Eternal India Encyclopedia

Eternal India

encyclopedia

MUSIC

been written by great mystics like Kabir,

Nanak, Tulasidas, Surdas and Mira. Their

purport and music are simple and hence the

musically untrained also can sing them.

Similarly

Keertan

of Bengal is a traditional

institution and not merely a way of singing.

Drawing inspiration from the immortal

Gita

Govinda

of Jayadeva, it was transformed

into a song and dance congregation by that

mystic of mystics, Sri Chaitanya (15-16th

C.). In Maharashtra

abhangas

of saints Eknath

(16th C.), Jnaneswar (13th C), Tukaram (16-

17th C.) Anandaghana (17th C.) and the

bhajans of Narsi Mehta in Gujarat and a host

of others have seeped deep and wide into the

hearts of the people.

In the South, some of the earliest known

hymns were the

tevaram.

Composed by the

three saints, Tirujnana Sambandar, Tirun-

avukkarasu (Appar) and Sundaramurty Naya-

nar (7-9th C. A.D.), they formed the founda-

tions of the musical culture of the Tamil

speaking people.

Tevarams

were sung in

various

panns

(analogous to

ragas)

by a

class of singers known as the

oduvars

and

others. There are also the

Tiruvachakam

Manikkavachakar,

the

Tiruppugazh

Arunagirinathar. In Telugu the songs of

Tallapakam brothers (15th C.) were the

foremost of not only devotional

keertanas

but also the earliest known compositions with

sectional arrangement of

pallavi, anupallavi

and

charana.

Bhadrachala Ramdas (17th

C.), who was praised in great humility by

even Thyagraja, was a great devotee and

sang many a

keertana.

It is in Kannada that

we come across songs of Adoration

-devara

nama

(God's name)-of extraordinary num-

ber; notably in 16th C. there appeared the

saint-singer, Sri Purandaradasa, who went

round the land with his

tambura

and

chipla

(hand clappers) as a mendicant, preaching

the beauty of Adoration.

The verbal contents of Karnatak classi-

cal compositions with perhaps the exception

javali

are invariably devotional, didactic

or spiritual in character whereas in Hindus-

tani music there is a wide variety of themes

ranging from the mundane and sensuous to

the sublime and spiritual.

In Karnatak music there are no special

compositions for instruments. All compo-

sitions are for the human voice. Karnatak

music thus displays a close adherence to and

imitation of the human voice. The basic

difference between the two forms is in the

articulation of the gamakas (graces). In

Karnatak music the oscillation of notes is

much faster than in Hindustani music. In

Karnatak music there is excessive undulation

of almost every note with the result that it be-

comes difficult to identify the note which is

actually being sung.

Improvisation is a characteristic feature

of Indian music. Improvisation plays a major

part in a performance with great emphasis

being placed on the creativity and sensitivity

of the soloist. The performance of a raga

usually begins with an improvised melodic

prelude. This is followed by a composed

piece set in a particular tala. The composed

piece is generally quite short and serves as

a frame of reference to which the soloist

returns at the conclusion of his improvisation.

Vedic Period - (4500

B.C. -

1000

B.C.)

established music i.e. singing of hymns as an

inseparable part of devotion and was sung by

three classes of Brahmans called Hotris, the

Udagatra and the Adhabharya.

The Hotris were to recite the hymns,

the Udagaatris had to chant the hymns and

the Adhabharyas used to perform the sacri-

ficial rites and offered oblations in fire.

(300

B.C. -

100

B.C.) - Puranas, Upa-

puranas and maha-kavyas contain the

names of seven notes.

(1000

B.C. - First C. A.D.) - During

this period there were five different schools

of music. They were :

1) Brahma Mata - School founded by

Brahma, 2) Shiv Mata - School founded by

Shiva,

Narada Mata - School founded by

Narada, 4) Hanuman Mata-School founded

by Hanuman,

Bharat Mata - School founded

by Bharata.

It is unanimously acknowledged by

learned men that Brahma - the Eternal su-

preme power — is the creator of this uni-

verse. The origin of music naturally starts

from him. He taught this heavenly art to

Shiva, the God of eternal bliss who deliv-

ered it to Saraswati - the Goddess of

knowledge and wisdom. She taught this art

to the heavenly musicians and dancers,

HISTORICAL PERIODS

namely Gandharvas and Apsaras and lastly

the Kinnaras - centaur - like performers on

musical instruments. These divinities taught

this art to the great hermits like Narada,

Hanuman and Bharata and others, who passed

it on to the human beings on the earth.

1 st C. A.D. - 4th C. A.D. - Bharat Muni

wrote Natya Shastra - a treatise oh music.

It contains 32 chapters in which only 5,

namely 28 to 32 chapters are devoted to the

then current form of music. It has been ac-

knowledged by all scholars, to be the first

and best work on music and Bharata as the

founder of the present system of Indian

music.

4th-7th C A.D. - Period of Duttila,

Bharata mentions him as one of his sons to

whom he had taught the theory and practice

of music. Duttilla is also cited as an author-

ity by Abhinava Gupta in his commentary

on Nattya Shastra.

Duttilla also accepts the same 18 Jatis

that were enumerated by Bharata in his

work entitled Duttilla.

4 - 9th C. A.D. - "Bruhaddesa" by

Matangga. Mention of grama raaga had been

chiefly made by Matanga in his text. He is of

the opinion that the Jati generates the Grama-

Raaga with the use of predominating note

(Ansa Svara).

He regards Raga as one of the seven

classes

of Jatis current in his time.

SamaVeda

It is the selected collection of hymns from

Rig-Veda meant for chanting on different oc-

casions such as the sacrifices of the Aryans.

The public religious rites and the domestic

rituals were carried out in Sanskrit. All

branches of education - spiritual or secular -

were in the hands of Brahmins who spoke

Sanskrit. Sanskrit was the language of sci-

ence, of grammar, prosody, astronomy and

even magical arts. Sanskrit was in effect the

lingua-franca of ancient India.

Vedic chants and accents

: Other than Rig

and Sama-Vedic verses, even the prose part of

the Yajur-Veda are in Sanskrit with Vedic

accents called as Udaatya, Anudaatya and

Swarita. These accents were the musical notes,

used in Vedic chants.

Sama Sutra

: The rules for chanting the

Vedas are laid down in Sama Sutra, a treatise

of seven chapters denoting the method of re-

citing the hymns of the Vedas, particularly of

Sama Veda. Almost all the verses except the

fifth, are collected from the eighth and ninth

chapters of the Rig Veda.