Indian Music

By RATNA ROY, M.A., Geetabharati.

The history of Indian music goes to immemorial antiquity. Handed down from the Rishis, Indian music has ever since maintained its high glory and tradition. The great heritage of Indian music is a glory not only to the people of her soil, but also to the cultural world as a whole. The music of India, like that of all other countries, had its origin in the pre-historic age and had the main source of inspiration from nature, but later on, in the process of its evolution, music developed into science and art. Master-musicians, rather master-artists, played a significant role in this evolution.

If we go through the world history of music, we see that the origin and development of music in every country are almost the same. We cannot deny the fact that musical art, whether it is classic or semi-classic, is to some extent based on primitive folk-music. Both in the ancient and medieval periods there are instances of higher melodic materials coming from folk-music.

In folk-music, we find the technique, the tune, the theme, with all their natural colour and simplicity, whereas in classical music, the original form, whether it is derived from folk-music or other sources, developed into richly ornamented melodies.

Evolution of Music

The interesting story of the beginnings of music and its gradual development have been beautifully related by Alfred Rinstin in his book, “A Short History of Music”. He said: “To the man who in pre-historic times first perceived musical sound as it originated in the beating of a hollow object or by the swing and whir of a staff, it was something incomprehensible and therefore mysterious and magical. The mere sound of perceversion instruments excited him to the pitch of intoxication. From them he discovered the power of rhythm, which inflamed and ordered the ritual dance and also co-ordinated the movements of labour and, as if by magic, lightened the toil...To tone and rhythm was added primitive melody in conjunction with more or less intelligible words”...The notes of the songs were not at first in a successive order and there was no question of concordance and discordance of them. There was no direct or definite design behind the music of the primitive man and it was neither organised nor systematised. Gradually an order came into being in the forms of succession and organisation in the composition of music. The relation of equivalency of tonal sounds was discovered between the notes, first and fourth (sadya and madhyama), and first and fifth (sadya and panchama). The evolution of rhythmic part represented the action of nature oftiming measure (laya) of music and dance, and melodic part represented the harmonised signing and vocal the utterances. The music was then somewhat definite and its effect on the mind of man and animals was permanent.

The Indian melodies or ragas are not simply the product of the combinations of notes but they have their psychological basis. The time theory of Indian ragas has both the scientific and psychological basis. It cannot be called simply a tradition. When we go deep into a morning melody, we have a picture before our mind’s eye, the early dawn when the first rays of the morning sun brightens the earth. What is its psychological effect on the mind? It means awakening from slumber and the spirit of adoration and worship. The sad notes of Purali bring the idea of the dusk, and in the midnight, the distant notes of a Behag fill us with pathos. Apart from the time theory, the Indian melodies are classified according to seasons

Classical Music

If we study the musical history of India; we find that the art of music is progressive. During the reign of Vikramaditya theatres were well-organised. Dramas became a regular feature. Samudragupta claims to be ‘Kaviraja’ in his Allahabad Pillar Inscription. The great variety of musical instruments in the sculptures in this period such as flutes, conchshells, harps, “Vinas”, “Mridangas”, “dundhavis” and so on prove the great popularity and widespread character of music.

In the 12th century Jayadeva’s “Gita-Govinda” is a classic example of immortal music. “Rajatarangini” tells us that there were 16,000 ragas of which only 36 were well-known at that time. Different periods in the history of India marked the development of Indian music. During the reign of Alauddin Khilji (1296-1316), besides the Nayak Gopal, the court musician of the Emperor, there came to India, from Persia, Amir Khassem, a great poet, musician and a scholar of Arabian and Persian culture. He introduced many new melodies like Zilapu, Sakgiri and Sarparda ragas and Persian notations in an Indian music. Then we turn to the reign of Emperor Akbar the Great. But, in between, there flourished many musicians like ‘Sarangder’ Ramamatya and others.

The reign of Akbar, the great Mughal Emperor, may be said to mark the renaissance of Indian Music. Tansen, the great musician and composer of this period, was the pioneer in creating new melodies and songs which upto the present time are regarded throughout India as the ideal. Himself being a great scholar, he infused new life into the musical system of India by introducing new notations and technique mainly based on melodies. And it must not be overlooked that it was Tansen’s liberal outlook, and specially his system of music, that paved the way for future evolution of Kheyal, Tappa and other songs with all their variations and ornamentations.

The royal courts of Jehangir and Shahjahan also produced some great musicians but Aurangzeb stamped out music with all other fine arts from his court. For a hundred years, from 1658 to 1757, with the general and political disintegration of the period, music and art declined. In 1916 the late illustrious musician V. N. Bhatkhande’s famous address at the All-India Music Conference at Baroda marked the beginning of a new era. Draupad, the sublime and foremost type of classic music has undergone various changes as regards composition, melody, rhythm and mode of presentation from the ancient to the medieval period.

Kheyal type of song were first introduced by Sultan Hossin Sirki of jaunpur in the early 18th century, but this type of music was greatly developed and modified by Sadarang and Adarang and later on Tappa by Gulam Nobi and Sori thumri mainly by Sanad and Kadar. It is to be noted that the orthodox school of music, though it refused to accept these new creations at first, had to yield to it ultimately for their popularappeal.

With the fall of the Mughal Empire and with the advent of the British there was a set-in the cultural and social life of the people. The political situation was not congenial to the growth of culture and art. The musicians of the Delhi Darbar migrated to far-off provinces and princely states.

The history of Indian music reveals a great tradition and a great unity. It has not only survived in the past five thousand tears of our history through many challenges but has actually grown richer by adaptation to changed circumstances. It surely has the capacity to face new challenges and the requirements of the new age.