Indian Music – Unity in Diversity
by Ram S. Sriram
May 25, 2009
"While it is complex in theory and practice, Indian music is not just an art but description of life itself." (William Butler Yeats, Irish Poet).

Indian classical music had its origins in Samaveda, one of the four ancient Vedas that dates back to 1,500 B.C – 1,000 B.C. The word Sama originated from the Sanskrit word, sam or “harmony.” Sam also means a song. Surprisingly, the word Sam or Sama is also used to refer to music and songs in other languages such as Hebrew (Sama), Arabic (Sama), Greek (Sama), and English (Psalm). In the Samaveda period, the music began as a single note. During religious rituals, a group of individuals chanted the syllable Om, stressing the note Sa. With the passage of time, the group modified the chant to include two notes, Sa and Ri and later to Sa, Ri, and Ga and eventually to even more notes. The notes were also chanted in ascending and descending orders to form a musical scale.

With several notes and with ascending and descending orders in which these notes must be sung, it became necessary for the group to find a way to keep track of the notes, so that they can sing the notes in the right order. Therefore, the members of the group started using the fingers of their hands to denote each note and the order in which the notes must be sung during a chant. Thus, the group created the earliest notational system in the world. With the development of a musical scale and tonal shift, the rudimentary concepts of raga also began to emerge. Although Samaveda did not create a well-formed tala system, the participants did have an understanding of laya or balanced tempo. The impressive contributions to the development of music make Samaveda, one of the earliest recorded literatures of the world, the mother of not only Indian music but also of the world.

While the contributions of Samaveda to the development of Indian music is indisputable, Indian music progressed extensively also during the post-Samaveda period. For example, there are several references to attributes of raga and tonal systems in the epics Ramayana and Mahabharata. The Silapathikaram, Tamil epic written during 1st Century A.D., elaborately discusses the attributes of pann (the Tamil equivalent of the word raga). The period had also produced musicologists, composers, and performers of eminence and scholarliness. In the interest of brevity, I would mention a few names: Bharatha, author of Natyasastra, Kalidasa, poet and musical scholar, Matanga Muni, author of Brahadesi, a text on music, Sarangadeva, the author of Sangitaratnakara and Venkatamukhi, who codified the ragas and produced the Melakarta scheme. Great composers and musicologists of the period include Purandaradasa, Syama Sastri, Thyagaraja, and Muthuswamy Dikshitar from Southern India and Amir Khusro, Tansen, Pandit Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande, and Paluskar from Northern India, to name a few.

Although Indian music began as a single note, Om, chanted during religious rituals, we cannot characterize the music as religious music. The music had always been secular and independent. But this claim often raises skeptical questions, not only in the minds of Western audiences, but also in the minds of people of Indian origin. If indeed Indian music is secular and independent of religion, why should the compositions contain so many references to Hindu gods and mythological characters? It is a fair question. However, the answer to the question is quite simple. What better way to make people understand and appreciate a composition than through characters that are part of the Indian consciousness - gods and other heroes and villains from epics and mythological stories. These characters inspire reverence and awe in a Hindu’s mind. Consequently, Indian music composers found the epics and mythological stories to be a never ending source, not only as a context for their lyrics, but also to highlight moral, ethics, and philosophical values. The composers believed that music should not be just a source of aesthetic pleasures but also a catalyst that encourages the listener to ponder over social and spiritual issues. They were certain that using characters and stories from epics and mythology as a background would be an effective approach to communicate messages of wisdom to the ordinary individual. An individual is more likely to relate to the messages when they are conveyed through characters or contexts that he is familiar with.

The twin path followed by the composers, offering the listener an aesthetic experience while expecting the listener to reflect on social, moral, and spiritual values, is not antagonistic to the Hindu way of life. In the everyday life, a Hindu traverses in parallel domains - concrete and abstract and rational and intuitive. A Hindu must unquestionably conform to strict rituals, social norms, and even beliefs that are imposed on him by his society. Yet, he also has enormous freedom to contemplate on metaphysical subjects that transcend mundane rules and rituals. This analogy is also true for Indian music where, the intuitive and intellectual domains coexist. To illustrate, a raga’s structure is conditioned by the logical arrangement of swaras. A raga is either a Janaka raga (parent raga) or a Janya raga (Child raga). Each raga is assigned a place within a Melakarta classification scheme. And yet, knowing the array of rules does not by help a listener in understanding the aesthetics of a raga. Such an understanding evolves only when a listener intuitively feels the emotions generated by a raga within him. This subjective and emotional experience is unique to each listener and no two listeners, listening to the rendering of the same raga, feel the same emotions. Why should this be so? After all, should not a raga, with pre-defined set of swaras and rules, evoke the same emotions in all listeners? A raga is an expression of feelings that lie deep within a human being and they are personal and unique; rules and classifications are inadequate to define the intangible outcomes.

Like a Hindu’s life, the music also has an intellectual dimension. This intellectual component is more evident in Carnatic music, where the composers use their lyrics as subtle means to encourage the listener to contemplate on personal values and social responsibilities. To the composers, the lyrics are not only useful to convey messages of wisdom, but also to reprimand the listeners for their prejudices and discriminatory social behaviors. In this emotional-intellectual duality, Carnatic music compositions are expressions of the evolution of a nation, its peoples’ beliefs, and moral and ethical dilemmas. Like a Hindu who willingly accepts the rituals and beliefs of his caste and community, Indian music conforms to the prescribed rules and processes. But, like a Hindu goes beyond the rituals and questions the inherent value in the rituals and socially-imposed norms, the music also expects the listener to go beyond the emotional experiences and engage in an intellectual discourse over the content of the lyrics. The emotional and intellectual aspects of the music appear to blend seamlessly, without being antithetical to each other. This unity in diversity is what makes the music unique.

Ram S. Sriram lives in Atlanta. He serves as Controllers’ Roundtable Distinguished Professor at the Robinson College of Business, Georgia State University. He is also a Mridangist and routinely accompanies professional musicians visiting from India. He learnt Mridangam from two illustrious gurus, Sri T. V. Gopalkrishnan and Srimushnam Raja Rao. He writes on music philosophy and his articles on music and other topics are available at the website www.vidyarthi.org.

Comments on this Article

ananda vardhana [Albuquerque, NM. Jun 1, 2009 12:12:11 PM]
Very well written article Sriram. Everything was new to me too ... It was very enlighting. I have recommended this to our music teacher Shailaja Prasanna to make her students read it. They will gain a lot to know the history of what they are learning. After reading your nice article and then listening to the pop version of Gayathri Mantra there is a total brhama nirasana. The great Hindu culture which promoted this divine music you have so nicely articulated is also creating the killer via the pop version. Initially I thought people would protest but I guess all the holiness is gone and the divinity in the music is only in the minds and articles such as yours and bit in us. Thanks for keeping it alive.