The Indus Valley Civilization
Little is known of the musical culture of the Indus Valley civilization of the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC. Some musical instruments, such as the arched or bow-shaped harp and several varieties of drums, have been identified from the small terracotta figures and from the pictographs on the seals that were probably used by merchants. Further, the famous bronze statuette of a dancing girl, probably representing a class of temple dancers, clearly indicates the presence of music.
Evidence of Rudra-worship during this period has also been found. Rudra was later to become popular as Shiva- the supreme deity of dance, drama and music The Modern Period
Music in India, and especially art music, went through a metamorphosis for four centuries from the sixteenth, to result in the Hindustani music of today. This modern period saw an increasing number of musicological works in Persian, Urdu, Hindi and other regional languages, instead of Sanskrit. All these tell us the story of how Hindustani Art Music, as we know it today, evolved and took shape.
From the beginning of the nineteenth century many Indian scholars began to publish material on Hindustani music in English as well as in regional languages. This was a welcome addition to the works of the early British Indologists.
The modern period saw the birth of many of the musical forms dominant today, like Khayal and thumri. With the central Mughal power in Delhi weakening after Aurangzeb's death, there was a quick succession of emperors. One of them was the legendary Muhammadshah Rangile (1716-1748 AD). He was a loving and generous patron to many musicians. It was in his court that Nyamatkhan, popularly known as Sadarang, invented a new genre, the Khayal.
The nineteenth century saw the birth of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah's pageants, jogia jashan. In these pageants the king, his palace maids and his subjects paraded as yogis. These presentations of Krishna-lore sowed the seeds of Modern Hindustani Theatre. The thumri form of romantic and devotional music also became popular in the 19th century. The prototype of the thumri is traced to the 'Chhalikya' presentation in the Harivamsha (400 AD). The Chhalikya genre combined song and dance with dramatic gestures.
Ramnidhi Gupta, or Nidhubabu (1741-1839 AD), gave us the Bengali tappa, a new genre. This assimilated the features of the Tappa in Hindustani music and the lilting rhythm of Bengali music. Nidhubabu's compositions were in Bengali and were secular in content. They were different from the usual devotional model of singing about love through mythological pairs, usually Radha and Krishna.
Another musical stalwart of the 19th century was Sourendramohan Tagore, (1840-1915 AD). The mission of his life was to make Hindustani music international in its appeal and reach.
In the early 20th century, two people revolutionised Indian music: Pandit Vishnu Digambar Paluskar and Pandit Vishnu Narayana Bhatkhande V. D. Paluskar (1872-1931 AD) introduced the first music colleges. He gave an entirely new perspective to the education and propagation of music. It was his efforts that elevated music and musicians in the social hierarchy!
V.N.Bhatkhande (1860-1937 AD) pioneered the introduction of an organised musical system reflecting current performance practices. The historical tradition of music in India was completely disrupted during the medieval times. Since then, music in India has changed so considerably that no correlation or correspondence was possible between Sanskrit musicological texts and the music practised in modern times. It was Bhatkhande who bridged this enormous gulf. He successfully undertook the arduous task of restating the musicological framework underlying contemporary musical performance.
He did extensive musicological fieldwork across the length and breadth of the country. He meticulously collected data on music, and documented and analysed performing traditions. His literature on music remains unparallelled even today and is essential for a systematic study of Hindustani Art Music. It elucidates his views on grammatical structures, historical evolution, performance norms and aesthetic criteria relevant to Hindustani music. He classified a total number of 1800 compositions from the major gharanas accessible to him, dividing them in ten thaats according to his codification..
