Dr.R.Nagaswamy
#6B8E23
Reflections on Carnatic Music
"The listener hearing the recitals by different musicians is certainly puzzled to know what raga is being rendered as no two musicians sing the same raga alike. There is such a diversity of rendering that one cannot even recognize tile well-known ragas.Most musicians, barring a few, do not conform to the definition or grammar of each raga as expounded in authoritative treatises. To put it bluntly, no musician seems to follow the sangita sastra for there is no correlation between the lakshana and lakshya and yet they call it Carnatic music."
This criticism, somewhat severe, about the contemporary level of the musical world, was mentioned 300 years ago by no less a critic than the enlightened author and king, Raghunatha Nayak ( 1600-1630), the ruler of Thanjavur, in his musical treatise Sangita Sudha. In his introductory chapter history of the text Charitra, Raghunatha Nayak, narrating the cause for writing his work, says that a group of musicians met him and spoke of the deplorable standards of classical music and appealed to him to make classical music intelligible to all the people.
The king himself was an accomplished musician and composer. Several outstanding poetical and musical works have been composed by him on legendary themes like Valmiki-Charitra- Kavya, Parijata-apaharana, Gajendra-Moksha, Nalacharitra and historical themes like Achutendra- abhyudhayam (on the life of his father Achutappa Nayak). A newly invented veena was named after him as Raghunathendra-Veena. Also a new raga. Jayantasena, and a tala, Ramananda-tala, were invented by him. He learnt the art of music from his illustrious guru and minister, the famous Govinda Dikshita.
Raghtnatha Nayak specifically mentions that he undertook the task of simplifying classical music so that there is no variation between the defined and the actual recitals. People should be able to recognise the ragas simply by listening to the songs once. Raghunatha states it was his aim to open the secrets of music to all.
This work in Sanskrit was wriitten in seven chapters but the last three chapters are lost. Raghunatha also mentions the study and research he undertook in music, identifying the cause of decay, the contemporary authentic tradition and a codification to restore the standards.
He says the 'sangita sastra' was composed by Sadasiva and other authors but it was vast and difficult to study and memorise. So, he studied the work in detail. He also studied the treatises of great authors on music Matanga. Sardula, and Dattila, in addition to the works of other recognised authors like Sarngadeva and Harindra.
After an in-depth and critical study, the king heard in person practical recitals of master musicians of his time. Assimilating these textual and practical forms, the king wrote the treatise to the best of his ability.His critical approach, study, research and exposition and the remarkable clarity with which he organised his data will come as a revelation to modern University researchers.
The contribution of Raghunatha Nayak should be viewed against the historical back-ground. The present-day Carnatic music is mainly based on the 72 melakarta ragas and their derivatives called janya ragas, which were codified by Venkatamakhi, who wrote two outstanding treaties on music, the Chaturdandi Prakasika andRaga Lakshana which he illustrated with his own Kirtanas. Venkatamakhi, the son of Govinda Dikshita (the Guru of Raghunatha) wrote the above two works at the request of Raghunatha's son and successor to the Thanjavur throne, Vijaya-raghava Nayak, around 1650 CE.
Venkatamakhi was profoundly influenced by his father, Gavinda Dikshita, and Raghunantha Nayak, particularly by the work, Sangita Sudha. The present day classical music is an extension of standards set by Raghunatha's effort to corelate the lakshana with the lakshya. He clearly indicates that if ragas are not rendered within the grammatical form, set in the treatise and each one extends his own interpolation, people will not be able to recognise. Conformity to norms is meant to enable easy verification about authenticity and identification by a large circle of people separated in space and time and not to impose rigidity.
Raghunatha felt that classical music would be popular only when it is lucid, simple, aesthetically enjoyable and reaches a larger section of the people, failing which the system will end up in confusion and drift towards obscurity.
After Raghunatha and Vijayaraghava, Thanjavur, the seat of Carnatic music, witnessed many changes. The kingdom passed on to the Maratta rulers of the Shivaji family. Many of the Maratta rulers themselves were great exponents of music and dance and following the footsteps of their Nayak predecessors, encouraged classical music in the 18th Century. But the political scene brought in several other traditions like the North Indian school and the Mughal tradition.
However the incoming traditions were kept to a great extent separate, leaving the individuality of the local school intact. The 19th Century witnessed the rice of western music and instruments. Serfoji II invited many Western musicians to the court and encouraged the learning of their systems. But yet till recent times, the individuality of the classical system was assiduously maintained and connoisseurs could easily identify the ragas and the form to a great extent.
But in the present-day singing, most musicians mix up the tunes and render Carnatic ragas in Hindusthani tunes and destroy the very form of the tunes and their sensitivities. With the result, they are neither appreciated by Hindusthani musicians nor the Carnatic music lovers. They serve to satisfy the reciter than the appreciation of the listener.
There is a perceptible fall in classical standards and it seems that the true Carnatic music is likely to be wiped off the scene within a decade by the musicians themselves than by external factors. What was said about the condition about 300 years back, at the time of Raghunatha Nayak, seems to recur but with this difference - it was possible then to revive the classical form because of deeper knowledge of Sanskrit language.
With the decline in the study of Sanskrit, there seems to be no hope for the revival of the classical form in modern times, unless the modern musicians learn Sanskrit, We may say that the tradition is as good as lost especially with the modern media and very few equipped exponents programming and controlling the media. It seems the fall of classical tradition is imminent though one would like very much to desist from making such a statement.
R. NAGASWAMY
THE HINDU, DECEMBER 28, 1998