Indian Music

Indian music is one of the world's oldest living traditions. Its literary trail reaches back roughly two thousand years to the Vedic age. The science of music, Gandharva Veda, is treated as an Upaveda (subsidiary text) of the Sama Veda. All seven notes of a raga can be found, in descending order, in the chants of the Sama Veda itself.

The milestones that exam questions return to again and again are:

• Natyashastra: compiled by Bharata between roughly 200 BCE and 200 CE, it gave the first reference to musical theory. It identified the octave and described its 22 keys (shrutis), the smallest gradations of pitch.
• Dattilam: endorsed the idea of 22 shrutis per octave.
• Brihaddeshi: written in the 9th century by Matanga, it was the first text to define the word raga.
• Sangeeta Makaranda: an 11th-century text by Nanda that listed 93 ragas and classified them into masculine and feminine forms.
• Sangeet Ratnakara: the classic written by the 13th-century musicologist Sarangadeva, it defined about 264 ragas drawn from both northern and Dravidian repertoires and described the various microtones.

Knowledge was passed down through the gurukul (ashram) system. This was a close guru-shishya (teacher-student) bond. The student lived with the master for years and was treated alike whether prince or commoner.

The modern era opened this closed circle. In 1901, Vishnu Digambar Paluskar founded the first Gandharva Mahavidyalaya at Lahore. It was a public music school. Its aim was to popularise Hindustani classical music and to train students outside the old family lineages.

The decisive turn came with the arrival of Persian and Islamic elements in the north. The older devotional Dhruvapad style transformed into the Dhrupad style by the 15th century. By the 17th century a new form, Khayal, had evolved. This Persian influence split Indian classical music into two branches: the northern Hindustani and the southern Carnatic. The two diverged around the 14th century.

Indian classical music rests on three pillars:

• Swara: the note or scale degree. The seven swaras together are called the Saptak or Sargam: Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni. Of the 22 shrutis (microtones), only 12 are audible: seven Suddha (natural) swaras and five Vikrita (modified) swaras.
• Raga: the melodic basis. The word comes from the Sanskrit ranj, "to delight." A raga has its own ascending line (aaroha) and descending line (avaroha), and a distinct mood.
• Tala: the rhythmic basis, a cycle of beats ranging from three to 108 beats. Its tempo is the laya: vilambit (slow), madhya (medium) and drut (fast).

A raga is classified by how many notes it carries:

• Audav (Odava): pentatonic, 5 notes.
• Shadava: hexatonic, 6 notes.
• Sampurna: heptatonic, 7 notes.

Within a raga, the notes have ranks:

• Vaadi: the "king," the principal note used most often.
• Samvaadi: the "queen," the second most important note.
• Anuvaadi: the other notes present in the composition.
• Vivadi: the dissonant notes absent from the composition.

The emotions a raga evokes are the rasas. Originally there were eight. A ninth (Shanta, peace) was later added to make the Navarasa: Shringara (love), Haasya (humour), Karuna (pathos), Roudra (anger), Bhayanak (horror), Veer (bravery), Adbhuta (wonder), Bibhatsa (disgust) and Shanta (calm). After the 15th century, Bhakti (devotion) was widely admitted as a rasa too.

A thaat is a parent scale used to classify ragas into groups. The musicologist V. N. Bhatkhande adopted a 10-thaat scheme for Hindustani music. The ten thaats are: Bilawal, Khamaj, Kafi, Asavari, Bhairavi, Bhairav, Kalyan, Marwa, Poorvi and Todi. The key distinctions to remember:

• A thaat has exactly 7 notes, uses only the ascending order, is not sung, and is named after a popular raga. It has no vaadi or samvaadi.
• A raga has at least 5 notes, uses both aaroha and avaroha, is sung (and so must be melodious), has vaadi and samvaadi, and is named after the emotion it evokes.

Hindustani music recognises six main ragas, each tied to a time and season: Bhairav (dawn, peace), Hindol (spring morning), Deepak (summer night), Megh (the rains), Shree (winter evening) and Malkaush (winter midnight, valour). Each raga has its proper performance time, and the clock rule extends well beyond the six. Raga Todi is sung in the morning. Raga Darbari, by contrast, is a late-night raga. Ragas of the first half of the day are poorva raga. Ragas of the second half are uttar raga. The slow opening that unfolds a raga without words is the alap.

The Hindustani branch is practised across northern India. It focuses on musical structure and the freedom to improvise. It uses a scale of natural notes (Shuddha Swara Saptaka). Its principal vocal styles include Dhrupad, Dhamar, Hori, Khayal, Tappa, Chaturang, Ragasagar, Tarana, Sargam and Thumri. The two grandest are:

• Dhrupad: one of the oldest and grandest forms, regarded as devotional temple music. It begins with a long alap sung not in ordinary words but in Sanskrit syllables derived from mantras (the nom-tom syllables), then moves to the composition with the Pakhawaj drum. It is usually performed by two male vocalists accompanied by tanpura. Be precise about its rise: it did not originate in the Rajput kingdoms. Raja Man Singh Tomar of Gwalior was an early champion, but the form developed and peaked as a court art in the Mughal period, reaching its zenith under Akbar, who patronised Tansen (one of the Navaratna), Swami Haridas and Baba Gopal Das. It declined in the 18th century.
• Khayal: meaning "imagination" in Persian, attributed to Amir Khusrau and given great patronage by Sultan Mohammad Sharqi of Jaunpur in the 15th century. It offers wide scope for improvisation. It is built on short songs called bandish and makes heavy use of fast note-runs (taan). A performance pairs a slow Bada Khyal with a fast Chhota Khyal.

Dhrupad itself is divided into four vanis (banis), each carried by a particular family:

• Dagari Gharana: sings the Dagar Vani with great emphasis on alap, performed by the Dagar family (e.g. the Gundecha Brothers of Jaipur).
• Darbhanga Gharana: sings the Khandar and Gauhar Vani, expounded by the Mallik family.
• Bettiah Gharana: performs the Nauhar and Khandar Vani, carried by the Mishra family. (The Dhrupad of Bettiah and Darbhanga is known as the Haveli style.)
• Talwandi Gharana: sings the Khandar Vani, but is based in Pakistan.

Tansen rewards a closer look. His title was not Akbar's gift. The title "Tansen" was conferred by Raja Ram Chandra Singh of Rewa, his patron before the Mughal court claimed him. As a composer he worked on three fronts. He composed Dhrupads on Hindu gods and goddesses. He composed songs in praise of his patrons. He also invented new ragas, among them Miyan ki Malhar and Miyan ki Todi.

The Carnatic branch is the music of southern India. It is kriti-based and prizes the saahitya (lyric) above all. A kriti is a highly evolved song set to a fixed raga and tala. Unlike Hindustani music, it allows little freedom to improvise. It follows a rigid structure with named sections:

• Pallavi: the opening thematic line(s), repeated in each stanza. The showpiece Ragam Thanam Pallavi gives the artist great scope.
• Anu Pallavi: the two lines that follow the pallavi.
• Varnam: sung at the start of a recital to reveal the raga, it is made of a first half (purvanga) and second half (uttaranga).
• Ragamalika: the concluding part, where the soloist may improvise freely before returning to the theme.

Carnatic music is usually played with the mridangam. A melodic improvisation with the mridangam is Thanam, and one without it is Ragam.

The core Carnatic repertoire comes from the Carnatic Trinity of the 18th and early 19th centuries: Tyagaraja, Muthuswami Dikshitar and Syama Sastri. Tyagaraja composed his kritis in praise of Lord Rama, not Krishna, and he created several new ragas. Long before the Trinity stands Annamacharya (Annamayya) of the 15th century. His Telugu kirtanas praise Lord Venkateswara, the deity of Tirumala. Keep the chronology straight: Annamacharya and Tyagaraja were not contemporaries. Roughly three centuries separate them.

The contrasts between the two schools are heavily exam-tested:

• Influence: Hindustani absorbed Arab, Persian and Afghan elements, while Carnatic remained indigenous.
• Improvisation: Hindustani allows wide variation, while Carnatic follows one prescribed style.
• Sub-styles: Hindustani gave rise to many gharanas, whereas Carnatic has none.
• Ragas: Hindustani has 6 main ragas, while Carnatic has 72.
• Time: Hindustani ragas adhere to a time of day, whereas Carnatic ragas do not.
• Instruments: Hindustani favours Tabla, Sarangi, Sitar and Santoor, while Carnatic favours Veena, Mridangam and Mandolin. The flute and violin are common to both.

A gharana is a system of social organisation that links musicians by lineage or apprenticeship and by loyalty to a particular style. The word comes from the Hindi-Urdu ghar ("house, family"). Each gharana carries its own musicological ideology, shaping how music is taught, performed and appreciated. The major Khayal gharanas are:

• Gwalior Gharana: the oldest and most elaborate, it gives equal weight to melody and rhythm but prefers simple ragas. Exponents: Nathu Khan and Vishnu Digambar Paluskar (the founder of the Gandharva Mahavidyalaya).
• Kirana Gharana: named after Kirana town in Uttar Pradesh, it was founded by Nayak Gopal and popularised by Abdul Karim Khan and Abdul Wahid Khan. Famed for precise tuning and slow-tempo ragas. Exponents: Pandit Bhimsen Joshi and Gangubai Hangal.
• Agra Gharana: revived by Faiyaz Khan (and renamed the Rangeela Gharana), its compositions blend Khayal and Dhrupad with stress on bandish.
• Patiala Gharana: founded by Bade Fateh Ali Khan and Ali Baksh Khan under the Maharaja of Patiala in Punjab. It is known for ghazal, thumri and khayal, and for intricate taans. Its greatest name is Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, famed for Raga Darbari.
• Bhendibazaar Gharana: founded by Chhajju Khan, Nazir Khan and Khadim Hussain Khan. Its singers train to sing long passages in a single breath and use some Carnatic ragas.

Other well-known gharanas include Indore and Jaipur. The Tarana style is fast, syllable-based and rhythm-driven. It is associated with the Mewati Gharana, whose Pandit Rattan Mohan Sharma is hailed as the "Tarana ke Baadshah."

Semi-classical music is still based on swara but deviates from the strict raga. It uses lighter ragas and faster tempos, and prizes bhava (emotion) and lyric over elaborate alap. The three prominent forms are:

• Thumri: built on mixed ragas, romantic or devotional in mood. Its texts are often about a girl's love for Krishna, in Hindi, Awadhi or Braj Bhasha. It is sensual and usually sung in a female voice with great freedom to improvise. Its main gharanas are in Banaras and Lucknow. The timeless voice associated with it is Begum Akhtar. It splits into Purbi thumri (slow) and Punjabi thumri (fast).
• Tappa: fast and knotty. It originated in the folk songs of the camel riders of North-West India and was given legitimacy in the Mughal court of Muhammad Shah. It is now near-extinct, with few exponents remaining (Shanno Khurana, Pandit Laxman Rao of Gwalior).
• Ghazal: a poetic form of rhyming couplets, never exceeding 12 ashaar (couplets), expressing the pain of love and separation. It originated in Iran in the 10th century. It spread to South Asia in the 12th century through Sufi mystics and the Sultanate courts, and peaked in the Mughal period. Associated names include Amir Khusrau, Mirza Ghalib, Muhammad Iqbal, Rumi and Hafez.

Folk music is the music of the people: no fixed rules, set to strong beats, and rooted in the life of each region. The forms most worth knowing, by state, are:

• Baul: Bengal. Both a mystic religious sect and its song (Baul Gaan), blending Bhakti and Sufi influences. Propounders include Lalon Phakir and Purno Chandra Das.
• Pandavani: Chhattisgarh. A ballad on the Mahabharata with Bhima as hero, set to the tambura. Its great artist is Tijanbai (Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan).
• Alha: Madhya Pradesh. A heroic ballad in Braj, Awadhi and Bhojpuri, recasting the Pandavas as five brothers.
• Maand: Rajasthan. Near-classical court music praising Rajput rulers (the song Kesariya Balam is in Maand).
• Panihari: Rajasthan. Songs of women fetching water, themed on water scarcity.
• Manganiyar and Langa: Rajasthan. Two hereditary Muslim communities of folk musicians. Their repertoire defines the musical tradition of North-West India, and they sing for hereditary patron families.
• Powada: Maharashtra. Ballads glorifying heroes such as Shivaji.
• Lavani: Maharashtra. A vigorous dance-song on the beats of the Dholki.
• Khongjom Parva: Manipur. A ballad narrating the 1891 Battle of Khongjom against the British.
• Mando: Goa. A blend of Indian and Western traditions using guitars, violins and the ghumot drum.
• Wanawan: Kashmir. Auspicious wedding music.
• Ovi: Maharashtra and Goa. Women's songs for marriages, pregnancy and lullabies.
• Bhavageete: Karnataka and Maharashtra. Emotional songs on nature, love and philosophy.

Sugam Sangeet is devotional music that fuses classical and folk strains. Its key sub-forms are:

• Bhajan: north Indian devotional hymns born of the Bhakti movement. Expounders include Mirabai, Tulsidas, Surdas and Kabir.
• Shabad: Sikh devotional singing in the Gurudwaras, traced to Guru Nanak and Mardana.
• Qawwali: Sufi devotional music in praise of Allah, the Prophet or Sufi saints, sung in a single raga with tabla, dholak and harmonium. Linked to Amir Khusrau, with major qawwals like the Sabri Brothers and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.
• Rabindra Sangeet: Bengal. The more than 2,000 songs of Rabindranath Tagore, mixing classical and Bengali folk.
• Sankirtana: Manipur. A ritual song-and-dance performance narrating the life and deeds of Lord Krishna, inscribed on the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage. Performers play the pung (a barrel drum) along with kartal (cymbals), so cymbals are not its only instruments.
• Abhanga: Maharashtra. In praise of Vithoba, composed by Tukaram and Namdev.
• Bhatiali: Bengal. Songs of the boatmen about nature and daily life.

Indian classical tradition sorts instruments into four categories:

• Avanaddha Vadya: membranophones (percussion). These have a stretched skin that is struck. Examples: Tabla (accompanies Hindustani vocals), Mridangam (accompanies Carnatic music), Dhol and the ancient earth-drum Bhumi Dundubhi.
• Sushira Vadya: aerophones (wind). Examples: Bansuri (flute), Shehnai (a double-reeded wind instrument, mastered by Ustad Bismillah Khan), and Pungi. The flute has been used since the Vedic age. Its noted exponents are Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia and Ronu Mazumdar. Keep the specialisms straight: Debu Choudhuri plays the sitar, Madhup Mudgal is a vocalist, and Shafaat Ahmad plays the tabla.
• Ghana Vadya: idiophones (solid, needing no tuning). Examples: Manjira (a small brass cymbal dated to the Harappan age), Jaltarang, Khartal and Jhanj, used to keep time.
• Tata Vadya: chordophones (strings). They divide by how the string is sounded: bowed (Sarangi, Esraj, Violin), plucked/plectral (Sitar, Veena, Tamboora), and struck (Santoor-type Swaramandal, Gotuvadyam). The Bangash family pioneered the Sarod. The Sitar has its own gharanas (Jaipur, Varanasi, Etawah/Imdadkhani). The Veena is linked to Goddess Saraswati and is among the most ancient.