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Genesis of Carnatic Music DR Amutha Pandian 81-318-1-PB PDF
Genesis of Carnatic Music DR Amutha Pandian 81-318-1-PB PDF
equal intervals, he also says that the number of sruthis is 22. How
could 12 semitones be divided into 22 in equal proportion with the
ratio of one fourth or one eighth? The zodiac sign (by which the
It was Abraham
Tamils formed their Vattappaalai) with12 houses will not be complete
Pandithar who
with the 22 alaguus of Sarangadeva. Kural Thiribu (modal shift of
declared that while
tonic) by which the three graamams (gamut) are made is impossible
the theories
in Sarangadever’s system. Sarangadeva mentions the Dhaivatha
promulgated from the
Graamam, the Madhyama Graamam and the Gandhara Graamam a
Sanskrit works do not
few times. But he says that the Madhyama Graamam was not popular
in anyway suit the
in his days and that the Gandhara Graamam went away to the celestial
practical music of
region. This is perhaps because singing Kural Thiribu was not properly
South India
understood. However the way the Tamils sang Kural Thiribu could be
deduced, from the description in the ‘Aaycchiyar Kuravai’ in the
Silappathikaaram. The ‘Aaycchiyar Kuravai’ shows the great felicity
with which the Tamils made Kural Thiribu. It was possible only because
their music was scientific.
not by the Sanskrit 3. When the Sanskrit scholars became expert exponents of Tamil
speaking Aryans but music, they were so keen on reproducing the knowledge in their
the Tamil speaking own language that Tamil books on music became extinct.
Dravidians
4. Most of the technical terms in music and musicology including
the names of notes and panns were translated into Sanskrit.
6. With the rejuvenation of Indian Art in the 19th and 20th centuries,
music of the Tamils was renamed Carnatic Music. However, for
the theory of musicology, Sanskrit works were alone referred to.
Hindu Music and the Gayan Samaj speaks of the systems present
in North India and then says “Besides these there is the Southern
Indian system distinct in it, and constituting an important section
of the Indian musical system, termed the Karnataka system” (Quoted
in Karunamirtha Sagaram Part I,Book 1). C.R. Day says that (p.12)
of the two systems practiced in Southern India, Hindustani is practised
mostly by Moghuls, while Carnatic is confined more to the southern
races, and that it may be called the natural music of the south and
that it is more scientific and refined than the Hindustani, and again
(p.13) that because South India was less disturbed by internal
commotions “ the science of music would seem to have been
maintained and cultivated long after the original art had been lost
in the North”(p. 13) . Moreover according to Hindu Music and Gayan
Samaj the Dravidian system is more Vedic than the northern
Hindustani.
As already pointed out, when the Aryans entered South India during
the period of the last sangam, Brahmans learnt Sanskrit, and made
fresh works in both the languages that account for the presence of
Sanskrit words in Tamil. Older writings became obsolete owing to
disuse and other natural causes. Subsequently these Aryans became
experts in South Indian music, which “gave them power and influence
they prized so much” (C .R. Day, p.5) and this led to doubts about
the antiquity of the language and culture of the Tamils. They discarded
all the existing fragments of works of Tamil music, wrote new ones
in Sanskrit and handed them to posterity. They completely changed
the names of some of the ancient pans (ragas) and also technical
terms, giving Sanskrit names with Sanskrit letters as mnemonics for
¹Fò ðÂõ™ 6
This ancient system lost its subtlety and became corrupt owing to
incorrect mathematical calculations and computations in the
¹Fò ðÂõ™ 7
1. Carnatic music, which has been practised by the Tamils from the
ancient times, is based on sound scientific principles.
for writing songs to panns. Though they belonged to Tamil Nadu and
their mother tongue was Tamil, Sanskrit charlatanism was so great
This stanza alone is those days that they did not compose Tamil songs.The great songs of
proof enough to the bhakthi cult were overlooked. It was considered improper to sing
conclude that the the great songs of Arunachala Kavirayar, Muthu Thandavar and
music of the Tamils Marimuthapillai in Temples.
was systemized
during the Though such great music works in Tamil of the Sangam period are
Sangam age lost the little that is in the Paripadal of the Sangam age and the
Silapathikaaram of Sangam Maruviya Kaalam (transitional period)
are enough to form tangible theories of Carnatic music.
“Those who get music out of the divine Brahma Veena, those who
create music with their fingers out of the Kulal (flute) and those
who enjoy the music of the Yazh by producing the Paalai from the Ili
and the Kural neither too loud not too soft but in a middling degree;
Those who make the noise of the murasu(drum) to be in complete
combination with the thaalam (beat) of the music of the Kural in
the Yazh”.
¹Fò ðÂõ™ 9
The strings vibrated in harmony with the human voice and the
percussion instrument murasu kept strict time in conjunction. There
they contain very was orchestral music and the notes of octaves they selected were
important clues to always suited to situations.
the grammar of the
If a work like the Silappathikaaram, which is primarily an epic of
music that the
love and revenge, treats several details of music pertaining to subtle
Tamils practised and
nuances in spontaneous felicity how intertwined should music and
testify to the fact
dance have been in the life of the people? Though the details are
that Carnatic music
meager, they contain very important clues to the grammar of the
music that the Tamils practised and testify to the fact that Carnatic
music, which has been practised by the Tamils from the ancient
times, is based on sound scientific principles.
This attitude must Venkatamahi says that he constructed the 72 Melakartas and he
change names the panns are in Sanskrit. But a little research will prove that
all the names are Tamil derivations. The book, Vyasa Kadakam, gives
the names of several pans, such as ‘Kanakangi’, ‘Rathnangi’ and
‘Ganamurthy’, which are Tamil derivations. The ancient Vyasa Muni
would not have written the Vyasa Kadakam for, if so, Bharata in the
fifth century and Sarangadeva in the thirteenth century would have
referred to it. So another Vyasa, who lived after Sarangadeva and
before Venkatamahi, should have been the author of the Vyasa
Kadakam. He started recording the changed names of Tamil panns
and Venkatamahi completed the task. It then became very easy for
the Sanskrit exponents to swear by the Sanskrit works and the fact
that the present Carnatic music is the erstwhile Tamil music was
soon forgotten. This attitude must change. Only then further research
in Tamil Musicology will be intensified which in turn would make
possible the performance of Carnatic music with the minute alaguu
system mentioned in Tamil Literature. It will also then be possible to
retrieve all the 12,000 panns and the seven kinds of thalams mentioned
in Tamil Literature.
Notes:
1. Brahmins were ‘anthanar’ class of the Dravidians. “The Brahman
caste habituated to an intellectual life, and in the exercise of
verbal memory to an astonishing degree”(Slater, Gilbert. The
Dravidian Elements in Indian Culture New Delhi: Asian Educational
Services, p.62), found in the Aryan supremacy and administration,
an opportunity. This fact and intermarriages made some Brahmans
to consider themselves Aryans and superior to the other Dravidians.
Some of them even suffered identity crisis in their enthusiasm to
uphold Sanskrit language along with their necessity to possess the
rich culture of the Tamils.
2. Again what Gilbert Slater says must be quoted here. “..the second
and third stages of Aryan invasion involved a struggle for survival
between languages. That the brawnier but thicker-witted Aryan
should bear the extraordinarily difficult languages of the ‘ill-
speaking man’ as the Vedas term the Dravidian, was not be
supposed. The Dravidian instead had to learn Sanskrit. The
¹Fò ðÂõ™ 12
Books Referred:
Abraham Pandithar. Karnamirtha Sagaram. (Thanjavur:Lawley
Press,1917)