Page:The Music of India.djvu/33

 would not even obey the command of the Emperor to come to court, he asked to be taken to him. It was necessary for the Emperor to go in disguise as the humble instrument-carrier of his singer. They came to the hermitage of Haridas Swami on the banks of the Jumna, and Tan Sen asked him to sing but he refused. Then Tan Sen practised a little trick and himself sang a piece before his old master, making a slight mistake in doing so. The master at once called his attention to it and showed him how to sing it properly, and then went on in a wonderful burst of song, while the Emperor listened enraptured. Afterwards, as they were going back to the palace, the Emperor said to Tan Sen, 'Why cannot you sing like that?' 'I have to sing whenever my Emperor commands', said Tan Sen, 'but he only sings in obedience to the inner voice.'

Raja Man Singh of Gwalior, one of the greatest of Akbar's ministers, was also a great patron of music and is said to have introduced the dhrupad style of singing. The Gwalior court has maintained its high musical traditions to the present day.

The disciples of Tan Sen divided themselves into two groups, the Rabatiyars and the Bthkars. The former used the new instrument invented by Tan Sen, the rabab ; while the latter used the bin, as the vlnS- is called in the north. Two descendants of these are living to-day at Rampur, a small state which has been famous for many centuries for its excellent musicians. The representative of the Bihkars is Muhammad Wazir Khan, whose paternal ancestor was Nabi Khan Binkar at the court of the Emperor, Muhammad Shah ; and Muhammad All Khan is the representative of the Rababiyars.

The heroic Mirabai (c. 1500), wife of a prince of the Udaipur clan and famous poetess and musician, and Tulsi Das (1584), the singer and composer of the Hindi Ramayana, are representatives of musical culture in North India.

Pundarika Vitthal was probably another musician of Akbar's reign. He lived at Burhanpur in Khandhesh and may have been asked to go over to Delhi when Akbar took Khandhesh in 1599. Pundarika wrote four works