Hindustani music — spirituality in abstraction

How Hindustani music moves from the literality of the words to the emotiveness of the raag

September 24, 2020 05:48 pm | Updated 05:48 pm IST

For a musician, music is considered his dharma. The words dhaarayate iti dharma actually mean virtues worthy of acceptance, virtues that celebrate the natural flow of life without inhibitions. These virtues are defined by changing times. Unlike the restrictive term ‘religion,’ dharma can change with times. As such, tradition and change go hand in hand.

This thought works behind all streams of learning, including music. It is considered that the musicality of the Vedic mantras gave birth to Indian classical music, which once flourished in temples. Saam-gaan led to the Gandharva Vidya and Margi Sangeet of yore which, with changing times and frequent travel between different regions, also adopted local melodies and gradually older jaatis gave way to raga music.

As a tool of worship, music incorporated various deities with the help of pada (lyrics) and swara (melody).

Traditional prabandh and dhrupad are the best examples of devotional padas. It is commonly believed that the literal meaning of most traditional khayal and thumri bandishes (written in the dialects of the Ganga-Yamuna belt) are erotic. Hindustani music, however, also has a strong devotional element like its southern counterpart — albeit in different ways.

The latter, an essentially kriti-based musical form, is like the worship of an idol, while the Hindustani stream is dominated by the chosen raga’s melody, and is therefore entirely empirical and almost abstract — inspired by Sufism, wherein the deity and the devotee become lovers, yearning for each other’s company.

In the words of eminent musicologist Deepak Raja, “To regard devotional lyrics as the exclusive flag-bearers of bhakti in music is a misrepresentation of the character of music as an art as well as of bhakti as a human aspiration. The liberation of music from poetry does not, in any manner, dilute its transcendentalism.”

Over the years, several legendary musicians have agreed that a raga may or may not respond in the same way on each day or during every concert. Ustad Ali Akbar Khan once recalled how the gandhaar of Yaman was vibrating in such a manner that he found it difficult to render it that day.

 Sarod exponent Ustad Ali Akbar Khan

Sarod exponent Ustad Ali Akbar Khan

Vidushi Kishori Amonkar was known to have taken poetic liberties while etching ragas, but she once revealed her helplessness, “I cannot defy the loving beckoning of the swaras. I must surrender and listen to the mood of a particular swara in that specific moment.”

 Hindustani vocalist Kishori Amonkar

Hindustani vocalist Kishori Amonkar

It is said that Ustad Amir Khan would infuse emotions and a reflective mood into his singing by employing heavily suggestive pauses. In his music, the meend-laden gait of the raga or the oscillating notes say a lot more than the articulated swaras.

06dfr Amir Khan

06dfr Amir Khan

Hence, he chose to sing only those ragas that offered a broader canvas, such as Shree (meaning Lakshmi/ aesthetically pleasing), Bageshri (originally Vaageshwari or goddess of speech), Rageshri (Rageshwari or goddess of emotions).

There are many such ragas attributed to gods and goddesses. For example, the straight approach to swaras, as in raga Durga, very easily draws the image of the armoured, combatant goddess. This pentatonic raga’s assertive ascending movements focus on the mid-octave and upper-octave regions, and it unfolds its beauty in the medium tempo.

Contours of Bhairavi

Another popular raga is Bhairavi (the consort of Bhairav or the fearsome form of Siva). True to its name, it can enchant or mystify through its apparently soft contours. It is capable of creating all the rasas associated with raga music. Compared to Durga and Bhairavi, Narayani and Eeshwari are lesser-known. All are different names of Durga, denoting different moods of the goddess. Similarly, each of these ragas etches a different character.

Pt. Ravi Shankar invented a set of five distinctly different Eeshwaris: Parameshwari, Kameshwari, Jogeshwari, Gangeshwari and Rageshwari. But apart from Parameshwari and Jogeshwari, the rest are almost forgotten.

The devotional element of a raga also relies on certain rhythmic cycles. Chautal and jhaptal exude power, while rupak and jhumra signify a desolate mood and dhamar spouts euphoria. The slow tempo of teental, ektal, jhumra and several other talas provide a wide canvas for peaceful and meditative elaboration — as exemplified by Ustad Amir Khan’s music.

So the meaning of the pada can have several interpretations depending on the musician’s personality and the inherent nature of the raga, the ornamentations deployed, and the tempo applied. This trend encouraged musicians to move higher spiritually from a form provided by the lyrics to the formlessness of raga music.

The writer is a music critic and musicologist.

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