar's court.<ref name="Babineau1979p54"/>

Tansen's influence was central to create the Hindustani classical ethos as we know today. A number of descendants and disciples trace him to be their lineage founder. Many [[gharana]]s (schools) of Hindustani classical music claim some connection to his lineage. To these ''gharanas'', Tansen is the founder of Hindustani classical music.<ref>{{cite book|author=Bruno Nettl|title=Heartland Excursions: Ethnomusicological Reflections on Schools of Music|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wZZ1_pQJnKEC&pg=PA68 |year=1995|publisher=University of Illinois Press|isbn=978-0-252-06468-5|page=68}}, Quote: "This is a recital of the identities of their teachers, perhaps the teachers' own teachers and association with gharanas, or schools, of musicianship, and often an attempt to link the main performer of the day through student-teacher genealogies to one of the early great figures of music, such as the revered Tansen, the mythical culture hero and founder of Hindustani music". When he was a member in the court of Mughal Emperor Akbar he was forced to sing Raga Deepak (dieing song) by his enemies. He was saved by Singing Raga Megh by his daughter and her friend</ref>

==Schooling==
[[File:Akbar and Tansen visit Haridas.jpg|thumb|250px|right|[[Akbar the Great|Akbar]] watching as Tansen receives a lesson from [[Swami Haridas]]. Imaginary situation depicted in [[Mughal miniature painting]] ([[Rajput painting|Rajasthani style]], c. 1750 AD).]]
The legendary oral versions about Tansen's early life and schooling particularly differ depending on whether the story has origins in Hindu legends ([[Vaishnavism]]) or Muslim legends ([[Sufism]]).<ref name="wade114" /> In Hindu versions, the Hindu [[Bhakti movement|bhakti saint]] and poet-musician [[Swami Haridas]] was the major influence on Tansen. In Islamic biographies, the Sufi Muslim mystic named [[Muhammad Ghaus]] is said to have influenced Tansen. According to Bonnie Wade – a professor of Music specializing in South Asia Studies, Swami Haridas is widely accepted to have been Tansen's teacher, and it is clear that Tansen connected with Muhammad Ghaus as well, but the evidence suggests that Tansen is less affiliated with either religion, more with music.<ref name="wade114" />

Tansen showed musical talent at the age of 6. At some point, he was discipled for some time to [[Swami Haridas]], the legendary composer from [[Vrindavan]] and part of the stellar [[Gwalior]] court of Raja [[Man Singh Tomar]] (1486–1516 AD), specialising in the [[Dhrupad]] style of singing. His talent was recognised early and it was the ruler of Gwalior who conferred upon the maestro the honorific title 'Tansen'. Haridas was considered to be a legendary teacher in that time. It is said that Tansen had no equal apart from his teacher. From Haridas, Tansen acquired not only his love for dhrupad but also his interest in compositions in the local language. This was the time when the [[Bhakti]] tradition was fomenting a shift from [[Sanskrit]] to the local idiom ([[Brij Bhasha|Brajbhasa]] and [[Hindi]]), and Tansen's compositions also highlight this trend. At some point during his apprenticeship, Tansen's father died, and he returned home, where it is said he used to sing at a local [[Shiva]] temple.{{citation needed|date=December 2016}}

Hagiographies mention Tansen met the Sufi mystic [[Muhammad Ghaus]]. The interaction with Ghaus brought Sufi influences on Tansen.<ref>{{cite book | author=Wade, Bonnie C. | title=Imaging Sound : An Ethnomusicological Study of Music, Art, and Culture in [[Mughal Empire|Mughal]] India | publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] | year=1998 | isbn=0-226-86840-0 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/imagingsoundethn00wade/page/113 113–114] }}</ref> Late into his life, he continued to compose in [[Brij Bhasha|Brajbhasha]] invoking traditional motifs such as [[Krishna]] and [[Shiva]].<ref>{{cite book | author=Wade, Bonnie C. | title=Imaging Sound : An Ethnomusicological Study of Music, Art, and Culture in [[Mughal Empire|Mughal]] India | publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] | year=1998 | isbn=0-226-86840-0 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/imagingsoundethn00wade/page/114 114–115] }}</ref>

The presence of musicians like Tansen in Akbar's court was an attempt to accept and integrate the Hindu and Muslim traditions within the Mughal Empire.<ref>{{cite book | author=Wade, Bonnie C. | title=Imaging Sound : An Ethnomusicological Study of Music, Art, and Culture in [[Mughal Empire|Mughal]] India | publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] | year=1998 | isbn=0-226-86840-0}}</ref> Tansen became one of the treasured [[Navaratnas]] (lit. ''nava''=nine, ''ratna''=jewel) of Akbar's court. He received the honorific title ''Mian'' there, and the name Mian Tansen.

=== Compositions ===
Tansen's musical compositions covered many themes, and employed [[Dhrupad]]. Most of these were derived from the Hindu [[Puranas]], composed in [[Braj Bhasha]], and written in praise of gods and goddesses such as [[Ganesha]], [[Saraswati]], [[Surya]], [[Shiva]], [[Vishnu]] (Narayana and Krishna avatar).<ref name="Martinez186">{{cite book |author=José Luiz Martinez |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OwJRnFIcM4cC&pg=PA186 |title=Semiosis in Hindustani Music |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |year=2001 |isbn=978-81-208-1801-9 |pages=186–187}}</ref><ref>Françoise Delvoye (1990), ''Tânsen et la tradition des chants dhrupad en langue braj, du XVIe siècle à nos jours'', Thèse d'État non publiée. Paris : Université de la Sorbonne Nouvelle (in French), {{oclc|416547961}}; For a review, see Allison Busch (2010), Hidden in Plain View: Brajbhasha Poets at the Mughal Court, Modern Asian Studies, Cambridge University Press, Vol. 44, No. 2 (MARCH 2010), pages 275, 267-309</ref> He also composed and performed compositions dedicated to eulogizing kings and emperor Akbar.<ref name="Martinez186" />
[[File:Akbar, Todarmal, Tansen and Abul Fazal, Faizi and Abdur Rahim Khan-i-Khana in a court scene (16th Century A.D.).jpg|center|thumb|520x520px|Tansen in Emperor [[Akbar|Akbar's]] Court along with [[Todar Mal|Todarmal]], [[Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak|Abul Fazal]], [[Faizi]] and [[Abdul Rahim Khan-i-Khanan|Abdur Rahim Khan-i-Khana]] c.16th century]]

==Family ==
Tansen married one Hussaini, having four sons and one daughter by this marriage: Surat Sen, Sarat Sen, Tarang Khan, Bilwas Khan and Saraswati. All five became proficient musicians in their own right, with the latter also marrying [[Naubat Khan|Misra Singh]] of Singhalgarh, a notable [[Veena|veena-player]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Haldar|first=Amal|title=Miya Tansen|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.506796/page/n153/mode/2up|journal=The Modern Review|volume=CXV|issue=2|date=February 1964|page=131}}</ref> One legend states that Tansen had also been married to a daughter of Akbar named Mehrunissa.<ref name="Dhar1989">{{cite book|last=Dhar|first=Sunita|title=Senia Gharana, Its Contribution to Indian Classical Music|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZbgHAQAAMAAJ|year=1989|publisher=Reliance Publishing House|isbn=978-81-85047-49-2|page=24}}</ref>

==Death==
The year of the death of Tansen, like much of his biography, is unclear. According to one version, written by Islamic historians, Tansen died in 1586 in [[Delhi]], and that Akbar and much of his court attended the funeral procession which was completed according to Muslim customs.<ref name=dawn/><ref>{{cite book|author=Stephen F. Dale|title=The Muslim Empires of the Ottomans, Safavids, and Mughals|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vNmaBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT160 |year=2009| publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-316-18439-4|page=160}}</ref> Other versions, written by Hindu historians, as well as in Akbarnama, written by Abul Fazl, give 26 April 1589 as the date of his death and that his funeral observed mostly Hindu customs.<ref>{{cite book|author=Bonnie C. Wade|title=Imaging Sound: An Ethnomusicological Study of Music, Art, and Culture in Mughal India|url=https://archive.org/details/imagingsoundethn00wade|url-access=registration|year=1998|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-86840-0|page=[https://archive.org/details/imagingsoundethn00wade/page/115 115]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Fazl|first=Abul|title=Akbarnama|publisher=Asiatic Society of Bengal|pages=816|translator-last=Beveridge|translator-first=Henry}}</ref> Tansen remains were buried in the mausoleum complex of his Sufi master Shaikh Muhammad Ghaus in Gwalior. Every year in December, an annual festival, the ''[[Tansen Samaroh]]'', is held in Gwalior to celebrate Tansen.<ref>{{cite news|url = http://www.hindu.com/mag/2004/01/11/stories/2004011100040100.htm
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20040930093656/http://www.hindu.com/mag/2004/01/11/stories/2004011100040100.htm
|url-status = dead
|archive-date = 30 September 2004
|work = [[The Hindu]]
|title= Strains of a raga ... iun Gwalior|date = 11 January 2004}}</ref>

==Popular culture==
Several Hindi films have been made on Tansen's life, with mostly anecdotal story lines. Some of them are ''[[Tansen (film)|Tansen]]'' (1943), a musical hit produced by Ranjit Movietone, starring [[K. L. Saigal]] and [[Khursheed Bano]].<ref name="NettlArnold2000">{{cite book|last1=Nettl|first1=Bruno|last2=Arnold|first2=Alison|title=The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: South Asia : the Indian subcontinent|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZOlNv8MAXIEC&pg=PA525|year=2000|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-8240-4946-1|page=525}}</ref> ''Tansen'' (1958) and ''Sangeet Samrat Tansen'' (1962). Tansen is also a central character, though remaining mostly in the backdrop, in the historical musical [[Baiju Bawra (1952 film)|''Baiju Bawra'']] (1952), based on the life of his eponymous contemporary.{{citation needed|date=December 2016}}<gallery>
File:Mia Tansen by Lala Deo Lal.jpg|Modern Artist impression of Tansen
File:Photo Mian Tansen 1580.jpg|Mughal painting of Tansen c.1580
File:Tansen Tomb - panoramio.jpg|Tansen's tomb in [[Gwalior]], near the tomb of his [[Sufism|Sufi]] master Muhammad Ghaus
File:Tansen's tomb (16290416076).jpg|Inside Tansen's tomb
File:Fatehpur Sikri anup-talao-crp.jpg|[[Fatehpur Sikri]] audience chambers, with Anup Talao on the left.
File:Tansen mughal.jpg|20th century depiction of Tansen
</gallery>

==Legacy==
===Tansen award===
[[File:Stamp of India - 1986 - Colnect 167172 - Miyan Tansen.jpeg|thumb|Stamp of India depicting Tansen ]]
A national music festival known as 'Tansen Samaroh' is held every year in December, near the tomb of Tansen at Behat as a mark of respect to his memory. The [[Tansen Samman]] or Tansen award is given away to exponents in [[Hindustani Classical music]].

===Buildings===
The fort at [[Fatehpur Sikri]] is strongly associated with Tansen's tenure at Akbar's court. Near the emperor's chambers, a pond was built on a small island in the middle, where musical performances were given. Today, this tank, called ''Anup Talao'', can be seen near the public audience hall ''Diwan-i-Aam'' – a central platform reachable via four footbridges. It is said that Tansen would perform different ragas at different times of day, and the emperor and his select audience would honour him with coins. Tansen's supposed residence is also nearby.

===Miracles and legends===
The bulk of Tansen's biography as found in the Akbar court historian accounts and ''gharana'' literature consists of inconsistent and miraculous legends.<ref name="davar"/> Among the legends about Tansen are stories of his bringing down the rains with [[Raga]] [[Megh Malhar]] and lighting lamps by performing Raga Deepak.<ref>{{cite book|author1=George Ruckert|author2=Ali Akbar Khan|title=The Classical Music of North India: The first years study|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uWIJAQAAMAAJ|year=1998|publisher=Munshiram Manoharlal|isbn=978-81-215-0872-8|page=270}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Deva|first=Bigamudre|title=Indian Music|year=1995|publisher=Taylor & Francis|location=India}}</ref> Raga Megh Malhar is still in the mainstream repertoire, but raga Deepak is no longer known; three different variants exist in the [[Bilaval|Bilawal]], [[Poorvi]] and [[Khamaj]] [[thaat]]s. It is not clear which, if any, corresponds to the Deepak of Tansen's time. Other legends tell of his ability to bring wild animals to listen with attention (or to talk their language). Once, a wild white elephant was captured, but it was fierce and could not be tamed. Finally, Tansen sang to the elephant who calmed down and the emperor was able to ride him.{{citation needed|date=December 2016}}

===Crater===
A [[Tansen (crater)|crater]] on the planet [[Mercury (planet)|Mercury]] has been named in Tansen's honor.<ref>{{cite web |url = https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/5858|title = Tansen |publisher = [[IAU]]/[[USGS]]/[[NASA]] |work = Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature |access-date = 12 May 2022}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1490s births]]
[[Category:1580s deaths]]
[[Category:Indian male classical musicians]]
[[Category:Indian Hindus]]
[[Category:Mughal nobility]]
[[Category:People from Agra]]
[[Category:People from Gwalior]]
[[Category:People from Rewa, Madhya Pradesh]]
[[Category:Akbar]]
[[Category:Indian male composers]]
[[Category:16th-century Indian musicians]]

Tansen - Revision history

Androidsub143 at 12:59, 27 March 2026

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