# Music in ancient India

Tyagaraju known for his extensive contributions to Carnatic music. :
Music of India :
Genres :
Traditional
Classical
Carnatic
Odissi
Hindustani
Folk
Borgeet
Baul
Bhajan
Kirtana
Shyama Sangeet
Ramprasadi
Rabindra Sangeet
Nazrul Geeti
Dwijendrageeti
Atulprasadi
Prabhat Samgiita
Thumri
Dadra
Chaiti
Kajari
Sufi
Ghazal
Qawwali
Sikh
Modern
Bhangra
Bhangragga
Filmi
Bollywood
Ghazal
Qawwali
Goa trance
Dance
Indi-pop
Asian Underground
Jazz
Rock
Bengali
Raga
Hip hop :
Media and performance :
Nationalistic and patriotic songs :
Regional music :
Andaman and Nicobar Islands
Andhra Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh
Assam
Bihar (Maithili)
Chhattisgarh
Goa
Gujarat
Haryana
Himachal Pradesh
Jammu and Kashmir
Ladakh
Jharkhand
Karnataka
Kerala
Madhya Pradesh
Maharashtra
Manipur
Meghalaya
Mizoram
Nagaland
Odisha
Punjab (Folk)
Rajasthan
Sikkim
Tamil Nadu
Ancient
Tripura
Uttar Pradesh
Uttarakhand
West Bengal :
vte :
Music in ancient India, can be reproduced from written works dating to the Indian classical period, such as the Nātya Shastra, and through surviving examples of liturgical music such as the hymns of the Samaveda. Musical instruments dating to the prehistoric period have been recovered from archaeological excavations.

## Prehistoric music
### Archaeological discoveries

Musical instruments, such as the seven-holed flute and various types of stringed instruments such as ravanahatha, cymbals have been recovered from Indus Valley civilization archaeological sites. Evidence suggests use of drum or dhol in the Indus valley civilization. There have not been a lot of depictions of musical instruments from IVC, but contemporary BMAC civilization which traded with it has archaeological depictions of lyre and many cylinderical drums were also discovered from Indus Valley. A kind of harp is also depicted in the chalcolithic cave drawings of India along with Gong. There is also evidence of dancing figurines from Indus valley civilization suggesting an established musical tradition. A kind of lithophone has also been discovered from Orissa around 1000 BCE.

### Surviving music

The Samaveda, one of the ancient core Hindu scriptures known as the Vedas, consists of a collection (samhita) of hymns, portions of hymns and detached verses, all but 75 of which are taken from the Rigveda. They were intended to be sung using melodies called Samagana whose musical forms are indicated. These hymns were sung by Udgatar priests at sacrifices in which the juice of the Soma plant, clarified and mixed with milk and other ingredients, were offered in libation to various deities. This memorization by Hindu priests of the sacred Vedas included up to eleven musical forms of recitation that could be used on the same text.

## Nātya Shastra

The Nātya Shastra is an ancient Indian treatise on the performing arts, embracing Indian theatre, early Indian classical dance and Indian classical music. It was written between 200 BC and 200 AD, during the classical period of Indian history. This text, which contains 6000 shlokas, is attributed to a muni whose name was Bharata Muni.
The Nātya Shastra is based upon a much older text called the Nātya Veda, which contained 36,000 shlokas. No copies of the Nātya Veda have survived. Some scholars believe that it may have been written by various authors over a period of time.