Who among the following kings had given patronage to Tansen before Akbar ?

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Correct — A, Raja Ramchandra Singh of Bhata. Before he entered Mughal service, Tansen was the court musician of the Baghela ruler Ramchandra, whose kingdom of Bhatha — the Bandhavgarh–Baghelkhand tract that later became Rewa state — Abul Fazl names in the Ain-i-Akbari as the realm of 'Ram Chand of Bhatta'. Ramchandra was celebrated for his open-handed patronage of musicians, and Tansen's reputation grew at his court until it reached Agra. In 1562 Akbar sent for the singer; Ramchandra, who could hardly refuse the emperor, let him go, and Tansen joined the imperial court, where he became one of the navaratna, the nine gems. Akbar conferred on him the honorific 'Mian' — the title 'Tansen' itself had been given earlier, at Gwalior. He is traditionally credited with ragas such as Miyan ki Malhar, Miyan ki Todi and Darbari Kanada, and he was buried at Gwalior beside the tomb of the Sufi Muhammad Ghaus, where the annual Tansen Samaroh is still held.

Why the other options are wrong — (b) The music-loving ruler of Malwa in this period was Baz Bahadur, and the romance the sources attach to his court is that of Rani Rupmati, not the career of Tansen. Malwa in any case fell to Akbar's forces under Adham Khan in 1561, and no source places Tansen at the Malwa court.  (c) Rana Udai Singh II of Mewar founded Udaipur and was the father of Maharana Pratap. His reign is remembered for resistance to the Mughals and for the fall of Chittor to Akbar in 1568, not for musical patronage; there is no record of Tansen serving Mewar.  (d) Muzaffar Shah III was the last sultan of Gujarat, dethroned when Akbar annexed the province in 1572–73 — a decade after Tansen had already joined the Mughal court. The Gujarat sultans are remembered for architecture at Ahmedabad and Champaner, not for Tansen.

Concept: Tansen is the hinge figure of the dhrupad tradition and of Hindustani music's absorption into Mughal court culture. Born Tanna Mishra near Gwalior — the city whose Tomar ruler Man Singh had already made it the great centre of dhrupad — he is associated in tradition with Swami Haridas of Vrindavan as his teacher. His documented career runs in two stages: first as court musician to the Baghela raja Ramchandra of Bhatha, then from 1562 in Akbar's service, where his presence among the navaratna signals how far music had become part of imperial prestige rather than merely private entertainment. His descendants and disciples founded the Senia gharana, from which much of later Hindustani instrumental and vocal lineage claims descent.

State PCS 2019 Q54 — Art & Culture PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2019 Q54 — Art & Culture PYQ with Answer