Indian classical music is principally
based on melody and rhythm, not on harmony, counterpoint,
chords, modulation and the other basics of Western classical
music.
The system of Indian music known
as raga sangeet can be traced back nearly
two thousand years to its origin in the Vedic hymns of the
Hindu temples, the fundamental source of all Indian music,
thus, as in Western music, the roots of Indian classical
music are religious. To us Indian Musicians, music can be
a spiritual discipline on the path to self-realization.
We follow the traditional teaching that sound is God, Nada
Brahma. By following this individual consciousness can
be elevated to a realm of awareness where the revelation
of the true meaning of the universe, and its eternal and
unchanging essence can be joyfully experienced. Our ragas
are the vehicles by which this essence can be perceived.
The ancient Vedic scriptures
teach that there are two types of sound. One is a vibration
of ether, the upper or purer air near the celestial realm.
Great and enlightened yogis seek this sound called anahata
nada or unstruck sound, after. And they can only
hear it. The sound of the universe is the vibration thought
by some to be like the music of the spheres that the Greek
scientist, Pythagoras described in the sixth century BC.
The other sound ahatanada
or struck sound, is the vibration of air in the lower atmosphere
closer to the earth. It is any sound that we hear in nature
or man-made sounds, musical and non-musical.
The tradition
of Indian classical music is an oral one. It is taught directly by the guru to the disciple,
rather than by the notation method used in the West. The
very heart of Indian music is the raga: the melodic form
upon which the musician improvises. This framework is established
by tradition and inspired by the creative spirit of master
musicians.
Ragas are extremely difficult
to explain in a few words. Though Indian music is modal
in character, ragas should not be mistaken as modes that
one hears in the music of Middle and Far Western countries
and not be understood as a scale, melody per se, a composition
or a key. A raga
is a scientific, precise, subtle and aesthetic melodic form
with its own peculiar ascending and descending movement
consisting of either a full seven note octave. It is a series
of six or five notes (or a combination of any of these)
in a rising or falling structure called the arohana
and avarohana.
It is the subtle difference in the order of notes and omission
of a dissonant note, an emphasis on a particular note, the
slide from one note to another and the use of microtones
together with other subtleties that demarcate one raga from
the another.
Spirituality and Indian
music canft be separated from each other. Because, if we look at an Indian
god or goddesses in a picture,
for example, Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh, Shiva or Lord Krishna
we will surely see a musical
instrument in their hands.
The goddess of literature and speech, Saraswati, has a veena
in her hand and Lord Krishna was a born musician associated
with the flute. Since that age to the present day this stream
of sound, or music, has been developed step by step into
toady's raga sangeet,
system of raga
and tala. Though music is at this time
sheer entertainment, the stream of spirituality is not lost
and this is why we can say it is spiritual music.
Explanation
Some demonstration or examples
regarding devotional song or prayer in Sanskrit
