The development of qawwali in India is credited to which figure?
- A.Tansen
- B.Amir Khusrau
- C.Baiju Bawra
- D.Swami Haridas
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is B, Amir Khusrau. Khusrau lived in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries and was the disciple of the Chishti saint Nizamuddin Auliya of Delhi. He is credited with shaping qawwali by setting Persian and Arabic devotional verse to Indian melody in the Sufi hospices of the Delhi Sultanate, and tradition also links him to the khayal, the tarana and several ragas.
Option A, Tansen, was one of the nine jewels of Akbar's court and a master of dhrupad, not of qawwali. Option C, Baiju Bawra, is a semi-legendary dhrupad singer of the same era remembered for his contest with Tansen. Option D, Swami Haridas, was a Vaishnava saint and teacher of dhrupad in Vrindavan, associated with devotional song for Krishna rather than Sufi music. Only Khusrau belongs to the Sufi tradition in which qawwali grew.
Read the full article: Devotional Music of India: Bhajan, Kirtan and Qawwali
Practice Questions
View allAbhang, the devotional verse sung for Vithoba of Pandharpur, belongs to which tradition?
- A.The Varkari tradition of Maharashtra
- B.The Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition of Bengal
- C.The Pushtimarg of Rajasthan
- D.The Lingayat tradition of Karnataka
Show answer
Abhang is Marathi devotional verse, and the word means unbroken. Dnyaneshwar, Namdev, Eknath, Chokhamela and Tukaram composed abhangs for Vithoba of Pandharpur, and pilgrims still sing them on the wari to Pandharpur with the taal and the ektari.
Read the full explanation →The Baul singers, whose songs UNESCO proclaimed a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity, belong mainly to which region?
- A.Rajasthan
- B.Assam
- C.Bengal
- D.Odisha
Show answer
The Bauls are wandering mystic minstrels of Bengal, on both sides of the border, whose songs blend Vaishnava Sahajiya and Sufi ideas and reject caste and ritual.
Read the full explanation →Which one of the following saints was a contemporary of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj?
- A.Tukaram
- B.Chaitanya
- C.Namdev
- D.Shankaracharya
Show answer
Sant Tukaram was a Varkari poet of the seventeenth century who composed abhangs for Vithoba of Pandharpur and lived in Dehu near Pune, in the years when Shivaji was building the Maratha state.
Read the full explanation →Sankirtana, the ritual singing, drumming and dancing inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List in 2013, belongs to which state?
- A.Manipur
- B.Kerala
- C.Tamil Nadu
- D.Tripura
Show answer
The Sankirtana of Manipur is the Vaishnava ritual music of the Meitei people, in which singers and drummers perform in the temple courtyard, the mandap, with the barrel drum called pung and with cymbals; the drum dance is the Pung Cholom.
Read the full explanation →In qawwali, a composition in praise of the Prophet Muhammad is called
- A.Hamd
- B.Naat
- C.Manqabat
- D.Marsiya
Show answer
The qawwali repertoire follows a fixed order of forms, and the naat is the song in praise of the Prophet Muhammad, usually sung early in a performance after the opening praise of God.
Read the full explanation →