Iacobus Leodiensis [Iacobus de Montibus, Iacobus de Oudenaerde]

2. To the mid-16th century.

(i) The ancient period.

(ii) The medieval period.

India, Subcontinent of, §II, 2: History of classical music, To the mid-16th century.

(i) The ancient period.

(a) Treatises.

Because of the nature of the sources, the ancient period can be divided further, in terms of music theory, at the 8th century. The first part of the period comprises material contained only in the Nātyaśāstra, whose musical portions probably belong to the Gupta period (4th and 5th centuries). New theoretical material in the Brhad-deśī from the 8th or 9th century, and from later treatises up to and including the Sangīta-ratnākara (13th century), belongs to the second part of the ancient period.

The Nātyaśāstra (‘dramaturgy’) is the earliest surviving source not only of dramatic theory but also of musical theory, poetics, metrics and general aesthetics. Although parts of the treatise had been summarized, verses from it quoted and Bharata, its traditional author, regularly cited and revered, when the rediscovery of the Nātyaśāstra began in 1865 it had in fact been many centuries since the work had been known as a whole. Furthermore, although the Nātyaśāstra has now been published several times, a properly critical edition is still a remote prospect, with numerous problems of textual transmission and recension. One of the major obstacles to such an edition is the music section, which is full of technical discussions and long lists of terms, most of which have not been understood or used for more than a millennium.

Musical doctrine was originally included in dramaturgy because music was (and still is) an essential part of theatre. It was an element of production, along with gesture, movement, level of language, vocal inflection, costume and make-up, all of which were highly stylized. In the Nātyaśāstra (chaps.1–27) important references to music occasionally appear in connection with other elements of production technique; other parts of it are devoted exclusively to music. There is a discussion of instrumental music in general, dealing with tunings, scales, modal patterns (jāti, which may or may not be melody types) and modal functions (chap.28). There is one chapter on each of the four classes of instrument: strings, wind, idiophones and drums. The sections on strings (chap.29) and drums (chap.33 or 34) include discussions of playing technique, manner of accompaniment for songs and how the instruments are used in connection with the actions and the sentiments of the drama. The discussion of idiophones (chap.31) deals not with the instruments themselves but with their function, which was marking off the time cycle (tāla). The flute section (chap.30) is very brief. There is a discussion of dhruva, the kinds of song with which a play was ornamented in production, their texts and character and their dramatic applications (chap.32). An extra chapter in the Baroda edition lists the good and bad points in singing and the playing of instruments. Another interesting text surviving probably from this early period is the Dattilam, ascribed to the sage Dattila. This is more restricted in scope than the Nātyaśāstra, and if we are to assume that it has survived in its entirety and was intended by its author to be self-sufficient, it appears to deal with gāndharva (music), defined as a discrete form or body of forms of music different in nature and function from the later sangīta. It seems that the repertory of music it describes was that of the ritual preliminaries (pūrva-ranga) of Sanskrit drama, while the Nātyaśāstra was concerned with the drama as a whole.

A later important work or compilation, originating in part perhaps as early as the 8th or 9th century, is the Brhad-deśī attributed to Matanga. The first published edition of this work was based on two incomplete manuscripts from the same place in Kerala. No other primary sources for the work have yet been found, but the new edition (1992 etc.) takes into account the frequent and sometimes lengthy paraphrases and quotations from the Brhad-deśī in later works. The surviving portions of the Brhad-deśī reproduce, augment and supplement material in the Nātyaśāstra and incorporate lengthy passages from otherwise unknown early works, along with original material. On two counts the Brhad-deśī marks a turning-point in South Asian music theory. Firstly, theories of sound based on the metaphysical and physiological theories of Tantric yoga are propounded for the first time and argued with standard logical techniques, for the Brhad-deśī is a work of learning, not a practical manual. Secondly, the term rāga is introduced and defined, with the specific observation that it had not been discussed ‘by Bharata and others’. In the Nātyaśāstra the closest equivalent to rāga is jāti. This term and its doctrine continued to be carried in the later treatises as part of the inherited śāstra. It is generally assumed that an evolutionary process is indicated by the addition of the new term rāga to the old one jāti, but it seems more likely that two different traditions are represented. In the Brhad-deśī much of what is reported about rāgas and related entities called bhāsā is attributed to other named writers as well as to its own author, Matanga. In any case, the Brhad-deśī supplies for its rāgas and bhāsā the kinds of names, and many of the actual names, which still designate rāgas, sometimes exactly, as with Varātī, Hindola and Gurjarī, sometimes in slightly different forms, such as Sauvīrī (Sāverī), Saurāstrī (Sorath, Sūratī, also Saurāstram) and Mālava-kaiśika (Mālkoś). For both the old jāti and the newly reported bhāsā and rāgas not only are modal functions and dramatic applications reported, but musical illustrations in scale degree letters are given as well. These reappear in the corresponding portions of the Sangīta-ratnākara and some later medieval works.

Additional evidence for early Indian tonal and melodic systems is found in the 7th- or 8th-century rock inscription beside the temple at the fort of the hill of Kudumiyāmalai in Tamil Nadu. Recent work on the notated musical examples of this inscription suggests that they relate to actual melodic practice and may represent a didactic tradition reflected also in the conservative music examples found in the considerably later Sangīta-ratnākara. In the late 11th or early 12th century, Nānyadeva, ruler of Tirhut in north India, wrote or commissioned a commentary called Sarasvatī-hrdayālankāra or, more simply, Bharata-bhāsyam, on the Nātyaśāstra. In addition to its explanation of theoretical and technical matters, this contains some valuable early notated musical examples of song compositions (see Widdess, 1981 and 1995).

More is added to the store of ancient doctrine by Abhinavagupta’s commentary on the Nātyaśāstra, which includes another long list of rāgas with their dramatic applications from another ancient writer. Much of both the Brhad-deśī and Abhinavagupta’s Abhinava-bhārati is incorporated bodily into the highly syncretic Sangīta-ratnākara. In this work all the threads of ancient doctrine are woven into a complex but systematic pattern. It is divided into seven large chapters, hence its frequent sobriquet saptādhyāyī. The first chapter discusses sound, including its generation, microtones and intervals, scales and scale degree patterns, and the jāti (ancient modal patterns). The second chapter discusses rāga (melody type), both doctrinal and current. The third chapter is miscellaneous, dealing largely with performing practice, including ornaments, improvisation and ensembles. The fourth chapter is on composition (vocal) and includes discussions of metres, form and songs in vernaculars. The fifth chapter deals with tāla (time cycle), both doctrinal and current. The sixth chapter discusses instruments (strings, wind, drums and idiophones) and includes lists of rāgas with a few of their characteristics for the kinnarī-vīnā and the flute, plus playing techniques for strings (both doctrinal and current) and for drums, along with drum syllable patterns. The seventh chapter is on dance.