Question

Pick the right answer.
(Bismillah Khan, A barber, Ali Bux) transformed the pungi into a shehnai.

Answer 1

Hint: As it has a better tonal consistency than pungi, Shehnai is an improved version of pungi. It is a hollow stem pipe of natural origin that is longer and wider than a pungi. The body of the pipe has seven holes.

Complete answer:
A barber transformed the pungi into shehnai. Pungi, the ancestor of the shehnai, was a musical weapon. Before the British arrived, when the Mughals controlled India, there was a very prominent Mughal ruler called Aurangzeb. In his royal residence, he did not permit the pungi to be played because he felt it had a shrill, unpleasant sound.

The barber of a skilled musician's family, who had ties to the royal palace, decided to enhance the pungi's tonal consistency. The barber picked up a pipe, a pipe that had a hollow stem. Longer and wider than the pungi, it was. He made seven holes in the pipe body, Closing and opening some of these holes when he played on it, soft and melodious sounds were made.

He played the instrument before royalty and everyone was impressed. A new name had to be assigned to the instrument so distinct from the pungi. As the tale goes, the instrument was called the 'shehnai' because it was first played in the Shah's chambers and was played by a nai (barber).

Hence the correct answer is “A barber”.

Note: In the king's court, in temples and at weddings, the shehnai was performed. In performances, it was used on stage and the credit for that goes to Utsad Bismillah Khan, who was a legendary shehnai player and people wanted to hear him play the shehnai.