The Music and Musical Instruments of Southern India and the Deccan c5.12

c5.12

Opinions of the kind just quoted, held by the educated and influential, naturally enough have tended to lower the standing of a musician, and the art itself has suffered in consequence. Hence, though there are many Mahomedan professors who are skilled executants, they are rarely men of any social position or educational attainments, and their knowledge of the theory of their art is but slight. Of course to this there are exceptions—men such as Maula Bux of Baroda, or Bhande Ali of Indore, might be mentioned who have studied much and who love their art for its own sake. But such are few and far between. Still, Mahomedan music, taken as a whole, has little to recommend itself even at the present day. The ideas professed by Hindus offer a curious contrast. For music, from a Hindu standpoint, is associated with all that is bright and sweet in life; its origin, ascribed directly to Divine providence, causes it to be regarded as surrounded by a halo of sanctity. Almost all the religious literature of the Hindus breathes music. The ancient writings on Hindu music are known as the Gandharva Veda. The Gita Govinda, the Indian Song of Songs,⁴ is music itself from beginning to end. It is difficult to imagine imagery more vivid, or to picture scenes more charming than those in which Krishna, with his fair Gopi companions, on the banks of the Yamna, played and sang those witching strains that, like those of Orpheus, held all creation spellbound. And so music with Hindus is a resource to which they always fly in joy or grief, for prayer or praise.