Historical Development of Indian Music: A Critical Study c8.57

c8.57

Besides them, we find a systematic order in the forms and divisions of the classical *rāgas* and *gītis*. As regards the evolution of classical types of melodies, we come to know from *Mataṅga’s Bṛhaddeśī* that the subordinate *bhāṣā* type of melodies evolved from the ancient parent scales or *gramas*, the *vibhāṣā-rāgas* from the *bhāṣā* ones and the *antarabhāṣā-rāgas* from the *vibhāṣā* ones. Śārṅgdeva brought a more perfect order in the divisions of the *rāgas* and the *prabandha-gītis*. The six kinds of limbs or *aṅgas* of the *prabandha-gītis* evolved at this time and they are : *svara, viruda, pada, tena, pāta* and *tāla*. These limbs or *aṅgas* really determined the nature and characteristics of the *gītis*. Gradually the five kinds of *jātis* evolved to specifically classify and determine the musical compositions of the *gītis*, and they were : *medinī, ānandī, dīpanī, bhāvanī* and *tārāvalī* (vide *SR.* canto IV.19.) The musical compositions were mainly divided into two classes, ordered or *niryukta* and without order or *aniryukta*. The three divisions of the *prabandha* type of music evolved and they were of three classes, *sūḍa, āli* and *viprakīrṇa*. From these three classes, 7 + 24 + 34 = 65 types of new *prabandha-gītis* evolved. From these, many other subordinate types of *prabandha-gītis* came into being. All these classical *prabandhas* were included under three heads, *śuddha, chāyālaga* and *saṃkīrṇa* or *kṣudra*. The above-mentioned *dhruvaka* type of the *prabandha-gīti* may be the forerunner of the present *dhruvapada* type of music. This type was revived by Rājā Mān of Gwalior, Nāyaka Gopāl, Bāiju Bāorā and other eminent artists and lovers of music. The *kṣudra-gīti* might have been evolved from the *dhruvaka-prabandha* and from the *kṣudra-gīti* evolved *citrapadā, citrakalā*, the present types of modified *dhruvapada* and pāñchāli. Regarding the evolution of these types, there are differences of opinion among the scholars. Ghanaśyāma-Narahari of the early eighteenth century mentions the types of the pāñchāli-gītis in his *Sangītasāra-saṃgraha*. The contribution of Bengal, in the domain of melodies, was also immense.