Iacobus Leodiensis [Iacobus de Montibus, Iacobus de Oudenaerde]

Incudine

(It.).

See Anvil.

Indeterminacy.

See Aleatory.

India, subcontinent of.

Cultural region of South Asia. The present Republic of India (Hind. Bharat) has an area (excluding the Pakistan- and China-occupied areas of Jammu and Kashmir) of 3,165,569 km² and an estimated population of one billion people. Before Independence and Partition in 1947, the name ‘India’ referred to the larger region that now includes the nation-states of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh (see Bengali music), also known, along with the nation-states of Bhutan, Nepal and Sri lanka, as South Asia or the Indian subcontinent. In addition to reflecting imperfectly the cultural diversity of South Asia, the modern political boundaries obscure the equally important continuities manifested throughout the region as much in music as in other areas of culture. This article addresses ‘India’ as both a cultural and political entity, and while it focusses on the state of India, much of its content is relevant to the region as a whole. The musical cultures of the other nation-states, and the regions of Kashmir and Bengal, are separately described under their own names.

I. The region: cultural context and musical categories.

II. History of classical music

III. Theory and practice of classical music.

IV. Semi-classical genres.

V. Chant

VI. Religious musics

VII. Local traditions

VIII. Film and popular musics

IX. Dance

X. Research

REGULA QURESHI (I, V, 1, VI, 2), HAROLD S. POWERS/RICHARD WIDDESS (III, 1–5), GORDON GEEKIE (III, 6(i)(a)), ALISTAIR DICK (III, 6(i)(b)), HAROLD S. POWERS (III, 6(i)(c)–(ii) and (iv)), HAROLD S. POWERS, GORDON GEEKIE, ALISTAIR DICK (III, 6(iii)(a)), ALISTAIR DICK, DEVDAN SEN (III, 6(iii)(b)), JONATHAN KATZ (III, 7, V, 2), NAZIR A. JAIRAZBHOY/PETER MANUEL (IV), ROBERT SIMON (VI, 1), JOSEPH J. PALACKAL (VI, 3), SONIYA K. BRAR (VI, 4), M. WHITNEY KELTING (VI, 5), EDWARD O. HENRY (VII, 1, 3–5), MARIA LORD (VII, 2), ALISON ARNOLD (VIII, 1), PETER MANUEL (VIII, 2), WARREN PINCKNEY (VIII, 3), KAPILA VATSYAYAN/MARIA LORD (IX), BONNIE C. WADE (X)

India, Subcontinent of

I. The region: cultural context and musical categories.

1. Land and people.

2. Music and musicians.

3. Musical categories.

4. Social change.

India, Subcontinent of, §I: The region: cultural context and musical categories.

1. Land and people.

South Asia comprises three broad physical regions: the valleys and plains of the Indus and Ganges river systems, separated from each other by the Thar desert; south India with its heartland of the Deccan plateau, surrounded by coastal regions and including the island of Sri Lanka; and the encompassing ring of mountains that separates South Asia from West, Central and South-east Asia (fig.1).

South Asia’s geographical position gives rise to a climate that has three main annual divisions: winter, summer and the monsoon. These may be further divided, and the resulting seasons have played a prominent role in literature and song, particularly the coming of spring, the onset of the monsoon and, to a lesser extent, the end of the rains.

Although the surrounding mountain ranges and seas have confined and defined South Asia and its populations, people have migrated through the passes and valleys of the north-western mountains and hills for thousands of years. These migrations include the arrival of the Vedic Aryans (c1500 bce), the invasion of Alexander the Great (327–324 bce) and that of Nadir Shah (1739 ce). After Vasco da Gama’s arrival at Kozhikode in 1498, however, the sea became the main medium for the passage of goods, people and ideas into South Asia. By the time of Nadir Shah’s land invasion in 1739, European colonial powers and institutions had established themselves along the coast and in the Ganges delta.

The major movements of populations and cultures in South Asia are reflected in the distribution of languages, peoples and religions, and in the broad outlines of South Asian political history. In the west and north-east the languages and populations reflect those of neighbouring peoples. Baluchi and Pushto, spoken in western Pakistan, are Indo-Iranian languages; the languages of the north-east are Tibeto-Burman. Within South Asia, principally in the central and eastern hills dividing north from south India, remnants of Ādivāsī (‘indigenous’) groups survive, e.g. the Santāls. They have their own religions and speak Austro-Asiatic languages known collectively as Mundā. The Mundā speakers are probably part of the aboriginal population of South Asia, driven into the hills by later migrations of Dravidian-speaking peoples.

Dravidian languages are spoken in south India. Kanada, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu are the state languages of Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh respectively (fig.2). Another Dravidian language is Gondi. Once widely spoken, this is now restricted to small groups of hill peoples. Dravidian languages probably once dominated South Asia, but north of the Vindhyas the only remnant of (and the strongest evidence for) a once widespread Dravidian population are the Brahui in Baluchistan.

In north India most languages belong to the South Asian branch of the Indo-European group. The most widely spoken language is Hindi, used from Delhi to Varanasi. The closely related and Persianized language Urdu is spoken across Pakistan and by many Muslims in India. Punjabi and Rajasthani are closely related to Hindi, and several languages in Bihar (Bhojpuri, Maithili and Magadhi) are usually considered dialects of Hindi. Bengali is spoken in West Bengal and Bangladesh. In western India the languages of Gujarat and Maharashtra are Gujarati and Marathi respectively. Sanskrit is an ancient Indo-European literary and ritual language.

The culturally dominant religions of South Asia are Hinduism and Islam. Although substantial Buddhist populations now remain only in Sri Lanka and the Himalayan region, Buddhism originated in South Asia and, along with Jainism, was dominant there between c500 bce and c500 ce . Around 600 ce Hinduism, driven by the bhakti philosophy of the Tamil Ālvār (Saivite) and Nāyanmār (Vaisnaivite) saints, underwent a great reformation and revival. By the 10th century ce Buddhism was already declining in South Asia when a series of invasions from Afghanistan and Turkestan brought Islam to the north. By the 13th and 14th centuries the Delhi Sultanate had established a pattern that remained unchanged until 1947, despite a long succession of political changes: throughout north India a small, predominantly Muslim ruling class governed a mixed population of Hindus and Muslim converts.

In south India the patterns were rather different. By the 14th century the Tughluk sultans of Delhi had established Muslim rule in the north and west of the Deccan plateau, governing an overwhelmingly Hindu population. In the southern Deccan the Hindu population was ruled by the Hindu Vijayanagar kings (mid- 14th to mid-16th century), with Hindu governors and a Hindu landed class. Even when Vijayanagar power was finally broken, predominantly by the Muslim states of Bijapur and Golconda, there were areas further south, such as Thanjavur and Travancore, which came under only nominal Muslim rule for no more than a few years, if at all.

These patterns were disrupted by the partition of South Asia in 1947. Independence from British rule meant the creation of the nation-states of India, a secular republic, and East and West Pakistan (since 1973 Bangladesh and Pakistan), an Islamic state. The mass exchange of populations that followed, with Hindu and Sikh refugees fleeing to India and Muslims to Pakistan, altered the religious demography of north India and, in particular, that of Pakistan.

South Asia’s climate and geography combine to create extremely fertile agricultural regions, producing surplus economies that have sustained large populations, feudal rulers and non-producing specialists, including musicians. Industrialization has added to this long-established system of production, which principally served an élite and produced an elaborate culture. Mass production, technology and urban expansion have led to an increase of the urban working and middle class, with business élites joining or replacing a landed ruling class.

A highly stratified social order has served to articulate and regulate economic, gender and power relations through group endogamy and through an asymmetry of status relations, where dominance and deference exist between patron and client, resource owner and producer, senior and junior, male and female. Marriages take place largely within the same caste, class or hereditary group, thus maintaining its relative status and preserving the transmission of heritage, including musical skills. Within extended families the asymmetrical principle of seniority permeates kinship relations. Life-cycle music plays a major role in negotiating these relations, performed by women who are the traditional managers of the domestic sphere. Complementary gender roles run throughout the social order, resulting in gendered music-making for both men and women. However, gender may intersect with many other aspects of social identity. Women are often perceived in terms of their relationship with and to male members of their family, including their husband. This private identity has traditionally clashed with the public identity of professional female performers, from temple dancers to courtesans.

This system of social stratification draws on Hindu Vedic thought. At its heart lies the idea that any number of population groups could be accommodated together in vertical and horizontal hierarchies, provided that the groups had separate and clearly defined obligations to society as a whole. Furthermore it was necessary that (in principle at least) such groups were endogamous, so that the membership of a group was purely hereditary. Individuals could leave the group or be expelled from it, or even become the nucleus of a new group, but they could not become members of another group. Such a group is a jāti or caste. Each jāti had its proper duties and forms of behaviour, its own dharma. If what was required was onerous or degrading, an escape was available through the doctrine of rebirth. Faithful performance of dharma (performing rituals, trading, disposing of polluting wastes etc.) would ensure a higher status in the next life.

In practice, the doctrine of social identification and articulation through separate castes or sub-castes enabled invading groups and conquered groups, successful groups and depressed groups, to be accommodated easily into a larger society. Successful invaders could be seen as a warrior sub-caste high in status; a group of forest-dwelling Ādivāsīs absorbed as a low sub-caste. Other religious communities have adapted themselves to this system. Muslims, Sikhs and Christians have distinct endogamous groups, especially among artisans and musicians, albeit with some degree of social mobility.

Around 70% of the population of South Asia lives in socially interlinked regional networks of agricultural villages. Urban centres have also been important from the early Indus valley civilizations onwards. Some cities, such as Trivandrum or Varanasi, grew up around pilgrimage sites or important temples. Others developed as political centres, either because of their strategic location, such as Delhi or Gwalior, or as centres of administration, such as Lucknow or Thanjavur. Cities also grew as market towns or trading centres, including Madras (Chennai), Bombay (Mumbai) and Calcutta, which developed as port cities under British rule. These functions are not mutually exclusive, and many cities have developed in multiple ways; Bombay is now as famous for its film industry as its stock exchange. Often, however, a traditional speciality, of religion, politics or trade (mirroring those of the three twice-born Hindu castes (varna), Brahman, Ksatriya and Vaisya), may still be discerned.

India, Subcontinent of, §I: The region: cultural context and musical categories.

2. Music and musicians.

(i) The South Asian musical realm.

South Asia may be seen as a ‘linguistic area’, with certain phonetic and syntactic features found only in South Asian members of the Indo-European language family in the north and shared by them with the Dravidian languages of the south. Anthropologists have come to consider the special articulation and role of social hierarchies to be characteristic of South Asian societies, pointing to, among other things, the existence of caste among Muslims as well as Hindus. South Asian civilization has also accepted, assimilated and ultimately transformed whatever musical elements have come into its embrace.

The modern South Asian musical realm shares with West Asia an emphasis, at most socio-musical levels, on plucked string instruments and on melodic lines in conjunct motion. A practice shared with South-east Asia is the use of idiophones – cymbals, clappers or gongs – to mark off the spans of musical time cycles.

Another characteristic of the South Asian musical realm is a special emphasis, distinctive both in degree and kind, on drumming. Drummers in South Asia have been free to develop traditions of independence and virtuosity. As in South-east Asia, they are released from having to keep time, as that primary function is assigned elsewhere: in South Asia hand-clapping and hand-waving, cymbals and even cyclically repeating melodic phrases are also available to control the metric cycles. At the same time the South Asian drummer, as in West Asia and unlike in South-east Asia, is associated with only one melodic line at a time.

In the South Asian border regions musical styles, like languages and social practices, are likely to reflect certain features of neighbouring musical practice. Kashmiri singers use a vocal quality similar to that of Persian classical singers, and the plucked sehtār and the mallet-struck santūr are both played with the rapid repeated-note rīz characteristic of West Asian string-instrument technique. The songs of the Sherpas in eastern Nepal use segments of the anhemitonic pentatonic systems common to neighbouring Chinese regions. The Gonds of the hills of eastern south India also use similar systems. However, the more such peoples mix with the settled agricultural populations of the northern plains or south India, the more their song styles are assimilated with or even replaced by those of their neighbours.

Music in South Asian villages is richly diverse, especially in domestic and community song and dance genres bound to both the seasons and life-cycle events. Often linked to agricultural cycles, village music also influences, and is influenced by, urban and art music styles. A distinction may be made between art and non-art musics, with the category of ‘art’ or ‘classical’ music being distinct from those of ‘folk’ or ‘popular’. The Sanskritic tradition recognizes this in the terms mārga (‘way, path [to salvation]’), which implies both the universal and salvific, and deśī (‘provincial, of the country’), implying localized to a region and a community. During the 20th century, decades of recording and broadcasting generated other pan-South Asian musical categories: devotional song, both Hindu and Muslim; popular song, especially film music; and ‘folk’ music in standardized versions of local traditions.

Classical or art music is identifiable not only by its highly regularized systems and rich aesthetic, but also by its patronage by dominant élites. These range from the historical temple and court establishments that included the Moghuls and regional rulers of all religions (e.g. Hindu Vijayanagar and Thanjavur, Muslim Lucknow and Sikh Amritsar), to a coalition that evolved during the 20th century among landed, commercial, professional and government élites across South Asia (e.g. Baroda, Kathmandu, Rampur, Calcutta, Bombay and Madras). The resulting ‘public culture’ of a cosmopolitan bourgeois art music rests on a normative synthesis of musical principles and practices that today define Indian classical music as a cultural and sonic system. Based on the cumulative work of Indian musicologists from V.N. Bhatkhande to the contributors to the current Indian Musicological Journal, this normative conception of an Indian art music is articulated in teaching and performance by music academies in large urban centres (e.g. the Music Academy, Madras, and the Sangeet Research Academy, Calcutta); it also forms the basis for the teaching of South Asian music internationally.

(ii) Art music.

(a) Legitimizing criteria.

In South Asia the concept of art music is based on an amalgam of scriptural foundation and oral transmission. Authoritative theoretical doctrine and a disciplined oral tradition of performance extending back over several generations are the two complementary criteria that serve to legitimize Indian art music and its theoretical and historical foundation.

The Sanskrit term śāstra means either a text containing an authoritative exposition of doctrine in a particular field, or the body of doctrine itself. A field of knowledge or an art must be embodied in a śāstra to be fully legitimate; nātya-śāstra is the theory of dramaturgy, and its junior branch, sangīta-śāstra, is the theory of vocal music, instrumental music and dance. Nātya-śāstra now generally pertains only to representational performance, including dance, and sangīta-śāstra governs only vocal and instrumental music.

Varying aspects of śāstra may have varying degrees of relevance to practice, or no relevance at all, but for South Asian art music the legitimizing agent is śāstra. For music theory and practice there is one aspect of the traditions of sangīta-śāstra that must be represented for a performance tradition to be deemed ‘classical’: melodic configurations must be governed by one or another rāga. Rāga is usually translated as ‘mode’ or, more accurately, ‘melody type’ (see §III, 2 below; see also Mode, §V, 3). In Hindi the formal expression for ‘classical music’ (besides the English) is śāstrīya-sangīt, but the common equivalent for ‘classical’ is simply rāgdār (‘having a rāga’). Most widely used in the oral tradition of hereditary musicians is the term pakkā (‘mature’, ‘cooked’, ‘perfected’). A generic term for classical music, it is always applied to vocal music, as in pakkā gānā.

The terms used to refer to the second legitimizing criterion of authenticated performing practice are sampradāya (‘tradition’) and paramparā (‘succession’). These criteria and the Sanskrit terms associated with them are valid for all South Asian ‘classical’ traditions, Muslim and Hindu alike, with differences only in balance or emphasis. A ‘pure tradition’ (śuddha sampradāya) authenticated by a reputable ‘master-disciple succession’ (guru-śisya paramparā) may be considered to denote that musicians performing classical music should have a ‘professional’ standing; however, such a standing need not be confined to those who practise their art as a means of livelihood. The standing of an artist is determined by discipulary pedigree, by a reputation for devotion to the art, and by what the artist knows, as well as by his or her skill as a performer.

It is essential not only for an artist to have learnt from a master but also that the master have a reputable artistic pedigree. Sometimes (particularly in Muslim musical traditions) the art is a hereditary family property, and in the past the most revered items or techniques were sometimes given only to the eldest son. Usually in Hindu musical traditions, and often in Muslim traditions also, the succession from master to disciple is outside the family. However, the ideal relationship requires the disciple to live in the teacher’s house and serve him devotedly, as though a member of the guru’s household (guru-kula). Although this requirement is often necessarily abrogated, it is still followed to whatever extent may be possible. Important is the religiously sanctioned tie (both Hindu and Muslim) that binds teacher to disciple, as expressed in the gandā bandhan (thread tying) or shāgirdī (discipleship) ceremony.

Honour to one’s teacher and a reputation for concentrated hard practice extending over many student years (Sanskrit: sādhanā; Persian: riāz) are two of the main proofs of an artist’s devotion to the artistic heritage. Another aspect is devotion of a purely spiritual kind. Although most musicians earn a living by their art, both the years of discipline and the resultant knowledge and skill would in an ideal world be a devotional act.

Finally, of course, high professional standing as a ‘classical’ artist entails a minimum standard of performance, and many classical artists are technically very highly skilled. Knowledge and control of a large repertory of musical items not otherwise widely known, but recognized as part of a reputable tradition, are also particularly esteemed.

(b) Northern and southern styles.

In South Asia there are two traditions of art music. Hindustani (or north Indian) classical music represents the region where Indo-European languages are spoken (including Pakistan and Bangladesh). In the Dravidian-speaking areas (i.e. most of south India) the tradition is that of Karnatak (or south Indian) classical music. Hindustani and Karnatak music are the same in essential abstract features but different in detail. The basic structure of typical ensembles is common to both: in addition to a drone there are three separate and independent musical roles, assigned to three classes of medium. The primary melodic material is traditionally carried by a singer, a plucked string instrument or a reed instrument. Antiphonal or accompanying melodic material is sometimes provided by a bowed instrument (with the singer) or a second reed instrument; bowed instruments and transverse flutes are now used as solo melodic instruments. Drums provide an independent rhythmic stratum, from simple configurative cyclic patterns to complex virtuoso passages. Rhythmic and melodic parts in ensemble are held together on a third level, provided by idiophones or hand-clapping or both, marking out the time cycles. This threefold melodic, rhythmic and metric distinction of role is not only common to both South Asian classical styles but is relevant for non-classical ensembles as well. However, the specific characteristics of these three basic roles differ, and even vocal production is strikingly dissimilar in the two styles.

Likewise an adherence to rāga and tāla (time cycle) and their basic principles is common to the two styles, and many rāga and tāla names are identical, although the actual pitch content of the rāga and the measures of the tāla are usually different. In similar fashion, fundamental categories of performing practice are nearly the same, but the preferred expository techniques, ornamental styles and use of tempo are different and differently apportioned. The two musical styles are in essence very similar but not mutually intelligible.

A parallel set of observations can be made with respect to the socio-musical features of the recent past, still reflected in many aspects of the current scene. Hindustani classical musicians from the 17th to the 19th century were mostly Muslim, largely associated with courts, normally considered fairly low in the caste hierarchy, and concerned less with śāstra (doctrine) than with guarding their sampradāya (oral traditions); the common pair of terms for ‘master-disciple’ was the Persian ustād-shāgird, which carries the connotation of master craftsman and apprentice. In the south the Sanskrit equivalent guru-śisya has a cultural connotation nearer that of spiritual teacher and disciple, and the musicians were almost entirely Hindus, certain of the melodic sub-categories, even being dominated by high-caste Brahmans. Art music was strongly associated with temples and with more individualized religious devotion, as well as with courts.

From the 17th to the 19th century the stylistic distinction between Karnatak and Hindustani can be closely correlated with the more general South Asian dichotomy between Hindu and Muslim, and there is a corresponding contrast between Sanskrit and Persian words in much of the technical terminology of practising musicians, particularly with reference to instruments. From this it has been almost universally inferred that the differences in the two art music styles are a result of Muslim influences and importations in the north that caused an originally unified tradition to divide into a northern, foreign-influenced branch and a southern branch that was more conservative and truer to its ancient heritage. This is true only if the categorical types are confounded: two general classes of sampradāya and one accepted tradition of śāstra. The two kinds of classical music are demonstrably quite separate and distinct from one another from at least the 16th century onwards and probably were for some time before that, yet both are equally distant from what is reported in the 13th-century treatise Sangīta-ratnākara by Śārngadeva.

India, Subcontinent of, §I: The region: cultural context and musical categories.

3. Musical categories.

The considerable diversity in local and regional musical practices in South Asia and the variety of contexts in which music plays an essential role may be distinguished in terms of purpose, setting and medium. Purpose refers to a continuum extending from entertainment to ritual and devotion, and usually incorporating aspects of both. Setting denotes in general outside versus inside, village versus temple (or shrine) and court, and city street versus concert auditorium. Medium is not concerned with only purely musical performance but also associated arts; its three basic varieties may be designated as vocal, instrumental and representational. These categories are based on the three branches ascribed to sangīta (‘music’) in the oldest stage of śāstra, namely, gīta (‘song’), vādya (‘instruments’) and nrtta (‘dance’). Vocal music is linked with a verbal text; instrumental music may exist independently or accompany vocal music; representational music may be vocal, instrumental or both, and it accompanies visual representation of one sort or another. These categories interact: the voice sometimes sings no meaningful text or is otherwise treated as an instrument, and in certain kinds of representational musical performance the entire burden of evoking specific images may rest on the vividness of a spoken or sung narration.

(i) Ritual and ceremonial music.

(ii) Representational music.

(iii) Devotional songs and musical form.

India, Subcontinent of, §I, 3: The region: cultural context and musical categories., Musical categories.

(i) Ritual and ceremonial music.

Some purely ritual music falls outside the normative domain of music; the oldest ritual music of this type is Vedic recitation. In one Sanskrit source, the Nāradīya śiksā, the pitch names used for singing the Sāmaveda are equated with classical note names; the first half of this work is in fact a summary treatise on music theory incorporated into what is primarily a manual adjunct to the Veda. On this authority modern writers often begin historically orientated discussions of Indian classical music by referring to or discussing the chanting of the Rgveda and the elaborate transformation of some of its hymns in the gāna (singing or chanting) of the Sāmaveda through interpolated syllables and an expansion of the pitches. However, sangīta-śāstra (musical theory) does not discuss Vedic recitation or singing beyond giving the equivalent note names, nor are Vedic specialists considered musicians, by themselves or by others (see §V, 2 below).

Certain quasi-musical aspects of temple ritual are also not normally considered music, such as the sounding of bells during temple pūjā (worship). Similarly, the blowing of the conch-shell (śankha) is normally a ritual, not a musical, event, although the conch is also used evocatively in a musical event, for example to symbolize divine intervention in performances of kathakali in Kerala. On the other hand, such special instrumental practices as the accompaniment of temple ritual with the pañca-mukha-vādyam (five-faced pot drum) and maddalam (drum) in the temple at Tiruvarur (in the Kaveri delta) are well within the domain of music, since drums as a class are by no means exclusively ritual instruments, unlike large bells or the conch.

Also associated with south Indian temples is the processional periya melam (‘major ensemble’), comprising double-reed nāgasvaram (shawm), the tavil (drum) and tālam (cymbals). The cinna melam (‘minor ensemble’) accompanies the temple and formerly court dance now called bharata-nātyam. The music of both ensembles is Karnatak. The Hindustani equivalents of the periya melam are based on the somewhat smaller double-reed śahnāī (shawm), used formerly in the ceremonial naubat ensembles of Muslim courts and shrines, and in most Hindu temples (see §III, 6 below). Musicians of all these ensembles belong to low-status castes; in the north they are also normally Muslims, even those employed at Hindu temples.

India, Subcontinent of, §I, 3: The region: cultural context and musical categories., Musical categories.

(ii) Representational music.

The nucleus of most traditional entertainment is story-telling. Narrative in its broadest sense ranges from verbal exposition of a tale to its presentation with pictures, puppets, acting, costume, make-up or dance, in any combination, accompanied by recitation, singing and instruments. Since in South Asia the Islamic prohibition against human depiction (apart from manuscript illustration) has considerable force, representational music is almost entirely Hindu.

The Chitrakars of West Bengal paint scrolls illustrating scenes of stories from the Hindu epics and travel about telling the stories in song as the scrolls are unrolled to show the individual pictures. The same is done by travelling groups in south-western Rajasthan. Shadow-puppet theatre is found in four areas of southern India – Orissa and Andhra Pradesh to the north-east, Karnataka and Kerala to the south-west – and puppet shows are seen in Thanjavur, Orissa, Rajasthan and elsewhere. In Rajasthan the puppeteer’s wife sings and plays the drum; the shadow puppets of the Andhra tolu bom-malāttam are accompanied by singing, flute and drums.

Varying relationships with Karnatak music are well illustrated by an interlocking complex of traditional genres of musical representation with human actors in south India. In 16th-century Vijayanagar there was a genre called yaksagāna, which consisted of a long narrative poem in Telegu to be sung and acted. Several varieties of yaksagāna still survive, and in all cases the performing practice calls for an ensemble that includes one or more singers who sing the narrative verses freely, using traditional melodic types, and who also sing a number of set pieces. Instruments provide melodic, rhythmic and time-keeping accompaniment. In some varieties of the genre the actors too may sing, or even speak, in amplification of the text, but their main function is to enact the text in the coded performance called abhinaya.

Two forms of yaksagāna in the south-east are the dance-drama from the village of Kuchipudi in the Krishna-Godavari delta and the bhāgavata-melanātakam (‘devotee-singers’ group-drama’) from Melattur village, inland from the Kaveri delta. Both are in principle associated with temples. The performers are male Brahmans whose ancestors were endowed with property so that they and their descendants might continue performing yaksagāna on Hindu religious myths. All three fundamental musical functions are represented in the Kuchipudi ensemble of flute (melodic accompaniment), mrdangam (rhythmic drumming) and cymbals (time-keeping), which are played by the leader (who also represents the most important secondary character). The musical procedures, rāgas and vocal production are those of Karnatak music.

The yaksagāna of Karnataka is performed by travelling troupes. Its affinity with Karnatak music is hardly less than that of the Kuchipudi and Melattur traditions. In its musical ensemble it has a strong affinity with Kerala, in that there is no melodic accompanying instrument for the singer, the two drums are Keralan types, and the time is sometimes kept by a flat gong as well as by cymbals. Also reminiscent of Kerala is the fact that many of the male characters have elaborate stylized head-dresses.

The ensemble that accompanies the kathakali dance-drama of Kerala comprises two singers, maddalam (barrel drum), centā (cylindrical drum), itekka (hourglass drum), cennalam (flat gong) and ilatālam (cymbals). The system and the tālas in kathakali music are not those of Karnatak music, although each individual tāla has a parallel in the Karnatak system. Most of the rāgas, however, have become largely assimilated as Karnatak rāgas, and few kathakali rāgas have different names.

Similar kinds of partial affinity with art music traditions may be observed in all other areas of South Asia. An example is the evolution of Marathi musical theatre after the 1840s from a form in which narrative and songs were sung by one person throughout in a single style, while actors handled only dialogue, to a complex musical genre using singers specializing in different styles for different roles, and incorporating not only stylistic influences but also rāgas and actual tunes from Hindustani classical and semi-classical music.

India, Subcontinent of, §I, 3: The region: cultural context and musical categories., Musical categories.

(iii) Devotional songs and musical form.

(a) Tamil: the oldest songs.

The oldest surviving poetry is in Tamil and dates from the 7th century to the 10th. The poems were assembled c1000 into two great collections: the Tēvāram, which contains songs to Śiva, and the Nālāyirativviyappirapantam, which is devoted to Visnu. Hymns from these collections are still sung in temples of the respective sects in Tamil Nadu. The Saivite Tēvāram are sung only in temples, by a class of temple singer called oduvār; they are grouped according to melodic types called pan and specific tunes called kattalai. Most of the pan now correspond quite precisely to melody types in the current canonical roster. Songs from the Vaisnava Nālāyirativviyappirapantam are sung not only in Vaisnava temples (such as the Ranganāthan temple at Srirangam) but also in private devotions and in concerts; tunes in Karnatak rāgas are used. Modern tunes in Karnatak rāgas are also used for singing the 15th-century Tiruppukal (‘blessed praises’) of Arunakiriyār, a devotee of the god Murukan, very popular in Tamil Nadu; the rhythms, however, are usually sung to follow the complex metres of Arunakiriyār’s verse.

(b) Gīta-govinda: the model form.

Sung throughout India, Jayadeva’s 12th-century Sanskrit poem Gīta-govinda is a sequential series of 24 songs set in a matrix of verses concerning the love of Krsna for his mistress-consort Rādhā. The Gīta-govinda has flourished alongside later devotional songs in other languages, and songs from it may still be heard in many areas in India, rendered in many different ways. Its content, saturated with mādhurya bhāva, the ‘tender emotion’ of erotic love, is perhaps no more than an intensification of the emotional theism of the Bhāgavata purāna; in its form, however, the Gīta-govinda is a departure from the traditional conventions of Sanskrit poetry and gives a clear illustration of new aspects of devotional song, ranging from syllabically sung nāmāvali (lists of divine names) to the complex vocal performance traditions of Hindustani and Karnatak music.

The narrative verses of the Gīta-govinda are set in conventional classical Sanskrit metres, each line with a fixed number and distribution of long (–) and short () syllables ( + = –). The songs, however, use metres based on the number of short syllables to a line. The most common is the four-unit catur-mātrā (– –, – , –, and, with some restriction, – ), but the five-unit pañca-mātrā (––, –, –, and, with some restriction, – – and – –) is used in several songs. Metres of this kind play a minor role in Sanskrit but are essential to poetry meant to be sung.

Classical Sanskrit poetry uses consecutive four-line stanzas; the songs in the Gīta-govinda, conversely, are closed refrain forms. Each of the 24 songs comprises a refrain (dhruvā) and eight stanzas, called pada; hence the common designation asta-padī (‘having eight stanzas’) for a Gīta-govinda song. After each stanza the refrain is sung, and the text is structured semantically and often grammatically so that the independent refrain is also a logical or even a necessary completion of the stanza. In the performance of bhajan s (devotional songs) a leader and a group normally sing the stanzas and refrain alternately. There is a musical as well as textual contrast between the theme of the refrain and the theme of the verse, and there is usually a musical and a textual end-rhyme common to refrain and verse. These three textually determined features – leading back, contrast of refrain and verse, and musical rhyme – are fundamental to the performing practice not only of bhajan singing but also of Hindustani and Karnatak music. The very structure of rāgas, quite apart from their embodiment in performance, has to be seen in terms of these same three features: connections in line, contrast in registers and parallelism in melodic motifs.

(c) Devotional poetry in north India.

Each of the 24 asta-padī of the Gīta-govinda is designated in the manuscript sources as to be sung in a specific rāga and tāla. In no part of India is it sung with the varying rāgas and tālas prescribed in manuscript sources, but it is often locally associated with series of rāgas and tālas; the common current south Indian traditional settings are said to date from the 17th century. Later devotional songs in the vernacular, such as the Sūr sāgar of Sūr Dās, are also frequently found with rāgas (not tālas) specified in manuscript sources. The sacred book of the Sikhs, the Guru Granth Sāhib, is a compilation completed in 1604 of devotional songs not only by the founder of the sect, Guru Nānak, but also by other 15th- and 16th-century devotional poets, especially Kabīr. The main body of the collection is divided into 30 sections called ‘rāga’ (the 31st was added later), each named after a specific rāga.

Devotional songs from the 15th and 16th centuries in Indo-European languages, like the 12th-century asta-padī songs of Jayadeva, are now not usually sung in the rāgas ascribed to them in manuscript sources, and usually not in a rāga at all.

(d) Kanada and Telugu devotional songs.

The oldest repertory of Dravidian-language devotional songs to extend throughout south India are the Kanada kīrtana of Purandara Dasa (d 1564); although their actual melodic tradition is now effectively lost, they were (and still are) sung in rāgas and tālas. Purandara Dasa was active in the area of the Deccan where the imperial court of Vijayanagar was located and died just a year before the battle in which that court was destroyed and the remnants of the imperial family fled southwards. The tradition of bhakti (devotional) song in Kanada declined after his death and was revived in the 17th century.

Two important Telugu bhaktas (devotees) from Andhra in the 17th century were Ksetrayya from the Krishna-Godavari delta and Rāma Dāsa from Bhadracala (in the then Muslim sultanate of Golconda, later Hyderabad). Bhadracala Rāma Dāsa’s songs are sung only by bhajan groups, but the songs (padam) of Ksetrayya devoted to Krsna became a basic element of the temple dance of the cinna melam and an essential part of the south Indian musical repertory. Ksetrayya spent some time at the court of Vijayaraghava Nāyak of Thanjavur (reigned 1634–73), for whom he composed several laudatory songs, but most of his padam compositions concern Muvva-gopāla, the image of Krsna in the temple of his native village.

In the latter part of the 18th century the most important modern south Indian procedures of devotional bhajan (or kīrtanam) were devised, and the musical repertory assembled or provided, by devotional poets Bodhendra, Ayyaval and Sadgurusvāmi. At this time Tyāgarāja (1767–1847) was undergoing his musical and spiritual training. Tyāgarāja is now esteemed as the foremost composer of the modern south Indian tradition of classical music. Early in his life he became a devotee of Rāma, who (like Krsna) is believed to be an avatar (incarnation) of Visnu. The characteristic devotional attitude of the Krsna cult is mādhurya bhāva (‘attitude of sexual love’), exemplified by the gopī (‘milkmaids’) and especially Rādhā; the devotees of Rāma, conversely, tend to favour the dāsya-bhāva (‘attitude of devoted service’), as exemplified by Rāma’s brother Laksmana and especially by the monkey prince Hanūmān. In Tyāgarāja in the early 19th century two major streams of south Indian musical tradition were fully united: Vaisnava devotional song and the tradition of the Thanjavur court musicians. Tyāgarāja’s kriti compositions are now part of the central repertory of Karnatak music, yet the songs he made for his own bhajan s also play a major role in any organized session of devotional singing.

(e) Muslim devotional music.

For Hindus music was and is an integral part of worship, temple and private alike, while for Muslims even ‘secular’ music was frequently subjected to orthodox attack, and in principle no music was used for public worship, even the most artful cantillation of the Qu’ran being defined as non-musical reading. Thus, for Muslims, devotional music and classical music at court were necessarily much more distinct from one another than they were for Hindus. Nonetheless, there are some connections.

The most important type of Muslim devotional music is qavvālī, sung at the shrine of a Sufi pīr (‘saint’), especially at the saint’s anniversary, and traditionally performed by specialist musicians called Qavvāl. There is now no necessary connection with classical music, but in the 18th and 19th centuries Qavvāl-bacce sang the khayāl (a classical song form) and were among its important exponents. Some items of the traditional repertory of compositions for Hindustani music were drawn from qavvālī. A number of traditional khayāl dating from the 18th century, which are still sung, honour important pīr of the Chishtī order. These khayāl texts on Sufi saints differ from other khayāl texts only in vocabulary.

Another Muslim devotional practice that has some connection to classical Hindustani court music is the music used by Shi‘a Muslim groups in the month of Muharram, lamenting the martyrdom of Hasan and Husayn. One of the songs used is called marsiyā, and some classical musicians used to specialize in marsiyā singing. Singers of Shi‘a mourning hymns like sōz and marsiyā still use classical rāgas.

India, Subcontinent of, §I: The region: cultural context and musical categories.

4. Social change.

Distinct musical categories are traditionally associated with distinct performing communities consisting of specialist performers who are linked to particular patrons and musical associations. Bismillah Khan playing śahnāī for temple rituals in Varanasi, Sufi Qavvāls at Delhi’s Nizamuddin Sufi shrine, musicians at the Jaipur court, mendicant singers in north Indian villages or hereditary dancer-singers, both male and female, among the Mundā in Bihar, have all provided appropriate music and dance for quasi-feudal patrons. However, urbanization and the waning of feudalism have also generated opportunities for social mobility among hereditary performers. Among the Barot, many Gujarati genealogist-musicians who by birth are attached to minor feudal patrons have moved into better paying urban métiers, leaving less endowed non-Barots to replace them and take on their caste name.

Among Muslims, social mobility has long been demonstrated by the Mīrāsīs’ rise from Punjabi village entertainers to court musicians, and today to higher education and international stardom. Most remarkable has been the middle class initiative across the country to become classical performers, a move that has fundamentally altered the social structure of music-making by replacing hereditary professional identity with bourgeois professionalism. This movement has, however, also profoundly damaged the musical standing and livelihood of lower-status hereditary musicians, especially women who as courtesans or devadāsī s (temple dancers) have been stigmatized by the now dominant Indian middle class.

After 50 years of independence the established musical conservatism and categories generated by nationalist agendas are beginning to give way to questions and innovations under the influence of new sound technologies that have enabled local control of musical production as well as the international dissemination of and participation in all kinds of South Asian musics.

India, Subcontinent of