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Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c11.s1.t3: Indian Music

Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c11.s1.t3

Language
English

Indian Music

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Music of India, which originated from India and spread with the profound influence on the South Asian Subcontinent and even South Eastern Asia, Central Asia, Western Asia and Eastern Asia, is one of the global important music systems. It consists of classical music and folk music with the unique theoretical system and performing form and is a miracle in the big family of world music.

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The Origin and Development of Indian Classical Music

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India, a country with ancient civilisations, has a long history and splendid culture as well as a variety of religions. In addition to the indigenous Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism, Islam and Christianity are also influential. Over thousands of years, because of the unceasingly foreign invasions, the population has never stopped migration which made the ethnic ingredients complicated and emerges cultural diversity. This is why Indian music shows unique characteristics.

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The Vedas are not only the oldest Indian masterpiece on religion, literature and philosophy but also the most important source of Indian music. *Samaveda*, one of four Vedas, is a collection of songs in the ancient era includes 1,875 odes. “Sama” means a tune, so *Samaveda* is a tune collection produced for the needs of the flamen chanters, therefore, the contents of those poems is in the subsidiary position. Different factions have different singing methods that are inherited up to now. Hence, *Samaveda* is very important for studying the ancient Indian music history.

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Indian painting in silk, ‘*Herdswomen and Krishna engaged in dance*’ (18th century CE), now preserved in the National Museum in New Delhi, India.

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Lord Krishna playing the flute, 'Mahabharata'

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Vedas chant only has three pitches. Before singing, a tone of “Om” is firstly pronounced by putting three tones of “a, u and m” together to express the respect to the God who creates the universe. Ancient Brahmans believed that the God who created the universe was Prajapati, namely “Indra” in the Vedas and “Brahma” in the *Manu Corpus Juris*. The six-word mantra beginning by “Om” has the sanctity in the Buddhist believers in China and other Asian countries as yet.

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Between 4^th century BCE and 4^th century CE, two major epics of *Ramayana* and *Mahabharata* came out. 2,000 years passed, and they have been around through the stories, dramas and dances as well as spread to many Asian countries. Today, those two epics are still major eternal themes of Indian music and dance. The record related to the music, musical instruments and musical life in the epics is extremely precious historical material to understand the ancient Indian music. Xue Keqiao, a Chinese scholar, has written an article about this.

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Indian classical music has gradually developed into seven tones and 12 melodies based on three pitches of Vedas chant, thereby forming distinct “Raga” and “Tala” system. As early as hundreds of years ago, when the Europeans used Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La and Si as the musical scales, Indian people had already introduced the “Shadja”, “Rishabha”, “Gandhara”, “Madhyama”, “Panchama”, “Dhaivada” and “Nishada” as the names of seven tones and called them Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha and Ni, respectively, for short.

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Bharata’s *Natya-sastra* is the most ancient Indian musical theoretical works born in 2^nd-5^th centuries CE. This book has fully discussed the ancient Indian music, dances and dramas in theory in which the music is mainly discussed in the 28^th-36^th chapters, especially with respect to the specific tones “Swara”, differential interval “Shruti” and ancient scale “Granma” in the Indian music. These special theories of Indian music have become the foundation of ancient Indian music that has come down to us.

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At the beginning of the 20^th century CE, a stele with a size of 13 ft x 14 ft was discovered in the adjacent piedmont of Kudumiyanmalai village, Pudukkottai area, Southern India. According to the textual research, this is a stele of Kudumiyanmalai Inscription on Music made in 7^th century CE carved in the “Palava-grantha-lipi”. Its completion time is a little later than that of Bharata’s *Natya-sastra*, the records of both on music score are almost the same.

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Since the 8^th century CE, Islam began to be introduced to India from its western and northwestern parts. Until the 13^th century CE, the Muslim established the Sultanate in Delhi and the Mughal Dynasty was built in the 16^th century CE. Indian music is influenced by Persian and Arabian music and culture. The classical music is gradually divided into two major genres: the north and south, namely the “Hindustani” developed under the Islamic regime in north India and “Karnatak” that retains the domestic traditions in south India.

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Indian classical music performance

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Indian fine silk painting depicting classical Indian music.

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In the early period of 13th century CE, Sarangadeva’s *Sangita-ratnakara* further developed into the theory of Bharata and became a significant literature with collections of Indian music theory at that time.

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After Indian classical music was divided into two major genres, the north and south, many musicians appeared successively. Prandara Dasa （1481～1561）lived from the late 15th century CE to the early 16th century CE was respected as the “Father of Indian Music”. The songs he created have been listed in the functional textbooks for beginners.

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Indian fine silk painting depicting performance of Raag Megh,dating between 1650-1660 CE.

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Since the establishment of the Mughal Dynasty in 1526, Islamisation of Indian society and culture was quickly formed, and the same was to the music. Islamic culture and ancient Indian culture were integrated, resulting in the forming of a new style of Indian music and emerging of many kinds of musical forms and genres, which enriched the treasury of Indian musical culture. Up to the end of the 16th century CE, a well-known musician, Tansen, who used to service in the Akbar’s palace, finally completed the north Indian classical music system that was inherited to nowadays.

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In the middle 19th century CE, due to India’s being completely colonised by the British, the Indian music culture was impacted and the classical music started fading gradually. Then Tanjore worked with many musicians for the efforts of revival of classical music, among whom a composer, Diyakaraja, who was honoured as the Music Saint and worked very actively.

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Rabindranath Tagore was a famous Indian poet and also an outstanding composer who made a huge contribution to the revitalisation of Indian musical culture. In 2,000 songs he created, elements of Indian classical music, Bangladesh folk music and western music were integrated which initiated a new era of Indian music.

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The Indian classical music has a lofty status in people’s heart in the Indian music life. Its basic theories have different degrees of influence on various kinds of musical forms. It has a close tie with religious and culture. The themes of the classical music and classical dance were mostly about myth stories and generally performed in the temple during early stage. The vocal lyrics mostly were praises to the God in order to express people’s devotion to religion; musicians’ creation and performance are considered as on the inspiration of the God to reflect the will of the God. All in all, Indians believe that the music is the language of the God. Therefore, the classical music and all kind of related instruments as well as appreciation of classical music and dance are all sacred.

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The Theoretical System of Indian Classical Music

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(1) The musical tone is called *Swara* in India and basic tones have seven levels that are *Shadaja*, *Rishabha*, *Gandhara*, *Madhyama*, *Panchama*, *Dhaivata* and *Nishada*. The names of seven *Swara* are not the same as the western musical alphabets C, D, E, F, G, A and B or syllable names *Do*, *Re*, *Mi*, *Fa*, *So*, *La* and *Si*, and also not the same as Chinese ancient 12 melodies that are based on the musical names, namely, *Huangzhong*, *Dalv*, *Taicu*, *Jiazhong*, *Guxi*, *Zhonglv*, *Ruibin*, *Linzhong*, *Yize*, *Nanlv*, *Wuyi* and *Yingzhong* as well as the *Gongche*

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Traditional Indian musical instruments

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notation that is based on words of “Gong and Che” to express pitches and syllable names in Chinese folk traditions. Seven Swaras can be written as Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha and Ni for short and adopt the fixed-do system. The musical tone names of Indian north and south system are the same but obviously different in performance style.

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The Indian classical music has unique and integrated theoretical system. Bharata’s *Natya-sastra* has subdivided an octave into 22 *Shruti*. Indians believe Shruti is the least interval unit distinguished by human hearing. In all nationalities worldwide, there are a variety of tone systems. Currently, 12 tone equal temperament is mostly used that is divided an octave into 12 equal semitones, two semitones are equal to one whole tone. The size of interval in the Indian music is based on the numbers of Shruti, for example, a big interval consists of four pieces of Shruti, a small interval consists of three pieces of Shruti, and a semitone consists of 2 pieces of Shruti. These three kinds of intervals are totally different from the semitone in Western music in which two semitones are equal to one whole tone.

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Mural painting depicting the craft of music in the Temple of Heaven, the 58th number cave at Kumutuci, Kucha in the Xinjiang Province, China.

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Because the rhyming is different, the interval is also different between two scale tones, thereby resulting in distinct differences in style with other ethnic music worldwide. The pitch of Sa is generally in accordance with C tone of piano, but not absolutely. It can be adaptable to any range of singing and musical instruments. Similarly, this range is also divided into three kinds of saptak that are madhya saptak, mandra saptak and tara saptak. Musical tone may have certain pitches and syllable names, which can run free within three ranges.

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(2) *Raga*, which has the melody frame of musical mode in the Indian classical music, consists of 5-7 tones specified in one group for improvisation or singing. Therefore, it has formed a unique system in the world during the long-term development. *Raga* is male tune and it traditionally has six types of basic *Raga*. Each *Raga* also has five types of Gilani that is a female tune with total 36 tunes. Particular *Raga* and Gilani have to be sung in specific seasons and time in order to express a sort of particular emotion or feelings and nine types of Indian traditional aesthetics. For example, Sindhi Bhairavi is better to be played in the morning while Durga is better to be sung in the dusk. The Indian north and south classical music system have various kinds of *Raga*. Musicians usually interpret these features of *Raga* via improvisation. There are tens of common *Ragas*, which are the basic melody of improvisation, for Indian music. Each *Raga* has its specific name. They are a little similar to the music cards of Chinese local opera music but also entirely different from the latter.

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The Indian music has also used pentatonic scale (five-tone scale) such as Bhup Kalyan that is equivalent to pentatonic Gong melody (modes of ancient Chinese music). The scale of Bhup Kalyan is just the same as the Chinese pentatonic Zhi tone. Indian musicians also believed that it was originated from China but its name was derived from Durga, a fully-adored Indian Goddess. The historical truth of music and culture exchanges between India and China is subject to further study.

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As each kind of *Raga* is related to the certain feelings, some kinds of emotions can be expressed not only by the voice, but also by painting. For instance, in a *Raga* water colour painting called “Melk”, the god Krishna (Heitian) was dancing convivially holding a musical instrument accompanied by two female musicians, with beautiful peacocks were perching in the trees on both sides, the rain dispersing the stuffiness of hot summer and moistening the dry earth. The *Raga* melody is well explained by this *Raga* painting to express people’s enjoyment in their heart when the rainy season approaching.

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(3) *Tala* is an Indian music rhythm system formed by beat cycles. Indian music measurement unit is called the matra and the most common one is called Tintal that is made up by four sections divided by 16-unit beats, namely 4 + 4 + 4 + 4. Furthermore, there are other types of Tala including 7 matras, 10 matras and 12 matras. Each *Tala* consists of two important beats, one for the strongest voice and the other for the empty beat.

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(4) Grace notes and improvisation: Indian music will add some grace notes-Gamaka ahead of the basic music. Gamaka is an embellish cavity technique indispensable in the Indian music styles, which is also different in application between the north and south.

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(5) Several important vocal music modes: The representative vocal music works are “Dhrupad” and “Khyal” in the north Indian classical music. “Dhrupad” was a vocal music developed in the court during 15ᵗʰ and 16ᵗʰ centuries CE. Lyrics are mostly sung for Gods, emperors or heroes with a respectful style and less Gamaka used. Today, “Khyal” is one of the most common vocal music in the north Indian music and is also more gorgeous and lyric than “Dhrupad”. It is developed by absorbing some characteristics of Persia music based on the Indian folk songs.

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**Indian Folk Music:** The Indian people are good at singing and dancing and the folk music is widely spread. The classical music is mainly for satisfaction of aesthetic needs while the folk music has many social functions. People cannot live without music in the productive labour and daily life. After harvest, when getting married or having children, people usually tend to gather together singing and dancing to celebrate. In India, from Kashmir to Cape Comorin, from Assam hills to Rajasthan’s Thar Desert, we can hear the melody from different nationalities with the graceful singing and rich in regional style and vitality. For example, Kashmirian songs are exquisite with strong Persia style while Tamilians living in the south have kept the ancient Indian Dravidian culture. The range of Indian folk music is also very extensive and many folk songs can even reach three octaves. A large number of Indian singing and dancing movies have also promoted the development of Indian folk music. Since the late 20ᵗʰ century CE, western pop music started to be introduced into India, which was welcomed by some urban youths.

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**Indian Instruments:** Various kinds of Indian instruments mainly include four types such as string instruments, leather instruments, body instruments and air instruments, among which the seven-string Veena, Sitar and double-sided tom-tom all have distinguished features and abundant expression.

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(*Zhao Jiazi*)

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