Iacobus Leodiensis [Iacobus de Montibus, Iacobus de Oudenaerde]

VII. Local traditions

Indian society is complex: the constitution recognizes 18 languages, most of which have their own script, and there are many others both written and spoken (see §I, 1 above). The major linguistic divide is between the north (languages such as Hindi, Bengali and Marathi) and the south (Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu). India’s geography – the Himalayas in the north, the fertile Gangetic alluvial plain, desert in western Rajasthan, the scrub or forest of the Deccan plateau and tropical coasts – suggests that there would be distinctive regional adaptations, and there are. Although some 80% of the population is classified as Hindu, there is much diversity in local religions. Roughly 11% of the population is Muslim, and there are millions of Sikhs, Christians and Jains, among others. Nearly 8% of the population are Ādivāsīs (‘indigenous’ or ‘tribal’ peoples), and there are over 2000 castes (named, ranked, endogamous social categories usually associated with an occupation). There are great differences between rural and urban culture as well.

Through this cultural diversity run unifying threads. The importance of devotional religion (bhakti) in India is one, and the importance of music in devotional religion is another (see §VI, 1 above). Also having an important bearing on local traditions is a national literacy rate of 52%. (State literacy rates vary widely.) Because many do not read and write, oral tradition remains important as a source of ideology. Some 74% of India’s population is classified as rural, and rural areas tend to have lower literacy rates. Only about 40% of women are literate. This reflects another important pattern, the different worlds of Indian men and women.

1. North India.

2. South India.

3. Ādivāsī music.

4. Local traditions and classical music.

5. Music and cultural change.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

India, Subcontinent of, §VII: Local traditions

1. North India.

(i) Non-professional musicians.

(ii) Professional musicians.

India, Subcontinent of, §VII, 1: Local traditions, North India.

(i) Non-professional musicians.

(a) Women’s music.

Indian women sing group songs that men do not sing, and vice versa. Women, moreover, sing more than men. Men and women are somewhat segregated in their daily routines, and in rural north India purdah (customs resulting in the seclusion of women from public life) continues, although in a less than stringent form. Indian women learn, through the songs they sing, the stories of important deities such as Krsna and Śiva and the powers of deities such as mother goddesses. Their songs also concern kinship relationships and associated feelings, for example the anguish of separation from their husbands and the conflict between a woman and her husband’s mother, who is co-resident in the joint family. The joint family (two or more related couples sharing a hearth) is still the ideal in much of rural India, although it is probably attained in no more than 30% of families.

Women sing for the most important rites of passage, in particular at childbirth, marriage and death. The songs transmit fundamental religious beliefs and social sentiments, and they are sung and heard by hundreds of millions of people. Women’s song, as well as other music, is considered to be mangal (‘auspicious’), regardless of the content: the songs are believed to assist in attaining the goals of the rites in which they are performed. Ex.22 was recorded in 1995, sung by three different groups of non-specialist upper-caste women (Srotriyā Brahman, Bhumihār Brahman and Kāyasth castes) in three different wedding rites in Muzaffurpur and Madhubani in Bihar. With its use of the word sube (related to the Hindi śubh, ‘auspicious’) in each line, the song is even more explicitly auspicious.

Be it all auspicious, auspicious oh auspicious. [repeated]
Let it be auspicious for the groom’s father’s older brother’s wife, let it be auspicious for the groom’s father’s older brother.
Be it all auspicious, auspicious oh auspicious. [repeated]
Let it be auspicious for the groom’s father’s sister, let it be auspicious for the groom’s father’s sister’s husband.
Be it all auspicious, auspicious oh auspicious. [repeated]
Let it be auspicious for the groom’s mother’s sister, let it be auspicious for the groom’s mother’s sister’s husband etc.

Like all women’s group songs this is repetitious. It is strophic, but like many women’s songs each line of text is only a variation on one line of poetry with a change in a single term, in this case the term for the relative being blessed. The inclusion of many relatives beyond the nuclear family clearly reflects the importance of such kin and honours them.

Women in northern Bihar do not accompany their songs with a drum, but in many regions, including Uttar Pradesh and south-western Bihar, it is not unusual for one of the women of the group to play the dholak. Although women play it with bare hands, some professionals tie small sticks to two fingers of their right hand to give the right head strokes an even sharper sound. It is the most common drum and possibly the most common musical instrument in north India.

Women’s music is monodic with varying amounts of ornamentation. The amount of ornamentation is the outcome of conflicting tendencies. Given the ability and the creative urge, even non-specialist singers will decorate the melody. However, this is opposed by the necessity of singing in union, which is aided by simplicity. The melody of ex.22 is typical of women’s song melodies in that it comprises two strains, with the second having a greater range, going higher and having tones not found in the first strain. This kind of melodic structure is shared not only with many other kinds of traditional music but also with Hindustani music (see §III, 5(i) above).

Ex.23 is a women's milling song that deals with the difficult mother/daughter-in-law relationship. It was sung by Brahman women in Ballia District, eastern Utter Pradesh. In north India residence after marriage is traditionally patrilocal, that is the wife moves in with her husband in or very near his natal home. Village exogamy is also practised, so the young woman moves from her natal home into a family and village of strangers. Many women’s songs speak of the difficulties a woman has in her husband’s family. Here the mother-in-law curses the daughter-in-law’s family in response to her accidental lapse of modesty. The daughter-in-law can bear the tyranny of the mother-in-law no longer.

With a golden broom, oh Rāma, she sweeps out the courtyard.
She goes out of the courtyard, oh Rāma; her sari falls open
Sitting on a stool, oh Rāma, the honourable mother-in-law says,
‘I will kill your brother, the wife of your elder brother, and your brother’s daughter’.
The mother-in-law gives, oh Rāma, the golden pitcher
The daughter-in-law takes in her hand, oh Rāma, the silken draw-rope
To fill the pitcher, to fill the pitcher at the bank.
She drowns herself, oh Rāma, she sinks in the Yamuna river.

Women’s ritual songs were once considered imperative for weddings and other rites of passage. This requirement is weakening as more and more recorded music is used in rituals. Women also sing songs that are primarily recreational, either as an end in itself or as an accompaniment to repetitive work such as rice-transplanting or milling grain. Two other common traditions in women’s singing are the singing of a type of teasing, often obscene song (gālī) by family-centred groups of women to their visiting in-laws and other visitors, particularly at weddings; and on the death of a family member, a solemn genre that is between crying and singing (Hindi: vilāp). In these songs women improvise on themes ranging from how they will miss the departed person to a grievance the singer has with a person of higher status. In eastern Uttar Pradesh these songs are performed with just a few tones.