SURVIVAL OF INDIAN CLASSICAL MUSIC - Page 3

indian classical instruments

flute
This wind instrument of ancient India was very common with Lord Krishna and the religious music of the Buddhists. Even the frescoes of Ajanta and Ellora depict this flute or Bansuri as an accompaniment to vocal and instrumental music. Being an instrument of great antiquity, its construction has remained constant over the years. It is made of a cylindrical bamboo pipe of uniform bore, containing six holes for movement of fingers and a bigger hole for blowing air. It is handled in an oblique position and air is blown with the upper lip into the main hole. Different octaves are produced by covering the holes with the fingers.

ghatam
The Ghatam, one of the ancient percussion instruments, often heard in Carnatic Music concerts, is a mud pot carefully kneaded and uniformally fired. The mouth of the Ghatam is open and is played with two hands, wrists, fingers and nails. The mouth is pressed against the stomach so that when strokes are given, the air inside is set in vibration and gives a deep tone. The player can elicit various volumes and tonal colours by giving the finger strokes at the neck, centre and bottom of outer surface.

jaltarang
Literally means 'water waves'. It consists of about eighteen porcelain cups of different sizes, each possessing a distinctive tone. The cups are arranged in a semi-circle in front of the performer, beginning form the largest to the smallest- beginning from the left. The bigger cups produce a deep pitch while the smaller give out a higher one. Usually water is poured into the cups and the rims struck with two slender sticks held in both hands. The more water there is, the lower is the pitch. The tuning thus takes a long time and follows ascending levels of pitch.

mridangam
The Mridangam is perhaps the most highly developed and the most ancient of all percussion instruments. It is commonly used in the south as an accompaniment to the vocal and the instrumental performances. It literally means body of clay. The southern Mridangam is a cylindrical hollowed out block of wood. Skin covers the opening ends, and is fastened to leather hoops held taut by interlaced leather braces. A wide variety of tones are obtained from different parts of the instrument. For instance, the head can be struck with a full hand or with the fingers, which are clamped or released. The types of strokes are distinguished by an elaborate percussion terms. The alternation of sound between two heads of the Mridangam further enhances the tone.

nagaswaram
It is believed that this representative of the South Indian Music evolved from the snake charmer's Pungi. Nagaswaram was well known in the 15th and 16th centuries and formed an integral part of the temples. It consists of a wooden mouthpiece into which the player blows the air. This air under pressure is released from the lower end of the gourd through two bamboo or metal pipes. These tubes have a valve each to control air flow through the pipes and have holes to control the melody. Nagaswaram often attains a wild beauty and softness and brings out the subtle graces of Carnatic music.

pakhwaj
The northern Pakhwaj is almost similar to the mridangam except for slight differences in construction and playing techniques. The left side is more or less the same but the right side is quite different in the distribution of prepared parts. The main difference in the style of playing is that whereas the pakhwaj is played with an open left hand, southern musicians use the left side like the tabla players. The use of Pakhwaj is confined to severely classical compositions like Dhrupad and Dhamar.

santoor
Santoor, which originated from the Vedic Vana Veena, is characteristic of the Kashmir Valley and is neither seen nor played anywhere else. The Vana Veena also had strings and was played with sticks. The modern Santoor is made of a trapezoid wooden box. There are thirty bridges and a set of four strings of metal, tuned to the same note, is stretched over each pair of bridges. It is played with a pair of flat wooden pieces curved at the striking ends. Today, Santoor is played with all Indian ragas and is very popular with film musicians.

sarangi
Sarangi is another stringed instrument mainly popular as a folk instrument and probably made it's first appearance in the late 17th Century. The ability to play all types of gamakas gave it prominent place in Hindustani Classical Music. It is made by hollowing out a single block of wood and covered by parchment and has four strings. Four tuning pegs are fixed to the hollow head and a bridge is placed on the hide-covered belly in the middle. The player places the instrument on the lap and plays it with a horse hair bow in the right hand and fingers and nails of the left hand. The tone of the Sarangi is very near to the human vocal chord.

sarod
Although the origin of the Sarod is not known, it is supposed to have descended from the rabab of the Middle East. Some believe that this stringed instrument might have originated from the Greco- Buddhist area of Gandhar (modern Afghanistan). The modern Sarod is made of wood with one end being rounded and covered with parchment. There are six main metallic strings fastened to pegs at the neck of the instrument. It is played with a plectrum held in the right hand while the fingers of the left hand are used to play the notes. It is fretless instrument with sympathetic strings. Sarod has secured an important place in Hindustani Classical Music for it's deep and rich tone and a distinctive sound.

shehnai
Considered to be an auspicious instrument, shehnai belongs to the category of Aerophonic Instruments. It is said to be of Persian origin and is a one reed instrument with six holes yielding soft and melodious sound. Made of a smooth dark-grained black wood, the tube is narrower on the top and widens towards the bottom affixed in a cup. All the tunes of full tone, half tone and sharp notes can be played on this instrument through breath control. The notes are continuous and is generally used in classical and light classical music.

sitar
The sitar is one of the most popular instruments of North Indian classical music. It has been in continual evolution over the past 200 years. Its invention is often attributed to Amir Khusraw, a Persian musician, well versed in both Persian and Indian music, who achieved high acclaim in the Moghul court of Ala'al-Din Khilji, Sultan of Delhi (1296-1316). This is probably more legend than fact. It does, however, point to the fact that the North Indian sitar is the product of more than one culture. In its current design one can find traces of the veena, one of India's oldest stringed instruments, alongside influences of middle eastern saz and Afghani setar. The name "sitar" is muslim and means either three or seven string.

tabla
Tabla, an evolution of the oldest percussion instrument - the damru of Shiva, is believed to be an innovation of Amir Khusrau. It is said to be derived from a kind of Arabian drum called Table. It consists of two drums - Detain (right) or the Tabla being made of black wood and the Bayonne (left) or the Dug being made of wood, clay or copper. Both are hollowed from inside and covered with skin fastened to leather straps which are stretched over the body of the drums by means of leather braces. These straps are pulled to raise or lower the pitch. The two pieces of Tabla are generally tuned one octave apart. In the hands of a master, the Tabla is capable of producing all patterns of rhythms with well established time cycles (talas).

veena
The Southern Veena was brought into use by Raghunatha Naik, a ruler of Thanjavur, consisting twenty four fixed frets. The body is hollowed out of a block of wood. The neck is attached to the stem having a weird figure like the head of a dragon. There are seven strings in all. The Vichitra Veena of the North and a rare instrument, was introduced by Ustad Abdul Ajij Khan, a court musician at Indore. It is of comparatively recent origin. It has a broad stem and six main strings are fastened to wooden pegs fixed to the other end. It is played by means of a plectrum on the right hand fingers.

violin
Though the Indian Classical music has a number of stringed instruments of the bowed variety, the introduction of Violin to it, is quite recent. In fact, it is the only western instrument to be absorbed completely into Indian music. It is said that, about a century ago, Varahappaya, a Minister to the Maratha rulers of Thanjavur, explored this instrument to enrich Indian Classical Music. The strings of the Violin in India are tuned to different notes than the western style. The light tone of the steel string and the deep, almost human tone of the fourth string embellishes the peculiarities of Carnatic music.

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ITC-SRA Journal--1 October 1999:

Creativity in Music - Rajyasree Bandhyopadhyay

"Music is the creative act of an artiste which results from Sublimation ( "psychological working") of his emotions. Originality and Flexibility of an artiste are the significant factors of his creative thinking. Creative thinking is a process which passes through four stages- Preparation, Incubation, Illumination and Verification. There can be no music without creativity, no creativity without flexibility & originality and no flexibility & originality without sublimation of emotions."


Music - An Eternal Quest: Shyamal Kr Chatterjee

"This paper deals with a newly emerging field of study, the Developmental Psychology of Music with special reference to Indian music. A comparative study between Piaget's theory as a starting point that assumes human beings are organized totalities capable of initiating action and Chomskey's linguistic theory which views man as a kind of computer with in-built processing. The main aim of the article is to focus the reader's attention to music learning with the learning of language. The article is of interest to the members of the music teaching profession and students of music, yet a lay reader may also find food for thought in some of the material as they effect all of us."


String Musical Instruments as Found in the Vedas - Didhiti Biswas

"The vedic sacrificial books were concerned in giving detailed accounts on the rituals than entering into any discussion on music or musical instruments. This study attempts to present some information mostly from commentaries in the Vedic literature and sometimes with the associating words of expression. Wider participation of scholars in the study of unexplored literature would throw some light on this highly interesting subject."


The Many Splendoured Genius of Hazrat Amir Khusrau - E. S. Perera

"This is a glowing tribute to the versatile scholar, whose life and contribution to music is very much cherished. His lasting impact was on all the succeeding authors right from the 14th Century to the modern period who wrote their texts on the basis of Khusrau's new system of Raga classification called the Mela System."


Music Legacy Beyond Performances - Sisir Kumar Mukherjee

"The bearers of the rich Indian tradition of music legacy deserve due recognition for conserving it. Connoisseurs and the ordinary music lovers are faced with problems owing to the lack of proper media coverage. It would be a great achievement if the concept of Music Information Centres is established in all the four metropolitan cities of this country."


Significance of Sahitya in Hindustani Music - Falguni Mitra

"The study craves the indulgence of the reader to the lyrical aspect of classical vocal music. The appeal of vocal music lies both in the lyrics and melody, therefore, it is absolutely necessary that all performing vocalists give due attention to the pronunciation and accentuation of the lyrical content which could bring an added dimension to one's overall performance."


Scientific Research

Violin Quality and Bridge Mobility - Erik V Jansson

"In the measured bridge-mobility curves of a Stradivarius violin, two sharp prominent peaks were found at approximately 450 and 550 Hz, and a broad, rounded hill with maximum at approximately 2.5 kHz. The labeling P1 and P2 is suggested for the peaks in honor of Frederick Saunders (principal peak P) and BH, bridge hill for the 2.5 kHz hill. The P2 maximum is the highest, the BH one the second highest and the P1 one the lowest. Measured bridge mobility of soloist quality violins [E V Jansson, ACUSTICA acta acustica 83, 337-341 (1997)] and measured radiation of Italian violins [H Dnnwald, ACUSTICA 51, 281-287 (1982)] show similar features. The similarity indicates that the bridge mobility well predicts the sound reaching a listener's ear. A strong P1 and especially a strong P2 should be an indicator of a full tone. Balanced with the BH hill it indicates the quality of a good violin [work supported by KTH, Swedish Natural Science Research Council, Swedish Institute and Wenner-Gren Centre Foundations for Scientific Research]."


Psychoacoustics of the Musical Pitch of Tabla - David Courtney

"It is commonly said that the Indian drums in general, and the tabla-dayan in specific have harmonic spectra. However, a closer examination shows that there are still significant inharmonic relationships that have a major impact on the performance of the instrument. The relationship between such inharmonic characteristics and the technique reveal some very interesting psychoacoustic phenomena. One interesting phenomena is that the pitch of the tabla-dayan corresponds to a nonexistent frequency."


Application of New Scientific Method to Creation of Hindustani Ragas (1) - Subrata Chakrabarty

"The purpose of the present work is to apply the new scientific method proposed by the author to the creation of few two-raga combinations that can be produced on the basis of the prescription given in the earlier work. Interestingly, some of the ragas so produced match with those of common ragas so far as the scales are concerned."


Music Legacy Beyond Performances - Sisir Kumar Mukherjee

"The author, in this article, has tried to highlight the importance of the rich music legacy of our country as also to sustain its further growth. But for want of proper academic inter-action among the performers, the problems of their survival, are going gradually to be acute. Instances of updated concept of such inter-action abroad may help to nourish such an idea in our country for the further cause of conservation, as also, ameliorate problems, they are usually facing with."


Multiple States in a Note in Hindustani Music and their Relevance to Consonance - A K Datta, R Sengupta, N Dey, B M Banerjee and Dipali Nag

"Multiple steady pitch states are found to frequent in a single note in vocal performances of experienced singers in Hindustani music. Considering the acumen of these signers it does not appear to be just artifacts or aberrations. It is felt that some sort of principle of consonance may be behind this. A hypothesis of local consonance is postulated to explain this phenomenon. This local consonance envisages a short-term temporary memory and this consonance to be more of cognitive nature than just an absence of sub-cortical disturbances. This consonance is viewed as a positive pleasing sensation that the negation of a sense of displeasure. The hypothesis is tested with the recorded performances of experienced renowned singers. The concept of consonance seems to be more relevant in the cognitive domain rather than pre-attentive neuro-physiological level of inner ear."

Classical Persian Music
04/14/2003 08:04PM
Contributed by: ARomero
Classical Persian music is an ancient art form and one of the earliest musical traditions known today. Because of the geographic location and sociopolitical role of the ancient Persian empire, Persian music and culture has contributed enormously to the foundation of many other musical traditions in Central Asia, Asia Minor, China and North India. Since becoming associated with Islamic culture after the Arab invasion (7th century AD), it has traveled throughout the Middle East, North Africa and the Mediterranean.

The classical music of Iran is in some ways similar and analogous to the classical musics of the Arabic world, Turkey and even India, but it is also a self-contained system more or less independent of its neighbors. In the twelfth century, a second system, that of Western classical music, has grown up parallel to that of the Persian art , and today the two coexist, largely leaving each other alone but in various ways cross-fertilizing each other.


The term "maqam," as a modal entity, for the first time appeared in a Persian musical treatise, i.e. the music section of Durrat al-Taj by Qutb al-Din Shirazi, in the 13th century. This concept with its nominal variants (maqam, makam, maqom, mugham, etc.) has dominated many musical cultures in the Islamic world, from Chinese Turkistan and Kashmir to Turkey and the Arab world. Although it has been the main modal concept (along with other modal entities such as avaza/avaze and shu'ba/sho'be and later gushe) in Persian music for a long time, seemingly around the late Safavid period (ruled 1502-1736) and afterwards gradually a new concept, the dastgah, was introduced to Iranian music.

The history of Persian music in the twentieth century has seen the development of strategies for survival in the face of Western music, and these strategies often involved borrowing from those elements in which Western music is strong. For example, Western notation has been adapted to Persian music and while it has done its share to change the character of Persian music, it has also increased the degree to which Iranian music students are willing to learn their tradition.

Persian music is mainly melodic. It makes almost no use of harmony, and its performance is most typically solo, although sometimes a soloist is accompanied by an instrument which echoes and recapitulates each phrase as the artist performs it, a technique also widely used in Arabic, Turkish and Indian music. Its essence is neither the dramatic nor is it the intellectual or cerebral, but rather its quality is mystical and contemplative. Persian musicians recognize this, for in speaking of their music they never fail to relate it to the great lyrical tradition of Persian literature and to Sufism, the mystical movement of Islam whose special home is Iran.

Much of the music has no meter, no beat, but proceeds with a rhythm akin to that of speech. Its rhythmic structure is surely related to the rhythms of Persian poetry. Nevertheless, there is also a great deal of metric music, and this, normally accompanied by a drum.

Improvisation is the most important tenet of classical music of Iran. The musician creates in the moment and simultaneously performs for the audience. The presence and spirit of the audience plays an important role in the feeling and the creative process of the improvisation. The improviser combines creativity and technique with the internalized melodies and rhythms to express his or her individual feelings. To become an improviser is to reach the ultimate stage in the musician's creative development. To reach such a level of mastery the musician must be rich in technique, emotions, innovation, experience and knowledge. The musician becomes a master once he or she has achieved such a level of virtuosity and has cultivated the art of performance and teaching.

The collection of melodies in Persian classical music called Radif is organized into twelve modes. Seven larger ones called dastgahs (Mahour, Shour, Nava, Rast Panj-gah, Homayoun, Segah, Chahargah) and five smaller sub-sets to these called avaz or maqam (Abu-Ata, Bayat-E-Zand or Bayat-E-Tork, Dashti, Afshari, Bayat-E-Isfahan). Each of these modes are divided into smaller melodic forms called gushehs, which vary in terms of meter, length, expression and importance.

Each dastgah is thought to have a specific character and mood. The material of the dastagh is, then, the basis for actual performance. During the early part of the twentieth century, a model for what might be called a complete performance evolved. It consists of five parts, all cast in one dastgah, but, in fact, not all of them need appear and it is quite common to hear one or two of them used alone. These five pieces are: pishdaramad, chahar mezrab, avaz, tasnif, and reng.

The Radif is memorized by musicians and students, which is how the repertoire has been preserved throughout the ages. The Radif also serves as a musical vehicle to teach, and as a reference point for improvisation.

An Introduction To Indian Classical Music - Ancient History

Indian Map

Ancient History (1000 BC-1200 AD)

Ancient period covers the period between the vedic period and musliminvasionn of north India i.e. 1000 B.C. to 1200 A.D. Political history gives the background on whichculturall history rests, thus skeletal political history is traced here to aid the understanding of musical history.

Political History

Not much is known about India's political history between the Vedic period and the Maurya dynasty (324 B.C. to 185 B.C.). The main sources of information are theBuddhistt, Jain and Hindu texts of the period, esp. when they can be compared andcorroboratedd.Buddhistt texts mention 16 states which dominated northern India. They ranged from old states like north-western and north-central Gandhara, Kamboja, KuruPanchala, Matsya, Kasi, and Kosala to the newly emergingeasternn states like Avanti, Asvaka, Surasena, Vatsa, Cedi, Malla, Vrjji, Magadha, and Anga. The political system in these states was either monarchical or a type of representative government that variously has been called republican or oligarchic. Around 5th century BC, Magadha emerged as the most important kingdom under Bimbisara and then his son Ajathasatru (d. 459 BC). The capital of Magadha, Pataligrama (later Pataliputra, present day Patna) was to become the political and cultural center of north India for the next thousand years. Chandra Gupta Maurya (325-297 BC) overthrew Nandas who were ruling Magadha at the time. Mauryans were to establish the first Indian empire, consisting of almost the entire Indian sub-continent (and Afghanistan), except for areas south of present day Karnataka. Ashoka (272-231 BC) succeeded Bindusara (297-272 BC), the son of Chandra Gupta. The first inscribed edicts found in India are that of Ashoka, in Brahmi lipi. Ashoka took upBuddhistt religion and sent missionaries to various countries, helping the establishment of Buddhism inSri Lankaa, central and eastern asia. During this time, present day TamilNadu was ruled by Cholas, Ceras and Pandyas, with their own unique culture. A succession ofBuddhistt and Hindu dynasties ruled over north and central India after the Mauryan empire - Sungas, Kushans, Shatavahana (28 B.C. - 250 A.D.). The most important dynasty after Mauryan was the Guptas (320 A.D. - 467 A.D.) and then HarshaVardhana (606 - 647 A.D.). After that the south Indian dynasties of Chalukyas, Rastrakutas, Pallavas and Cholas consolidated the big empires. North India was splintered into a large number of small kingdoms till the raise of Sultanates of Delhi. Many foreign dynasties (Romans, Greek, Scythians, Huns) continued to rule north west India, and were localized over time.

Hinduism

Religiously lot of changeshappenedd. The local people and the Aryan migrants completely merged. Civilization moved eastwards to the Gangetic plain from the Vedic Punjab area. Vedic Gods were replaced by Puranic Gods. Vedic Gods gave way to two important monotheistic Gods - Siva and Vishnu. Saivism and Vishnavism were the two main practices. Vedic sacrifices and rituals were restricted to only royal and important occassions. Idol worship, possibly aBuddhistt influence, and Gods of local people (like Rudra-Shiva) became a part of mainstream religion. Caste system set in (Manu 100 BC - 100 AD). Two important epics, Ramayana and Mahabharatha became popular. By the time of the Guptas (4th century AD) Hinduism as we know it today, took shape. In the south, the culture of TamilNadu was getting influenced by Gangetic religions and culture, as sangam poems would suggest. Major Tamil diety, Murukan, was absorbed into Hindu religion as the son of Siva, Siva himself, it is argued is assimilation of local diety into Vedic culture. By the time of Pallavas Tamilnadu had been completely brought into Hindu fold.

Buddhism and Jainism

Another important event during this period is the founding of Buddhism and Jainism. GuatamBuddhaha (566-486 BC ) had a great impact on Hinduism and also many regions of east Asia. Buddhism and Jainism became an important alternate religion for people to follow. Many kings became their followers. Theibeefsfs and philosophies have greatly affected Hindu thought. Slowly, many important aspects of those religions were absorbed by Hinduism and their influence decreased by the time of the Guptas. Buddhism was ascetic in nature and did nobelieveve in mystical or magical powers of music. Thus, while music was not banned, it was frowned upon bBuddhiststs.

Panini (520-460 BC)

Another important milestone in this period was Panini (520-460 BC). He is said to have moved from his North West birth place of Shalatula on the banks of Sindhu river to Pataliputra (in Gangetic Plains). Panin composed ashtadhyayi in an effort to formalize (and thus freeze) sanskrit. It is said that during the time of Panini the language had deviated quite a bit from the Vedilanguagege. Since perfect recitation of Vedas was important, Panini undertook the effort to lay down the grammatical rules of the language (Vedic language was called Chandasa at the time), which was later called Sanskrit (i.e. Created Perfect , Refined). Ashtadhyayi gives comprehensive and scientific theory of phonetics, phonology, and morphology. The 4,168 sutras of Panini explain how to construct sentences, compound nouns etc starting with about 1700 basic elements like nouns, verbs, vowels, consonants. They have been followed ever since and sanskrigrammarer has remained unchanged for the last 2,500 years. It should be noted, though, that Panini's sanskrit is not the same as Vedic sanskrit. Also, some parts of the epics (Ramayana and Mahabharatha) do not follow Panini, thus the arguments that these parts were composed earlier and the epics were only redacted at a later date (Tracing The Roots Of Sanskrit).

Ancient History - Page 2

Beginning of Prabandha

Ancient History - Page 2

Oral Tradition

Vedas have been transmitted orally, from one generation to the next, for over 3,000 years. Since the text was metered and so much stress was always put on perfect pronunciation, it is generally accepted that not much has changed in the last three thousand years. There were various schools of each veda, but their difference was mainly in terms of arrangement of the hymns. Various redactions of Vedas were attempted, by Sakalya and last by Vyasa. Similarly Mahabharatha and Ramayana were also redacted at a time later than their original compositions.

Most of the texts were taught in Veda Pattashala (or Gurukulas). Students mostly lived with the teacher till he learnt all the texts. This is the beginning of Guru-Shishya parampara. The parampara was important in transmitting knowledge, whether religious or musical, to the next generation. Also, the knowledge itself was regarded as a secret, a kind of heirloom. Teachers were most reluctant to make their knowledge public. This was one the reasons why a lot of these were never penned down. That way, teachers made sure the knowledge remained within their family (and students, who were considered part of the family).

Even after the invention of writing, the oral tradition continued - esp. in religious studies like Vedas and learning Music. Infact Vedas and music continued to be taught exclusively through oral tradition well until 20th century. Even now, it is considered unscholarly to refer to books when chanting Vedic hymns or singing (as some new Carnatic singers do).

Invention of Writing (400-200 BC)
Writing itself was invented in India probably during the Mauryan period (3rd-2nd century BC). The earliest evidence of writing comes from Panini who talks about dipi (the word for writing in Iranian used in west of India from where Panini came) and also of lipi, the Indian name for writing. Though, there are scholars who argue writing to India came much later, during the period of Maurya emperor Ashoka, since the first inscriptions in Brahmi are to be found only during Ashoka's time. All regions of India (and many in south east and SriLanka too) started using Brahmi and later developed their own scripts from Brahmi. Only after that do we find many of the texts like epics (Ramayana, Mahabharatha), Panini's sanskrit grammar, Bharatha's Natya Shastra and puranas committed to text.

Thus, until the time of writing, all texts were orally transmitted and remembered. Thus we find only important religious texts (Vedas) and grammatical work of Panini were preserved from pre writing period. Once the writing was widely known, a very large number of literary work was produced and produced. This is the Classical Sanskrit period. This happens even in Tamil, where the earliest works to survive are the Grammatical work (tolkapiyam).

Music in Ancient Texts
Ancient history of music in India needs to be traced through literary works of the period. There is widespread controversy about dating of all these important texts. The right wing re-writers of history would like to place them as early as possible, whereas traditional indologists date them to later periods.

Brahmana Period (1000-300 BC)
The hymn part of Vedas are called Samhitas. Brahmanas are the earliest text after Vedas which written as explanation and appendices of Vedas, guides to the custom and practice of vedic rituals. The Upanishads and the Aranyakas (forest-books) are in turn appendices to the Brahmanas. Upanishad or Vedanta (i.e. end of Vedas) deal with systematic treatment of metaphysical questions and form the philosophical basis of Hinduism. They are dated from the end of Vedic period to the beginning of Puranic period. The Pre-Budha time is considered Early Brahmana period and Post-Budha period is considered the Later Brahmana period. They were composed by a great number of rishis. Though upanishads number more than a hundred, there are about 8 to 12 principle ones ( Upanishad List). All upanishads are based on one of the four Vedas. Upanishads deal with various subjects such as the nature of Brahman, the ideal human conduct, the practice of yoga, the nature of Atman, creation of the world, creation of man, the nature of reality, the nature of true knowledge (vidya) and ignorance (avidya), the nature of consciousness, the concept of karma, incarnation of soul and so on. The Upanishads played a very significant role in the evolution of ancient Indian thought. Many schools of Hindu philosophy, sectarian movements and even the later day religions like Buddhism and Jainism derived richly from the vast body of knowledge contained in the Upanishads.

Chandoga is the singer of Samans (i.e. the musical hymns of Sama Veda). Chandogya Upanishad ( Translated Chandogya Upanishad) helps the priests sing the samans properly for the pleasure of Gods. It is given as an instruction of Sanatkumara to Narada. It explains the meaning and importance given to OM, which is called udgitha. The person singing Udgita is called Ugdatri. The Samans could either be sung or played on the Vina. Chandogya says that if samans are sung properly, without mistakes in pronunciation, then his desires would be fulfilled. Chandogya also says that Mukthi i.e. the final liberation from the cycle of birth and death can be achieved by singing samans. An idea, that formed the philosophical underpinning to the belief that Mukthi can be achieved through music.

Building on this, later ideas of Music as a form of worship developed. That became the basis of all later Bhakthi movements, where all other rituals and sacrifices as means of pleasing God were given up to be replaced by simple Bhakthi (devotion) expressed through devotional music.

Ancient History - Page 3

Natya - An Important Art Form

Ancient History - Page 4

Ramayana - Sita at Valmiki Ashrama

Ancient History - Page 5

Gita Govinda by Jayadeva

Ancient History - Page 6

Saranga Deva