INDIAN MUSIC
By
RATNA
The
history of Indian music goes back 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.
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 of timing
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
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
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
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
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
popular appeal.
With
the fall of the Mughal Empire and with the advent of
the British there was a set-back 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.