# The Music of India/Chapter 7

CHAPTER VII
THE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS OF INDIA
The musical instruments of India present a wonderful variety. As might be expected they are meant mostly for individual use, and there is very little suggestion of an orchestra. The Indian Rajas maintain a number of fine musicians, but it is rare to hear orchestral music in India. It is not, however, unknown, and one may sometimes hear orchestral pieces at the concerts of the Gandharva Mahavidyalaya in Bombay and also in Baroda. In order to see all the different musical instruments of India one has to journey to many different places. There is a good collection at the Gandharva Mahavidyalaya in Bombay; but the Indian Museum, Calcutta, has probably the finest collection of both ancient and modern instruments. One does not however, as a rule, find them in a band or concert party, as one does in the West, though Baroda is attempting to do this under the guidance of Mr. Fredilis, the Principal of the Music School and an accomplished western musician. The greatest variety is found in stringed instruments and in instruments of percussion. Probably India excels most other countries in these two. The following quotation from the monumental work by Captain Day on The Musical Instruments of Southern India will give a good idea of the condition of things when he wrote fifty years ago:—
'Most of the early musical instruments remain still in use. Since the time of the Muhammadan invasion, about a thousand years ago, some Arabian and Persian instruments have been adopted, and have become almost naturalized ; but their use has never become universal, and is mostly confined to the North of India or to Mussulman musicians.
'The people of India have always been conservative in their tastes, and in nothing do we find this more evident than in their music and musical instruments. Descriptions of them are found m many of the old Sanskrit treatises, and show that the forms of the instruments
Group of stringed instruments (northern)
Some ancient instruments
Svaramaṇḍala Kural
| Vīṇā | SitārTambūr |
| An orchestral sāraṅgī Playing various stringed instruments ||
​years; old paintings and sculptures, such as those of Ajanta, prove this even more conclusively. There are many musical instruments to be found among the sculptures existing upon various old cave-temples and ancient Buddhist topes and stupas in different parts of India.
'Those at Amrfivati and Sanchi are especially interesting. For in the Amravatl sculptures, which were visited by the traveller, Hiouen Thsang, and called by him Dhananacheka, about the year 640 of our era, we find several representations of musical instruments. One of peculiar interest shows a group of eighteen women playing upon drums, a shell trumpet or sankha, one much like a siirndi, and two instruments, apparently gtianilns, of a shape very similar to the Assyrian harps. But there is another instrument represented that would seem to have been especially popular, but which is never met with in India now, nor can descriptions of it be found in the Sanskrit treatises upon instruments. This again figures in Assyrian and Egyptian sculptures and paintings. It is somewhat like a harp, and much like an African instrument called Sancho, still used in some parts of that continent.
'This peculiar harp is again found amongst the sculptures at Sanchi; where also is seen an instrument resembling the Roman tibae pares. But the tibae pares are there shown without the capistrum or cheek bandage, and it is known that this instrument was also used by the Greeks. It is worthy of note that a form of the tibae pares is still common in northern India, where it consists of a pair of flutes. At Sanchi too is found a figure of a man blowing a kind of trumpet — the sringa — of much the same shape as that now employed in Bengal.
'The materials of which musical instruments are made are for the most part those that are found readiest to hand in the country. Bamboo or some similar cane and large gourds are much employed. These gourds are used for many purposes, and the best are trained in their growth to the shape for which they are required.
'In the manufacture of certain instruments earthenware is employed; the common country blackwood is largely used ; in fact, whatever is found by the instrument makers, that from its natural shape, or the ease with which it can be worked, can be adapted with the least possible trouble to themselves, is readily seized upon, whether its acoustical properties are suitable or not, purity of tone being sacrificed to appearance. The natural consequence of this is that many instruments are badly put together in the first place ; faults in their construction are glossed over by outward ornamentation, and from want of proper material, the tone, which should be the first consideration, is frequently sadly deficient in volume and quality.
'The Persians still use an instrument called quanUn, much like that of the same name found in India — a kind of dulcimer strung with gut or wire strings, and played upon by plectra fastened to the fingers of the performers, That is a development of the Kattyayana-vTnd or satatantrl (hundred stringed) v7«(X, as it was formerly called. The Persian quanun, the prototype of the mediaeval psaltery, afterwards became the santir, which has strings of wire instead of gut, and is played with two sticks; and in the west it actually took the form of ​the dulcimer. Hence the origin of the complicated pianoforte of the present day can thus be traced to the Aryans. And so with many others. The violin, the flute, the oboe, the guitar, all have an Eastern origin. One of the earliest of stringed instruments was called "Pinaka," and had one string twanged by the fingers; its invention is ascribed to the god Siva. The violin bow is claimed by the Hindus to have been invented by Ravana, King of Lanka (Ceylon), who according to tradition lived more than five thousand years ago.
'The earliest instrument played with a bow was called Rabanastrcv or Rabanastrana. What this instrument was like is rather doubtful ; but at the present time there exists in Ceylon a primitive instrument played with a bow, called "Vinavali", which has two strings of different kinds ; one made of a species of flax, and the other of horse-hair, which is the material also of the string of the bow, which with bells attached to it is used as a fiddle stick. The hollow; part of this instrument is half a cocoanut shell polished, covered with a dried skin of a lizard and perforated below '
The Vinavali is mentioned in the classical books and the name suggests an instrument made of bamboo. It is rarely met with except in the hands of strolling musicians, who support themselves by means of it. Whether this is the primitive rabanastra or not it is impossible to say; but it seems extremely probable that, if not absolutely identical, it bears at least a very strong resemblance to it. Another very ancient instrument which resembled the Rabanastra was called Amrita.
Numbers of instruments still in use in India have not altered in the smallest particular their ancient forms. The Vlna, the Tambur or Tamburl-vina, and the Kinnarl still remain just as they are described in the ancient books, even down to the very details of the carving with which they are adorned, so conservative are the people who use them of all connected with the art they hold to be so sacred.
The peculiar shape of instruments of the viola and violin tribe appears to have a prototype among Indian instruments ; and this can be seen in the Rabdb, which is made with distinct upper, lower and middle bouts, and in a lesser degree in the Sdrangi, Saroda, and Chikara. The rebec once popular in Europe was a form of the rabab, brought to Spain by the Moors, who in turn had derived it from Persia and Arabia. Here again the Ar3'^an origin is evident, the rabab being, according to old Sanskrit works, a form of vIna. And it is still popular in the North of India and Afghanistan.
The use of instruments of percussion of definite sonorousness, such as the harmonica, does not seem to have entered into Indian music at any time until quite of late years. But this is rather an open question, for the harmonicon of cups, called Jalatarangi7n, is by some ascribed to a very remote origin. ​ Wind instruments, although perhaps of earlier invention than those with strings, are nevertheless looked upon as of secondary importance. Possibly this may have some reason in the fact that Brahmans are not allowed by their religious laws to use them, excepting the flute blown by the nostrils, and one or two others of the horn and trumpet kind. And so men of low castes are employed as players of wind instruments. But all unite in ascribing to wind instruments a very high antiquity. The conch shell, still used in the daily temple ritual in almost every place in India, is said to have been first used by the god Krishna, and it is mentioned in the great epic of the Ramayana, where it is called Devadatta.1 We also find it under the name of Gosringa, both in the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.
The horn (sringa) is also said to be of divine origin, and it is mentioned in the earliest writings. But the flute {murali) is still held to be peculiarly sacred, for this flute was the companion of the god Krishna in all his wanderings ; and in Indian mythology, this flute is looked upon with much the same veneration that the lyre was by the Greeks, and even by Brahmans it is still occasionally played and blown by the nostrils. In all sculptures and pictures, the god Krishna is represented as standing cross-legged playing the flute.
Reed instruments, although doubtless of very remote origin, appear to have been invented at a later period than instruments of the flute species, and their use is usually confined to either low caste Hindus or Mohammadans. For the Indian reed instruments are mostly harsh and wild, far too powerful and shrill to be used in concert with the delicate vina or sweet tambur, and so their use is chiefly confined to out-of-door performances, where their sound is better heard and v.-here they become fit adjuncts to the band. Instruments with double reeds appear to have been originally brought from India, and the double reed is found in the primitive oboes used there as well as in Persia, Arabia and Egypt. There seems to be no trace of the single beating reed ever having been known in India, but the single free reed is found in the bagpipe of the country. Indeed the bagpipe would itself seem to have an Eastern origin ; and, although its use in Southern India and the Deccan is chiefly confined to a drone-bass, yet in the Punjab and Afghanistan pipes are sometimes found containing both drone and chanter. I have heard them played with a dexterity that would do credit to a Highland piper. The Punji, now used almost entirely by snake-charmers, is said to have once been blown bv the nostrils and called Nasajantra. — (Captain Day. 99-104.)
Captain Day's remarks on instrument-making are not so applicable to-day as they were when he wrote fifty years ago. There is a constantly increasing demand for musical instruments, and a class of instrument-makers is arising. The centres of this industry are found in Calcutta, Miraj ​and Tanjore; and many of the makers are noted for their skill, and the resonant qualities of instruments are being looked to very much more. The public is also taking up with zest the question of musical education, and it is becoming frequent in the better-class families to arrange for their daughters to learn some Indian instrument. All this, with the revived interest in music, will mean, as time goes on, a development of skill in the proper construction of instruments such as Captain Day desires. The Chitpur Road, Calcutta, is the centre of instrument-making in Bengal.
Captain Day in his book mentions the bells which are a common feature of festival dances in India, though hardly to be classed as musical instruments. They are usually tied round the ankles of the dancers. They are also used on festival occasions for the bulls. Every post-runner in India has a few attached to his little spear, and these may be heard for a very long distance as the runner comes along to the village.
I. Stringed Instruments
Apart from the drum the largest variety of musical instruments in India is found among the strings. The best and the most honourable instruments are also found here. The Vina occupies the first place among them all, and has done so from time immemorial. It is also the instrument par excellence for rendering Indian music; and no one who has not heard the masters of the vina has any right to give a final judgment on Indian music. In northern India the vina is often called Bin, the name vIna beings given to the tambur. In this book, however, the name vIna is consistently used for the classical instrument of that name. Three places in India are noted for its manufacture. They are Tanjore and Mysore in South India, and Miraj in Western India. The Tanjore and Mysore makes differ in the wood used for the bowl. Tanjore uses jack wood and Mysore black wood. Nearly all Tanjore-vTnas are elaborately ornamented by ivory carvings.
The instrument consists of a large pea-shaped bowl ​hollowed out of one piece of wood, either jackwood or blackwood. The flat top of this bowl is about one foot in diameter. The bridge is placed on the bowl, and near it are a number of small sound-holes. The construction of the bridge is peculiar.
'A wooden arc supports a slab of wood, one inch by two and a half inches. A resinal cement is poured upon this and a piece of metal, passing underneath the second, third and fourth strings, is laid above and manipulated until the strings produce a clear tone free from all buzz or twang; a wet cloth is then applied, or a little cold water poured over the upper surface, so as to harden the cement. Under the first string a similar piece of metal, in this case of superior quality, either polished steel or bell-metal, is fixed in the same way. This process is considered very important, as the least carelessness affects the tone of the instrument and gives it a most unpleasant twang.' — (Captain Day.)
The side-string bridge is secured to the main bridge and the belly of the instrument, and is made entirely of metal. It consists of an arc of brass, with a projecting rim upon the side nearest the attachment. The body of the instrument is made of the same kind of wood as the belly, and is hollowed out thin. A projecting ledge of ivory separates the body from the stem. The neck is attached to the body also with ivory, and is usually curved downward into some weird figure. This also is hollow. Into the body just beyond the neck is fixed a hollow gourd on the under side, which forms a kind of rest for the vina and is useful also to increase the volume of the sound. This gourd is easily detachable. The frets of the instrument are made of brass or silver, and are secured to two ledges running along each side of the stem of the instrument. These ledges are made of some wax-like substance which can be softened by gentle heat, so that the position of the frets can be changed, if desired. There are altogether twenty-four frets, so that each string contains two complete octaves. Many Indian scholars are of opinion that the ancient books give no ground for thinking that any of the old classical musicians used more than twelve frets for the octave on the vIna. The tuning-pegs to the main frets are fixed two in each side of the neck, and the strings pass over the ivory bridge between the neck and the stem. ​The three pegs for the side strings are fixed in the side of the stem just above the gourd.
The Vina has seven strings, four of which pass over the frets and constitute the main playing strings, and the other three of which are placed at the side of the finger-board, and are used to play a kind of drone accompaniment to the melody and to mark the time.
The two thinnest strings, which are on the side nearest the player, are of steel, and the other two main strings are of brass or silver. The three side strings are of steel. Each string has a distinct name, which are, beginning from the thinnest, SaranI, Panchama, Mandaran, Anumandaran. The three side strings are called Pakka-Sarani, and sometimes Chikari, a name common to all such side strings.
There are various ways of tuning the instrument. The following are said to be those generally accepted, beginning from the playing strings : —
Main Strings. Side Strings. {a) Sa Pa Sa Sa (C G C C) Pa Sa Pa (G C Gi) ib) Pa Sa Pa Pa (G C Gi Gi) Sa Pa Sa (G Gi Ci) (c) Ma Sa Pa Sa (F C Gi Ci) Sa Sa Pa (0^ C G) One at Rampur I noted was tuned thus : id) Ma Sa Pa Ga (F C Gi Ei) Sa Sa Pa or Ni or Sa (Ci Ci G or BorC) {e) Captain Day notes one at Miraj tuned thus : It only had two side strings. Ma Sa Pa Sa (F C Gi, Ci), Sa Sa (C Ci) (c) and (d) are the common ways of tuning in upper India.
The first two strings are always the ones played upon most, though expert players will use all of them easily.
The frets of the vIna are placed in different positions on different instruments. The tendency in South India to-day is to use the intervals of equal temperament. Mr. Ellis mentions testing a vina many years ago in the South and finding the intervals those of equal temperament. Captain Day mentions an old Tan j ore vina whose frets were placed at intervals, which were found to be slightly flatter than the notes of the tempered scale.
Mayūri
Esrāj
Vīṇā (Southern)
Ektār
Stringed instruments
| Sārindā | Kātyāyana-vīṇā, Kātyāyana-vīṇā | Chikāra |
| Some uncommon instruments |||
​pictures in this chapter give specimens of each style. It is played by the right hand, the left hand passing round the stem and stopping the strings.
The Vina is played either with the finger nails or with a plectrum. The finest players use their finger nails; but many amateurs, who do not wish to grow the nails long, have taken to the plectrum. In South India it is quite common to find amateurs playing the vina, and it is becoming increasingly the thing for girls to learn it. In the north, however, it is usually only professionals who play it. The instruments for amateurs in the north are the sitar and the esraj, or dilruba. The main strings of the Vina are played with the first three fingers, the fourth finger being used for the side strings, just striking them at intervals, in time with the tala used. The main strings are stopped between the frets, but the side strings are always open. The vIna lends itself to all the different graces which give so much beauty to Indian music, and in the hands of really capable performers it produces most wonderful and charming effects. It is an ideal instrument for an Indian girl to learn. It is hoped that more and more the unsuitable harmonium, with its strident tones, will give place to this beautiful Indian instrument, an instrument affording not only delight to player and hearers, but also real culture.
There are different kinds of vina called after the shape of the head, such as the Peacock vina, Rudra vlna.
The Sitar is perhaps the most common instrument in North India. It is not yet found much in the south, but there is little doubt that, as Indian music is cultivated more and more, this simple and beautiful instrument will come very largely into use all over the south. It is well suited either for the amateur or the professional. It is not difficult for the amateur to learn to play simple melodies upon it, and at the same time it lends itself to all the subtle arts of the professional, whereby he can show his skill or the charm of the music. The principles of the sitar are the same as those of the vina, but there are considerable differences in construction. It is a much smaller instrument and is more easily carried about. Like the ​vIna it has a belly made of jack or some other resonant wood, but there is no curved neck and no gourd. The body of the instrument is about two feet long, and carries the finger-board, which is about three inches wide. The bowl is from eight inches to one foot in width. The bridge is placed on the bowl, but is not double as in the Vina. The strings pass over this, and then over another ledge beyond the frets, and again through holes in a ledge near the pegs. These ledges are usually made of ivory. All the strings are over the finger-board. The tuning-pegs are placed, four on the face of the instrument at the end and three at the side, at varying distances from the end. The number of strings is usually seven. The frets are curved and are made of metal, usually brass, and they are fixed by means of wire strings tied round the body of the instrument. They are movable at the will of the player. It is therefore easy to alter the tune of the sitar or the size of any particular intervals. The frets vary from sixteen to eighteen in number for about an octave and a half on each string. The Carnatic sitar is somewhat different. It has a much thinner and shorter neck and is shaped something like a tambur. Only the first two strings pass over frets, which are about half an inch wade and raised from the finger-board. These two strings are placed much nearer together than the other strings. The fourth and fifth strings go round a small ivory bead about half-way up the finger-board, whence they pass obliquely under the strings to the tuning-pegs. The sixth and seventh strings pass straight up the finger-board in the usual way. All the strings except the seventh, which is of brass, are of steel. The frets are of wood with an upper edge of metal and are fixed to the finger-board. Usually there are about fourteen frets, which are placed at the intervals of the diatonic scale.
In the ordinary sitar the strings are made of steel and brass. The first, third, fifth, sixth and seventh are of steel and the other two of brass. Many sitars have a number of sympathetic strings placed beneath the other strings, which are never played, but give a continual hum as the other strings are played. ​ The tuning of the strings in the ordinary sitar is usually as follows, beginning from the shortest string attached to the side peg : —
Sa Sa Pa Pa Sa Sa Ma (c c Gi, g c c f)
The last string is the one usually played on, though expert players will use the last three. This string passes through a small bead at its attachment to the belly, so as to aid in tuning to the exact pitch required.
The Carnatic sitar runs thus :
Sa Pa Sa Pa Sa Sa Sa (c g c g c c c)
The instrument is played by means of a wire plectrum placed upon the forefinger of the right hand, and the strings are struck near the belly. They are stopped by pressing down the fingers of the left hand upon them right above the frets, and not just before the frets as is done on the Vina. As a rule, only one string is stopped, the others being used as open strings for the accompanying drone sound.
There is a beautiful sitar in the Gandharva Mahavidyalaya in Bombay, which has an ostrich egg for the bowl, beautifully mounted on gold. Some sitars have peacock-shaped heads and are called Peacock sitars. The Tarfa sitar has an extra string for the ^ruti or tonic. The sitar is also called sundari — the beautiful.
The sitar lends itself well to the performance of Indian music, and is becoming more popular among the people generally.
The invention of the sitar is commonly credited to the famous singer Amir Khusru of the court of Sultan Ala-u-din in the fourteenth century. It is probably of Persian origin.
The Dilruba is very much like a sitar, but smaller; and instead of a bowl, it has a belly, covered with sheep-parchment. In shape it is something like the sarangi, and like that instrument it is played with a bow made of horse-hair. It has frets similar to the sitar, nineteen in number, which are movable. It has only the four main strings and not the extra three. The dilruba is made, as a rule, with twenty-two sympathetic strings under the main strings. ​The arrangement of the tuning-pegs is like that of the four main pegs of the sitar, two being vertically on the face and two on the side. The instrument is about three feet long, and the width of the belly will be about six inches. The bow is about If feet long.
The tuning of the four strings is usually Sa Pa Sa Ma (Ci, Gi, C F), the last being the principal string. The first two are brass and the last two steel. In this instrument also, the peacock shape occurs for the belly. The dilruba is not a very common instrument. It is used in the Punjab and in the United Provinces, but as a rule one sees ..e sarangi much more frequently.
The Surbahar is another instrument of the sitar kind. It has a similar shape to the sitar, but the frets are not movable, and it has a finer tone and wider range. It is played with two strokes, one with the plain finger and the other a sort of mandoline tala stroke with plectrums on the forefinger and little finger. Mr. Fox Strangways gives it the title 'dignified.' This instrument is found only in Bengal. It lends itself very well to the graces of Indian music.
The Sarangi is the Indian violin. It is shaped, however, something like a small guitar. The instrument is made from one block of wood hollowed out, and it has a parchment-covered belly. It is smaller than the sitar, being as a rule about two feet in height. The sarangi may have either three or four strings, three being gut and one brass. The brass string is the lowest in pitch. The bridge is fixed in the middle of the belly, with a support under the parchment. The instrument is played usually with a bow, but sometimes a plectrum is used. The four tuning-pegs are fixed at each side of the head, which is hollow. The tuning of the four strings is as follows, in accordance with the raga : Sa Pa Sa, Ga or Ma (C G C, E or F)
The sarangi, like the western violin, has its devotees both among experts and also among the beggar fraternity. It is found throughout the north. The strings are stopped by pressing the finger against their side, and not by placing the finger upon them. This renders it possible to produce all the peculiar gamaka of Indian music without any ​NORTH INDIAN SARANGI PLAYER ​Page:The Music of India.djvu/134 ​difficulty. The sound is mellow and somewhat resembles that of the viola. It is a very fine instrument, and expert players can get a tremendous lot from it. Even the beggar manages to produce quite a delightful noise with it. It provides a very good accompaniment for singing, and has more fulness of tone than the sitar and also very considerable possibilities of development. It seems hardly possible, however, that it will rival the violin in the power and beauty of its tone or in its range, but it will always be a good member of an Indian orchestra, and, like the viola, will come in very useful as a contrast. In the south already the violin has come to stay, and there is not much likelihood of the sararigi displacing it now. It may, however, come to the south as a member of an Indian orchestra. The sararigi usually has, like the other instruments already mentioned, a number of sympathetic strings, from fifteen to twenty-two, under the four main strings. The Gandharva Mahavidyalaya has a fine orchestral sarangi which stands seven feet high, and which is meant to be used in the concerts given there, though hitherto it has been mostly ornamental. (See p. 99.)
The Saroda or Sarrawat is a sarangi played with the plectrum instead of the bow. It has a powerful tone and is usually much larger than the sarangi.
The Esraj is the Bengal variety of the sarangi. It is a little smaller than the latter, and uses all wire strings instead of gut. The tuning is Sa Sa Pa Ma, (C C G F), the Ma string being the chief string. This is the common instrument that one finds to-day in the houses of cultured people in Bengal. It is played with a bow like the sarangi.
The Sarinda is another variety of the sarangi, peculiar to Bengal. The bottom of the instrument is oval instead of rectangular, and the upper half of the body is left open. It is played in the same way as the sarangi. It usually has an elaborate tailpiece. It has only two thin strings of gut and not four as in the sarangi. It is used chiefly by jogis and fakirs.
The Chikara is a curiously shaped variety of the sarangi. The body consists of a long hollow piece of wood, ​upon which, near the lower end, a parchment covered box is fixed. The bridge is placed upon this. It has three strings of gut or horsehair and five sympathetic strings of wire. The tuning of the three former, which are the main strings, is usually Sa Ma Pa (c f g) or else the same as the sarangi, and that of the sympathetic strings is Pa Dha Ni Sa Ri (g A B c^ D^).
The Tambur is perhaps the most common stringed instrument in India. It is found everywhere and its varieties are numberless. It is made both for the poor and for the rich. One sees it in the hands of the poverty-stricken beggar, and in the houses of wealthy princes. In shape it is something like the vina, without the extra gourd and without the elaborate headpiece. The bowl is usually a large one about ten inches wide, and in the best kinds it is made of wood from the jack tree and hollowed out. The cheaper kinds have a gourd in place of the wooden bowl. The bridge is placed on the bowl in the centre and is made either of wood or of ivory. The strings pass through holes in a ledge placed near the pegs. The tuning-pegs of the first and second strings are fixed at the side of the neck, and those of the third and fourth strings at right-angles to the head. The strings are all of metal, three being steel and the lowest one of brass. Little pieces of silk are placed between the bridge and the strings in order to increase the buzzing effect. The strings also have beads near their attachment in order to render perfect tuning easier. The instrument is always played on the open strings by the fingers, without any plectra. The strings are never stopped. The tuning of the tambur is as follows : Pa Sa Sa Sa (g c c Ci). The instrument is held upright with the left hand, and played by gently pulling the four strings, one after the other, from the highest to the lowest, with the fingers of the right hand. It provides a full and resonant droning accompaniment to the melody sung or played, and there is no other instrument which gives so effective a drone as this does. The effect is quite pleasing and the sound made up of the octave and fifth fits in very naturally with the music.
The best tambur are made at Lucknow and Rampur ​in the north, and at Tanjore in the south; and many of them are most elaborately ornamented with ivory. No Indian orchestra is complete without the tambur.
There is a variety of the tambur called the Brahma Vina. This is made like a large box and has no gourd or bowl. It is about three and a half feet long and six inches wide and stands nine inches high. There is a raised ledge in the middle, over which the strings run; and it has a fifth string at the side tuned to the higher Sa (c^). It is used for the same purpose as the tambur.
Sometimes players use the tambur in quite peculiar ways. I once heard a musician play on it by stopping the strings with a small bamboo and using it more like the vina. The full resonance of the tambur and the buzzing sound gave the melody a very pleasing effect. I also heard a performer play an instrument like the tambur by stopping it with a cocoanut. The name given to this instrument by the people is Kottuvadyam or Balasarasvati. The word kottu is said to mean 'movable fret.' It is found in a few places in South India.
The Sursota is another variety of the tambur found in the north. It has no gourd or bowl and is really a hollow trunk of bamboo. It is about three feet long and has four strings tuned similarly to the tambur.
The Kinnari is one of the primitive Indian instruments. It is supposed to have been invented by Kinnara, one of the musicians of Indra's heaven, after whom a class of musicians has been named. The instrument to-day is a beggar's instrument only. It is strange that the Bible also mentions a stringed instrument called the Kinnor, and it is possible that these may have had some connection with each other. We find the Kinnari represented on many old Indian sculptures and paintings.
It is made from a piece of bamboo or blackwood, about two and a half feet long, fixed upon three gourds. There are twelve frets made of bone or metal and fixed upon the fingerboard by some resinous substance. The strings pass into a tall perpendicular peg near the last of the frets. The tailpiece of the instrument is often made to represent the tail of a kite. There are two or three strings, one ​of which passes over the frets, the others being the drone strings. The drone strings are tuned to the tonic and its fourth or fifth. The musical capacity of the Kinnari is not great, and its sound is very weak and rather twangy.
The Dhenka, found in Madras, is a similar instrument, with two cocoanuts as resonators and cowrie shells as frets.
The Yektar is another very primitive instrument, having, as its name implies {Ek=one, Tar = string), only one string. It is much used by beggars throughout India. It has an open string without any frets. It is made from a piece of bamboo, to the under side of which a large gourd or hollow cylinder of wood is attached in the same direction as the bamboo, one end being closed by a piece of parchment. The string passes through a hole in the centre of the parchment. It is about three or four feet long. This instrument is the beggar's band and gives a twanging accompaniment to his songs. It is seen mostly in North India.
An officer in the Indian army told me of a similar instrument with only one string that he had come across at Manipur on the Assam frontier, which was played with a bow. It was called Penna. The name reminds one of the ancient Pinaka, the stringed instrument of Siva. Many of these instruments are of the violin variety, and lend support to the idea that the violin in its primitive forms is indigenous to India, and certainly the Sarangi and its different varieties show considerable development towards a finer instrument.
The Rabab is a fine Muhammadan instrument, with a wide shallow bowl made of wood covered with parchment. It is something like a flattened and shortened sitar, but has no frets. It has four strings, one of brass and two of gut, with sympathetic metal strings at the side. Sometimes the two upper strings are doubled. All the six strings may be of gut. The instrument is played with a bow of horsehair.
The strings are tuned in one of the following ways : — Sa Pa Ma Sa (c' g f c) or Sa Sa Pa Pa Ma Sa (c' d G G F c) or Sa Sa Pa Sa Ga (c c Gi Ci e). Sometimes it has a few catgut frets placed at diatonic intervals. The ​instrument is found in the Punjab and in Afghanistan, but one rarely sees it to-day. One of the few expert players still in India is in the Rampur State. The great Tan Sen played this instrument. It is a handsome instrument and has a very pleasing tone, somewhat fuller than that of the Sarangi. It lends itself to the graces better than the sitar, as it has no frets.
The Sur-Sringara is the modern descendant of the rabab. It was first made by Syed Kalb Ali Khan Bahadur, the late Nawab of Rampur. It is a little longer than the rabab, and the finger-board below the strings is made of metal so that the fingers can easily slide over it. It has a double belly of wood, instead of parchment, as in the rabab, and is played in the same way as the latter. There are eight strings tuned as follows : — Sa Sa Pa Sa Ga Sa Ri Pa (c C Gi Ci Ei C D g). The tuning of the seventh and eighth strings varies according to the raga. The first two or three only are used for playing on, and the others are used as the side strings of the vina. It often has a number of sympathetic strings placed underneath, tuned to the intervals of the raga which is being played. Its tone is rich and mellow.
The Svaramandala is the ancient Indian dulcimer. It is said to be the same as the Katyayana-vina, which was invented by the rishi Katyayana, and was also called the Sata-tantri-vina, because it had originally hundred strings. Kallinatha, the commentator of Ratnakara, says that the Mattakokila-vina, mentioned by Sarngadeva, is really the svaramandala. The svaramandala is generally made of jackwood and is three feet in length, one and a half feet in breadth and seven inches in height, and it stands on four legs like a piano. Wire strings are used and are attached to round pieces of wood shaped like small chess-pods. The tuning pins are made of wood and are tuned with a key in a similar manner to the pianoforte, that is in semitones.
'There are two methods of playing the svaramandala; one, with a mizrab and a shell, the other with two sticks like a xylophone. In the former method, it is played with two plectrums worn upon the first and second fingers of the performer's right hand, while the little finger plays ​the accompaniment. In the left hand is held a shell which is moved to and fro upon the strings, by which means all Indian musical embellishments can be rendered with great taste and fineness. In the latter method, it is played with two felt-covered sticks and the sound is decidedly like that of a piano.'1
This instrument is the forefather of the modern piano, which is nothing more than an enlarged svaramandala in which the strings are struck by mechanical hammers. This instrument, which M. Fredalis calls 'a grand old instrument, whose sweet tones touch the very chords of the heart,' is now forgotten and unused except in a very few places. Its modern representative is the Qanun or Arramin, the Indian dulcimer, which is of Persian origin and has only thirty-seven strings, containing three octaves. Some of them are of brass and some of steel. The strings are tuned differently for each raga, so as to reproduce the proper intervals of that raga, and are always played with plectra. Instead of the shell in the left hand, the performer to-day has a small iron ring, with which he produces the various graces. One hearer likened the tone of this instrument to that of an old clavichord.
The Taush or Mayuri is the peacock fiddle. It is very similar to the sitar and is really a kind of dilruba. It takes its names from the peacock-like resonator.
The Indian Museum, Calcutta, has an interesting collection of primitive stringed instruments containing many others in addition to those given above. None of these primitive instruments are in use to-day, but they are interesting as showing how the present-day stringed instruments developed. The first instrument was the bow with its twanging string, said to be still used on certain occasions by the Nairs of Travancore. Then a number of strings of different lengths were fastened to the same bow. It was then found that by stretching these strings over a hollow body the sound was increased. We find a Burmese instrument with the strings stretched over a hollow body shaped like a boat. One of these specimens has the ​fourteen catgut strings merely tied round the bow, so that it would be most difficult to retune them. A later instrument has developed the tuning peg, fitting into a small hole in the bow. Another type is represented in the Gabguki and Ananda lahari from the Dekkan. Here the tambourine-like resonator is held under the right arm, and the left hand holds the strings tight, while the fingers of the right hand twang them. The next instrument has a number of thin bamboo rods, which allow the string to be tightened or slackened, and also a tuning peg. This comes from Chota Nagpur and is called Nandin or Gopichand. A further development in the Thanthona from Tanjore shows a round stick fixed in the hollow walls of the cylinder, and carrying two tuning pegs. The Tsaung from Burma shows another kind of resonator in a hollow piece of bamboo. The strings are narrow strips of bark, carefully sliced off in such a way that the two ends remain attached. They are tightened by pushing a small piece of wood beneath them, and are struck with a plectrum in the right hand. In the middle of the flattened side of the bamboo, there is a rectangular hole covered with a small board of similar shape. This board the player beats with his left thumb, and thus obtains a kind of drum accompaniment. This instrument is still used by the primitive tribes of the Malay Peninsula. Next we see the development of the Vina. Here the strings are stretched over a finger-board and kept tight by pegs. This finger-board rests on two or three hollow bodies and the strings are supported on frets. The Kinnarl is one of the more primitive instruments of this group.
Wind Instruments
It was soon found that stringed instruments were too weak for open air work, and so for this purpose wind instruments came into existence at a very early date. The oldest of all these was probably the buffalo horn, ​a specimen of which may be seen in the Indian Museum, and which is still in use in South India. It was not long before the brass horn came into use. Two parts of India, Madras and Nepal, are noted for their brass horns. Practically all those in the Indian Museum came from one or other of these provinces. The name in the north is Sringa, Komiki, Kalahay ; and in the south Kombu, which is the Tamil word for 'horn.' These horns are used for signals, processions and festivals. In the south it is often made of several brass pieces, fitting into one another for the sake of portability. It usually has a curved shape, and is about four to six feet in length. It curves in two contrary curves, something like the old curved coach horn. In the south it is only played by the low castes, probably reminiscent of the time when it was always made of horn. It is quite possible to get a large number of notes from it and shrill wavering cadences. I have never heard a melody played upon it. A speciality of Nepal are the snake-shaped horns, with a serpent's or tiger's head as an orifice.
The Conch Shell or Sankhu is also a very ancient wind instrument and is held very sacred. It is the precursor of the trumpet. One hears of it in all the ancient literature of India, as being used both for warlike and for sacred purposes. To-day it is used a great deal by beggars and in the temples to make a sound which has only occasionally some of the merits of music. It hardly, however, comes under the head of musical instruments. In the temple ritual it either gives an opening fanfare, or plays a sort of rythmical accompaniment.
The Reed Flute, Vansa of the ancient books, or Bansuri, is one of the commonest instruments in the musical traditions of India. It is also called the Murali or Fillagori. It is always associated with Krishna, and he is usually represented standing on one leg and playing it. This was the instrument with which Krishna charmed the gopis of Brindaban. It has various names and forms, and more or less resembles the English flute. It is made from bamboo hollowed out, or else from a hollow piece of metal, and has the usual sound holes. The player blows down ​the stem and steps the holes as he desires. The Miy, another variety, is bored cylindrically and is a regular pastoral instrument.
Mr. Fox Strangways gives a number of flute scales which he found in different parts of India. Many of the intervals were most curious and there was only one which approached the western scale in its intervals. Some of the intervals are quarter tones and some quite strange to our regular tones. One scale ran as follows : —
b b tf C dJJ F G A B C
The flute is still used to a slight extent both by shepherds and by professional musicians, but it has very largely given way to the reed instruments.
The Algosa is a kind of flageolet and has the seven notes of the gamut.
The Ka-sharati is a flute used in the Khasi Hills, and the Basuli one used in Nepal for weddings and dances.
The Nagasara or Nagasuram is the common reed instrument of India. It is found from north to south, and no wedding procession is complete without it. This instrument is from two to two and a half feet long, and is conical in shape, enlarging downwards. It may be made either of wood or of metal. In the north wood is commonly used, and in the south the best instruments are made of silver. It is pierced with twelve boles, seven of which are used in fingering, the remainder regulating the pitch. Expert players can produce any intervals by only partially covering the available holes. The better instruments, particularly those of silver, have a very fine tone and, beard in the open air, are very attractive. The nagasara performers are often exceedingly expert and are able to produce all the various graces for which Indian music is famous. The melody is clear, interweaved with countless variations. A good nagasara player is in great request and makes a very good living.
The Niiikairna is a kind of small nagasara. It is similar in shape and has the same number of holes. It is a very shrill instrument. ​ The Drone or Pongi is an instrument shaped very much like the nagasara, and about the same size, except that the conical arrangement is a little larger. Only one note is produced which is called the Sruti, that is the key-note or drone to the melody. The instrument has four or five holes, so that the performer can vary the pitch of the note. It is usually played in combination with either the nagasara or the ninkairna or with both.
The Nosbug, or Sruti Upanga or Bhajana Sruti, is another instrum3nt used almost exclusively for the drone. This is the Indian bagpipe. The bag is made of a kid's skin and is inflated from the mouth. The mouth pieces, of which there are usually two, are of cane, one being smaller than the other. One is used to inflate the bag, and one for playing the drone note. There is usually a little piece of wire or silk tied round the tongue, in order the better to control the sound.
The Punji, or Jinjivi or Tombi, is the instrument beloved of jugglers and snake-charmers. The body and mouthpiece are formed from a bottle-shaped gourd, in which are inserted two cane pipes, the interior ends of which are cut so as to form reeds. One of the pipes is pierced with finger holes so that it can be played upon, the other being sounded on the tonic as a drone. The Punji is constructed in the scale of Bhairavi (Southern-Hanumatodi) and is played in the Nagavarali raga, which is supposed to be peculiarly pleasing to serpents.
An instrument something like this, but having five to nine different reeds inserted into a gourd, is shown in the Indian Museum. The pitch is determined by the length of the reed. This instrument is made on the principle of the organ. It is found among the Assam hill tribes, and it is said that a somewhat similar instrument is found in China.
The Nallatarang is a pipe instrument, made on the principle of the organ with nineteen pipes. It is played with a bellows, and each pipe is opened by a small key attached to a primitive keyboard.
There are a number of trumpets found in India. The most important of these are the following : —
The Kuma is a straight trumpet of brass, and is ​Page:The Music of India.djvu/145 ​Page:The Music of India.djvu/146 ​considered very sacred, even Brahmans being permitted to play it.
The Taturi or Turahi is a curved trumpet of brass, like a bugle with one turn. Both this and the Kuma are used in religious processions.
The Sanai is a trumpet made from Sisavi wood. It is about one foot long and has seven holes. The player blows straight down the stem.
The Karana is a bigger sanai. The former is used for the two upper registers and the latter for the lower one.
The Nafari is a small straight trumpet.
The Jalatarang and Kastarang, though not wind instruments, may come in at this point. The former consists of a number of cups containing varying quantities of water. It is played by dipping the fingers in the water and rubbing them around the rims of the cups. It gives eighteen notes in two octaves. The Kastarahg is a similar instrument, but no water is placed in the cups which are of different sizes instead. The cups may also be beaten with sticks.
The Kural is the panpipe of the shepherds. It consists of a number of hollow reeds or bamboos of different lengths. Its range is extremely limited and the scales use many different kinds of intervals. It is interesting to listen to its shrill tones, with their strange intervals, in the depths of night as the shepherd watches the flocks. I once heard one playing the following notes :— P d' P P P, G M P d" P P (g D G G G, E F G D G G.)
Instruments of Percussion
Among these, drums take the first rank. As we have already seen, the drurn is one of the most important of India's musical instruments. It provides the tonic to which all the other instruments must be tuned. It is a royal instrument having the right of royal honours. The types of drum used in India are almost innumerable, and it is impossible to give a description of many of them in this book. We can only pick out the most important and describe those. In the Indian Museum, Calcutta, there ​are altogether 287 different varieties of Indian drums exhibited.
The Mridanga or Mardala is the most common and probably the most ancient of Indian drums. It is said to have been invented by Brahma to serve as an accompaniment to the dance of Siva, in honour of his victory over the three cities; and Ganesa, the son of Siva, is said to have been the first one to play upon it. The word mridanga or mardala means 'made of clay', and probably therefore its body was originally of mud. Large earthern pots are used even to-day by Indian drummers. They are struck upon the bottom and sometimes a piece of parchment is stretched across the mouth. It is quite a pleasing instrument. There is, however, to-day no clay in the com- position of the ordinary mridanga. The mridanga is a barrel-shaped drum about two feet long, with a girth of about three feet in the centre. The two ends have a diameter of about nine inches each. Slight variations from these dimensions may occur in different mridanga. The shape of the mridanga reminds one of two bottomless flower pots joined at the rims. The shell of the drum is now made of wood, and is slightly larger at one end than at the other. The two heads are covered with parchment, which is tightened or loosened by leather braces enclosing small cylindrical blocks of wood, which are either pushed nearer to or further from the head which is being tuned. As the strain on the braces is increased or decreased, so the parchment head is stretched or loosened, and the pitch raised or lowered as desired. On one of these two heads is worked a mixture of manganese dust, boiled rice and tamarind juice, in order to increase the pitch of the note. This appears as a black circle, slightly raised in the centre about one-eighth of an inch. It is a permanent fixture on the drum, and the bare parchment is only left for a very small width around it. The note of this head is Sa and it is played with the fingers of the right hand, which strike it either at the edge or in the centre. The other side of the mridanga is left bare, but on every occasion when it is used, a mixture of boiled rice, water and ashes is put in the centre. This helps to give the dull ​sound Panchama. It must be carefully washed off every time after it is used. This head is played with the left hand.
The Tabla is found in the north and centre of India, where it takes the place of the mridanga. Instead of being one drum with two heads, it is two drums, the two heads being one on each of the two. They are each slightly smaller in size than the mridanga, and one of them looks like a mridanga cut in half. The shape of the tabla has been described as 'a great tea-cup and coffee-cup respectively'. One of the drums is sometimes made of copper and the other of wood, or both may be of wood. Both of them have tuning blocks and braces like the mridanga, or they may have iron screws which work up iron threads. Both heads of the tabla have upon them a permanent mixture. On the left hand drum it is worked on slightly to one side and for about two inches in diameter. On the other head it is the same as upon the right head of the mridanga. The smaller tabla is sometimes called Bahyay though this is really a small wooden kettle drum of similar shape. Both the mridanga and tabla are essentially concert drums and lend themselves to all kinds of drumming finesse. The mridanga is used mostly in the south of India, though it is also found in the north. The tabla is rarely found further south than Bangalore.
The Pakhawaj is a drum slightly larger than the mridanga but similar in shape, which is used in the north of India.
The Nagara, or Bherl or Nakkara, is a large kettle drum, used very largely for war-like and religious ceremonies. It is called Dundubhi in the ancient literature. The shell is made of copper, brass or sheet-iron rivetted together. The heads are made of skin and are stretched upon hoops of metal. The head may be anything from two to three feet in diameter. It is beaten with two curved sticks.
The Mahanagara or Nahabet is a very large drum of this sort used in wandering theatrical troupes, or by the great Muhammadan robles in their ceremonies. It is sometimes five feet in diameter. ​ The Karadsamila is another form of this drum used in Lingayat temples. It is slightly larger and the shell is conical, with the apex flattened. The head of this drum is braced by leather thongs round the shell. The skin is often put on when wet and then shrunk into its place.
The Dhol is the wedding drum of India. It is cylindrical in shape and about twenty inches long and twelve inches in diameter. It is made of wood bored out of the solid. The heads are made of skin and are stretched by hoops fastened to the shell and strained by interlaced thongs of leather bound round the shell. A band of leather passes round the shell in the middle and serves to tighten up the instrument to the desired pitch. A mixture of boiled rice and wood ash is often applied to the ends of the dhol to give more resonance. This drum is played either by hand or with sticks. Sometimes both are used. If by hand, it is struck by the palm. The sound is a hollow bang with very little music in it, and there is no possibility of drumming finesse, as there is with the mridanga. The dhol is often used in temples at ceremonies and festivals.
The Dholki, Dholak and Dak are smaller and larger kinds of dhol respectively. The former is used by the Dekkan women.
The Damaru, Nidukku, Udukku or Budhudaka is a peculiar drum, shaped like an hour-glass. A small stick or a piece of lead or a pea is attached to a string, which is wound round the middle. It is held in the right hand, so that the squeeze of the fingers tightens the braces and sharpens the tone a little within a sixth. The stick or piece of lead or pea strikes on the drum heads alternately, as the holder turns the drum this way and that. This drum is said to have been used by Siva. To-day, however, it is the possession of beggars and snakecharmers and their ilk.
The Edaka or Dudi is a metal drum of this same shape and size used in Coorg. One end of it is beaten by a drum-stick and one by hand. In Malabar a drum of this sort is made from a gourd. When four or five of them are beaten together at a religious service the noise is prodigious. They have practically no musical value. ​ The Karadivadya is a large-sized variety of the same kind of drum, which is beaten with a padded drum stick.
The Udupe is a goblet shaped drum used by the Lingayats of Mysore in their religious ceremonies.
In addition to these, there are the various Tomtoms, both large and small, used throughout India, particularly for proclamations of Government orders and sales and so on. They are beaten with small wooden sticks.
Various kinds of tambourines are used. There is the circular Thambatti of South India, the large Damphu of Nepal, and the little Khanjeri of Madras, the latter very much like the western tambourine. There are also some known by the very appropriate name of Dindimi.
Various kinds of cymbals are also in use. There are the simple kind made of brass, copper or bronze, called Kaitala or Jalra or Manjlva. One of them is held tightly in the left hand and the other loosely in the right. The time is expressed with many modulations of tone and varieties of beat. They are by no means easy to play, and experts produce with them most intricate and delicate movements, all in perfect harmony with the time of the music.
There are also large cymbals called Jharigha which are used especially in temples.
There is a peculiar kind of metal cymbal used in Bundelkand. It is called Chintla and consists of two flat pieces of iron two feet long with pointed ends, held together at the other end by a ring of iron having a few smaller rings attached to it. The two pointed ends are beaten together, and the rings are also struck on to the iron in time with the beats.
Various kinds of castinets are used throughout India.
The Kustar or Chittika consist of two pieces of hard wood about six inches in length, flat on one side and rounded on the other. Clusters of bells on small pieces of metal are placed at the ends, and these make a musical jingle when the Kustar is shaken. A ring is usually inserted at the back of each for the finger to pass through. They are held in the one hand, and the flat surfaces are beaten together by alternately closing and opening the fingers. ​ The Kartal are large Kustar with two pairs of cymbals and holes in the wood for the fingers to pass through so as to grip the instrument.
Chakra are circular wooden castinets made with slightly concave surfaces. They are also called Khattala, Another strange form of percussion instrument which still lingers in Burma is the Bastran, It is a kind of boatshaped melodion, with twenty-five bamboos of different lengths for the note keys.
* ↑ 1 i.e., god-given.
* ↑ 1 From an article by M. Fredalis in Times of India, Bombay.
* ↑ See Guide to Musical Instruments exhibited in the Indian Museum, pp. 4-6.