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[Editor's
Notes: 1) The following article was among several entries we received for
the Carnatica
Global Essay Contest. As promised, we will be featuring a few of the
articles on our website 2) Views and opinions
expressed in these articles are entirely those of the respective authors]
Countless are the denizens
of Earth – feathered, scaled and furred, and man. Man is just one among the
many forms of life. Yet, what sets him apart and puts him on top of the
evolutionary ladder is his power to think, analyze, understand and assimilate
for his own benefit and pleasure. From a marine creature hesitantly stepping
onto land to a creature living on trees and walking on all fours to man as he
is now – mankind has come a long way. A necessary and logical offshoot of the
above mentioned power of thought is the development of fine arts. As man rose
in stature in evolution, he needed to think less of survival and more of
pleasures and pastimes. In this leisure did the seed of arts find fertile soil
to grow into a large banyan tree with many branches and offshoots. The Indian
literature celebrates the 64 arts. Amongst these, music is considered the
crowning glory across many cultures and civilizations. Man was created by Him
and to Him he shall return ultimately. Likewise, the ultimate goal of music is
a reunion with the Higher Self.
Like most things that are
beautiful and ancient, the origins of music too are shrouded in a thick fog,
which even the most powerful searchlight of intuition, and thought may never
be able to penetrate and permeate. It is this very intuition that sets music
apart. Modern philosophers opine that as man was toddling towards becoming a
human being, his wonder of the universe and his own capabilities gave birth to
four things – sacrament, mime, magic and music. When one speaks of music, it
is but natural to be prejudiced towards considering the evolution of music
with respect to development of civilization. But music had its origin even
before life originated. It sprung from the big bang that gave rise to this
universe – the nada bindu, which gave rise to music with variegated
forms and colours. As Byron said,
There’s music in the sighing of the reed;
There’s music in the gushing of the rill;
There’s music in all things, if men had ears:
The earth is but an echo of spheres.
These words precisely sum
up all that has been said heretofore.
Music and language are two
facets of the same coin. In the beginning was the word and so was music. Man
could not have evolved into what he is without the instrument of language and
language reaches its pinnacle in music. Even a casual glance at history will
reveal that all great civilizations considered music sacrosanct and held it in
reverence. Even the most primitive tribes have music.
The Vedas are considered
the progenitor of all music on earth; the music that sprung from Pranava
Nada or Omkara. How so? There are two justifications in this
regard. One is that Vedas, said to be revealed by God himself, are various
expressions of the Pranava and are the earliest recorded documentation
of music among other things. This apart, all music that sprung up from the
inexhaustible ocean were patterned on the style of the Vedas. This refers to
music as a whole as there is no dearth of parallels in other civilizations.
But more of this later.
How did Nada give rise to
all music?
“yO NAdah SarvabhUtAnAm
sarva varNasya cAnkurAt
yO bIjam mantrakOTInAm
tam nityam praNamAmyaham”
As to how the anAhata
nAda ot heard by ordinary mortals gave rise to Ahata nAda and
thence forth to swaras and music, the ancient texts have this to say:
“Following an urge from the intellect, the prANAgni or fire in the mUlAdhAra
hits the vAyu or air causing it to rise through the heart and the
throat and to manifest itself as all music and language, the Vykhari or
diverse form. Putting it in terms of physical laws, fire heats up air that
naturally ascends through the vocal apparatus, giving rise to music. But the
urge or inspiration is the most important. This is what gives music a divine
and ethereal quality.
In the Vedas, one can
observe that Rks are sung using just 3 notes – udAtta,
anudAtta and svarita. The singing of sAmas makes use of 5 to
7 notes, thus giving rise to the saptaswaras. This is the basis of all
music. Even though it was considered sacrilegious to distort chanting of
Vedas, the fact that sAma rendering today is not the same as the
notation found in cadjan leaves and palm manuscripts testifies to the fact
that music is a dynamic and vibrant medium that has undergone changes with
time. “The old order changeth giving place to the new”.
The embryo of
improvisation or manOdharma SamgIta is evident in the singing of
sAma wherein words are split and vowels such as ‘O’, ‘E’ and ‘A’ are sung
betwixt, along with certain unintelligible syllables called “stObhas”.
These however followed certain set rules. Ragas or various melodies that we
sing today were not born as such. So then how did they evolve? In the Vedas
and in Bharata’s nATyaSastra, we have references to the grAma system.
Even prior to this, the laws of consonance – cycle of fifths and fourths were
applied to arrive at various swaras. Hence ragas such as mOhana, a pentatonic
scale, are considered as one of the oldest ragas. The grAma system
referred to 3 grAmas. The grAmas are groups seven swaras in the
descending order or avarOha pattern. Initially music was sung and
played, not to AdhAra Sruti or fundamental tone but by a method of
modal shift. By this process of modal shift and by suitable adjustments in the
frequency values, new melodies were arrived at. The development of the concept
of AdhAra Sruti, considered the equivalent of the invention of the
wheel in the realm of music led to a merger of the three grAmas into
the SaDja grAma or precisely into the decline of grAmas and to
the ascent of jAtis and rAgas. Various experiments determining
the values of Srutis and of each note etc have been discussed
with uncanny detail in all ancient texts. However, the credit for putting the
stamp of approval on the raga system goes to matanga who gave due
consideration to regional differences in his ‘brhaddESi’.
Traditionalists till then considered music immutable and all changes and
improvisations met with censure and disapproval. It is but natural that music
changes with time and place. This fact is borne out by the countless ragas
bearing the names of various regions accepted into the Karnatic fold –
kAmbOdhi. saurAStra, surati, bangAla et al apart from
innumerable ones bearing the name of the kannaDa country/language. Matanga
thus paved the way for an organized system of dESi music from the
earlier mArga saMgIta. As the grAma system fell into disrepute, older
instruments too fell into disuse paving way for newer improved versions. In
fact in Tamil music, the modern AThANa (nIlAmbari?) raga is called
“YAzh Murip paNN” or a melody that caused the fall of the yAzh as
suitable gamakas or intonations could not be played on it. The rule of
the survival of the fittest applies to music too. The acme of raga system was
reached with Venkatamakhi putting forth his theory of the mElakarta
scheme with 72 heptatonic scales. It is of note here that Venkatamakhi
propounded this system to accommodate all ragas that have been in use till
date within its ambit. Also remarkable is that he just called them 72 scales,
not rAgas . Newer theoreticians have tried to propagate the system of 5184
mELas but have met with little success. Time alone can weigh the worth of
these hypotheses.
As regards the various
forms of composition in vogue, they too have undergone profound changes
through the ages. As mentioned earlier, initially these compositions were
patterned on the lines of Vedas, a remnant of the sacred character of music. hinkAra,
prastAva, udgIta and nidhAna of sAma gAna, which refer to
AdhAra Sruti, the commencement of the sAma, the body and the
conclusion have respective parallels in musical compositions – the Adhara
Shadja, Udgraha, the Dhruva and Abhoga. Even the
compositions were based on various vedic meters. Prabandhas such as gAtha,
Arya and kanda provide ample examples to this. Among the
multitude, a few survived and gave rise to the modern forms. Newer rules were
formed with time and certain folk forms were assimilated and given the stamp
of classicism. To date, all compositions are based on the set of rules,
governing form, metre etc.
The above fact itself will
explain the development of tALas. Though there is rhythm in everything,
a pattern of rhythm is what the tALa is all about. Various metres were
rendered to various talas. The five margi talas were supplanted
by the aSTOttara (108) and 120 tALas. Even the 72 tala
system was used in limited circles. This was however superseded by the sulAdi
tALa system brought into practice by Sri PurandaradAsaru, father of modern
Karnatic music. This system enjoys unquestioned acceptance to this day.
Ancient tALas are seen in various texts (e.g Tiruppugazh, a
Tamil poetry by Arunagirinathar) and occasionally in the rendering of
Pallavis
Improvisation too, as said
earlier, has its origins in sAma gAna. The introduction of certain
syllables, the stretching of words with melody and the introduction of long
vowels in between have obvious parallels in jatis, AlApane, tAna
and the singing of neraval and pallavi. sAma
rendering was accompanied by the playing of the veena. Even when the singer or
the sAmaga took a respite, the veena had to be played to fill the gap.
In can arguably be inferred that this led to improvisation by the player, and
was given priority in the field of Loukika samgIta or secular music.
The use of notation too is to be credited to the Indian genius, which first
employed it to preserve the method of singing the sAma vEda. Needless
to say that there have been changes in this too presently. The Indian system
employs the solfa notation while the western music employs the staff
notation.
Comparative View of
Indian Music and Other Systems
There are certain
remarkable similarities in the legends of various civilizations with respect
to music and religion, which have always gone hand in hand. Egyptians revered
Gods who played the flute and the lute (veena). They had apsarAs too.
The words employed by them refer to musical ideas and some of the legends are
nearly identical to own including the stories as to how various instruments
were discovered. So is the case with Greek, Chinese and Japanese
civilizations. All of them have considered music sacred. The concept of the
AdhAra SaDja and the methods used to derive ragas are the same in few
systems of music. Many melodies have parallels in all systems. For e.g.,
SankarAbharaNa corresponds to C. Major of Western music. The Hungarian
folk music used simhEndramadhyama as a major scale. The Gregorian
chants sound similar to Karnatic music. The paNN system of Tamils has
many parallels in out ragas. Infact, the earliest inscription on music (the
grAmas) comes from KudimiyAnmalai in Tamilnadu. So much for the
fundamental uniformity.
Presently, the Indian
system is based on melody or a system of just intonation. This is marked by
embellishing with gamakas for enhancing aesthetic appeal. This allows
for much improvisation and development. The western system is based on Harmony
or equal temperament with less scope for improvisation. The Karnatic and
Hindustani systems are by and large the same with differences in the use of
various methods available to the artiste or PrayOktru. These
differences are due to influence from Persian and Arabic systems in the north.
It would not be out of
place to recall with respect a few names. Bharata gave the first detailed
description of musical form of his times and conducted scientific experiments
to determine values and to prove his theories. Matanga in his brhaddESi
ushered in the raga system. Venkatamakhi propounded an all-encompassing
Melakarta system in his “caturdanDi prakASika”. SrI PurandaradAsaru
organized the springboard for the musical trinity and later composers and
singers. The HaridAsas and tALLapAkam composers gave the earliest form of
present day compositions such as krtis and kIrtanes. GOvinda
DIkSita in his samgIta sudhA has explained how to elaborate 50 rAgas in
vogue during his time. Pandarika ViTTala did the first comparative study of
the Karnatic, Hindustani and Persian systems of music. Royal patrons and
grammarians are not to be forgotten in his context. Credit also goes to
unrecognized folk musicians and tribes that have provided us with many a
beautiful raga and composition.
Goal of Music
Music is considered divine
because it is not only a science but also a means for attaining salvation.
Infact, it is considered the easiest way to mukti. Enjoyment or singing
of music involves forgetting other things and becoming one with music. This
transcent is reminiscent of our union with God. Music without devotion is
empty. It is always a means for higher attainment; not just pleasure.
It would be apt to
recollect the following words,
“Man is a rope connecting animal and superman – a rope over a
precipice – What is great in man is that he is bridge and not a goal”
Zaratushtra |
