Historian Reconstructs Nizami Hyderabad’s Forgotten Musical Era
Hyderabad: A court musician in Hyderabad rewrote the same musical text three times for three different patrons, each time switching between Braj poetry and Persian prose to suit his tastes and strengths. Katherine Schofield, a historian of South Asian music and Professor at King’s College London who has worked for years on Mughal and Deccani archives, used this action to reconstruct Nizami Hyderabad between 1780 and 1830 through Khushhal Khan Anup, a hereditary musician trained in the Mughal court tradition, and Mahlaqa Bai Chanda, a Hyderabad-born courtesan, poet and performer whose life progressed through the highest echelons of the period. Nizam’s court.
In his Manthan speech held at Vidyaranya High School in Hyderabad on Friday, Prof. “What Anup did with ‘Tuhfat al-Hind’ was unique,” Schofield said.
‘Tuhfat al-Hind’, a Persian text describing Indian systems of knowledge, including music, was translated for Raja Rao Ranbha, a Maratha nobleman in Hyderabad, by Khushhal Khan Anup, who changed the music part to Braj Bhasha verse around 1800.
Prof. Schofield later explained that, at Mir Alam’s request, he converted this version into simplified Persian prose for the third Nizam Sikandar Jah in 1808. This was followed by a third version for Mahlaqa Bai Chanda in 1815, written in both Braj and Persian under the patronage of Maharaja Chandu Lal.
Prof. “He’s a very smart guy,” Schofield said of Anup. He returned to this line to make a broader point that Anup was not merely hiding an earlier text. He varied the language, tone, and form for different patrons while maintaining his authority as a musician and scholar.
The conversation turned to Ragini Khambhavati, a musical mode depicted in an illustrated manuscript associated with Anup’s work. Prof. Schofield read the painting as a layered scene representing Mahlaqa Bai Chanda herself, seated in a garden and surrounded by trainee prostitutes.
Prof. “The whole world meets in Kambhavati-Khamaj,” Schofield said. He attributed the image to Hazrat Ali, Rao Ranbha’s devotion to Mahlaqa, Anup’s knowledge and the cultural elements converging in Hyderabad. “The whole world of Nizami Hyderabad and the little world of Anup, Mahlaqa and Rao Ranbha are here,” he said.
“Mahlaqa learned from Anup to place her famous ghazals in the most suitable rags and taals,” he said. He also trained him to compose and perform khayals, tappas, horis and jashns in the dhrupad style.
Prof. Schofield remained as reserved as the record would allow when talking about their relationship. Both worked under the same bosses for decades. Both of them lived in Mahlaqa’s mansion in Nampally for a while. Anup educated his protégés. “I would argue that Mahlaqa’s most enduring and important relationship was with Anup.”
The closing sentence returned to the topic of how such musicians are remembered. “Khushhal Khan Anup was the exact opposite of today’s stereotype of the illiterate ustad that we have inherited from future generations,” he said.
