The Music and Musical Instruments of Southern India and the Deccan c10.17

c10.17

A system of music called Sopânam is found in Malabar, where it is confined to temple services. In every temple of any importance in Malabar and Travancore it is usual to have both instrumental and vocal music at the steps leading to the principal shrine during the performance of certain services. The word sopânam, in its literal sense, means “steps,” and hence gives its name to this particular kind of music. The Sopânam system varies in many respects from both the Karnâtik and Hindustani; a detailed description of it would, however, be unnecessary, since it is much akin to the Karnâtik system and differs only in technical points, which would be uninteresting to the reader.