Indian Classical & Semi-Classical Music, Carnatic System, and Language Insights

Hindustani Music

  • Umbrella term covering multiple compositional forms.
  • Broad categories:
    • Classical (Drupad & Khayal)
    • Semi-classical (Thumri, Dhamar, Tarana, Tappa, Qawwali, Ghazal, etc.)
  • Contrast with Carnatic: Carnatic itself is wholly classical; no semi-classical offshoots were recognised historically.

Drupad (Oldest Classical Form)

  • Meaning & Provenance
    • Regarded as the oldest classical music of India; roots traced to temple traditions and Vedic ritual chanting.
    • Nick-named “temple music”.
  • Aesthetic & Technique
    • "Simple & sober" composition conveying life’s essence—yet physically demanding (requires powerful lungs & vocal cords).
    • Sung at high and rising frequency, starting low and gradually intensifying.
  • Performance Structure
    1. Alaap – slow, non-metrical introduction.
    2. Jod – rhythmic bridge.
    3. Four composed, lyrical sections: Sthāyī, Antara, Sanchari, Abhog.
  • Devotional Character & Language
    • Texts primarily in Braj & Awadhi (dialects of Hindi).
  • Historical Milestones
    • Popularised by Raja Man Singh Tomar (Gwalior, late Delhi-Sultanate era).
    • Ram Tanu Pandey → became Tansen in Akbar’s court; Akbar conferred the honorific “Mia” (master).
    • Other imperial drupadiyas: Baiju Bawra, Guru Gopaldas.
    • Folklore: Tansen’s singing of Deepak Rāg (life-threatening heat) & rescue by disciples Tana-Riri with Megh Rāg.
  • Always accompanied by a tambura or pakhawaj.
  • Examination trivia: 2018 prelim asked about Akbar conferring "Mia" – correct.
Drupad Gharanas

Basis of any gharana in music =

  1. Temperament (slow/medium/fast), 2. Aptitude (interpretative liberty), 3. Dialect (vāṇī).
  • Dagari – Western UP–Haryana–Rajasthan; Jat-Hindi accent.
  • Betiya – Bhojpuri belt, Bihar.
  • Darbhanga – Maithili influence.
  • Bishnupur – Bengal, Bengali diction.

Khayal (Second Classical Pillar)

  • Etymology: Persian “Khayāl” = Idea/Thought.
  • Creation attributed to Amir Khusro (13-14 C; court poet to Balban & Alauddin Khilji; disciple of Nizamuddin Auliya).
  • Stylistic Features
    • Greater formal freedom than Drupad; focus is imaginative exposition of romantic ideas.
    • Dominant device = Taan (fast melodic runs elaborating the last syllable).
    • Contrast with Drupad’s Alaap (elongates first syllable).
  • Two performance phases: Chhota Khayal → Bada Khayal.
  • Language Shift
    • Early Khayal in Persian; later Urdu & Khaḍī-Bolī Hindi became norm.
  • Instrumentation: Usually backed by tanpura, tabla, sarangi.
  • Major Gharanas:
    • Kirāna/Kairana (Saharanpur–Deoband; Bhimsen Joshi),
    • Jaipur-Atrauli, Lucknow, Patiala, Agra, etc.

Semi-Classical Forms of Hindustani

Thumri

  • Originated with Bhakti saints; later adopted by Sufis.
  • Hybrid of Drupad (devotion) + Khayal (romance) ⇒ semi-devotional, semi-romantic.
  • Two tempo variants:
    • Pūrbi Thumri – slow, contemplative.
    • Punjabi Thumri – faster.
  • Notable centres: Lucknow & Banaras gharanas.
  • Under consideration by Sangeet Natak Akademi for elevation to full classical status.

Dhamar

  • Performed only during Holi.
  • Portrays the playful love of Krishna & the Gopīs (legend of nightly Rās-līlā in Vrindavan).

Tarana

  • Emerged in northern royal courts; elite entertainment.
  • Uses nonsense mnemonic syllables (e.g., nom-tom-dīm-tā-nā).
  • Often choreographed with rapid dance movements; Bollywood director Sanjay Leela Bhansali exploits Tarana devices.

Tappa

  • Created by camel-riders of the north-west deserts (Rajasthan–Pakistan).
  • Chain of fast idioms & phrases; quick turns in melody; adopted & sped-up in Punjab (Jagjit & Chitra Singh were noted tappā singers).

Qawwali

  • Also credited to Amir Khusro.
  • Fundamentally devotional, praising Allah, the Prophet, or Sufi saints; texts = short couplets/ quadruplets.
  • Traditionally sung on Thursdays & at Urs festivals in dargahs.
  • Pakistan nurtures many renowned qawwāls (Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Abida Parveen, the Sabri Brothers).

Ghazal

  • Persian literary-musical import; primarily romantic, sometimes Sufi undercurrent (God as beloved).
  • Early Indian masters: Mir Taqi Mir, Mirza Ghalib, Bahadur Shah Zafar.
  • Modern era icons: Jagjit Singh, Mehdi Hassan, Ghulam Ali, etc.

Carnatic Classical Music

Historical Foundations

  • Diverged from northern style by 16th16^{th} C owing to Islamic rule’s cultural bifurcation.
  • Purandara Dasa – “Pitāmaha” (grand-sire) of Carnatic.
  • Vidyaranya’s “Sangeeta-Saara” – early treatise.
  • Venkata Makhi (mid-17th17^{th} C) authored “Chatur-Dandī-Prakāśikā”; codified 7272-Melakarta raga system (the foundational scale-matrix).

Concert Format

  1. Ragam – improvised alapana in free (non-seasonal) time; singers gradually raise pitch (difficult, lung-intensive).
  2. Tanam – rhythmic connector.
  3. Pallavi – fixed lyrical refrain; sets melody to tāla.
  • Correspondence with Drupad: Ragam ≈ Alaap, Tanam ≈ Jod, Pallavi ≈ Sthāyī–Antara–Sanchari–Abhog.

Genre Sub-types

  • Kriti – vocal-centric.
  • Kirtanai/Kirtanae – instrumental-centric.

Great Exponents

  • Male Trinity: Tyāgarāja, Syama Śastri, Muthuswāmi Dīkshitar.
  • Female Trinity: M.S. Subbulakshmi, D.K. Pattammal, M.L. Vasanthakumari.

Language, Script & Literary Background (Lecture Addendum)

Centrality of Language

  • Humans “exist in language”; names, ideas, institutions, governments and conflicts all manifest linguistically.
  • Refining language → greater harmony & cooperation.

Oral → Written Transmission

  • Vedic knowledge was Śruti (heard, memorised) long before writing; shift begins 6th6^{th} BCE.

Early Indian Scripts

  • Brahmi
    • Earliest pan-Indian script; mother of most Indian & many SE-Asian scripts (Sinhala, Burmese, Khmer, Javanese, etc.).
    • Deciphered by James Prinsep in 1837−381837{-}38 from Ashokan edicts.
  • Kharosthi
    • Parallel script in ancient NW India (modern Pakistan).

Abugida (Abhigida) Writing Principle

  • Consonants fully written; vowels mainly shown via diacritics (mātrā) unless initial.
    • Example:
    • क + ा → का
    • ल + ा → ला
    • "आज" – initial ‘आ’ written, internal ‘a’ as diacritic.
  • Same logic governs Devanāgarī, Tamil, Malayalam, Gujarati, Bengali, Assamese, etc., yielding high orthographic-phonetic alignment → reason Indian scripts are deemed advanced.

English vs Indian Languages

  • English lacks consistent grapheme-phoneme mapping ("ghoti" can be pronounced fish: gh→/f/ as in enough, o→/i/ as in women, ti→/ʃ/ as in nation).
  • Misconception: English has “2626 alphabets” – actually 2626 letters; alphabet = the set of letters (only one).

Mandarin Complexity

  • Considered hardest: multiple writing systems, >5000 logographic characters, several phonetic inventories.

Connections, Implications & Exam Relevance

  • Link between temple singing (Drupad) and Carnatic devotional kritis demonstrates continuity of sacred music across regional divides.
  • Persian cultural influx (Amir Khusro) birthed Khayal & Qawwali, showing Indo-Islamic syncretism.
  • Gharana concept parallels Kathak gharanas—helps in comparative art questions.
  • Holi-specific Dhamar and Urs-specific Qawwali exemplify festival-bounded art forms—often asked in prelims.
  • 7272-Melakarta system frequently appears in match-the-following.
  • Language section underlines why scripts & linguistic philosophy are tested (e.g., UPSC prelim questions on Brahmi decipherment).

Quick Reference Formulae & Numbers

  • 44 Drupad lyric sections: Sthāyī, Antara, Sanchari, Abhog.
  • 7272 Melakarta ragas in Carnatic.
  • Brahmi deciphered 1837−18381837{-}1838.
  • 16th16^{th} C – Hindustani vs Carnatic divergence.
  • Drupad → Alaap + Jod + 44 composition parts.
  • Khayal → Chhota + Bada.