CHAPTER- 3

INDIAN CLASSICAL
MUSIC
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Introductory

We need not go deep down into the history to convince ourselves that the

seed of music lies in the human voice itself. The very first attempts at music expression

whether in India or elsewhere must have been in the religious chants.

In the research of the therapeutic potentiality in Indian classical music, a

brief review of Indian ancient literature is inevitable, as the origin of Indian music is

found in the Vedas. Music in India was deeply associated with the religious and social

life of the people. The Vedas, the Puranas, the Tantric and other ancient literature of India

are full of references to music. In fact, music was looked upon as the 5th veda known as

the „Gandharva Veda‟. A good amount of literature dealing with all this is either lost or

has remained unexplored. However, the researcher has tried to and also might be able to

draw attention to some of the important aspects which are particularly needed for this

present venture.

But before we lean deeply in this vast divine ocean, we need to be clear

with some of the technical terms from the Indian music required in correspondence of

music therapy.

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DEFINITIONS :

1. MUSIC: In India the most commonly used word to denote music is

„Sangeet‟. In its wider sense it also implies dance along with vocal

and instrumental music. There are two types of music in our

country. One is Uttar (north) Hindustani music and the other is the

Dakshindhi (south) Karnatic music. Please note that in this thesis

we are dealing with the Uttar Hindustani Music only.

2. DWANI: Any sound is „Dwani‟. In dwani there are two categories. a) dwani

useful for music b) Other. Here we are dealing with the dwani only

which is useful for music.

3. NAAD: A dwani which is useful for music is called as „Naad‟. Its main

quality is that it pleases the ears. It has a fixed number of

frequencies. There are three qualities of naad- Magnitude (this

concerns with the volume), Timbre (this shows whether the sound

is a human voice or of an instrument etc) and Pitch (this concerns

with higher or lower tones)

4. SWAR: Swar is the further quality of naad. When a naad is chosen for

sangeet, it becomes „Swar‟. A swar has all the good qualities of

naad. It pleases the ears, it has fixed frequencies and it remains for

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some time in the air. There are mainly seven swars in Hindustani

classical music they are-

 SA (shadja)

 RE (rishabh)

 GA (gandhar)

 MA (madhyam)

 PA (pancham)

 DHA (dhaiwat) and

 NI (nishad).

Further there are three types of swars- shudha swar (pure), komal

swar (soft) and tivra swar (sharp).

5. SHRUTI: Shruti means a microtone. Between any note and the next, there

exists the theoretically infinite number of steps in microtones. It is

not practically possible to distinguish them or give each one of

them a specific identity. In Hindustani classical there are main

seven notes and 22 of microtones existing in between of them.

6. SAPTAK: Sapta is seven. Swar- saptak is a group of seven notes which are

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used in the Hindustani classical music. The saptak is being divided

into three groups namely-

 Mandra Saptak (lower pitch)

 Madhya Saptak (middle pitch)

 Tar Saptak (higher pitch).

7. TAAL: In the ordinary sense taal means rhythm. It is the medium of

measuring time in music. The length of the taal is counted with the

unit called as Matra. Thus, taal is a combination of a number of

matras, which has a shape. It has divisions, sam, taali and a khali.

8. THAAT: Thaat is a cluster of swaras from which the ragas are produced.

9. RAGA: A raga originates from a thaat. It has a specific combination of

swar and varna. It has minimum of five swaras to a maximum of

seven swaras. The beauty of a raga lies in the arrangement of the

vadi and the samvadi swaras.

10. SAMAY: Time cycle is followed to perform a raga. Every raga has a specific

time frame like the morning raga, noon raga, evening raga etc.

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11. RASA: Rasa is essentially an emotional reaction. The feeling may be sad

or pleasant, high or low. In the system of Indian aesthetics there

are nine emotions called „Nava Rasa‟. They are-

 Shringara (romantic or erotic)

 Hasya (comic or humorous)

 Karunya (pathetic or sad)

 Rudra (angry or fury)

 Veer (heroic)

 Bhayanak (fear or terror)

 Vibhatsa (odious or disgusting)

 Adbhut (wonder or surprise)

 Shant (peace or tranquility)

12. CLASSIFICATION

OF RAGAS: The classification of Ragas is called as „Raga Jaati‟. The three

Main Raga jaatis are- Audav jati (containing five swaras), Shadav

jati (containing six swaras), Sampoorna jati (containing seven

swaras). Further including these there is also the combination of

these three jaatis for the further classification of ragas.

These are some of the basic terms an individual will come across while reading this

thesis.

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3.1 Brief history of Indian classical music

The hidden agenda of Indian classical music has always

been spiritual. This, of course is one of the reasons why the word Naad-Brahma as a

concept was born in India. It is that our music has emerged from a mythical past. A past

that was before the recorded history. In the past, gods and goddess were the makers of

our music. The concept of Naad Brahma belongs to this past. One constantly hears that

"Indian classical music is derived from the Vedas". Although no one can say that this

statement is false, it is deceptively simplistic. When discussing Vedic contributions to

contemporary music, there are three things that should be kept in mind. There is not the

least shred of evidence to support the belief that contemporary Indian music is derived

from the Vedas.

To the ancient Indian the five elements, the great seas, the great

mountains, tress, human beings of great learning were of a lot of importance. The Vedic

literature is all about this. One of these Vedas is the “Sam Veda” which is geya i.e. can

be recited musically. It was recited in a very few simple melodic passages. The necessity

of application of music seems to be due to music being particularly helpful in

memorizing. Recitation has the idea of rhythm and music behind it. Thus the verses in the

Vedas became simple chants. Music was produced out of these chants.

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It is important to remember the old adage, "Absence of evidence is not

evidence of absence". It turns out that we cannot reasonably expect to find any clear

evidence. One of the first places to look for evidence is in the music itself. However, this

allows us to push things back only to a limited degree. The situation is very analogous to

owning a pair of socks. Let us say that we have a pair of white socks. As it wears out,

we patch it with black thread. After some period we have no white thread left. At that

point, there is no objective way to tell that there was ever any black thread at all. This

analogy is very similar to trying to ascertain musical influences by examining

contemporary musical practice.

Music is constantly changing. We need only look at how music styles

have changed just within our own lifetime. If we consider the change in music over

longer periods, we quickly reach a point where there is nothing recognizable. In a sense,

this creates a „musical horizon‟ beyond which we cannot expect to penetrate. There is

considerable debate as to how long back this musical horizon extends, yet it is clear that

it does not allow us to look back to the vedic period. Therefore, we cannot expect to find

any unambiguous vedic influence in any contemporary musical practice.

The Vedas collectively refers to a corpus of ancient Indo-Aryan religious

literature that is associated with the Vedic civilization and are considered by adherents of

Hinduism to be revealed knowledge. Many Hindus believe that the Vedas were not

written by anyone (including God), but are eternally existing (Apaurusheya). While many

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historians regard the Vedas as some of the oldest surviving texts, they estimate them to

have been written down between 1500 BC and 500 BC. The precursor for the Indian raga

system originated in the VEDIC PERIOD [RIG VEDIC PERIOD] which is believed to

precede the pre-historic Indus valley civilization. The vedic hymns of the vedic period

were meant for Yajnas and were called „Yajur Vedas‟ and the hymns that were meant

for singing were called „Sama Veda‟. Music was evolved out of the stanzas of Rig Veda

set to tunes and tones in the form of „Samaganas‟ cultured with a religious motive and a

spiritual purpose. Indian tradition had a great intuition about the power of Sound and

intonation and that the science of sound was very important for use in every condition of

life, in teaching, in evolving, in healing and in accomplishment.

The vedic chants and music were intoned with utmost care as each

intonation and infection of voice could have benefited or adverse effects. The Vedas and

Upanishads had more of sound and rhythm and were used as a source of healing and

upliftment. These vedic songs were used by people to please the presiding deities of

different vedic sacrifices or yajnas to get benedictions of brilliance, power and wisdom. It

was only from this sama-gana, that the seven notes [Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni] were

evolved which formed the basis for the raga system of India.

The Vedas consist of several kinds of texts, all of which date back to

ancient times. The core is formed by the „Mantras‟ which represent hymns, prayers,

incantations, magic and ritual formulas, charms etc. The hymns and prayers are addressed

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to a pantheon of Gods and a few Goddesses, important members of which are Rudra,

Varuna, Indra, Agni, etc. The mantras are supplementary by texts regarding the sacrificial

rituals in which these mantras are used as well as texts exploring the philosophical

aspects of the ritual tradition, narratives etc.

The Mantras are collected into anthologies called

„Samhitas‟. There are four samhitas: Rk (poetry), Saman (song), Yajus (prayer) and

Atharvan (a kind of priest). They are commonly referred to as the Rigveda, Samaveda,

Yajurveda and Atharvaveda respectively. Each samhita is preserved in a numbers of

versions or recensions (shakahs), the differences among them begin minor, expect in the

case of the Yajurveda, where two „white‟ (shukla) recessions contain the mantras only,

while four „Black‟ (krishna) recessions interspersed the Brahmana parts among the

Mantras.

The Rigveda contains the oldest part of the corpus and consists of 1028

hymns. The samaveda is mostly a rearrangement of the Rigveda for musical rendering.

The Yajurveda gives sacrificial prayers and the Atharvaveda gives charms, incantations,

magic, formulas etc. In addition to these there are some stray secular material, legends etc

The next categories of texts are the Brahmanas. These are ritual texts

that describe in detail the sacrifices in which the mantras were to be used, as well as

comment on the meaning of the sacrificial ritual. Each of the Brahmanas is associated

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with one of the samhitas. The Brahmanas may either form separate texts, or in the case of

the Black Yajurveda, can be partly integrated into the text of the samhita. The most

important of the Brahmanas is the Shatapatha Brahmana of the White Yajurveda.

The Aranyakas and Upanishads are theological and philosophical

works. They are mystic or spiritual interpretations of the vedas, and are considered their

putative end and essence, and thus known as Vedanta (the end of the vedas). They often

form part of the Brahmanas (e.g. the Brahadaranyaka Upanishad). They are the basis of

the Vedhanta school of darsana.

The hindu tradition regards the vedas as uncreated, eternal and being

revealed to sages (Rishis). The Rishi Krishna Dwaipayana, better known as Veda Vyasa-

„Vyasa‟ meaning editor or compiler- reputedly distributed this mass of hymns into four

books of the vedas, each book being supervised by one of his disciples. Paila arranged the

hymns of the Rig-Veda. Those that were chanted during religious and social ceremonies

were set to music and melody- „Saman‟ (samaveda). The fourth collection of hymns and

chants known as the Atharva Samhita was collated by Sumanta.

Philosophies and sects that developed in the Indian subcontinent have

differing positions on the vedas. In Buddhism and Jainism, the authority of the veda is

repudiated, and both evolved into separate religions. The sects who did not explicitly

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reject the vedas remained followers of the Santana Dharma, which is known in modern

times as Hinduism.

In the later Hinduism, the Vedas hold an exalted position. They are

regarded as Sruti i.e., revelation, and the Brahminical caste based on the Vedas forms an

important part of Hindu religious life to this day. Vedanta, Yoga, and even bhakti

acknowledge the Vedas as revelation.

After the vedic music „GANDHARVA OR MARGI MUSIC‟ evolved

which was a type of a stage song or Natyadharmigiti, possessed of Swara, Tala and Pada.

Then the formalized regional or „DESI MUSIC‟ evolved which enriched the treasury of

Indian classical music in the form of gitis which originated with the succession of tones

that produced agreeable and pleasing sensations. Afterward one of India‟s learned sage

„Bharata‟ wrote an authorative treatise on the performing arts called

„NATYASHASTRA‟ from which the genuine type of raga came into being, with 10

determining characteristics (dashalakshanas) and psychological values, with the new

names of Gitiraga and Gramaraga. Bharata mentions in the Natyashastra that music was

being researched into and had reached a very high level in the terms of performance as

theory as well. Later Scholars like Dattila wrote „Dattilam‟, Kohala wrote „Kohalam‟,

Narad wrote „Nardiya Shiksha‟, Matang wrote „Brihadeshi‟.

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During the thirteenth century Sarangdeva (1210-1247) wrote „Sangeet

Ratnakar‟ which came to be regarded and respected as the most exhaustive study on

ancient Indian classical music, in which he brought up to date the musical development

of the centuries right from bharata onwards. It has an extensive exploration of the system

of notes- three to seven and experimentation on which of these affects the audience

greatly. There is a general agreement that Sangeet Ratnakar is the „treatise which set the

standards for Indian Classical Music as we know it today‟.

Further the credit of taking Hindustani Music out of its dark ages goes

to Pandit Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande (1860-1936) and Pandit Vishnu Digambar

Paluskar (1872-1921). [Link] gave up his profession as a lawyer and created a

history by publishing basic books on Hindustani Sangeet Padhhati, Lakshan Geet and

devised the notation system. He, by his great work cleared the debris accumulated for

centuries. The great disciple of Pandit Balkrishnabuva Ichalkaranjikar, [Link]

Digamber Paluskar popularized music in the masses, which was strangled in the royal

courts and in the drawing rooms of the rich and the nobles. He founded the

„GANDHARVA MAHA VIDYALAYA‟ at Lahore, and through his unique style, taught

the youngsters the intricacies of Hindustani classical music. He invented his own style of

notation system and also wrote many books. He re-enshrined music in its place as Veda.

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Now at present the class of music lovers is widely spread and many

new thoughts are being practiced. One may say that though quality depends on the

environment, the wave of Hindustani music is spreading worldwide.

Indian classical music is based on the ragas which are scales and melodies

that provide the foundation for a performance. Unlike western classical music, that is

deterministic, Indian classical music allows for a much greater degree of

„personalization‟ of the performance, almost to the level of jazz-like improvisation. Thus,

each performance of a raga is different. The goal of the raga is to create a trance state, to

broadcast a mood of ecstasy. The main difference with western classical music is that the

Indian ragas are not "composed" by a composer, but were created via a lengthy

evolutionary process over the centuries. Thus they do not represent mind of the composer

but a universal idea of the world. They transmit not personal but impersonal emotion.

Another difference is that Indian music is monadic, not polyphonic. Hindustani (North

Indian) ragas are assigned to specific times of the day (or night) and to specific seasons.

Many ragas share the same scale, and many ragas share the same melodic theme. There

are thousands of ragas. A raga is not necessarily instrumental and if vocal, it is not

necessarily accompanied. But when it is accompanied by percussion (such as tabala), the

rhythm is often rather intricate because it is constructed from a combination of

fundamental rhythmic patterns (or talas). The main instrument of the ragas is the sitar,

although historically the veena was at least equally important.

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Karnatic (Southern Indian) ragas constitute one of the oldest systems of

music in the world. They are based on seven rhythmic cycles and 72 fundamental ragas.

The founder of the Karnataka School is considered to be Purandara Dasa (1494). Karnatic

music is mostly vocal and devotional in nature, and played with different instruments

than Hindustani music (such as the mridangam drum, the ghatam clay pot, the vina sitar

as opposed to sitar, sarod, tambura and tabla). The fundamental format of Karnatic songs

is the "kriti", which are usually set in the style of a raga (the raga serves as the melodic

foundation). The golden age of Karnatic music was the age of Syama Sastri, who died in

1827, of Tyagaraja who died in 1847 and who composed the Pancharatna Krithis as well

as two „operas‟, Prahalada Bhakti Vijayam and Nauca Charitam, and of Muthuswami

Dikshitar, who died in 1835 after composing the Kamalamba Navavarnams and the

Navagraha krithis.

3.2 Raga, its meaning and purpose

Every lover of Indian music must feel highly gratified to see our music

contributing its share to the general progress, the general awakening of the modern India.

A particularly bright feature of this all embracing awakening in music is that educated

people are taking a keen interest in music. The increasing number of educated persons

among its listeners has given an impetus to a systematic and scholarly study of the art and

science of music. The theory of music is once more seriously attended to and it may not

be very long before music will be as decent a profession as law or medicine. This state of

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affairs requires that every individual should possess the basic knowledge about raga, its

meaning and purpose.

The root idea of Hindustani classical music today is what is now known as

the raga, which in its ancient crude form, was known as Jatis. The word raga is derived

from the Sanskrit root word Raj- to please, to be agreeable. Literally, anything that

pleases, that soothes the mind, would be a raga. Technically the Ragas are the melodic

systems to be developed extempore, according to certain rules of procedure and

composition. These are expressed either by vocal or on a musical instrument. Vocal

musicians or instrumentalists, well trained and well practiced, cultivate their voice to

such a wonderful quality and strength that they can develop a single raga (a single

melody, mode five toned, six toned or full scaled seven toned) alone for an hour and half

keeping the listeners spell bound and enrapture all the time.

A special feature of the Hindustani classical ragas is their appointed time

of singing. A lot of controversy has been going on among the scholars as to the propriety

and scientific or unscientific nature of the time table of the ragas.

3.3 Therapeutic characteristics of Hindustani classical music

Music has been frequently used as a therapeutic agent from the ancient

times. People in the villages or having rural background in the developed and under

developed countries still believe in the charismatic power of music for curing certain

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diseases and correcting physical and mental disorders. The therapeutic values of music

have been recognized and employed from a very early stage in the history of mankind

and medicine. Thus, with pride, music therapy points to a tradition as old as mankind

itself. Historical sources verify the very existence and effectiveness of the combination of

music and medicine to cure certain diseases and disorders.

The concept of mixing music as a part of therapy on one side with myth,

superstition, cult or religion and on the other side, questioning about the placebo effects

which are faced by every therapy and finally the appeal of scientifically, under-pinning

empirical facts about the concepts of music therapy have forced the scientists,

musicologists and physicians to put music therapy into action.

There is an unexplored, highly scientific field of music therapy i.e. the

effect of musical sounds and the effects of ragas in curing human ailments. Also a

number of successful experiments have been conducted from the past on testing the

effects of these ragas on the particular diseases. Here below are some of the examples of

the effects of the Indian classical ragas on different ailments.

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Table no: 08
List of a few Hindustani classical ragas suggested by our renowned musicologists
that have the therapeutic value in curing diseases:

[Link] NAME OF THE RAGA DISEASES THAT CAN BE CURABLE

1. Ahir Bhairav Hypertension

2. Bageshri Insomnia

3. Bhairavi Rheumatic Arthritis

4. Bhairav Cancer

5. Darbari Kanada Liver Problems

6. Hindol Backache

7. Jaunpuri Constipation

8. Kafi Sleeping Disorders

9. Kausi Kanada Common Cold

10. Kauisi kanada Anxiety

11. Kedra Bronchitis

12. Lalit Mental retardation

13. Malkauns Fever

14. Marubihag Diabetes

13. Miya ki Malhar Chronic Asthma

15. Nat bhairav Indigestion

16. Puriya- Dhanashree Diabetes

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17. Sohani Headache

18. Shree Asthama

19. Todi Hypertension

20. Yaman Rheumatic Arthritis

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