11. Summary

The story 'Tansen' is about the greatest musician of India. He was the only child of his parents. His father was a singer named Mukandan Misra. As a child, he spent a lot of time in the forest playing and imitating the voice of birds and animals. Swami Haridas recognised his talent and assured his father that he could make Tansen into a great singer. Tansen's father agreed to it. Thus, Tansen left his parents and stayed along with Swami Haridas for eleven years and became a good singer. Unfortunately, Tansen's parents died around this time. Tansen decided to live along with a holy man named Mohammad Ghaus to fulfil his father's dying wish. After some time, Tansen married Hussaini and had five children. Tansen's family members had a good musical background.

When Akbar noticed Tansen's talent, he appointed him to his court. Although this paved the way for a strong musical bond between Tansen and Akbar, Tansen's fellow courtiers were envious on him. They plotted to kill him by making him sing Raga Deepam.

Tansen had a thought after some time. He gave practice to his daughter and her friend to sing Raga Megh in order to balance the warm effect of Raga Deepam. The nature of these two Ragas are, Raga Deepak will create a warm atmosphere and burn the singer into ashes; whereas, Raga Megh produces rain. On the appointed day while singing Raga Deepak, Tansen was saved but was fell ill. He got recovered after some time. Also, Akbar punished the enemies of Tansen. He served Akbar's court till \(1585\) until his death. His tomb in Gwalior is still a pilgrimage centre for musicians.