The Music and Musical Instruments of Southern India and the Deccan c5.18

c5.18

The higher branches of the musical profession were formerly confined to either Brahmins (Bhagavatas) or to men of very high caste. Music being of Divine origin was regarded as sacred, and it was considered impious for any but men of the sacred caste to wish to acquire any knowledge of its principles. It was and still is called the fifth Veda. Hence the ancient Brahmins of the country would have excommunicated any of their number who would have so far presumed as to betray the sacred writings to any but the elect, whose mouths only were esteemed sufficiently holy to utter words so sacred. Indeed, it was the knowledge of which they were possessed that was the chief cause of the reverence and adoration paid to the Brahmins of old, and which gave them the power and influence they prized so much. It was thus that the ancient musicians sang their own compositions. In later years music became a distinct trade, especially under Mussalman rulers, and passed into the hands of the lower orders and the unlearned, and to this cause operating through a long succession of years the differences between the Hindustani and Karnâtik systems must be in a great measure attributed.