TITLE: THE SCROLL AND THE STRINGS
EXT. AGRA FORT - COURTYARD - DUSK
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Akbar_and_Tansen_visit_Haridas.jpg
Torches flicker against towering red sandstone walls. The air is heavy with the scent of attar, woodsmoke, and the damp dust of the Yamuna basin.
Inside the grand assembly hall, EMPEROR AKBAR sits cross-legged on a velvet bolster, chin resting on his thumb. Around him, nobles, courtiers, and scholars hold their breath.
In the center of the marble dais stand two men from the Gangetic plains. They wear simple cotton dupattas draped over their shoulders—a stark contrast to the brocades of the Mughal elite.
The younger man, Rambilas Pandey, closes his eyes. He cradles a worn string instrument. When he strikes the first note, it is an ancient, haunting melody—carrying the deep, devotional resonance of a southern shore, echoing the sacred Hanuma Todi of the distant Carnatic temples, yet softened with a cadence that hums like a Persian caravan song.
AKBAR leans forward, mesmerized.
AKBAR
(Whispering to a courtier)
Magnificent. It weaves the soul of the south with the breath of our soil. What do we call this architecture of sound?
The courtier bows low.
COURTIER
Jahanpanah, the boy calls it his own reflection. But the people shall know it by his name.
AKBAR
Then let it be so. Henceforth, whispered across the empire, let this masterpiece bear the honorific of the house: Bilaskhani Todi. And let him carry the title of Khan, for mastery knows no lineage save excellence.
INT. THE INNER CHAMBERS - LATER
Shadows stretch across a dimly lit alcove. Piled high are palm-leaf manuscripts brought by travelers from the Vijayanagara ruins, alongside fresh Persian folios.
The elder man, RAMTANU, sits tuning his tanpura, his fingers calloused and steady. Rambilas enters, wiping sweat from his brow, clutching his instrument.
RAMBILAS
(Exhilarated)
They loved it, Pitaji. They wept when the microtones shifted. But... they still whisper of the Southern stream—the memory of Purandara Dasa’s camp, and the stark leap of the Shubhapantuvarali we heard in the twilight by the southern rivers.
RAMTANU
(Smiling faintly)
A melody is a river, my son. It finds its own banks. But the old southern name—Enna Rakshisho, and that sprawling Carnatic Hanuma Todi—it is a mouthful for these northern tongues. They seek simplicity. They seek faces they know.
RAMBILAS
And what of your own rendering? The one where we wove the teevra madhyama—the sharp fourth—borrowed from the southern temple chants? The court waits to hear your version tomorrow.
RAMTANU
Let them listen. When I weave the deeper grief and the soaring climb into our northern modal framework, they will search for a name to anchor it.
RAMBILAS
And what will they call it?
RAMTANU
(A gentle, knowing smile)
They will call it the master’s work. They will call it Miyan ki Todi. Titles like Miyan and Khan are merely cloaks we wear for the court, Rambilas. The notes belong to the wind.
EXT. AGRA FORT - DAWN
The sun breaks over the Yamuna.
A scribe dips his reed pen into ink, carefully updating the imperial music registry for Akbar’s court:
- Raga Bilaskhani Todi — attributed to the brilliant young innovator, Bilas Khan.
- Raga Miyan ki Todi — perfected by the peerless maestro, Tansen.
FADE OUT.
Based on the conversational content below, provide a story similar to a descriptive and yet crisp and short movie script (a post modern medeival narrative incorporating all the trappings and feel of the Mughal era during Akbar and Tansen) on how Ramtanu Pandey and his son Rambilas were instrumental in renaming two of the major carnatic ragas (then just called Indian music ragas and later currently represented as South Indian classical music ragas) as what is currently known as North Indian Todi (Rambilas's raga was named after him as Bilaskhani todi and Ramtanu's was recognised as Miyan ki Todi, both khan and Miyan being honorifics bestowed by the Mughal emperor). Please do maintain the suspense of the fact that Rambilas Pandey was Bilas Khan and Ramtanu Pandey was Tansen and give it away only at the end of the short crisp narrative.
[24/11/2025, 14:23]hu2: For the last few weeks on listening to Hanuma Todi and Subhapantuvarali I was composing this tale of how Bilaskhani todi had naturally been derived from Hanuma todi particularly considering the fact that Puranadara Dasa and Ramtanu Pandey aka Tansen had substantial overlap in their timelines it's likely there would have been substantial interchange and I was looking forward to illustrate all this with the fantastic Hanuma Todi by Puranadara Dasa followed by Bilaskhani Todi to show the minimal differences if any in oscillations and postulate that the label 'miya ki todi' came later as most people perhaps heard Rambilas Panday aka Bilas Khan sing Hanuma Todi earlier and compared it with Ramtanu's todi as the only difference between Hanuma Todi and Subhapantuvarali was in the teevra madhyama and hence they renamed it Miyan ki Todi as Subhapantuvarali was a mouthful to remember!
And to add some sectarian fire I thought I would also add that Miyan is just an honorific prefix for anyone who is respected and calling someone Miyan doesn't change his religion. Not sure how Rambilas Pandey became a Khan but I'm willing to wager another sectarian hypothesis that even Khan is a common honorific suffix and it also doesn't have anything to do with religion.
I searched the internet for similar stories around Bilas Khan and was pleasantly surprised to find that the person who came closest to documenting this hypothesis is our group member @George Howlett !
[24/11/2025, 17:05]hu1: definitely pursue this research! a lot of the conclusions in my writeup rely on Deepak Raja’s excellent analysis - which basically concludes that Bilaskhani Todi’s origins are a mystery… although the Carnatic Hanumatodi is a plausible candidate
[24/11/2025, 17:10]hu1: unlike many raga origin myths, it is at least plausible based on historical events:
[24/11/2025, 17:12]hu1: and there was more North-South musical interchange in the past than people often realise!
[24/11/2025, 17:12]hu2: Yes I shall add more narrative and the original music of the 15th century Hanuma Todi to it
[24/11/2025, 17:13]hu1: I’m doing some deep research on raga history at the moment, will see what I find that is relevant!
[24/11/2025, 17:17]hu1: e.g. some fascinating North-South interchange (from my notes)
[24/11/2025, 18:38]hu1: just came across this in my research…the 13 core melodic motions according to the Datillam, an aesthetic textbook from about 1800 years ago
[24/11/2025, 19:30]hu2: Precious
[24/11/2025, 19:33]hu2: You'll find Venkatamakhin's melakarta scheme much more easier to navigate than Bhatkande's system.
Check out how this system easily accommodates every raga known yet 👇
[24/11/2025, 22:14]hu1: haha yes agreed - I've carried out a similar derivation process myself, to account for the other sampurna scales...as lots of others have also done before me (32-scale system rather than 64, due to the Hindustani swara system being less ambiguous)
[24/11/2025, 22:15]hu1: and I've only been able to find Hindustani matches for 36 of the 64 Carnatic melas...and even then many of them are borrowed from the South anyway!
[24/11/2025, 22:15]hu1: let me know if you know any other raga matches I've missed...
[25/11/2025, 06:01]hu1: I found something for you on Hanumatodi's history - from Venkatamakhin's Chaturdandi Prakashika (the origin of the 72 melas):
[25/11/2025, 06:01]hu1: from Sreenivas Rao's incredible series on raga history
[25/11/2025, 08:53]hu2: Precious
[28/11/2025, 07:16]hu1: more on Bilaskhani Todi's possible origins from my research notes (via Bor's Raga Guide)
the 1856 text referenced is the Madan al-Musiqi by Muhammad Karam Imam Khan
[28/11/2025, 08:54]hu2: Interesting counterpoint
[02/01, 10:10]hu2: https://youtu.be/9m1Hf-iA-Hw?
The Todi tasveers depicted here also reminded me to work on another hypothetical story script around the origins of hindustani todi from the carnatic Hanuma Todi. Had been putting off writing the anecdote taking time to absorb the similarities and differences by altogether bundling the carnatic origin hypothesized hindusthani todis here: https://youtube.com/playlist?
Looking forward to learning further from the group inputs here around this Hindusthani todi from the Carnatic story project veering around the lives of Ramtanu and Rambilas Pandey, father and son who set off on a journey to visit some camps where the disciples of their guru's guru, the legendary singer who composed popular raaga structured haridasa kirtanas were staged.
Younger Rambilas picked up Hanuma Todi and while his rendition of it in Akbar's court was well received by the majority as he made it resemble a Persian folk tune (later audaciously renamed Sindhu Bhairavi), Ramtanu later coached him to redesign it as per the chalan of Shubhapantuvarali that he had picked up from the same camp, from the composition famous at that time as: Enna Rakshisho and the music is as linked above. Gradually people started identifying Hanuma Thodi as redesigned by Ramtanu as Rambilas's todi and Ramtanu's shubhapantuvarali as mian ki todi!
[03/01, 07:44]hu1: not yet, but I'll have another round of research soon - I couldn't find much about his life last time!
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