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Rajput monarchs were no savage warriors but cultured men who respected the arts and, what's more, displayed a salutary and eclecticism and catholicity of taste. The arts flourished under the patronage of aristocrats gifted with a great generosity of spirit. The Jaipur monarchs maintained a huge gunijankhana where musicians, dancers, performing artistic were kept on handsome stipends. Many of the maestros or ustaads in the Jaipur gunijankhana were Muslims and the Jaipur court musicians spawned a great gharana (school) of Khayaal singing as well as a distinctive kathak dance tradition. The dhrupad singing from also attained its apogee here and to date Jaipur remains the adopted home of the Dagar brothers-the premier exponents of this classical form.
The manghniar musician invokes the Hindu God Krishna (the patron saint and purported ancestor of the Bhatti rulers) and seeks his blessings before he launches into his recital. To date the same community of musicians also sings the pandvani extolling the brave exploits of the heroes of the Hindu epic Mahabharata. Apart from classical forms like khayal and dhrupad, a unique form of singing called maand (whose most famous exponent remains the octogenarian Allah Jillai Bai of Bikaner) also flourished in the royal courts of Rajasthan. But the febrile pulse of Rajasthan beats fiercest in its exuberant folk songs and dances, wizened old bhopas and dholis, jogis, and miraasis-all traditional singers-chant ditties about folk heroes of yore-Baba Ramdeo, Gogaji, Tejaji, Dhola Maru, and Jethwa Ujli-in voices surprisingly strong and passionate. Performances open with the stirring call of the imposing trumpet, the bankia. Musicians use ancient, unsophisticated instruments that produce strangely mesmeric sounds-twin flutes called algoza, the hypnotic Jewish harp or morchhang, the stringed instrument with a tinkling cluster of bells called the ravanhatta and the earthen pitcher or matka turned in the hands with amazing dexterity and used as a percussion instrument. The deep thunderous notes produced by these drums played with sticks provide a fitting musical accompaniment to massive community dances like the rasamandal and ghoomar.
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