ART THEORY-2 TERM PAPER

Ragas in Indian Classical Music and Problems of Archiving and Notation system
Since the colonial rule of India and well into the post-colonial nation, the debate regarding the origins and developement of typically 'Indian classical' music has been not only the crux of investigation of indigenous musicologists inquiring into the anthropological role of this supposed classical tradition and its relations to the folk and/or to the dominant elite cultural paradigms, but more so 'Indian classical' music being coded within a nationalist paradigm has become a marker of national identity(ofcourse not without immense opposition) and hence as an area ripe for orientalist imagination and subsequent comparisions against broadly, western music traditions. While the role of british colonialism cannot be stressed enough, it must also be noted that this colonialism and the resulting orientalist writings and archaeology was also parallely supported by both nationalist and self-orientalizing practices, which ultimately went on to chart an entirely new history and mythology of indian classical music, such as had never been before and which was supported and held together by the stories of a golden, pristine past. What was essentially being forgotten or rather being deliberately ignored was the fact that the history of music in the indian subcontinent(a similiar history is evident in near and distant cultures of music across the world) was not only

characterised by a turbulent narrative that had several loopholes and gaps, but the fact that this so-called strictly 'Indian music' was a construct no more than 200 years old. One of the ways that the classical tradition of indian music and its pristine history was constructed was, as i mentioned before, through mythology and this mythology which was hindu mythology(hence also very clearly the way in which this classical tradition was known as and referred to by the colonials and orientalists as 'hindoo' music; locating the episteme of this classical tradition/discourse not in terms of geographical boundaries or an anthropological culture, but rather in its very religious origins and religious nature[a very unique phenomenon as far as a tradition of music was concerned since this had not happened anywhere else in history]), a mythology that gave instruments to the gods and which was to not only circumscribe this classical music tradition within religious discourse and hence ascribing it the duty of worship but also one which then located the beginnings of this very tradition to an eternal, cosmic past. However, the very reason why, possibly the need to locate(or relocate) this music tradition to such a glorious past was not necessitated only by nationalist fervour and hence a need to revive a 'national tradition' but also for the simple but crude fact that what was characterised as Indian music by the colonial orientalists was at first not only not accepted, but positively admonished as barbaric and uncultured(this very fact which while ofcourse was a discourse that imperialism and colonialism on the whole were supported by, but one which especially also necessitated the very urgent need in nationalists to prove otherwise!) While the music tradition in the subcontinent was very clearly a combination of several traditions(ranging from

persia to the far east) and its indigenous character was a nationalist construct, there were however, certain very real differences not only in terms of musical character and style, but in terms of the very nature of practicing musical traditions there was a very distinct difference between the western classical tradition and the indigenous classical tradition(both of these which im referring to as classical ofcourse only for the sake of convinience). The western classical tradition beginning from the renaissance to the the neo-classicists and romanticists has had several different types of formats such as the symphonic orchestra, chamber music, music-drama(a format pioneered by Wagner, and one which has affinities and can be compared to several music-drama traditions even in the subcontinent, ofcourse but in a much larger scale) and these various formats while on the one hand were characterised by a largeness of sound - especially the symphonic orchestra and hence employing several layers of musicians performing a single piece, the essential difference as against musical traditions and their performance in the subcontinent being that the western pieces were written and rehearsed beforehand to be played again in the very same way in front of an audience, hence the the seated violinists with sheets and sheets of pages playing to tune in front of the conductor who ultimately has any improvisational say on the piece. Why this becomes important is not only because the way the a musical performance was concieved differently in both traditions but for the fact that the written text in western musical traditions was not only considered a very efficient system but in fact an indispensable part of preserving a musical culture and creating and ever-growing archive of written musical information which could be accessed at will at any future date(although which is not to say that an oral tradition did not exist in the western musical tradition;

however due to the rather dominant tradition of writing down music the oral transmission of music would have been in large only of a more temporary form and very specialized). One of the supreme difficulties that not only colonial scholars, but subsequently even Indian musicologists encountered as far as the anthropological study of the music traditions of the subcontinent are concerned was the fact that it was extremely difficult to collect music in written form, let alone construct geneological archives of seperate traditions and their evolution. The reason for this ofcourse, is located in the long-standing oral tradition of passing on 'knowledge' in general(this ofcourse which is not as we realize an 'indigenous' tradition or a generalization of the subcontinent but rather a tradition that is more specifically located within brahmanical discourse and pedagogy). This while clearly being a very fundamental difference between the western and indian music traditions, hence not only affected the their transfer from generation to generation and their archival practices, this was also as we realize also responsible for the way music was performed. However while historically the oral-tradition was possibly the dominant mode of the transmission of musical information in the sub-continent we must here too not make a generalisation. as Harold Powers(in his essay 'Sargam Notations and Rag-Ragini theory') observes:
"in India, just as in Europe, ancient and copius tradtions of verbal discourse about music have been transmitted across the generations in writing, often long after the performing traditions with which they may have once have been connected have vanished or evolved out of all recognition, and they are almost always provided with examples in sargam...but Indian musical practice, unlike that of post-medieval europe, does not include a tradition for prescriptive music in written notation which can serve as check, guide and nourishment for the

written theoritical tradition"

Hence while Powers does admit to the existence to written notation in indian musical tradition too, he is specific regarding the purpose that each of them purportedly serve. he gives the example of the fifth chapter of 'Raga-Vibodha' of Somanatha from 1609 and comments on the sargams that are provided by Somanatha:
"but even here the examples are of possibility rather than actuality. Somanatha's elaborate notations were constructed to support an aesthetic claim; they are demonstrative, not prescriptive."

Powers quotes Richard Widess who tries to explain the indian notation form:
"writing in general has never been held in such esteem in India as in Europe...however, many systems of 'oral notation' exist and have existed since ancient times. these systems use solmization or other mnemonic syllables, and are primarily recited or sung, although they can be written down if necessary or in some cases indicated by handgestures..notations of this kind normally capture one parameter of music: in melody, the base sequence of pitches[i.e. scale degrees], without detailed indications of ornamentation, rhythm or even octave register..."

[In the same essay Powers discussing the use of notations refers to Cristle Collin Judd's expression of 'silent listening' which she uses to explain the purpose of prescriptive notated music, and as powers explains "it is meant by what is written and must ultimately be imagined in the mind's ear if it is to be of any use."] Further discussing Somanatha's work, Powers observes the developement of the not only the concept of the raga but the very novel way that somanatha has devised the system that is for examples not categorized and grouped according to scale-types, but rather according to the suitable times of the day to perform them; he also discusses Somanatha's

Devamaya which comprises of 51 dhayanas(pictorial translations of the same raga), each verse which represents the raga in the picture of a divine person and about ten which are nayaka-nayika figures. here again, Powers explains how somanatha's notations are not prescriptive, but rather demonstrative whereby "..that the visible icon may be used a way of focusing on the audible form, that the audible icon may call to mind the visual form." Western classical music is based on the melody and which interestingly it is the melody which since the 70s characterized Heavy-metal music in Britain and became known as the 'riff' which is essentially an under-lying tune, that gives the ground to the music and to the song being performed. In contrast to western classical music, Indian classical music or what has come to be characterized as such, is based on the raag and taal. there are theoritically an infinite number of raags which are possible. In general public performances, artists barely use more than 20 odd raags while they may be proficient in more than 200. What is considered to be the number of actual raags that are; it might number into several hunderds. Unlike the melody in western classical music the raag is not a 'tune' but rather a set of notes which are constant in the aaroh(rising) and the avroh(descending). These set of notes which can be endlessly performed in infinite variations and improvised on, also ofcourse constantly supported by a beat which is the taal, that can be 6 beats(Dadra), 7 beats(Roopak) or 8(Keherwa) and so on. W.G. Raffe in his essay 'Ragas and Raginis: A Key to Hindu Aesthetics' proposes very fundamental questions regarding the raga system and addresses it not merely in the technical sense of it being or as far as notation; rather he tries to locate the aesthetic theory of ragas through Hindu

mythology and iconography. Raffe characterises the raga as stimulating rasa and also being facilitated influencing bhava. he takes the example of Krishna:
"Krsna, for example, carried in his four hands the conch shell, the creative fire, and their emanation in the flute from which he produces the music of creative formation. Here he is Lord of the Solar Dance-and conse-quently the raja of the rdga, the stimulator of rasa"

He takes another example regarding the conception of distances and time in hindu mythology and makes an ineteresting observation: "In regard to distances, reckoning was carried out by means of the
flexible cord for long distances and the rigid rod for short distances. Multiplication was easier than division, for high mechanical accuracy is technically difficult and needs metal. The Hindus could contemplate periods of "millions of years" but they could not measure "millionths of a yard" in material form. The nearest em-pirical approach was the Hindus' venture into microtones of the scale in the sruti, or "sureness" of sound."

Raffe unlike a possibly more technical and chronological, historical study of the formation of the ragas; he sees the developement of the ragas as almost characteristic of the 'Indian' mind since he makes certain general comments regarding the inevitable propensity of the hindu musician who would:
"...accept them[natural phenomena] as regular natural rhythms, capable of appearing at certain times of the year, and therefore to be celebrated in answer-ing or affirmative musical rhythms; in short, in the appropriate raga (mood) that belongs to the bhava of nature.or to the dominant rasa (or emotion) of man at that time.."

However my point here is not to necessarily critique Raffe's at times extremely generalising views, rather at more than one occassion his correlations especially of the circular SriYantra diagram which he says is the symbolic rendering of

the rasa by an even larger circle which is that of the impersonal bhava or moods of nature; these correlations which not only highlight the religious origins of this musical tradition but also help to understand the role of mythology in the conception of ragas in music and the techniques of their pictorial representation in the ragamala paintings. Raffe also goes on to posit this(the inseperable nature of the raga and rasa) as the very essential difference between western music "whose end is harmony" and where "the emphasis of the motif is firstly upon form and not upon emotion: that is to be gained by the phrase and the stress arising in longer passages." and the Indian classical tradition. he goes on to say:
"The Hindu raga is created not only from a traditional "cluster of notes," but from an initial position in its own scale. It is, so to say, both mood and chord; both emotion and means of expressing emotion. In this fact it differs from the European musical motif, which is limited solely to its technical form, and has not accepted an intrinsic emotional scheme or relation, but creates instead a social bhava or group mood by complexity and volume of sound."

Raffe's essential thesis throughout the entire essay is essentially the correalation between the raga and the season, and hence he formulates the presence of the six basic ragas and their manifested raginis as symbolic of the essential six seasons of the subcontinent. He believes that because the ragas and their mood are essentially the 'sounds of nature', they can not only be recovered but it is also the very reason why they are constantly associated with the gods and other divine figures. Maud Macarthy says:
"..to the Indian mind the word raga conveys also more than a mere arrangement of notes. The whole of nature is alive, ensouled, pulsating with purpose and being...The ragas and riginis are not mere names. They are real beings, living in the subtler worlds, and they cannot manifest on earth unless they are properly invoked, that is, unless the

arrangements of notes to which they lend their names are duly performed. Hence the care with which the Indian musician enunciates its raga before he begins a song, and his displeasure if he hears someone putting in what is, to him, a wrong note. Allowing for exaggerations and superstitions of all kinds, we still find many rigas which produce distinct and peculiar psycho-physiological effects.."

The essential conclusions that Raffe comes to regarding the ragas and their origins is that:
"(1) The meaning of the term raga is found centered in its power of reckoning or measuring (a) the original set of six strings (supposing we accept the six-season calendar) and adjusting (b) their mutual relations, together with (c) their subsidiary relations within each scale, named as raginis. (2) The technical usage is found in the actual measurements of string lengths (according to substance) and tuning in internal relation. The scientific theory behind this practice is derived from the system of thirty-six tattvas; or alterna-tively the 108 tattvas-these two totals being related as raga = 36 and ragini = 108-and the right theory developing in a system of nature music and the pic-torial system of ragmdla as a mythos of nature powers. (3) The development of raga to ragini is a necessary consequence of the earlier emanations. Brahman produces Vach, his (its) creative voice, which in turn ema-nates the six leading ragas (related as dual modes of the triguna; the positive and negative modes of the tamasic, sattvic, and rajasic qualities inherent in energy and matter. The successive emanation of sound (as nama, or idea) produces by necessity the life (ripa or form)."

These inferences and conclusions that raffe draws while, on the hand may be viewed as highly mystical, but ont the other hand effectively mythological roots of the concept and practice of the raga with arithemetic necessity. however, even though he realizes the possiblity of deriving the nature of all the ragas and raginis through the six essential ragas by the correlation with the six seasons, he only barely and does not infact realize the complexity of classifying them in a

manner 'scientific' that the early nationalist musicologists wished to. while one of the possible solutions was the arbitrary grouping of the ragas and raginis through broad bhava and rasa based classifications, modern musicology itself demanded something far more concrete strictly rational and scientific; this as we see being the very foundation of the debates over a classification of music, the terms of which were already set by colonial 'scientific' musicological practices. In one of the excerpts from the 'Proceedings of the musical association'(1911-1912) Maud Macarthy(whom i quoted above) presented a lecture which outlined the very many reasons for the unique nature and quality of the raga, taal based indian classical music and extoleld its virtues calling it not just equal but some of its qualities as being superior. Macarthy makes an interesting distinction between 'convention' and 'tradition'.
"There are two lines along which we may study Indian music, the conventional and the traditional. By conventional I mean the thing which is done, the thought which is thought, on the authority simply that somebody else has done or thought it. By traditional I mean that quality which is inherent, essential; and which may be studied to a great extent independently of passing forms and phenomena. Tradition is discoverable in tendency, not always in result. It does not compel to action or thought just because somebody else has done or thought, although these too may be included in the term. It is stable, conservative, yet ever manifesting in new ways....Now the majority of Indian musicians, and the majority of writers on Indian music, Eastern and Western, are inclined to study rather the conventional than the traditional aspects of the art. And convention, as we all know, is a corpse. "

The above quoted lines are significant not because they state the now commonly assumed conception of tradition and culture as not just a stagnant relic, but rather a moving evolving corpus of discourse; rather(which is evident from

several portions in the transcript where she tries to highlight the similiarities and points of contact between Western and Indian classical music and the core of which she also says lies in the essential Aryan foundation) it is actually the very conflict that indian muscicians and musicologists were encountering in the advent of modernity and the contradictions they encountered in this very battle to balance tradition but not allow it to 'degenerate' into mere convention, ironically convention itself which was both enabled by and rendered unstable by the notation system. In any case the classification of ragas has been not only a very tedious but a hotly debated issue as i mentioned before, owing to the question as far as what parameters to be chosen to classify them i.e. whether in terms of melodic affinities, pitch-class collections employed or according to symmetrical, hierarchial schemes; equally as much the question which was regarding the very effort to notate indian classical music, a question that was of prime importance especially in the late 19th and early 20th century. while on the one hand the authentic and indigenous methodologies of preservation, archiving and transmission were being sought for(here i am referring to the oral-tradition)and an express need to communicate musical information in the 'indigenous' manner was considered necessary to define the musical tradition within a broad imagined national tradition, on the other hand owing to the rapid pace of modernity and influx of distant traditions of music(from europe) notation was realized as now(both by bhatkhande and paluskar) necessary to preserve the classical tradition which was now under the threat being corrupted and being stripped of its authentic core. The paradox between tradition and the modern archive is very evident. In any case the issue of notation, the methodologies to be employed and the very question of whether or not to undertake this project was one

of the most, if not the most important issue that was discussed at the very first all india musical conferences(1916-1925) organised by both Bhatkhande and Paluskar. David Trasoff in his essay 'The All-India Music Conferences of 1916-1925', explains the composition of these conferences which no doubt were nationalist in character and were spearheaded by a new emerging middleclass hindu elite who "had been forging a linkage between the arts and the creation of a national consciousness for several decades prior to the intiation of this series of conferences. Music offered a particularly potent symbol through which to challenge the intellectual hegemony of european cultural models, a challenge which was nevertheless expressed in terms that mostly confirmed the boundaries of that hegemony. these terms had were initially dictated by the discoveries and subsequent publications of lte 18th century and early 19th century european scholars.." and hence the very paradoxical circumstances under which the rehaul of the classical tradition of music was taking place. This only led to the rather urgent desire, as trasoff outlines from the musicologists and musicians in these conferences to devise a method to establish indian music on a 'scientific' basis. Not only was this to present indian music as 'credible' but also scientifically and objectively accessible to all. this was going to be possible according to the scholars only by adopting an indigenous notation system or the Western staff notation; this would enable(which was listed as the first goal in the appeal of the general secretary of the lucknow conference) the standardization of ragas and raginis, both by the notation system and a methodology which would escape from contradictions based on melodic affinties and pitch-

based classification. Besides the notation system itself, the new technology of sound was realized as offering a possibility to record music and hence not only preserve music through gramaphone records but also use it as a teaching tool. In any case the conflicts between preservation and tradition was to remain a sore-spot, however one which not only enabled the historical investigation into the evolution of music but also posed the very modern problem of attempting to balance tradition on the tight-rope of modernity, technology and the archive.

Submitted by: Ivan Iyer(4th semester) 2011-2012