Question

Summarise this poem in your own words in 8 to 10 lines, highlighting only the main points.

Answer 1

The poem tells us about an incident that happened in Emperor Akbar's court. Tansen, the famous singer from Akbar's court once sang Deepak Raga (the song of fire) so intensely that he was himself engulfed in this musical fire. It was only when a maiden was summoned to sing the Malhar raga (the song of rain) did Tansen's health recovers. Emperor Akbar was extremely pleased by Tansen's song praised him and desired to listen to his teacher's song. So they travelled to the Himalayan cave where Ostad resided, dressed as poor slaves, and pleaded to the Ostad for a song. The Ostad then enchanted them with the Malkaous raga and bestowed bliss to Akbar's soul. But as Akbar returned from his enchanted dream to praise Ostad, he found him gone. Tansen then explained that he cannot recreate the magic of Ostad because he is used to singing for earthly kings but the Ostad aims to please God and therefore possesses a certain magical prowess that none can attain.