Eternal India Encyclopedia

Eternal India

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MUSIC

“Indian music is above all the transcendence of the soul to a higher significance. It is the

disengagement of the human soul, from the mundane plane to the spiritual. Indian music is

pure, deep and tender like

- Rabindranath Tagore

Music has been cultivated as an art in

India for at least 3000 years. The hymns of

the

Rig Veda,

the oldest religious text jn the

world, were composed between 1500 and

900 B.C. or even earlier as the date of the

Rig Veda

is still a matter of controversy. The

Sama Veda

was composed at a date later than

the

Rig Veda.

It is a collection of hymns

from the

Rig Veda

meant for chanting on

occasions such as sacrifices. The rules for

chanting the hymns are laid down in the

Sama Sutra,

directing the way of modulation

and intonation, etc of letters, syllables and

tones.

The chant was an essential element of

the Vedic ritual and it had developed into a

highly secular art in the centuries preceding

the beginning of the Christian era.

A scale of four notes known as

Svara-

tantra

came into being. The ancient Aryans,

like the ancient Greeks, had their music

confined to four notes. The stages by which

these four notes became the seven notes

(svara)

of present-day Indian music are not

known. An account of the seven notes is

found for the first time in the

Manduki Siksha

of the

Atharva Veda.

The seven notes are

Shadja, Rishaba, Gandhara, Madhyama,

Panchama, Dhaivata

and

Nishada.

It is also

stated there that the note produced by the

peacock at the highest point of rapture is the

note known as

Shadja, Rishaba

is said to

represent the sound that is made by the cow

while calling her calf.

Gandhara

is the bleat

of the goat.

Madhyama

is identified with the

cry of the heron. The nightingale of India,

the

koel,

sings always on

Panchama.

Dhaivata

is the neighing of the horse.

Nishada

is the trumpeting of the elephant.

Bharata's treatise on dramaturgy

Natya

Shastra

(c. 2B.C. and 3 A.D.) laid down the

rules for the three arts - drama, music and

dancing - which are still followed today.

Music was generally considered an adjunct

of drama

(natya)

and Bharata devoted only

a few chapters to music in his treatise. The

word for music in India is

sangeeta.

But

originally sangeeta did not mean music. It

was a comprehensive term for singing, play-

ing of instruments and dancing.

The seven notes

(svaras)

of modern

classical Indian music called

shadja, rish-

abha, gandhara, madhyama, panchama,

dhaivata

and

nishada

(abbreviated to

sa, ri,

ga, ma, pa, dha

and

ni)

correspond to the

European major scale. The whole span is

more minutely divided into 22 microtonal

steps (

shrutis

) of less than a semi-tone. Thus

even a specific flat or sharp note can be

found in actual singing and playing in deli-

cately shaded, aesthetically flavoured vari-

ations. These demand a fine ear and repeated

hearing. The fineness of Indian music lies in

the microdistinctions in the pitches of the

svaras.

Though there was originally one system

of music in India, the historical process of

cultural development has produced two broad

systems of Indian classical music - the Hin-

dustani and the Karnatak (or Carnatic). The

former is prevalent in northern and eastern

India and the northern districts of Karnataka

and Andhra, while Karnatak music is domi-

nant in South India.

Both the systems are essentially modal

and melodic in character with a successive

tonal progression, twelve-tone gamut with

specified intervals and a tonic or drone as a

supporting ground and a constant point of

reference. In spite of many differences in

their content as well as structure and styles,

there is a marked fundamental unity between

the two systems. Both the systems have their

roots in the ancient system of Hindustani

music originating from and nurtured in India's

philosophic and cultural traditions.

"Indian music is essentially melodic;

whether it be the yell of the most primitive

tribes or the sophisticated art form, whether

it is vocal or instrumental the music is 'lin-

ear'. Sounds follow one another expressing

an emotional state and an aesthetic unity;

they are not sounded simultaneously, which

is harmony. Not that harmony is absent, but

it is an incipient condition and has not been

developed to the extent as in the West". (B.

Chaitanya Deva).

Like all purely melodic systems Indian

music is conceived essentially in terms of the

human voice. The sitar, sarod and veena

(plucked string instruments) all produce mu-

sic which is basically vocal in conception.

SPIRITUAL POWER OF MUSIC

During the Vedic period, music was in its

fundamental stage and slowly the Sapta Swaras

emerged out of it. These notes have a distinct

power and the vibrations produced by these

notes have an inherent potential in them. It is

only the Yogi who through intense meditation

acquires the required power and this power is

transmitted to the common man in various ways,

music being one of them. It is the power that is

used by Yogis and Saints to relieve various

ailments. The vibration produced by combina-

tion of notes has psychological impact on the

person and can cure him of his mental and

physical problems.

Layam

, Aug - Sep '94.