History of Indian Classical Music

 

History of Indian Classical Music

    The Evolution and History of Indian Classical Music are associated with the fundamental principle of Indian Civilization highy adjoined with the Indus Valley Civilization and the culture of the people of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro. It is also associated with Vedic period and the mythological belief of the people of Indian who always believes in God and its existence. The History of Indian Music is also associated with the law of progression, a nature, a soil , a fragrance and the cultural bonding between the people of India who lived here from hundreds of thousands of years ago and learned to speak, write, and much more things which nature taught to happen, struggle and alive like other living creators. Music in all concept is the heart and soul of the people with whom they express their eternal feeling either to express gratitude to loving nature, almighty god or to their beloved ones. Music has a fundamental character of rejoice so it is means of entertainment too.

    The continuity of Vedic tradition and the cultural versatility, from the ancient period to modern era, has established the various colour of Indian Music. It was germinated in Veda- especially in Sama Veda as Udaat. Anuddat and Swarit and flourshed as Shuti, Swar and the distinct style in every generation known by various name in various period. From Saam Gaan it has changes the flavor sometimes to Achik- Gaan, Margi sangeet- Deshi sangeet, Jati Gayan, Gram Murchan, Prabandh to Dhrupad, Varnam, Khyal, Ragam-Tanam Pallvi to Tumri, Kirti Kirtanam to Bhajan, Geet Ghazal and so many other musical forms found in Indian Subcontinent. Many evidence can be traced from various sources about the existence of these musical changes during the gradual development of classical music. A systematic and chronological history of Indian Music has come across the various stage in order to take shape and represent aesthetically about the concept of abstract arts in great extend.

    The primitive and premature civilization during pre Vedic Period may have evolved the concept of believing the nature as god and kept the tempo of its belief to establish the much associated with Trinity- Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh, the creator, preserver and the death, a divine truth of the universe. It passes therefore through the systematic records of musical thoughts and materials that evolved in different ages in a gradual process. Indian Music is also connected with various Rishi-Munis and their musical thoughts who had systematized the Nada as Brahma and Shruti as the liveness in musical varieties of different distinct musical forms and a melodic structure of Raga tradition.

    Many historian and the musicologist has divided the history of Indian Music into different categories. Pandit Bhatkhande, has illustrated three different phase 1. Hindu Period, 2. Mohammedan Period, and Britishers Period. Ancient period, Medieval period and modern period is a general concepts that history of Indian Music created and walk a long way to present scenario. Most of the scholars have mention the Vedic period, Ancient period, Medieval Period and Modern Period. Some of the musicologist also have inputted Jain and Buddhist period or Ramayana- Mahabharata period or few of the scholars has enlarged the time period to Shankaracharya or Sultanate period. It is always noticed that history of music is under privileged and allied with any other major subject. From these kind of General Sorting of Indian Music History doesn’t seems relevant because, generalizing the things may not find the depth of the music and the voyage of musical tradition may blurred so systematic arrangement of development of Indian Music should be constructed with  Musical perception and rational thought. In viewing the above clauses the most ideal classification in History of Indian Music can be classified as 1. Pre-Vedic Period, 2. Vedic, Pauranik Period and Pre Natyashastra Period, 3. Natyashastra period, 4. Brihaddeshi and transition period, 5. Praband period, 6. Sangeet Ratnakar Period, 7. Mughal & Rajput Period, 8. Pre- Colonial Period, 9. Britishers Period, 10. Post Independence Period. The classification under these ten subcategory make clear vision of gradual development of Indian Music in different stage of journey.

cont.......... 

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Nada :- Nurture of Melody

 

Nada

    Nada literally means the vibration or the sound produced with the help of any physical or natural movement of any object in the universe. It can be said as the tendency of sound production by means of collision of any two things which create some vibes and make a sense of hearing a vibration in air called Nada. In Musical terms, a Nada is different then what describes in general context. In Shastra, Nada, a Sound has been mentioned as supreme joy regarded as a creator or the Nadabrahma, the root of creation. 

    The conceptual meaning of Nada has been explained as Na- means life or the air or Vayu and Da means Agni, Fire or the energy to generate life thus Nada means the expressed sound to create emotions and pleased the ear. In Indian Classical Music we generally describe two types of Nada- Anahat Nada and Ahat Nada. Anahat Nada is unstuck and not caused by any means but self-sounding, and it can be said as the phenomenon of eternal vibration or the aura created by nature. It has no connection with Music and musical genre. Another Nada type is Ahat Nada or the stuck sound created by some means or other. 

    When the series of Ahat Nada are arranged in ascent and descent with stable frequencies with systematic interval between two Nada creates a Shruti then swar to form a musical melodies. The same characteristics of Nada in Sama Veda were called the Udat, Anudat and Swarit later forms a Shruti and Swar. Nada in Music can be considered as the fundamental essence to nurture the melody. 

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Swar: An Abstract frequency to understand the Music

 

Swar

    Among the infinitive varieties of sound, swar literally means a sound used for musical purposed having the character of stability in term of perfect pitch and unfluctuating frequency. It can be also define as the sound of having vibrational quality of pleasing nature and soothe the mind and soul of both creator and listener without depending on any other factor is called Swar. The definition of Swar may varies in different perception in Indian Classical Music. The Seven Major Musical tone are sometimes called Swar followed by five more sharper/flatter sub notes. Some intellectuals defines that each heard notes can be said as Swar however the characteristics might have different in implementing in musical scale.

It should be remember that the notes in Indian Classical are not fixed perhaps you fixed the root anywhere called Shadaj. It is not particularly bounded in any frequency so Shadaj can be of 246 Hz frequency if tuned in western note B. The exact frequency of C Sharp is tuned in 277.18 Hz. But the question arise that each Sa can be the 240Hz note? Obviously No. Each Individual notes in Hindustani Classical Music can be assumed as Sa, so how can a Sa be of 240 Hz. To form a particular scale in Indian Classical Music it be the establishment of root note and it is spell as per the comfort of the particular artist. Generally female used to setup sa a bit lower pitch then male because the treble of female vocal is sharper then male so it is set in such a way that they could reach all three octave without any difficulties in singing a song. The Root note of male pitch usually start near about C Sharp or the First Black (Middle Octave) female pitch is from the Fourth Black (Lower Octave) notes of Harmonium.  In pas centuries the Tanpura was tuned as per the comfort zone of the singer. There were no perfect technique to fix the notes so singers usually established Sa and then they used to construct a scale as per the Raga and its notes combination.

          The universal acceptance of the Swar or notes means the musical notes farmed in a musical scale to create a melody or harmony of music. The Swar in Indian Classical Music have two categories – Suddh Swar and Vikrit swar. The Sangeet Shastra denotes seven Sudda Swar – Shadaj, Rishav, Gandhar, Madhyam, Pancham, Dhaivat and Nishad. Apart from these seven swar, there are semi micro tones in between these ascend and descend of Suddha swar are called Komal swar or Tivra swar according to the nature of notes. Rishav, Gandhar , Dhaivat and Nishad are always Komal which means flatter then the Suddha/ Natural Swar and Madhyam is always Sharper in nature so it is called Tivra Madhyam. In bettwen then Sudda- Komal- Tivra notes are also few more audible intervals which is called Shruti and they are used in particular frame as per the nature of Raga so Indian Classical Music usually called as a tradition of Shruti Gayan Parampara.

    The Swar in Indian Classical Music resonate and vibes with Major Fourth and Major Fifth Notes what we generally called as Shadaj Madhyam- Shadaj Pancham Bhav Samvad. That is why the existence of seven suddha swar, 12 semi tones and twenty-two micro tones are highly regarded as the musical frequencies in classical music. With reference to the origin of Swar, it is also supposed that these seven swar have certain association with animals and birds. Shadaj comes from the sound of peacock, Rishav comes from Skylark, Gandhar from the Goat, Madhyam from Heron, Pancham from Nightingale, Dhaivat from Horse and Nishad from the Elephant. Here, one thing should be noted that these swar are note of these animals but the pitch might represent the intonation of the sound what exactly they are so these birds and animals are only the symbolic form to represent the state of Swar.  

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Shruti - A Foundation of Indian Classical Musical

 

Shruti

Anything that is heard is basically a micro frequency of the sound which is called a Shruti in Indian Classical Music. A Shruti is the shortest distance between the two different frequencies ever heard. It can be said that the tiny difference between the two swar in music which can be distinguished or can be sung or played in the instrument is called Shruti. In Indian Classical Music, A shruti is a unit of measurement of the pitch of the notes. The process of such dialect is heard by the ears and cannot be perceived through any other means or by any other organ so it has been named shruti. There are numerable difference pitches of sound which are arranged in a single octave starting from Shadaj. These seven notes is a series of frequency having an individual identity admitted as per the fundamental principle described in Shastra.

The Shastra of Indian Classical Music has admitted twenty-two different audible and distinguished sounds in a Saptak but the point arises why only twenty-two shrutis or the micro-tones in a single octave. Why not more or less tiny frequencies can be admitted in such process because as per the stander physic each individual frequency is a sound and can be recognized by means of technology. Here, Students should remember a most important thing that produced sound can be measured and distinguished by means of Physic or by Singing is totally a different process and each individual which can be measured through scientific instruments cannot sing or cannot be distinguished by the human ear so the Twenty-two Shruti in Shastra were arranged as per their shortest interval between two different notes which is heard and can sing in a melodic structure while doing musical practices.

In a series of a long tradition in Indian Classical Music, Shruti is recognized as the shortest interval of two audible notes. It is believed that shruti was firstly illustrated in Rigveda and later used in a musical context which was clearly defined by Acharya Bharat Muni in Natyashastra. The Total number of Shruti mentioned in Shastra were twenty-Two and it is accepted by all the scholars in various stage of time-period with the help of various experiments. The Sarana-Chatushtai was the first experiment done by Acharya Bharat in the 2^nd Century BCE to prove the Shruti with its correspondence to Shadaj Madhyam Bhav or Shadaj Pancham Bhav Gram and Merchant.

The position of Twenty-Two Shruti according to the ancient concept is below:-

S.	Shruti	Ancient Saptak	Modern Saptak	Carnatic Saptak
1	Tivra		Shadaj	S- Shadaj
2	Kumudwati
3	Manda			R1- Suddh Rishav
4	Chandovati	Shadaj
5	Dayavati		Suddh Rishav	R2/G1-Chatushrutik Rishav / Suddh Gandhar
6	Rajani
7	Ratika	Suddh Rishav		R3/G2-ShatShruti Rishav/ Sadharn Gandhar
8	Roudri		Suddh Gandhar	G3-Antar Gandhar
9	Krodha	Komal Gandhar
10	Vajrika		Suddh Madhyam	M1-Suddh Madhyam
11	Prasarani
12	Preeti			M2-Prati Madhyam
13	Marjani	Suddh Madhyam
14	Kshiti		Pancham	P – Pancham,
15	Rakta
16	Sandeepini	Pancham		D1- Suddh Dhaivat
17	Aalapani
18	Mandati		Suddh Dhaivat	D2/N1Chatushruti Dhaviavt/ Suddh Nishad
19	Rohini
20	Ramya	Suddh Dhaivat		D3/N2- Shatshruti Dhaivat/ Kaishaki Nishad
21	Ugra		Suddh Nishad	N3- Kakli Nishad
22	Kshovani	Komal Nishad

 

The Table is the overall illustration of Modern Saptak of Hindustani Music, Rabindra Sangeet and Carnatic Music.

S.	Shruti	Hindustani Saptak	Rabindra Sangeet	Carnatic Saptak
1	Tivra	Shadaj	Shadaj	S- Shadaj
2	Kumudwati		AtiKomal Rishav
3	Manda	Komal Rishav	Komla Rishav	R1- Suddh Rishav
4	Chandovati		Anukomal Rishav
5	Dayavati	Suddh Rishav	Suddh Rishav	R2/G1-Chatushrutik Rishav / Suddh Gandhar
6	Rajani		Atikmal Gandhar
7	Ratika	Komla Gandhar	Komal Gandhar	R3/G2-ShatShruti Rishav/ Sadharn Gandhar
8	Roudri	Suddh Gandhar	Suddh Gandhar	G3-Antar Gandhar
9	Krodha
10	Vajrika	Suddh Madhyam	Suddh Madhyam	M1-Suddh Madhyam
11	Prasarani
12	Preeti	Tivra Madhyam	Tivra Madhyam	M2-Prati Madhyam
13	Marjani
14	Kshiti	Pancham	Pancham	P – Pancham,
15	Rakta		Atikomal Dhaivat
16	Sandeepini	Komal Dhaivat	Komal Dhaivat	D1- Suddh Dhaivat
17	Aalapani		Anukomal Dhaivat
18	Mandati	Suddh Dhaivat	Suddh Dhaivat	D2/N1Chatushruti Dhaviavt/ Suddh Nishad
19	Rohini		Atikomal Nishad
20	Ramya	Komal Nishad	Komal Nishad	D3/N2- Shatshruti Dhaivat/ Kaishaki Nishad
21	Ugra	Suddh Nishad	Suddha Nishad	N3- Kakli Nishad
22	Kshovani

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