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 A ravanahatha (variant names: ''ravanhatta'', ''rawanhattha'', ''ravanastron'', ''ravana hasta veena'') is an ancient bowed, stringed instrument, used in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and surrounding areas. It has been suggested as an ancestor of t ...

cymbals A cymbal is a common percussion instrument. Often used in pairs, cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys. The majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs soun ...

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 The Copper Age, also called the Chalcolithic (; from grc-gre, χαλκός ''khalkós'', "copper" and ''líthos'', "stone") or (A)eneolithic (from Latin '' aeneus'' "of copper"), is an archaeological period characterized by regular ...

cave drawings of India along with

Gong A gongFrom Indonesian and ms, gong; jv, ꦒꦺꦴꦁ ; zh, c=鑼, p=luó; ja, , dora; km, គង ; th, ฆ้อง ; vi, cồng chiêng; as, কাঁহ is a percussion instrument originating in East Asia and Southeast Asia. Gongs ...

. There is also evidence of dancing figurines from Indus valley civilization suggesting an established musical tradition. A kind of

lithophone A lithophone is a musical instrument consisting of a rock or pieces of rock which are struck to produce musical notes. Notes may be sounded in combination (producing harmony) or in succession (melody). It is an idiophone comparable to instrumen ...

has also been discovered from Orissa around 1000 BCE.

Surviving music

The Samaveda, one of the ancient core Hindu scriptures known as the

Vedas upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''. The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute th ...

, consists of a collection (samhita) of hymns, portions of hymns and detached verses, all but 75 of which are taken from the

Rigveda The ''Rigveda'' or ''Rig Veda'' ( ', from ' "praise" and ' "knowledge") is an ancient Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (''sūktas''). It is one of the four sacred canonical Hindu texts ('' śruti'') known as the Vedas. Only one ...

. 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 Soma may refer to: Businesses and brands * SOMA (architects), a New York–based firm of architects * Soma (company), a company that designs eco-friendly water filtration systems * SOMA Fabrications, a builder of bicycle frames and other bicycle ...

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 Theatre of India is one of the most ancient forms of theatre and it features a detailed textual, sculptural, and dramatic effects which emerged in mid first millennium BC. Like in the areas of music and dance, the Indian theatre is also defin ...

, 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 Shloka or śloka ( sa, श्लोक , from the root , Macdonell, Arthur A., ''A Sanskrit Grammar for Students'', Appendix II, p. 232 (Oxford University Press, 3rd edition, 1927). in a broader sense, according to Monier-Williams's dictionary, is ...

, 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.The most authoritative commentary on the ''Nātya Shastra'' is ''

Abhinavabharati ''Abhinavabharati'' is a commentary on ancient Indian author Bharata Muni's work of dramatic theory, the '' Natyasastra''. It is the oldest commentary available on the treatise. The ''Abhinavabharati'' was written by Abhinavagupta (c. 950–1020 ...

'' by Abhinava Gupta.

Notes

External links