SANGEET NATAK journal of the SangeetNatak Akademi, is published quarterly by theSangeet Natak Akademi, (National Academy ofmusic, dance and drama for India). Printed atThe Statesman Press, Connaught Circus, NewDelhi.

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sangeetna·takllA QUARTERLY PUBLICATION ON MUSIC, DANCE AND· DRAMA

SANGEET NATAKAKADEMI, •• RABINDRA BHAVAN;NEW DELHI

JANUARY-MARCH 1969

EDITORIAL BOARD

Dr. V. Raghavan

Mrinalini Sarabhai

Dr. Lokenath Bhattacharya

Mohan Rakesh

Dr. Suresh Awasthi

The views expressed in Sangeet Natak are the

writers' own and do not necessarily conform

to the opinion of the publishers. Permission

to reproduce, in whole or in part, any material

published in this Journal must be obtained

from the Secretary, Sangeet Natak Akademi,

Rabindra Bhavan, New Delhi-r

Uma Anand: Editor

Contents

5 FOLK MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS OF INDIAExhibition and Seminar

33 THE VEETHI BHAGAVATAM OF ANDHRADr. V Raghavan

37 YAKSHAGANA BAYALATAK. S. Upadhyaya

52 EXPERIMENTS IN FOLK DRAMA FORCONTEMPORARY THEATRE

Shanta Gandhi

69 MUSIC OF KASHMIRMohanlal Aima

74 FORM AND VARIATION IN RAJASTHANIFOLK SONGS

Dr. Shanno Khurana

Cover: Govind Vidyllrthi. Sanget Natak Akademi

FOLK MUSICAL INSTRUMENTSOF INDIA

Exhibition and Seminar - November 1968

The SangeetNatak Akademi organised thefirst comprehensive exhibitionoffolk musicalinstruments tobeheldin India, in November1968,at the RabindraGallery, New Delhi. Over 400 instruments were displayed and these formthe nucleus of a permanent collection for the Akademi Museum.

On the occasion of the Exhibition a Catalogue of Indian Folk MusicalInstruments by K. S. Kothari, waspublished. The purpose of this cataloguewas to make an attempt to classify instruments in a scientific manner and tolay the foundations for further extensive and intensive research in the fieldwhichso far has not been done systematically.

The main aim of the present work was to list instruments under majorheads. This division was made on the basisof thefour major classifications inancient Indian Musicology; Ghana Vadya - Idiophonic, or self-vibrators;Avanaddha Vadya- Membraphonic, or skin-vibrators; Sushir Vadya- Aero­phonic, or wind-vibrators and Tat Vadya - Chordophonic, or string-vibrators.This classification wasfurther augmentedby reference to the standard worksof eminent Western authorities, F. W. Galpin, Dr. Curt Sachs and NicholasBessaraboff.

To coincide with the Exhibition, .. a Seminar on Folk Instruments WfJ3

elso arranged. Scholars from various parts of India contributedpapers 011

the subject as well as on its relation to folk-music in general.

The Seminar had been convened with the following aims in view:

1. To disseminate information on instrumentsIndia,

various parts of

(.SANGEEr NATAle

2. To study their migration and evolution,

3. To study their relation to classical music,

4. To explore ways and means of preservation of the instruments,

S. To examine ways of developing them so that they can become partof classical ensembles,

6. To study their tonal values and structures, so that basic InformationIs available for improving their quality,

7 To discuss the means of establishing a large museum of such instru­ments.

Summaries ofsome of the papers read at the Seminar are published here,In which are discussed a few of the problems indicated.

FOLK INSTRUMENTS OF SOUTH INDIASOME NOTEWORTHY FEATURES

Prof. P. Sambamoorthy

The musical instruments used by the people of South India are of avaried character. They are of interest from the point of view of theirmusical construction and playing technique. They are made of materialslocally available. A good number of them consist of drums, castenetsand cymbals. The rest consist of wind instruments and stringed instru­ments. The wind instruments are of the wood-wind and brass-wind types.A few wind-instruments, made of copper are also' used.

Stringed instruments

The plucked, bowed and struck varieties are found amongst thestringed instruments used by rural folk. The tuntina is a single-stringeddrone. 'lit is used by mendicants. It is also used to provide the droneaccompaniment in the recital of lavanis. The nodal point of the top of thestringis defined by making it pass round the dandi-stem-before being tiedto the peg on the top. By plucking the string in conformity to the rhythmof the song sung, the instrument is used to serve the double purpose ofproviding both. a drone accompaniment and a rhythmic accompaniment.

In the klnnaram or conoanut-shell fiddle played with a crude bow,the left hand fingers just glide over the strings. They are not pressed againstthe finger board as in the violin. The goatskin is used to cover the topof the hemispherical shell.

The villu, or the long lacquered bow wed in the Yilluppattu provides

7 FOLK INSTRUMENTS

an example of a struck stringed instrument.· Two sticks called veesukolare used to strike 'the long string of the bow, The bow is about 6 feet inlength and kept in position on a pot in front of the performer.

,

The tantipanai and jamidika provide interesting examples of com­pound musical instruments. They are stringed and percussion instruments,combined in one. When the face of the pot-drum in the tantipanai is playedupon, the string inside the pot along with the seven gliding rings vibrateand the combinational effect is pleasing. The string of the tantipanai canbe tuned to the required pitch.

In the jamidika, the string inside is plucked to play sequence of jatis-bois. Off and on, the player also taps the wall of the instrument on theinside. This instrument is used as an accompaniment in the recital ofTelugu, ballads like the Valaraju katha - the story of a Yadava King.

A two-stringed tampura of a shorter length is used in the recital ofballads in some Telugu districts. The head-piece here is shaped like thehood of a snake.

Wind Instruments

Amongst the wind instruments used by the rural folk the nedunkuzhalis of interest. The wind is blown into the instrument through a tube insertedin the centre of the pipe. The wind blown feeds the top part and the bottompart of the instrument. The top part gives the drone note or sruti, and thebottom part, the music. The finger-holes at the bottom are used to playmusic. Thus this is a sa-kala vadya. It is a svara-nadi and sruti nadi com­bined.

The magudi or the snake-charmers instrument is also a sa-kala vadya:It has the svara-nadi and the sruti-nadi both inserted into the bulbous endof the gourd.

The beak-flute made of bamboo is commonly used by the shepherds.

During the festivals of the village deities, crescent shaped brass hornsand S-shaped brass horns are used.

The masaka titti is a bagpipe giving the single drone note. The story­..teller blows into the bag until it is fully swollen. He then opens the end­pipe and goes on pressing the bag slowly. The air released thus makes itexit through the drone-pipe and sets the reed in vibration during the process.As the drone note is sounded, he goes on singing and narrating the story,conforming to the sruti.

Percussion Instruments

In the drums used by the rural folk, we come acros~alrthe threevarieties:

SANGEEI' NATAK

1. Atata i.e, played by hands alone e.g, udukkai

2. Vitata i.e. played by sticks alone e.g. damaram

3. Atata-vttata i.e, played by hands and sticks e.g,Naiyandi melam).

8

tavil (used in

There are instruments with onomatopoeic names like the uruml,budubudukai and gudugudupai. The budubdukai is rattled and in the pro­cess, the knotted end of the string tied at the centre, strikes the two headsalternately.

The urumi is an example of an instrument where the drum head isstroked by a stick, slightly bent at the striking end. The curved end of thestick is coated with the milky juice of the seed called sengottai in Tamil.This is the marking nut - Semecarpus anacordium. Resin is applied tothe coated portion. This drum is used by the mendicants, who bringwith them a decorated bullock and ask for alms.

Surya pirai (shaped like the Sun) and Chandrapirai (shaped like theMoon) are two complementary instruments. They are tied on to the paddedforehead of the person and played with a stick.

The udukkai is an hour-glass shaped drum. A thin parchment isstretched over the two faces. The string of twine which passes through theholes along the peripheery of the two faces, is held tightly at the centre bythe left hand. The squeeze of the string results in the increase of the tensionof the drum-heads and a fine effect is produced. A few horse hairs passalong the diameter of one of the heads. When the other head is struck,these hairs in contact with the parchment vibrate and the resulting buzzingeffect is very pleasant. These hairs are called kanni in Tamil.

The chakkai consists of four thin rectangular pieces of wood. Theyare strung with a thread and held between the fingers of the right hand andstruck. This reminds one of the split bamboo used in South-East Asiancountries to provide the rhythmic accompaniment.

The tatapalagai used by Tatans or Dasaris is a kanjira of about 9inches in diameter. In the place of the skin, a thin circular and resonantplate of wood is nailed on to the frame. It is this wooden plate that isplayed upon. This is used in folk: dances.

Illustrations: P.9. Senmu, Manlpur, P. 10. .Above: Charh,Rajasthan.Below left: Kartal,GuJarat. Belowrig~t: Ghunghroo, Mysore. P.ll. Mandar,Bihar. P.12. Above left: Pambal,Madras. Above TIght, Gharra, Kashmir. Below: Dhol, Punjab.

aci

Rectangle

aci

Rectangle

17 FOLK INSTRUMENTS

In the dep, it will be of interest to know that the note produced bystriking on the drum-face and the note produced by striking the woodenrim with the ring called metti, bear a consonental relationship (sa - pa).The peg is used to provide the rhythmic accompaniment in lavanis.

Rustic ensembles are concerned more with the emphasis on rhythmthan on the melody. In the villupattu for example, although the leadersings, still the overpowering rhythmic accompaniment provided withstrokes on the villu, the strokes on the pot with a leather pad and the strokeson the udukkai and daru ta/am are obvious.

In the naitandi me/am, which provides accompaniment in the per­formances of Karagam, Kavadi and Dummy Horse-play, the number ofrhythmic instruments used is twice the number of wind instruments used.

Tremulous effects are skilfully produced by performers on the uruttuchanda and tikkairi kattai.

Pavai is a general term for drum.

PROBLEMS OF REGENERATION ANDDEVELOPMENT

B. K. Misra

My approach to these problems is practical rather than theoreticalas far as Organology is concerned. How to develop and improve uponthe existing known varieties of folk instruments can be taken as a momen-tuous problem. -

I would like to make an essay at defining a folk instrument althoughit is not easy to do so. I consider a folk instrument to be one which isother than the accepted. one of the concert type of our times. On accountof the currents and cross-currents of time many instruments must havebeen concert instruments in the remote past which now come under thecategory of folk varieties. The Vedic Age veenas were concert instrumentsin that age but now most of them have come under the class of folk instru­ments.

Illustrations: P. 13. above: Narsingha. Himachal Pradesh. Below: Bhenx, Bihar. P. 14.Above: Pepa, Assam. Below: Kombu. Kerala. P. 15. Kamaicha, Rajasthan. P. 16. Above:Bhuang, Bihar. Below: Pena, Manipur.

18SANGEET NATAl(,

I would like to give some examples as to how we can utilise folkinstruments affecting minor changes in them to suit our purpose.

1. Nedun Guzhal: This is a shepherd's flute about four feet longhaving six to seven stops for playing at the lower end, as it is played heldvertically. At the upper end there is a drone and in the middle of thepipe, wind is supplied by blowing through a small thin con~uit fixed withwax. The flute has a limited range and if it could be Improved, theinstrument could be used for concerts. A device for controlling the windsupply has to be found out for this.

2. Huduk: or Uddukai: It is a cylindrical small drum with a waistin the middle. Parchment faces are stretched over the two ends beingtied by strings. Its pitch varies with the application of pressure by holdingit in the middle. A little syahi (black paste used over drums) may make itsound better and may also make the sound vibrate longer with the resultthat it could be used for even slow tempo dances and classical chorus. Itcould also be used for giving chords and musical effects based on swarasapart from its rhythmic patterns peculiar to Indian music.

3. Nagara - Nagaria: These drums are used for the open-air per­formancesof folk drama. Intricate patterns of tals are played in keepingwith the mood of the scenes enacted. Being an open air instrument it isvery loud. It can be used for concerts and tal katcheries by introducingminor changes like the application of syahi and a tuning devise such as.wehave in the tabla.

4. Ravanastram or Ravanhattha: It is said to be the parent ofmany bowed instruments including the violin. It has a coconut shell forits resonator and a simple of column of bamboo over which the sympa­thetic strings numbering sevento ten, run on the left side and the upper sidewhile the playingstring made out of horse-tail hair, runs on the right as theinstrument is held with resonator up and column down like a violin.This is avery powerful instrument and its musical capacity can beenhanced by putting .a finger board and three more playing stringsmake it fully concert-worthy.

5-. Chikari or Kingari: This instrument is of the family of Ravana­stram with a parchment covered coconut resonator and a bamboo columnover which two strings run. With the introduction of some changescan make use of it as a concert instrument ofhigh musical capacity. Useof violin-like finger-board and four strings can help to make it so.

6. .Tuntina: It is an instrument used.by the sadhus and mendicants­I~ has a small cylindricalwoodenresonator covered with parchment onSIde to the centre of which a string is attached running through the cylinder;

19 FOLK INSTRUMENTS

on one side of the resonator a bamboo column is attached, at the upperfree end of which the string is fastenedto a singlepeg. Rhythm and swaraboth are produced on the string by plucking the string with one hand andbending and releasing the column with the other, for producing differentpitches. Its resonator can be utilised for bowed and plucked instrumentsand even for drones like the tampura.

7. Khanjari or Kanjira: It is the commonestand simplestof the drumsused practically all over the country. It has a three to four inches deepand nearly half-an-inch thick wooden rim, coveredwith lizard or goat skinon one side. Parchment is moistenedfrom inside and the right hand playson the outer surface while the left hand holds it, applying pressure to pro­duce deep or shallow sounds. This instrument was being used for folkmusic but in the early decades of the 20th C. the efforts of Shri Dakshina­moorthy Pillai and his guru gave to it the status of a full-fledged concertinstrument by demonstrating that this is capable of almost all rhythmicpattern as the mridangam. This instrument can become a concert instru­ment fit for Hindustani music,only if its sound can be made to last longer,to suit the slow tempo also. Perhaps some syahi on the parchment couldhelp us to improve it.

8. Mahuar: The snake charmers instrument but its capacity hasbeen augmented by some cine-artists, making it fit for background music.Such experiments can be made so as to give it more range in the loweroctave so that it may become fit for solo performances too.

9. Apart from the above mentioned instruments the yazh (harp)·as it is known in Tamil will make an interestingand useful study affordingmuch scope for improvement in size and tone. Most harps such as:

(a) Villa yazh - bow-shapedharp,

(b) Peri yazh ---:big harp,

(c) Sirl yazh - small harp,

(d) Makaryazh - crocodile-shaped harp,

(e) Sakoda yazh - board-shaped harp,have once been.concert instruments but now they are amongst the best offolk instruments.' They need ."·resurrection and -: modification makethem useful in the. music of the day.

I suggest some ideasfolk instruments.

maybe useful for the regenerationof

An exhaustive survey.of instruments is extremely necessary,to acquaint us with the .rich heritagethat we have in this field. ·.·Organisa­

like Sangeet Natak Akademi and All-India Handicrafts Board,

20SANGEET NATAK

Ministry of Commerce, (Government of India) Madras and other suchinstitutions can make a joint effort in making the survey.

2. Craftsmen should turn their attention to folk instruments witha view to bringing about a revolution in their field so as to bring neglectedinstruments on par with the accepted ones, for concert use.

3. The artists both vocalists and specially instrumentalists, shouldshow a Iarge-heartedness in the use of modified instruments and shouldperform in concerts with these instruments to popularise them. I wouldappeal to the practicing musicans to shed their orthodoxy and to make abold use of new instruments suggesting changes to the craftsmen if theyfind anything lacking in them.

4. Music Colleges and Universities teaching music, should notremain behind in this field. They should try to study folk instrumentsand come out with concrete suggestions regarding their ressurrection andimprovement.

5. Folk 'musical instruments are not given any chance for demonstra­tion at so-called Music Conferences. It would be well if one of thesesessions was devoted exclusively to the demonstration of folk instruments.

6. All India Radio can also encourage the use of folk instrumentsto a greater extent by utilising them in musical effects.

7. So also, film music directors should make their contributiontowards the regeneration of folk instruments by using orchestras composedof a majority of the same. This will encourage the craftsmen to exploremore possibilities in. the development of such instruments as have beenneglected.

SOME MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS OF FOLKAND TRIBAL MUSIC IN .MAHARASHTRA

Prof. G. H. Tarlekar

Classical and the regional music existed side by side. It is not unnaturalthat •the regional varieties of folk music and musical instruments shouldhave influenced. classical music and the musical instruments in thehistorical development of Indian music e.g, the kinnari - a folk-instru­ment existing from early times had a few crude frets: From this kinnari,the Kinnari, described by the Medieval authors, having frets for all thenotes was developed in course of time.

In the folk instruments of Maharashtra also there are many varieties.Out of the musical instruments of four kinds i.e, stringed, wmd..blown.

21 FOLK INSTRUMENTS

percussion and tala stringed instruments are not so prominent in folkmusic. Percussion and tala instruments are necessarily present. Wind­blown instruments are also found.

In our village, in the Western part of Maharashtra, on the occasionof the Jatra of the village deity, percussion instruments and tala instru­ments are used, in the course of the procession. The percussion instru­ment called ghumat is fashioned out of clay and is shaped like an elongatedjar. The right head of this drum is tightly covered with a skin and theleft head, smaller in measure than the right head, is left open. . By em­ploying the palm of the hand covering the left head, air pressure is adjustedso as to produce resonance. The rhythmical beats are produced by strikingon the right head with the fingers and palm of the right hand. (Such adrum appears in a Garwah sculpture of the Gupta Period and also in Ellorasculpture). The rhythmic pattern employed is a simple one. The tala usedis kerva of eight matras.

There is a variation also of the articulated beats. The tala instrumenthas two rectangular wooden frames on either side of the handle. In therectangular frames small metallicdiscs are inserted. The instrumentis heldin hand at the centre i.e. the handle. When shaken according to the rhythm,the metallic discs produce a jingling sound. This tala instrument also isshaken in harmony with the strokes on ghumat, on the first and the fourthmatra.

Daplt and tuntune are used in the type of folk music like Pawada andLavani. The daph consists of an open circular frame covered on one sidewith skin. This drum is held in the left hand and played with the fingersof the right hand and by a thin stick held in the fingers of the left hand.The pitch of daph is rather sharp. (Such a flat and circular drum is seen inthe sculptures of Early and Medieval Periods).

The tuntune is a one-stringed instrument. It is a hollow cylindricalvessel made of wood. A bamboo stick is fixed to its outer side. Thebottom of the vessel is covered with a skin. The metal string tied to asmall piece of stick passes through the centre of the skin. .It is fastened toa peg on the top. The string is plucked with a small piece of stick held inthe right hand. Tuntune provides drone and also rhythm. (An instrument,similar to tuntune appears in a Badami sculpture of the 7th or the 8thcentury A.D.).

A larger circular flat drum called ranahalagi is used while accompany­ing Lezim and Patta - sports of vigorous type. It is.held by the left handagainst the stomach and struck by a stick held in the right hand. TheDhangar Tribe has big dhols and pairs of large cymbals, producing forceful,vigorous accompaniment.

SANGEET NATAK 22

In the Satpura hills of Khandesh, the Bhils use as accompanimentto their tribal dance and music, the dhol (drum) and pavari (wind-instru­.ment). Pavari consists of a hollow gourd, to the lower end of which a smallbamboo-pipe is glued with a particular kind of wax. At the other endof the bamboo-pipe, a horn is fixed. In the upper tapering part, there isa mouth-hole. There are four or five finger-holes to the bamboo-pipe.The pavari is blown through the mouth-piece and notes are produced byemploying fingers on the finger-holes.

The danki used by the Bhils is a small hour-glass type drum. It isheld firmly in front on the right foot by the player in a sitting posture andplayed by striking with both the hands on the two heads. The large circularflat drum (ranahalagi-type) is also used by the Bhils along with pavari.While playing Lezim the dhol, circular flat drum and pavari are employed.

An instrument called tingari is used by the wandering minstrels,who get their livelihood by narrating Akhayanas in accompaniment to thetingari. It is a stringed instrument. The arm is fashioned out of bamboo.There is a small gourd at the lower end. There are normally twofastened to the two pegs at the upper end. The instrument is played bybow held in the right hand.

AN ASPECT OF FOLK INSTRUMENTS'

Anil Biswas

,When we review the variety of folk instruments in India, we

across a large number of them. But a further inspection revealsthere are only few types, varying orily in name in different regions.instance, the flute is known as bansi; bansri, murli, pawa; the shehnaishehnai, sundri, mohri, nadeswaram; and the turahi as turi, bheri, ramsingha,narsingha; banka, tutri, etc. The dhols associated with the regionsknown as Bangia dhol, Punjabi dhol and dhols of Adivasis with theirprefixes.

It is noticed with extreme concern that these instruments areappearing rapidly with the exception of the shehnai and the flute raisedconcert level. We do not hear folk: instruments played with anyfessional excellence these days. Even two decades back, the Banglaafter fulfilling •. its social function of playing for marriages, used to. playa farewell .mehfil _. concluding meeting - •.• astounding the classicalcussionists by the excellent delineation ofdifficult talas to the aestheticdelight of the connoisseur and the layman.. Magahai ojha ofanother example of the virtuosity that can be achieved on an AssamBihu dhol.

23 FOLK INSTRUMENTS

The reason for the neglect is mainly economical. These instrumentsdo not earn a- musician enough money to support the players. Speciallysince the advent of talkie films with the tendency towards exotic music ofthe present-day, folk instruments barely find a place where they can beeconomically utilised execpt during the filming of a marriage scene whenthe shehnai is used.

Now the question arises as to how to sustain the artistes with their •instruments and this very valuable form of Indian music.

The answer is to develop an ensemble offolk instruments in all regionsof the country. These could be developed and supported by the govern­ment and not exploited for a profit motive. This should be consideredas maintaining a living music museum. As and when developed, I am sure,such folk musicians will at least partially be able to earn their own keepand the rest of the expense must be subsidised. This will lead to anotherworthwhile and much needed experiment - that of altering some of theseinstruments to suit the purpose of playing a range of musical notes necessaryfor an ensemble. In the Soviet Union, the domra and the balalaika havebeen developed and raised to a concert level, and are played in ensemblesof exquisite excellence. .

If we examine the Western orchestra, we find that it mainly consists of4 tonal variations i.e. the high (soprano), the middle (alto), the mid-base(tenor) and the low (bass), with brass and percussion, each tonal variationsustaining the other. If we gather an ensemble of Indian instruments oreven our classical instruments, we cannot get these required variations.The flute, the sarangi, the israj and various other string instruments willalbeit supply some tonal variations, representing the high and the middlerange. But we have none for bass and low bass. In percussion we surpassany country of the world in variety, but we have no instruments to re­present the -mid-bass or the bass excepting the mandara bahar.developedlately to a small extent. _There is nothing to represent the brass sectionat all which forms a very important part of a Western orchestra.

Now there are few •folk iristruments which can be developed torepresent brass. These are: (i) the bhungal of Gujarat, (ii)the turahiof Maharashtra, and (iii) karnaal of Himachal Pradesh. Normally theseinstruments are sounded without producing a definite musical note. .Theordinary horn used by sadhusand the 'conchused for religious purposescan also be developed to produce a few musical notes. •The bans fromChattisgarh and the sarindas used byU.P.beggars are two other possi­bilities for alternation and development. Combined with the classicaland semi-classical instruments of our country. altered for the. purposeensemble music, these folk instuments will add. to _the range of an Indian

SANGEEI' NATAK 24

orchestra, producing a new sound, yet completely Indian in character, togive another dimension to ensemble playing.

What we need is a workshop in'the real sense of the word for develop­ing these instruments and testing them for their tonal qualities. This canbe sponsored by a body like the SangeetNatak Akademi. This workshopwill have to employ the best talent in the field of instrument makers, with aphysicist to technically test the tonal ranges, wave lengths, etc., and suggestways and means to improve the tonal quality of these instruments. Whendeveloped, these instruments can be successfully tried by an organisationlike the All India Radio Vadya Vrinda (Orchestra).

FOLK INSTRUMENTS AND FOLKR-HYTHMSOF GOA

Prof. Antsher Lobo

The main instruments used in the folk music of Goa are the madhiemand the gummott. They are both percussion instruments. The drumsknown by these two names are of such remote antiquity and are, so to speak,so firmly rooted in the soil that, for uncounted centuries, successive wavesof foreign cultural influences have not been able to dislodge them frompopular favour.

The bodies of these drums, are made of earthenware. The body'the madhiem resembles a mridangam. It is shaped .like a hollow cylinderabout 30 inches long, slightly bulging in the centre. Lizard skin is stretchedand fixed on each rim of the two open ends of this barrel-shaped instru­ment. The drum-heads are struck at both ends with the hands. A mixtureof flour, water and black ash (siyahi) is worked on to the middle of the largerdrum-head to lower the tone and make it more resonant. However, thesound is seldom tuned to the desired pitch.

The hollow form of the gummott is spherical. It looks more or lesslike a pear-shaped earthen vessel. The flat side provides a ten-inchcircular opening, on to the rim of which is tied the lizard skin. The right­hand palm and fingers usually play on this broad resonant surface. Thenarrower end at the bottom curls up into a three-inch open cup. Over the (mouth of this cup is placed the drummer's left-hand palm which alter- .nately presses an~ releases the resonant air volume inside the drum.

The two commonest folk song and dance rhythms of Goa are the dadra ..and the kherva. The first mentioned is a six-eight time or duple com­pound. It is played either on the gummott or the madhiem or both. Itsshort cycle consists of a. tali and a khali of 3matraseach. The soma is·

25 FOLK lNSTRUAfENTS

indicated by the Roman figure "I". The other talis are shown in brackets,and the khali is marked "0":-

Dha dhim na Ta tin na (or simply) I 0

I 03+ 3 = 6

matras

This rhythm, however takes on various syncopated forms in the midstof a folk performance, the commonest being the cycle of 6 pulses accentedon the 5th matra:-

13 +

o1 +

(II)2 = 6 matras

In Goan folk music, the 6/8 dadra folk rhythm is occasionally trans­formed into triple compound metre in order to produce the so-calledhemlola or laykari effect, by which a 3/4 ternary time-cycle is created on thelast six beats of the basic metre:

12 +

(II)2 +

(III)2 = 6 matras

When the tune of the folk song is sung by. a performing ensemble inthis hemiola or laykari style, against the normal 6/8 dadra rhythm of themadhiem or the gummott, interesting patterns of cross-rhythms are createdto the great delectation of the audience around:

Duple compound I 03 + 3 - 6 matras ) cross-

Superimposed on 1 (II) (III) ) rhythms.Triple compound 2 + 2 + 2 -" 6 matras )

As the madhiem is cumbersome and, hence, less portable, the gummott,by popular favour, is mostly used for this rhythm. The drummer oftenbreaks the straight rhythm intoparands and tanas. Of the two types ofdrum, the gummott is generally used today by kunbis, toddy-tappers, fisher­men and the middle classes for the six-eight rhythm of their seasonal dances,group bhajan singing, and the type of folk song known as the dulpod.

The dlllpod faithfully". abides by the regional folk-rhythm for, asquickened version of the mando; it is the real progenitor of the latter.

The regional six-eight folk-rhythm begot the dulpod, and the .latterbegot the mando, which is only a slow version of dadra rhythm. The mandois now popular with .the middle-class village gentry, and is only 150 yearsold. .

SANGEET NATAK 26

The word mando, meaning an "earthen vessel", is cognate with andoand bando. These words designate the same thing, with a difference onlyin the size and substance of the vessel.

The real origin of the term mando had long been a matter of conjec­ture, and ethnographists had in fact attributed its derivation to foreignethnic sources. My own recent investigations, however, have revealed thatmando is only a Konkani word for an earthen vessel, gummott or drum,which eventually lent its name to the rhythm of the song and dance.

That the name of the earthen vessel has now become a transferredepithet given indiscriminately to the folk-rhythm, folk song as well as folkdance, is evident from the fact that the mando, per se, as earthen vessel isitself used as a substitute for the gummott. When so used without the lizardskin, the earthen vessel which has only one curled-up cup-opening, is alter­nately pressed and released on the mouth by the right-hand palm, thusmaking the air volume resonate like the gummott diaphragm.

Now, it appears that this six-eight folk rhythm, known as dadra,which is otherwise fairly prevalent today all over India, is not Hinduorigin at all but was imported here from foreign countries, probablyArabia.

Most Indian time-cycles are derived from song, and formed by addingunits of 2 or 3 or 4, and not by multiplying or taking multiples of a unit,which is the characteristic of Muslim or European rhythms derivedthe dance.

Genuine Indian ta/as are quantitative, since they are derived fromquantitative poetic metre, which is formed by adding various quantities orvibhags to form an avarta or time-cycle. Muslim or European time-cycleor rhythmic periodicity is accentual as it is formed out of the recurrent timeunits of 2 or_ 3 multiplied so many times to form a large time-measure.

Arabic rhythms, drums and musical instruments were imported acrossthe Mediterranean into. Europe, particularly into Spain in thePeninsula, by Muslims in the 8th century A.D. .Itwas also in the 8thcentury that the impact of Muslim culture was first felt in India.

In Ceylon and Kerala however, Arabic rhythms seem to haveintroduced in the pre-Christian era, during the earliest Indo-Africantime trade and commerce.. As a matter of.fact, there is still prevalentCeylon, an ancient folk song based on .dadra rhythm, known aswhich clearly tells.the tale of its orgin.

There.is an ancient Hindu tala. known as rupaka, still used in India.Like dadra (3+ 3) it has six matras, but the talis are on vibhags of 2

27 FOLK INSTRUMENTS

The old rhythms known as jati talas were of 7 species, namely:­(1) Ektala, (2) Rupaka, (3) Jhampa, (4) Triputa, (5) Mathya, (6) Atha and(7) Dhruva.

Each species consisted of various time-cycles depending on the numberof matras added. The present day tendency, however, is influenced byMuslim rhythmic conventions. Barring a few old talas based on 5 and 7,most classical music talas today, tend to simplify the cycles by adoptingmultiples of 3 and 4.

Now, to come to the second most common folk rhythm of Goa, thekherva; this lively rhythm lends itself wonderfully to a lovely Goan folk­dance known as dakni. It is sent in the common time, kherva, with astrong accent on the fourth beat. The kherva is also used to beat time forthe dhalo, a community women's chain-dance and song.

This folk rhythm is also used at organised night parties to play thecentral core of Goan folk song known as bond-lavanis or bhajans. Theseare held everywhere by traditional groups of folk-drummers, either amongstthe kunbis, or toddy-tappers or sea-farers.

Chroniclers use this rhythm to sing ballads about past heroes, kingsand saints. They narrate to posterity, from memory, the unwritten recordof Goa's social, religious and martial history. The percussion instrumentsused are the madhiem and gummott, made of earthen, wooden or brassbarrels - and cymbals. Sometimes the ektar or tuntune, which is usuallyused by wandering minstrels, is.also included.

The bhajan session usually begins at night, with the ceremonyof fixingthe bond, a rice-and-charcoal black adhesive attached to the middle of thedrum-skins and heated. on the central fire round which the drummers areseated. Only madhiem and gummott, sometimes as many as 10 in number,are usually employed. The percussionists chart out a sort of concertedway of drumming the ensemble, as though joining in for the drummed outchorus of the refrain, every time the. leading bard solemnly intones andsings out a verse.

The common time folk rhythm is also used for the colourful song­and-dance, during the Spring Festival in March, known as the Intruz,Somewhat in the tamasha style,the countryside suddenly goes merry andthere appear hundreds ... of round dances of gaily..: attired boys. and men,dancing the khel, in riotous. revelry.

Besidesthe intruz, there is another spring festival of Holi, locally knownas Sigmo, wherein the common time rhythm prevails and is almost done todeath. This rhythm is beaten-with sticks to a deafening din.on huge drums

SANGEET NATAK 28

that look like tympani. Copper hemispheres, big and small, are coveredwith skin and provided with tension-screws and leather braces.

Sigmo parties sometimes march in procession through the mainvillage roads to the sonorous accompaniment of folk instuments like sizing,shehnaiand dhol, thus providing much-longed-for amusement and diver­sion to the people around who follow them. Crude folk-versions ofshehnai, are played in pairs, the chanter and the drone alternating witheach other, as the players march along in the Sigmo procession.

Varieties of tranverse bamboo flutes are found among the cowherdsand tribals of the Western Ghats. Their primitive songs seem to have alimited compass and descend to a fourth and even a fifth. They sing thirdsthat are neither major nor minor but neutral, somewhere in-between.Whether by accident or design, these 6-hole flutes are pierced for a com­plete scale. The fourths and fifths are fairly true, but the thirds are indeter­minate. It is not known whether their faulty intonation has conditionedthe boring, or whether the wrong boring has distorted the musical intervals.The matter calls for investigation.

Behind the corpus of regional folklore that has survived to this day,there has been the impact of Western culture for a period of 450 years. Asat a folk dance by peasant groups in Europe, so in Goa, the violin and theguitar pass off as folk instruments when the villagers' crude fiddling andguitar-twanging provide accompaniment to a country dance.

Besides the folk dances mentioned above, there are other folk songssuch as cradle songs, reapers' songs, ceremonial songs, ovio, zoti, occu­pational songs, milkmaids' songs and mythological story chants that aresung without the rhythm of folk-drums or the accompaniment of musicalinstruments.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS IN INDIANSCULPTURES

S. Krishnaswami

The wealth of musical instruments depicted in the sculpturespaintings of ancient Indian monuments and temples is something astound­ing. Varieties of string instruments like harp-shaped veenas, mandolin­shaped veenas, ektara-type (single string) veenas, veenas played withwind instruments like the shringa, kahalay, flute etc., and percussionments of various types like cylindrical drums, .circular drums, pothourglass drums, kettle drums and so on. We also. find rhythmic

29 FOLK INSTRUMENTS

ments like beatingsticks (danda or ko!attam), varieties of cymbals, gongs,tinkling bells, ankle bells etc.

All these instruments are represented in the sculptures at Bharhut, Sanchi,Gandhara, Amaravathi, Nagarjunakonda, Konarak, Belur, Chidambaram,Madurai, Kumbakonam, Rameswaram and various temples of the Southand the North. Women are often mentioned in the literature as play­ing the drums and we find a whole series of musicians playing drums ofvarious types, cymbals and other instruments known to Medieval India,in the beautiful carvings at the Jagmohan Mandap at Konarak and at thetemples at Belur, Halebid and Hampi in Mysore State.

Most of the sculptures belong to the period between the 3rd centuryRC. and 16th century A.D. and their historical valueis very great. Inall the sculptures and paintings, particulars like the number of performers inconcerts and dance parties, the type of instruments used as accompaniment,the postures in which the instruments were held and played, all these arerevealed to an amazing degree of detail. Thanks to the sculptors' giftfor such details and their efforts to reproduce the originals in stone, theseguide us in our study of the past and furnish us material for the properappraisement of the music. and musical instruments used in India throughthe ages.

Almost all the string, wind and percussion instruments depicted inancient sculptures and painting still survive and are currently used by thecommon folk and tribal people all over India without experiencing anymaterial change in their shape or form or technique of playing.

The earliest representations of the veena are found in the Mauryanart at Bharhut (3rd and 2nd cent. B.C.), later at Sanchi, Gandhara, Amara­vathi and Nagarjunakonda carvings (1st and 4th cent. A.D.). In thesculptures, this type of veena is made up of a handle in the shape of a bowand boat-shaped resonator. There are a number of strings fastened to thebow-shaft, one over the other, running parallel. The same type of veenaremained in use down to the time of the Guptas, as we find King Samudra­guptahimself represented on some of his gold coins, playing the seven­stringed bow-shaped veena.Though the veena of this kind has dis­appeared. from India in. the 9th century, examples of such an instrumentare still found among the. aboriginal tribes of Madhya Pradesh. It is abow-shaped instrument with a boat-shaped resonator and 5 or 6 stringsattached to. the bow-shaft running parallel. and plucked with a .plectrum.The tribal name for this instrument is'gogia band and in appearance it doesnot differ much from the earliestrepresentations of the 3rd cent. B.C.

In thesculptures~f Ga~dl1arav,Amaravathiand Nagarjunakondacent. A.D.) onewouldfind another. variety of veena with a

30SANGEET NATAK

pear-shaped or oval resonator and a. long .nec~ like a mandolin withfour or five strings. This instrument still survives III the dotara of Bengaland rubia of Himachal Pradesh. Probably the Gandhara veena could bereminiscent of the modern sarod, rabab and surshingar used in the classicalmusic of today.

The third type of veena which makes its appearance in ancientsculptures is the prototype of the ektara of today. This is a straight stickor bamboo on which a single string is stretched and a gourd attached atone end. Ektara is seen for the first time in the 7th century at Mahabali­puram in a bas relief representing the 'Descent of the Ganges' and it isplayed by a kinnari. This veena will have a curious evolution until themodern period culminating in the present-day North Indian bin. Some­times earlier it is shown in Ajanta paintings in the Gupta theatrical art.Later, we find the instrument in the hands of male and female divinitieslike Narada, Veenadhara Dakshinamurthy, Saraswathi and so on.

Veenas with frets begin to appear in sculpture from 12thand the finest examples of this type are found at Belur, Srirangam, Rames­waram, Madurai, Kumbakonam and other places, in the period rangingfrom 13thcent. to 16th century. These veenas have 5 to 14 frets andshown mostly played by feminine figures.

According to Sanskrit music treatises, veenas with two gourds arecalledrudra veenas and those with three. gourds are called kinnari veenas.Thisthree-gourded kinnari veena with frets mounted on the stem, featuresin the temples at Srirangam and Kumbakonam, played by women. Surviv­ing samples of these ancient fretted veenas are still found among the tribalpeople of Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Mysore State, andare the kinnari, kinera, kulutten rajan, memerajan etc.

In India, string instruments played with bow are of very great anti­quity. There are endless varieties of such instruments, some are heldplayed like the modern violin and others like the sarangi and they havein existencefor thousands of years without any change in their morphology,The violin-type instruments are made up of a gourd or half a coconut-shellcovered on the top with skin and attached to a stick, carrying one orstrings and played with a. crude bow.

Representations of instruments played like a violin are found inChidambaram temple, Mallikarajuna temple at Vijayawada andswaramtemple in T. Narsipur(Mysore State). In the Mallikarjunaat Vijayawada, a figure with a bow played instrument like the violin featuresalong with musicians playing drums, 'cymbals etc., as they accompany •. akolattam dance by a group of women. These illustrations evidentlythat such an instrument was associated with folk music and dance.

31 FOLK INSTRUMENTS

Some of the bowed instruments which have survived through thecenturies are the kingri and rajnengi bana of Madhya Pradesh, gaggedrajen of Behar, agappai kinnari of Tamil Nad, banam of Orissa, kaikidi ofBehar, pena of Assam,pulluvan veena of Kerala, ravanhaththo of Gujaratand Rajasthan.

The non-occurrence of this type of bow played string instrument inthe classical music of India prior to the introduction of the Western violinis by no means so sure a proof that such an instrument was unknown. Thelarge varieties of bow instruments mentioned above, in their primitive condi­tion, must have a been a poor contrivance and probably ignored by theclassical musicians who would produce more brilliant tones with greaterfacility by.plucking the strings of the sitar or veena with the fingers or witha plectrum. All the peculiar gamakas and embellishments of Indian musicand vocal styles are brought out with remarkable perfection on the veena,sitar etc., by the lateral deflection of the strings, a note-worthy feature onthe technique of playing Indian string instruments of the plucked variety,which is not found anywhere in the world. Consequently the whole familyof these primitive bow-played instruments have continued for many cen­turies without experiencing any material improvement and without havingthought worthy of notice by the. classical musicians on account of theirrudeness and unsatisfactory tone production. This could be the reasonfor the non-adoption of the old primitive bow-played instruments by theclassical musician.

Transverse flute is found in the Gandhara sculpturesof the 1st centuryand later in Ajanta paintings and the carvings at Konarak, Amaravathi,Nagarjunakorida and further at Pawaya, Belur etc. In the Indian icono­graphy, Lord Krishna plays the transverse flute under various names asvenugopala, muralidhar etc. Many . of. the sculptures. at Chidambaram,Sikar and other places show the transverse flute played along with drums,cymbals, etc., as accompaniment to folk music and dance.

Shankh or the conch is the most ancient wind instrument known toman. .It is held very sacred and is considered one of. the attributes ofVishnu. It was an important instrument during Buddhist period and isshown in a number of sculptures from 3ed cent. B. C. at Bharhut, Sanchi,Amaravathi, Nagarjunakonda etc. In Bharhut the shankh is provided witha long mouth piece. This type of shankh with mouth piece survives in the.davalai shankh of the South today. The sound of the shankh is commonduring temple festivals both in the North and the South.

Indian sculptures. show an astounding variety ofdrums in the ancientmonuments at Bharhut, Mathura,· Gandhara, Sanchi, Amaravathi, Nagar­junakonda, •Chidambaram, Belur, Halebid •and various temples of theNorth and South. ..• There.are cylindrical drums,' circular drums, pot drums,

SANGEET NATAK 32

narrow waisted drums and kettle drums. We find a number of representa­tions of the cylindrical drums of the dholak variety played with both handsand barrel-shaped drums played with hand and stick. Also we find narrowwaisted drums like damaru, huruk, udukkai, edakka, dudi, davandai, dakki,budubudukke, kudukuduppai etc., whose tone varies by pressing the middlebraces.

In the development of drums, for a long time, there was no facility totune the instrument to the required pitch. Drums with lacing or strapswhich could stretch the skins on both sides and alter the tone came to bedevised. In the illustrations at Konarak, Halebid, Hampi, Belur etc., menand women are depicted playing cylindrical drums and hourglass drums andwe can clearly see the left hand inserted into the straps. Difference in toneis produced by lifting or lowering the hand similar to the playing of edakkaof Kerala and the huruk of Uttar Pradesh. Sometimes they press themiddle braces which stretch the skin on both sides resulting in a rise in thepitch. Nowadays this variation in tone is brought about by inserting smallcylindrical blocks of wood between the straps and the drum wall of themodem mridangam, tabla and pakhawaj where the pitch is altered by mov­ing the pieces.

Panchamukha vadhyam, literally the five-mouthed instrument, is adevelopment from the ancient pot drum. The mouths are covered withstretched skin and the musician plays on them with both hands, each producingdifferent sounds. Examples of this drum are found in the temples of Tiru­varur and Tiruvanaikaval, both in Tamil Nad, used in ritual music. Thereis a sculpture in the famous temples at Chidambaram where the panchamukhavadhyam features along with two. side drums. •

There are various types of Ghana vadhyas in India used in devotionalmusic, folk music and dance and we find a number of varieties in each ofthe family whichcontribute colour and rhythm to the music they accompany,Beating sticks (danda or kolattam) are found in the paintings at Baghin the sculptures at Mallikarjuna temple at Vijayawada and at Sikar.bow-shaped cymbals and big cymbals are seen in the carvings at Amara...rathiand Konarak. Small flat cymbals imanjlra or jalra) are seen in theings at Ajanta. Ankle. bells variously called gejjai or ghungroos areby dancing women in the sculptures of Belur, Halebid and other temples.

In fact most of the string, wind and percussion instruments depictedin the sculptures and paintings of ancient monuments beginning from thecent. B.C. upto the 16th cent. A.D. survive amongst those used bycommon folk and tribal people all over India today.

THE VEETHI BHAGAVATAMOF ANDHRA

Dr. V. Raghavan

Kamatak music and dance still have their strong bonds with Andhra.In traditional dance-drama, the Bhagavata Mela Nataka of some of thevillages near Tanjore in Tamilnad form an offshoot or a graft of the Kuchu­pudi Bhagavata plays in Telugu country; Many of the technical terms ofBharata Natya and a considerable part of the compositions figuring in it,- sabdas, vamas and padas - are in Telugu. The Kuchupudi traditionis the best known of the Telugu dance-drama forms but this is not the onlyone. In drama and dance, from most ancient times, as the history of theDasarupaka> and Uparupaka- traditions of Sanskrit Natya Sastra show,small forms grow into big ones and from more complete forms, lesser ones,concentrating on some select aspects, are secreted and perfected into com­pact art-forms. In Kamataka, where we have the Yakshagana, we havealso the form taken out of it called Tala-maddale in which without partsand make-up, the participants sit down and sing and go through the playorally.

When Kuchupudi Bhagavata attained its high water-mark, it gavebirth to a derivative solo. performance called the. Veethi. Bhagavata orGollakalapa. Themasters of Kuchupudi themselves thought of this newform and evolved it through women-artistes of courtesan families (Kala­vantula) who were proficient in the solo dance-art of Nautch. The Kuehn­pudi traditiondid not permit women taking the female roles in its Bhagavata

I. See V. Raghavan, a note on Dasarupaka,Joumal ofOriental Research,2. Upampakas and Natya Prabandhas, Natak-2.

SANGEET NATAK 34

stories and the Nautch had its own repertoire of detached pieces and love­songs. By a crossing of the features of these two, the form named "[e/thiBhagavata or Gollakalapa was developed and a line of capable teachersand accomplished exponents refined it to a degree acceptable to the con­noiseurs. In fact, the form became for a time very popular over a greaterpart of Andhra.

The credit of discovering the art in its last lingering condition goesto All-India Radio, Vijayawada, and with the help of the late Sri Y.Satyanarayana, who was at that Station for some time, and later throughthe Music Academy, Madras and the Madras State Sangita Nataka Sangam,the present writer had the opportunity of bringing it to a wider publicand the students and lovers of the dance in Madras. The artiste whoexpounded the art in Madras was Smt. Annabathula Venkataratnam ofMummidivaram, an image of ripe and masterly exposition, who, aftersome decades of retirement due to lack of public appreciation and support,had been persuaded to recapture this accomplishment of her youngeryears.

As already said, it is the bhagavatas, Brahman scholars learned inSanskrit and Natyo Sastra, who were responsible for originating this formand giving it a shape; and instead of the young boys, the courtesans versedin Bharata Natya were taken, and instead of disconnected lyrics, a sus­tained Bhagavata-theme or episode was given. These women-artistes(Kalavantulu) had already a heritage of music and dance and some know­ledge of Sanskrit, puranic myths and the rhetoric of love andnayika­nayaka-bhava. 'It was now necessary only to strengthen their Sanskritknowledge and widen their general acquaintance with the tenets of ourreligion and philosophy. In fact, if as evolved, this form would shed itsdances and gesticulation, and follow more strictly the trend of a singlepuranic devotional story, it would result in the other form, still popular,active and effective, at least in Tamilnad, the Hari-katha or Katha-kalakshepa.In this, as in Veethi Bhagavata only one main exponent, a male Bhagavatagenerally but not unknown a female Bhagavata too, with music accompani­ment and oralexposition supported by thematic songs and verses, presentsa devotional doctrine with its illustrative story of Prahlada, Dhruva etc.

The Veethi Bhagavata has one female-artiste, the main dancer; sheis supported by a secondary female-artiste. For entertainment andputting across the ideas more effectively, humour (hasya rasa) is pressed intoservice and for this a Brahman, in more or less the Vidhushaka's role, istaken as an interlocutor.. It is this dialogue or argument which thelady as representing a cow girl (golla) carries on with the Brahman thatmeant by the word Kalapam. The gollaalways scores, she cross-examines

I. At its 35th Conference; see theJoumal of the Music Academy, Madras, XXXIII. Pp.94 99.

35 VEEI'HI BHAGAVATAM

the Brahman as to his real brahmanhood and expatiates on what a realBrahman is according to the sastras and in the torrent of her questionsand Sanskrit quotations on several Sastraic matters, the poor Brahmanbecomes breathless.

The Vidhushaka-Brahman is used also in the other way, where hecomes off in his role of a comedian and vehicle of wisdom. Whereverthere is a song introducing a character, setting forth the sublime aspects,the Vidushaka, starts off with a parody of the song, mentioning ridiculousthings, a comic technique which is found in a more sustained manner inthe Kerala theatre, where in the traditional Kootiyattam presentations ofSanskrit plays, the Vidushaka indulges in such verses parodying the nayakaand nayika. It can easily be imagined how all this acts as a powerfulmedium of popular education. '

The Vidushaka does not bring in any new person; the player who wasthe Sutradhara at the beginning of the performance and introduced it, himselftakes on the Vidushaka's role. He is a versatile multi-purpose hand, theconstant companion of the lady and also her chorist. The performancebegins like any traditional dance-drama with a curtain being held by twostage-hands and the main character performing from behind the curtainher dance to the entrance-song being sung by the chorist. Classic ragasof Karnatak music are used in the songs. The mridangam supplies therhythmic accompaniment. Jatis are also orally recited and intricate rhythmpatterns give the dances and footwork sufficient scope for artistry. Thesesongs are same as the darus found in the dance-drama compositions and toeach of these the gol/abhama dances. The theme in the songs she inter­prets closely through abhinaya. The art of abhinaya is in full evidence,and by the very nature of the theme, the range of the ideas is large here,and greater scope is afforded for improvisation and interpretation (kalpana).By reason therefore of this elaborate display of nrtta and nrtya , the Golla.kalapam takes its place among authentic forms of the Bharata Natya artspossessed of adequate potentiality for bringing out an accomplished artiste',skill and beauty of exposition.

The Veethi Bhagavatam when it became popular, was requisitionedin temple festivals and occasions of marriage and other happy celebrationsin the houses of rich patrons.

Among the authors of compositions on Bhagavata-stories for thisart, and among those who, as gurus, trained' courtesan dancers as mediafor presenting this art-form may be mentioned' Ravuri Kamayya and hisbrothers Noorayya, Venkayya and Satyamgaru, Vempati, Venkata­narayanagaru, Vedantam Lakshminarayana Sastri,", and BhagavatululaDasarathi Ramiah. The first mentioned brothers trained the Chittazallufamily of courtesans and other Kalavantulus of note. Over a dozen talented

SANGEEr NATAK 36

dancers of this class. who spread and maintained the vogue for this art areremembered.

The Veethi Bhagavatam had to face the same fate as other traditionalforms of dance and dance-drama, in the present age. It used to be per­formed for the greater part of the night and spread over three nights. Thisduration could no longer be given to it and the same neglect and unhelpfulconditions which led to the decay of other traditional dance and dance­drama arts affected this art also. Kuchupudi dance-drama and BharataNatya have been rehabilitated and it is hoped that lovers of art and insti­tutions which have been established in Andhra, as elsewhere, for revivingthe local art-forms, will devote their attention and resources to the VeethiBhagavata, or Bhamakalapa also.

Dr. V. Raghavan. See Sangeet Natak-2.

YAKSHAGANA BAYALATA

K. S. Upadhyaya

Yakshagana Bayalata is an exquisite folk dance-drama played.mostly in the South and North Kanara Districts of Mysore State. Thegenesis of this folk art is stilI a matter of controversy, but it can be statedthat it has much affinity with the various regional forms of dance-dramaperformed in India such as the Kathakali of Kerala, the Bhagavatha Melaof Tamilnad, and Veedhinatakamu of Andhra Pradesh.

Yakshagana is known in different parts of Kamatak by differentnames. While in the plains of North Kamatak area it is termed Doddaata,in old Mysore area it is known as Moodalapaya. Its more refined formprevalent in the coastal districts of Kamataka ispopularly called Yakshagana;Akin to Yakshagana, there is another folk art very popular in South Kanaradistrict namely Yakshagana Bombeyaata (Puppet Show). This has also ahoary tradition of over 300 years.

Expert opinion of various scholars on these various forms of populardance-dramas trace their origin to the Sanskrit dance-drama which. wasin vogue in India during the 4th century A.D•.. Dr. Ananda Coomar­swamy, renowed critic and research scholar,': has opined that ancientShaivaites werepractising a Natya Shastra which was in no way inferior tothe Natya Shastra of Bharata and that the centre of this Natya Shastra wasthe famous Nataraja Temple of Chidambaram.

That these dance-dramas were .distinctly different from the Sanskritdramas was apparent,' Sanskrit dramas .were.. a combination. of prose andpoetry in champu style and the characters therein had to learn by rote thedialogue and there were no dance movements. in Yakshagana it

SANGEEI' NATAK 38

different. Yakshagana is essentially a dance-drama with the charactersdepicting their roles effectively through dance, keeping step with theaccompanying music.

There is no historical and' written evidence to trace the origin of thename Yakshagana given to this form of music, Scholars have felt thatlike Gandharvagana this form was named Yakshagana. Gandharvaganabecame marg music while Yakshagana became popular as desi music.

Those who specialised in this form of desi Natya shastra were knownas yakshas. They became a community by themselves having taken up thisart as a profession. It is rather difficult to prove whether the word yakshawas derived from Sanskrit or was the Sanskritised form of desi, Jakka.There is also a line of argument that gandharvas had learnt music fromyakshas and that Gandharvagana or marg was the more refined form ofYakshagana. Further, Dr. Kota Shivarama Karanth, argues that yakshiniis in Kannada, Jakkini. There is prevalent in the rural parts of Kanara,worship of a local deity named Jakkini and the worship of this Jakkiniwith music must have provided the background for the name of the music.There is also another line of thought that Ekkalagana in Kannada is solomusic.

The Kannada poets, Nagachandra (12th century) and RathnakaraVarni (16th century), have described a form of dance-drama, Ekkalagana(Ekkadigaru). The reference obviously is to Yakshagana. Our ancestorsused to call the exponents of the Yakshagana style of music, yakkadigaruthe ancient Andhras called them jakkulu, and the stories sung by thesemusicians were known as Jakkulu Katha. Sarangadeva, an authority onmusic in Ancient India recognized jakka as a style of music popular in.histime. The only other reference to the Yakshagana system of music in anyof the Sanskrit works on dance and music is in the Sangeetha Sudha ofGovinda Dikshitan. He referred to Yakshagana as one of the systemsof music. This work, however, is comparatively of recent date, havingbeen published only in 1628.

The 9th century Kannada poet-king Nripathunga, in his Kaviraj­amargalankara has referred to desi poetry and mentioned various forms ofpoetic compositions, Chathaana, Bedande, Baajana. Scholars have inter­preted these forms as different themes of Yakshagana. But there arewritten works to prove this theory.

A Teluguwork on prosody called Appakaviyam mentions thatYakshagana songs are composed in the ragada metre. Sarangadevacentury A.D.) in his Sangeetha Rathanakara describes a metre called rahadiand says that it is ideal for veera rasa, or war-like emotions. Theredoubt that this rahadi is the Kannada ragale. While originally this

39 YAKSHAGANA

have been used predominantly in the composition of Yakshagana songs,now other metrical compositions like bhamini, vaardhakya, kanda, vritta,dwipadi and shatpadi are principally used.

It is quite clear from the writings of the great Kannada poet,Rathnakara Varni (circa 1557 A.D.) who hails from this region that therewas in his time a system of dramatic entertainment consisting of musicand dance with a hoary tradition of its own. The bayalaata tradition musthave had at least a hundred years' fruitful development before then and thedate of its attaining its own distinctive character and the stature of a greatform of art must, therefore, be pushed back to about 1450 A.D. Dr.Shivaram Karanth cites many authorities to prove that the "Yakshagana"system of music was in vogue earlier still and declares that it has at least athousand years history behind it. Yakshagana has flourished in the Kanaradistricts for centuries. One can see its powerful influence still surviving inthe rites and rituals and matins and vespers of ancient temples and in thehymnal chorus at old fashioned weddings.

A matching system of dance also grew up, indigenous in origin, nativeto the soil, representative of the cultural greatness of Malenaad or Nagara­khanda as this part of India stretching from Udipi to Gokarna used to beknown in those days, owing nothing to Bharata Natyam or Kathakaliand drawing its inspiration entirely from the ritualistic dances offered inworship of the snake-god, Naga, propitiated from pre-historic times bythe earliest inhabitants of the area. Those who have had the privilege ofwatching a Naagamandala, one of the most remarkable of such propitiatorydances, will be able to appreciate how close the resemblance is and howgraceful and various the wavy and serpentine movements characteristic ofthis dance are.

It is quite natural and understandable that there are several similaritiesbetween this kind of dance-drama and the drama traditions of the neigh­bouring areas. If, however, we examine these different traditions, .partby corresponding part, we shall find differences and distinctive pecularities.Take the system of singing, or the style of dancing, or costumes, or the make­up techniques ~ployed in each and make a comparative study, the indi­vidual character of each of these traditions stands out unmistakably. Forinstance in Yakshagana Bayalata there is dialogue but, the Kathakali,Ottanthullal and Ramanattam .traditions employ gesture instead: "Koochi"pudi is particularly full of these.

It may not be.surprising to note that Koochipudi dance seemsto havebeen conceived from inspiration drawn from Yakshaganadanceof Kanaraby its founder, Siddhendra Yogi (Siddappa), who, it is said took a 20-yearcourse of study in Madhwa philosophy and other shastras at the feet of HisHoliness, Sri .Narahari Tirtha Swamiji, of Udipi Mutt, in South Kanara.

SANGEET NATAK 40

During his stay in this district, he also received training in Natya Shastra.Udipi being the centre of Yakshagana dance form, it may easily be surmise~

that the yogi receivedtraining in Yakshagana also and that the later Koochi­pudi style which came into vogue in Andhra, was introduced by him on thebasis of his training in Yakshagana.

There is a type of drama. called Yakshagana in Andhra Pradesh;at least there was such a thing once. It is reasonable to surmise that long,long ago they used toemploy the Yakshagana style of music in the sedramas.

There is another kind of dance-drama known as Bhagavatha Melawhich is now being played only in Melathoor and its immediate neighbour­hood and which has an old tradition. The style of music adopted here isthe modern Karnatak music and the dance is excessively influenced byBharatanatyam.

There is no dance-drama tradition at all in neighbouring Maharashtraand so there is no question of a Maharashtrian influence on Yakshgana.Kathakali of Kerala is an off-shoot of the Ramanattam begun by theKing of Kottarakara (who lived about 1655 A.D.). It is the resultof a series of experiments with the Ramanattam system on the lines ofBharatanatyam. Any tyro can see that the dances here which can best beinterpreted as speaking through gesture and movement, have had absolutelyno influence· on Yakshagana.

Kolluru Mukambika Temple, founded by Adi Shankaracharya, atthe foot of the Kutachadri hills of Western Ghats in the northern part ofSouth Kanara district has been traditionally a famous pilgrimage centre forthe people of Kerala, who congregate in large numbers there during Nava­ratri. It is said that the pilgrims to this temple, which is a home of theYakshagana folk dance-drama, took with them vivid impressions of thisunique form of music and dance and the Raja of Kottarakara who heardthese descriptions was influenced to found the Kathakali Natya in Keralasubsequently.

The painting of the face in Kathakali follows the famous classificationof character into Satwik, Rajasic. and Taamasik while in Yakshagana,it is different. It is, therefore, clear that Yakshagana is an art conceivedand developedindependently down the centuries by the people of the KanaraDistricts on the West Coast of India. .

Let us now consider the main features of Yakshagana, Firstly, it isa dance-drama combining. dance and music. It must, .therefore, •have. astory, .a theme. .. The story is taken from the Puranas mainly dealing withthe ten incarnations of Vishnu and that is why this is otherwise. called.'Dashavatara Aata, The theme is. the triumph. of good over evil., of right .....

41 YAKSHAGANA

over wrong, of the gods over the demons. Each story is in the form of aminor epic containing about two or three hundred stanzas in the variousmetres mentioned earlier. These are set to music and sung by the Bhaga­vatha to the accompaniment of two percussion instruments called chandeand maddale. The maddale is a variation of the mridanga but the chandeor chande vaadya is peculiar to Yakshagana and is especially used in war­like scenes and scenes of terror. Each of such stories set to music is calleda prasanga and there are today about 125 such prasangas.

Devidasa, Parthi Subba, Venkata, Nagappaya, Rama Bhatta and otherfolk writers have composed a number of well known prasangas, influencedas they were from poetical works of Kannada poets, Kumara Vyasa, KumaraValmiki and others. All these writers belonged to the 17th century andafter.

So far as the music is concerned, though a few ragas are at presentin vogue, 80 known ragas have been identified by experts as having beenused. The main feature of these is their emotional appeal.. There aredifferent ragas to express the emotions of anger, heroism, pity, horror, fear,etc. An 'angry' raga accompanied by the frenzied beating of the chandeand the appropriate dance of the actor may resemble the challenging roarof a lion in a burst offury and have a blood-curdling effecton the spectator.The minimum duration of a prasanga is about 3 to 4 hours.

Although these ragas bear the same names as those in Karnatakmusic, they are entirely different in the mode and style of singing. Thederivation of the raga is so vastly different from that of Karnatak musicthat Yakshagana music is distinctly a separate system altogether.

Desi raga lakshanas have been touched by almost all musicologists.They opine that in desi thepanchamasvara is a little inferior and that it isa chaya of the marg ragas. The lakshanas of Yakshagana is referred toin the Kannada Chandra Prabha Purana (11th Century). According to itdes; ragas do not possess the refinement required to be sung to the accom­paniment of the veena and other instruments..• But this style has its ownrefinements. These ragas are known as chaya ragas according to some oldscholars. These are 'Sayam Geya' in the view of Ahobila and "Saayanhe­giyate flam Shadavaa", says Sangeetha Saramritakarata. The distinct 9features of Yakshaganamusic is that, though the swara prasthara may. bethe same as either Karnatak: or Hindustani style of classical music, thegamaka and alapana style here is unique. We have to be proud that thesudha Yakshagana music remains evergreen only in the Kanara districts.

This system istransmitted by the guru to 'the disciple,· who bas. todevote a lifetime of labour in order to master it. •As already. noted, themain feature of this system of music is its emotive power.

SANGEET NATAK 42

War-like emotions are derived by ragas Ghantarava, Bhairavi, Kambodietc. The ragas, Nilambari, Anandabhairavi, Todi, Saveri, Regupti, PunnagaThodl, Mohana Kalyani, etc. depict the emotion of sorrow. Madhyamavathi,Todi, Arabi, Sri, Shankarabharana, etc. depict pity. Nadanamakriya,Mukhari, etc. excel in the depiction of the terrible and the bizarre, andother ragas like Mechu, Kore and Davalara also are in vogue. During thecourse of the entire performance of the one-night session, the sruti will haveto be altered at least 8 to 10 times.

The second feature of the Yakshagana dance-drama is that there is nopremeditated prose dialogue. It is improvised by the actors and is basedon the musical stanza sung by the Bhagavatha. While the Bhagavatha singsa stanza, the actors dance and when he stops singing they interpret thestanza in the form of a diaogue or a monologue as the case may be. Thuseach stanza of the prasaga is elaborated and expounded by extemporedialogue. It may also be noted in passing that all female roles are playedby male actors.

Thirdly, the dance form of the Yakshagana is peculiar to this art.It is more primeval than refined. Like the ragas, it highlights primitivehuman passions and emotions, especially fury and terror. Theseemotions are more constantly evoked as the stories deal mostly with battlesand scenes of violence and carnage. There is various foot work. andmovements which appropriately express these emotions. The actors danceto the music sung by the Bhagavatha and to the resounding beat of thechande. In Bharata Natya terms, the dance form can be said to. beof the tandava variety, although there are lasya movements also.

44. -Entrance

Bharata's Natyashastra has in itself the various special features of thedifferent dance traditions of this great country, in more or less a codifiedform. The 108 karanas, the 33 pindi bandhas, 32 varieties of charts, niraal­amba charts, six sthanas, the prayoga nyayas-Bharatha saathwa, vaarshajanyaand kaishiki, while using the weapons, the atikranta,vichitra, Ialitha­shankara, suchividhdha, dandapada, vihritha, alaatha and other mandalasexpounded in jumps, the face-to-face. battle movements andpracharas are also identified in Yakshagana by Bharata Natya experts.These features are still preserved in the various Yakshagana troupeseven to this day. Instances •like, Gaya on his gagana sanchara, TT - -----.­

entering the dwaipayana sarovara, Arjuna starting out on the chariothis vijaya yatra in Ashwamedha Parva, Kaurava .on his ghoshayaatraand game-hnntingexpedition, Sita-Rama-Lakshmana fording theArjuna climbing the Indrakeela mountain, Babhruvahana getting

Illustrations: P. 43. Krishna in "Krisharjuna Kaalaga";Dharamraja, Bhima and Arjuna from" Voddolaga",

47 YAKSHAGANA

into the Patalaloka, lust ridden Keechaka entering his sister's vanithavihara,the last day's ratharohana scene of Kama, who at the same time is grief­stricken at the loss of his son and roused with the revengeful spirit againstPartha, depicting the contrary feelings of veera and roudraand such otherscenes which are exhibited in different footwork by the Yakshagana artistes.This will apply also to the trivida rechakas. The Yakshagana artistes, itmay be noted, did not become adept in the art by a thorough study of theShastra from books but learnt the art by hereditary talent and also by keenobservation and practice.

The theme for the prasangas having been drawn from Purana stories,in Yakshgana there is a special feature known as voddolaga, which presentsthe important characters" to the audience. There are voddolagas both fornayakas (heroes) like Rama, Dharmaraja and also for prathinayakas(villains) like Kaurava, Ravana and other rakshasas. The classical mudrasand footwork displayed by the important characters during this voddolagascene and partially hidden behind a curtain is something significant. Shiva­bhaktas like Hiranyakasipu, Ravana etc. very effectively display in tunewith the tala, the various daily ablutions and pujas offered to sivalinga.Hastamudrika plays a significant role in this type of abhinaya. Shikharamudra to denote heroism and authority. Mrigashirsha and kataka mudrato denote Danta Dhavana; pallava mudra for Bhasmadharana; pataka mudrafor looking at the mirror; mushti mudra for displaying strength, kartarimukhamudrato denote assurance of protection, are among the six importantmudras that could be noticed in the voddolaga scene. The. various charac­ters push aside the curtain and enter the rangasthala (stage) with footworkof the mixed type of tandava and tandava-lasya depending on the characterof the hero or villain whom the actor wishes to portray and also to depictthe essenceof the story. A very special feature of the voddolaga dance isthe bidithige (chande beats), which is different for each character who makeshis entry into the rangasthala. This feature of bidithige helps a spectator toidentify the characterin voddolaga, even from a long distance just by hearingthe beats. An experienced artist of Yakshagana who might be an adeptin the various techniques of the dance-form, learnt by either" hereditaryinstinct or by observation, many a times, may not be aware of the names orthe ·characteristic intricacies 'of •the various mudras, steps or footwork.They are ignorant of the laksanas or its history.

A very important feature of Yakshagana,bowever, is the costumeand aaharya abhinaya _ make-up of the actors.. It is at once beautiful,colourful, bizarre, as alsofrightening.•. The art of facial. make-up ormukha .. varnik, as this art.is called, has a long tradition. Different charac-

lilustra.fions: P. 45.• ·Karna and Shalyafrom"Karnarjuna Kaalaga"P. 46.·•• Left: Thehero-kzng•. Right: The demon-king.

SANGEET NATAK 48

ters have a different facial make-up. The most terrifying to behold is thatof the rakshasa character. The effect of fear and horror instilled in theobserver is to be appreciated only by seeing it. Words cannot adequatelyexpress the effect of make-up of such characters. Headgear and dressalso playa distinct role in the make-up. There are different types of head­gears for different characters, such as the hero, a king, a prince, a minister,a rakshasa, a kiratha, a gandharva, etc. The kore, turbans of kiratha­Gandharva's red turban, the impressive varnike of Rakshasa, Karna's blackturban, the kedige mundale (small turbans) of characters like Arjuna,Babhruvahana, Sudhanwa which are prepared afresh on each occasion,beautiful crowns (mukuta) of Hamsadhwaja, Kalamlabhoopa, and suchother head-gears have resulted in a valuable contribution of Karnataka-likeChalukya and Hoysala shilpa-to Indian art and cultural traditions. Dr.V. Raghavan, a great authority on Indology has to say: "Yakshaganamake-up is decidedly more graceful, richer and more closely related to theornamentation found in our sculpture than the Kathakali make-up."

A unique feature of the items used in the make-up is that they aremade from purely indigenous materials-light wood, paddy stalk, areca nutbark, bamboos, waste jute and cotton, etc. There are different kinds ofbhujakirti, arm bands, kataka, waist-bands, virakaccha etc. In fact,make-up is so devised that characters like Lord Krishna, Arjuna, Babhru­vahana, Ravana, etc. can be distinctly identified by their make-up.

Dress is generally of deep colours with patterns consisting of squareswith alternating colours. The most essential feature of the costume andornaments is the colour and glitter. The mere sight of it is thrilling to the.spectator who is transported to the glittering puranic world of gods andheroes and rakshasas. The Gudigars, a class of craftsmen of South Kanaraand Shimoga districts of Mysore State, have excelled in this art.

The total effect produced by the rousing music of the Bhagavatha,the rattling beats of the chande, the frenzied dance of the actors and theirbrilliant costume and colourful make-up combine to transport the spectatorin a risingcrescendo of music and dance to the din of ancient battlefieldsanddeeds of valour.

As the name itself suggests, Yakshagana Bayalata (bayalu - field;aata - play), is a play staged in open fields of paddy after the monsoonand the harvest has been carted home. The stage - rangasthala as it ispopularly known -is a square ground with a bamboo pole stuck in eachcorner to mark off the outer edge; its only decoration being bunchesoffresh mango leaves, green and tender, festooned from pole to pole••• About30 to 40 feet from this is the green room, chowki, in popular language.Here, in the blaze of torches, now fast being replaced by petromax lights ii,the characters do the make-up. It is a peculiar characteristic of Yaksha~ .

49 YAKSHAGANA

gana Bayalata that each actor acts as his own make-up man and servesro impart an individualistic stamp to the traditional pattern of design.The torches and the brown soil and the deep greenvegetation around, cano­pied over by the dark blue sky, provide a most enchanting backdrop forthe play.

The play is preceded by a few traditional dances to keep the audienceengaged as well as to allow enough time for make-up. In fact, the Yaksha­gana Bayalata is the only traditional dance-drama which is still observingalmost all the details given for poorvaranga abhinaya by Bharata in hisNatyashastra. Here it is called sabhalakshana. The first of these dancesis the dance of the kodangis, or trainees, and begins after sunset. This isfollowed by a prayer to Lord Ganesha. After puja in the chowki, theman who plays the Jester in the drama (Vidushaka) carries the image of thedeity of the rangasthala accompanied by the Bhagavatha and drummersand offers it ceremonial arati. The argument of the drama to be enactedis given at this moment through recitation of one or two brief songs. Thestage is then engaged by two small boys made up as cowherds (BalaGopalaka),and they dance for a while, and when they make their exist two femalecharacters come on the stage and do some fine lasya dance.

After these preliminary dances, the voddologa begins. Most of theimportant characters make their appearance in this scene, but they standwith their backs to the audience and dance behind a curtain which onlyhalf reveals them. Female characters do not show themselves in thisscene. After the Nayaka who gives the voddolaga finishes his dance alongwith his retinue and is seated on an improvised dais, the Bhagavatha veryrespectfully elicits a self-introduction of each character as also the back­ground of the story by putting questions.

The stellar role in Yakshagana is known as Eradane vesha (secondrole), because traditionally, the Bhagavatha plays the first role. Besidesthis, generally there are five other roles. Purusha vesha (hero), Sthreevesha (female role, heroine), Rakshasa vesha (demons), Hasya (jester) andMoorane vesha (third or minor roles). AIl these roles require intensetraining in dance and diction and background knowledge of the Puranas.The training is mostly by observation and by an expert in the art passingit on to someone in the family.

The most important person in the play is the Bhagavatha. It is hewho runs the whole show. .He controls, guides and directs every littlething..He is the Sutradhara without whose approval nothing can happen.It is he who sings the songs ofthe prasanga andit ison his rendering of themand on his appreciation of the subtleties and conflicts in the play that thesuccess of the show. depends. character makes obeisance to himon entrance.

SANGEET NATAK so

The play ends shortly before sunrise, with the rise of the morning'star in the distant horizon. The Bhagavatha sings the final benediction,mangala, offers aarti to the gods and returns to the chowki for prayer andthanksgiving to Lord Ganesha.

Every Yakshagana troupe is generally sponsored or patronised bya temple. Sometimes, to propitiate the diety for begetting a child, in timeof trials and stress, devotees offer to organise a dance-drama by the troupeof the temple. A show is organised sometimes by public subscription also.Usually, however, some rich man in the village invites the troupe to performfor the public on his account.

We have quite a large number of these troupes, or melas, performingat different places in the two Kanara districts. Only the following, how­ever, have taken pains to keep alive the beauty and grandeur of the tradi­tional style; Mandarthi, Arnritheswari, Maranakatte, Kolloor, Perdoor,Kateel and Dharrnastala melas of South Kanara district and Idagunji,Karkee, Ankole, Kondada Kuli and Gundibail melas of North KanaraDistrict.

Those troupes which are mostly maintained by the several templesin the two 'Kanara Districts are today finding it a strain to maintaintradition. On an average an artiste in a troupe is paid about Rs. 1,500for the six months he is engaged by the contractor of the mela (troupe).This is hardly sufficient for him to maintain himself and a family. Theowner-temple can make up the losses. But the temples are preventedfrom spending more on this account by the Mysore Government's ReligiousEndownment Act. So the artistes are either giving up this profession orturning to troupes who perform solely with an eye to popular appeal.

It is a pity that such a noble art as Yakshagana which, if performedin the traditional way, should give pleasure to and uplift a vast mass ofour people, should have come to such a sorry pass. Unless we give somethoughtto this matter and think of ways to keep the art alive, on the linesof the Kerala Kala Mandalam of Mahakavi Vallathol, we will lose this ...precious treasure. Kathakali is vigorous and widespread today mainlydue to the efforts of Sri Vallathol.

One of the greatest Kannada writers of this century, Dr. K. ShivaramaKaranth, has done, during the .last three decades a tremendous amount ofwork in field ofresearch about Yakshagana and also its revival in its pristinepurity.· His monumental work on this folk art has received world acclaim.Though he received somehelp from art lovers in his efforts to sponsor this_art in its traditional glory to suit the modem audience he could but touchthe fringe of the problem. He set up a training centre-for Yakshagana}tartistes at Brahmavar with the help of those who are interested in the tradi- .......•

51 YAKSHAGANA

tional way. Yet without adequate help such work would be fruitless.The Government or Akademi should help the trainees with attractive sti­pends in a central training centre. Yakshagana could also be introducedas a subject in schools like music, Bharata Natya etc. Research should beconducted to collect more material about this traditional art - about itsorigin, history and great past artistes and composers of Yakshagana pra­sangas. These prasangas should be published and preserved for posterity.A Yakshangana Lakshana Granth may be compiled and published. Andabove all, the still surviving traditional artistes should be encouraged to fosterand train young men with subvention for their shows. This is the onlyway that a future team of artistes could still be found for Yakshagana orelse the glamour of the modernisers will kill this traditional art. For­tunately an intelligent public still looks down upon the cheap modernisedshows. But this state of affairs will not last for ever.

K. S. Upadhayaya, Born in 1927 and educated at Coondapur, Shri Upadhyaya was attractedto the freedom movement in 1942. After completing his Intermediate in Scien.ce ar theMangalore Government College he started a small printing press and a monthly In Ktfnnadadevoted to art and culture in 1953. He was also associated with several local .,!eeklles tJ1fdcontributedpolitical and cultural articles.. He is the Correspondento!'PraJQ}'anl , t~premierKannada Daily ofBangalore. He has been associated for over 20 year:s in promotln~ f.Ut andcultural activities in South Kanara and Mysore State and was responsiblefor organtstng thefirst Yakshagana Troup to visit New Delhi in 1958 for Republic Day. He hasbeen asso­ciated with Inter-State Cultural Troupes. Exchange programmes ~ {ed the Mysore StateFolk Dance Troupe to the Delhi Republic Day Folk Dance Festival In 1968.

EXPERIMENTS IN FOLK DRAMA

Shanta Gandhi

The challenge of producing folk theatre for a contemporary audiencehas absorbed me for some time and through a series of fortunate co­incidences I recently had an opportunity of putting some of my ideas con­cerning the presentation of Bhavai of Gujarat and Nautanki of North Indiainto practise.

Choice of Plays

There are about 61 Bhavai vesha's (playlets) on record, of which about20 are still popular with traditional Bhavai players. Unlike Nautanki,the texts of Bhavai plays are not published. On the basis of a generallyaccepted outline of a given story, each Bhavai troupe presents its ownversion. While the relevant songs and verses are selected from traditionalstock, dramatic dialogue in prose is improvised by the actors. Dependingon the talent and the mood of an actor the performance of the samemay vary, not only from troupe to troupe but also from day to day, bysame troupe. This practice has made its form extremely flexible enablinga smooth transition from heaven to earth, from the sublime to the absurd.Actors can comment on a topical event while playing an historicalwithout appearing incongruous. If a village audience grows restlesswatching a long serious scene, a comic episode is brought. in withoutslightest hesitation.. although it may be quite irrelevant to the mainMany of these scenes are saturated with frank obscenity. After rell:ainllngthe attention. of their audience. the actors can glide back into. therupted main story. equally effortlessly. With mediocre playersbility can be disastrous to the structure ofaplay.

53 FOLK DRAMA

I had chosen the vesha of Jasma Goon primarily because the story hasappealed to me since childhood. There is an undercurrent of the dignityof labour and of human values which has significant relevance to our times.It was an exciting challenge to project the universal aspect of the story incontemporary terms for an audience. (Brief resume of the original versiongiven at the end of article in Notes on Text).

The only Gujarati-speaking cast available in Delhi being untrainedamateurs, it became imperative that I write out the entire script, leavingscope for improvisation within a well-defined framework, so as to afforda sense of spontaneity which is one of the charming characteristics of thisform. In doing so I relied on the inherent rasa orientation of its structure,however diffuse it may have become. (Brief note on structure of ClassicalSanskrit Drama in Notes).

Bhavai has an organic link with the tradition of the ancient uparupakas,like rasak, vilasika, bhanika etc. Some elements of one act rupakas likeprahasana bhava and veethi also seem to have survivedin thisform (SeeNote 2).

AIl performing art-forms developed in the ancient Indian theatrewere rasa -oriented irrespective of their being classical or folk (See Note 3).When our classical tradition was broken around the 11th century under theimpact of historical factors, folk traditions seemto have sufferedlessdamage.As compared to the rupakas the rasa structure of uprupakas was simple.It became looser in the case of Bhavai where Hasya rasa (Humourous mood)dominates even in the veshas with serious intent like that of Jasma Odan.

In this vesh if the theme of sati is to be brought out as is done by thetraditional Bhavai players, the Pradhan rasa (prime mood) should have beenKaruna (pathos). If. dignity of labour were to be projected, as it is in myversion of this play, then the Pradhan rasa should be Karmaveera (heroic,based on heroic deeds). Hasya rasa (humourous mood) usually weakensthe impact of Veer rasa, (heroic mood). Noble enthusiasm cannot beevoked for something that is ridiculously incongruent. The undue stresson Hasya rasa in Bhavai is due partly to its struggle for existence. But thefact remains that the domination of Hasya rasa has become one of the essen­tial features' of this form and any attempt to re-instate Bhavai must recognisethis.

I tried to overcome this problem by restraining the comic obscenitieswhere it could be done without destroying the robust, earthy quality ofBhavai and by balancing it with greater reliance on good humoured digsand satire. After the marriage of Jasma the comic character of Ranglabecomes a more direct participant and a commentator in my version,

SANGEET NATAK 54

This inherent ambiguity in the inter-relationship between the variousGauna rasas (Secondary) and the Pradhan rasa (Prime) of the play havetended to destroy the dramatic structure to such an extent that its impactis often affected. This may have been an additional factor that led to theprolonged indifference of the elite towards this form.

I made some effort to give structural compactness, in keeping withItS basic flexibility by the juxtapositioning of contrasting moods and byre-arranging episodes in a more defined pattern so as to help a clearer emer­gence of the theme of human dignity and labour. SmilarIy, I altered thebalance of different episodes and made a more sustained use of Nayak andRangla as linking devices in the tradition of ancient Arthopkshepakas.(See Note 4)

Having chosen this play for its contemporary relevance, I re-inter­preted some characters without changing their traditional image. Indra isportrayed as an intelligent sensitive man driven by the compulsions of hisconsuming ambition but who is also conscious of the limitations of a tor­tuous passion for power. In some of the traditional versions Indra is accom­panied by his attendants Black God (Kala Dev) and Red God (Lal Dev).I replaced them by the God of Time and Rangdev, the God of Colourrespectively. With these three characters I developed an introductoryscene before Indra confronts Nala Rishi with his proposal that the sage shouldgive up his tapasya (penance): This scene has helped to remove anobvious interpolation at the end of the play where a Fakir suddenly appearsto bring Jasma back to life in the traditional versions. This organicallyirrelevant character must have crept in during the Muslim period in Gujarat.

"Nala Rishi in my version when he is reborn asRudio (Rupaji inHindi version) retains his power of concentration and creative faculty eventhough his physical appearance isugly as a result of Kamkundala'sThe character of Nala Rishi presents a special problem because his tradi­tional image of a comic idiot is too deeply entrenched in the popular mindto make any drastic changes possible., I retained his comic aspect buttried to motivate it differently by making it the result of an excessively one­track mind. His unusual concentration on the subject of his specialisationand interest making him appear a funny, absent-minded oddity, to thecommon man. If an opportunity presents itself of producing this play with .a professional cast, I should like to further reduce the inconsistencies whichcontinue to cling to this character with the help of a capable actor playingthis role.: I feel that traditional performances have done him an injusticeby leaving his. rich potentialities. unexplored and· making. him one. dimen­sional.

55 FOLK DRAMA

Printed Texts

One is tempted to believe that if a firm tradition of printing the textsof the Bhavai veshas was established as in the case of Nautanki and a tastefor reading this type of popular literature is cultivated among the newlyeducated rural population the structure of this form would improve. Butthe example of Nautanki soon makes you think twice.

In case of the Nautanki play, Amar Singh Rathod, I came across pro­blems which were just as serious although they were of a different kind.There are flourishing publishing houses of Nautanki plays enjoying theloyalty of lakhs of readers. As a matter of fact the author-cum-publishersactively encourage the small groups of touring Nautanki singers to accepttheir printed versions of popular plays without charging any royalty, as apart of their promotional drive, recovering their investments through theincreased sale of the books. Many people go to hear Nautanki ratherthan to see it. This has. contributed towards the petrification of this formmaking its structure extremely rigid. This rigidity, with a tendency to dryup its dramatic potentialities, may come in the way of its further develop­ment. This structural peculiarity has influencedthe production style of thisplay decisively.

Of the two styles of Nautanki performances, Kanpuri and Hathrasi,the latterhas taken this process to its logical conclusion by almost eliminat­ing the scope for improvising dialogues in prose. Its text is in verse, attimes breaking into a song. Improvised dialogues in between the com­posed verses of the Kanpuri style sound stilted. Basic unit of this formconsists of verses written in metres following each other in a definite order,i.e, Chobola, Bahertabil and Daud with variations provided by metres likeChand, Lavani, Sortha. etc. This order seems to have become integratedin its texture.

Amar Singh Rathod (brief synopsis given in Note 5) is traditionallyplayed on two subsequent nights of five-hour sessions.each, to a villageaudience. This ten hour's duration had to be cut down to two hours, ifit was to become a rewarding theatre experience for an urban audience aswell. With a rigidly defined structure this became a difficult task. Theproduction was planned with a cast selected from professional Nautankisingers following the Hathrasi style .. Available<resources in terms offinance as well as talent had to. be kept in mind while re-orienting the script.Lack of adequate investment meant restriction on numbers as well as on thequality of singers to be employed. However, after cutting out repetitionsand irrelevant paddings from the traditional text, a clearer pattern of rasa­structure did •. seem to. emerge. .•• The first part of this play centres around .• itshero i.e. it is Nayak Pradhan withYeer rasa as itsPradhan rasa(Prime Mood).

SANGEEI' NATAK 56

Its second part revolves round its heroine i.e, it is Nayika Pradhan, involv­ing Karun rasa as its Pradhan rasa.

This dichotomy in its rasa - structure is unfortunate as it dilutes theunity of impact. In my re-oriented abridged version of the play Veerrasa with all its manifestation is the Pradhan rasa, strengthened by Gaunarasas like Shrinagar, Vatsalya, Karuna etc.

There seems to be no scope for introducing Hasya rasa in this particularplay, except perhaps by treating villains like Salavat Khan and Arjan Gaudin a lighter vein. With drastic cutting and editing the theme of humandignity which was scattered and buried deep in the traditonal versionsemerged and added to the cogency of the plot.

While' rearranging certain episodes, some verses interlinking themwere rewritten to make the exposition of the theme in a specific directionmore emphatic. Most of the verses said by Ranga were recast or freshlywritten to include relevant reflections on events.

In Nautanki, the traditional character of Ranga represents a detachedobserver of events, at times linking the episodes, very rarely commentingon them. I have made a cautious departure from this practise by increasinghis role as a narrator-cum-commentator. Usually the actor playing thisrole does not play any other character. I had him play more than one roleto introduce some flexibility within the rigid frame-work of this form.

Style of Production

With its emphasis on music, acting has been completely neglected byNautanki players. There is no movement of characters who become listlessas SOon as their singing is over. Even while singing, the emotional render­ing is generally sacrificed in an attempt to reach higher notes. Havingto play to large open-air audiences of thousands, all the subtle nuances arewiped out. This is perhaps. sought to be a balanced by the vigour of theNakkara (big drum) which is played at the end of each phrase in a songand also in-between the responses of conversing characters. Dependingon the talent, skill and virtuosity of the Nakkara player, the drum dominatesthe production as a whole. In an attempt to create an aestheticallytotal impact the Nakkara had to be made to serve the dramatic purposethe play, subordinating itself to the needs of the moment when necessary­This meant controlling the frequency as well as the duration of interventionsby the Nakkara player. As a result the singers became more alive toneed of expressing requisite emotions through their own voices.

A new acting style had to be evolved which' would bewith the characteristic structure and at. the same time be .easily as~;irrlilated

57 FOLK DRAMA

by professionals accustomed to just standing around with expressionlessfaces when they were not singing. I made them freeze in relevant poseswhile the Nakkara was playing in an attempt to create a series of picturesin the Bundi style of Miniature Painting which was used as a reference indesigning both the costumes and a simple transportable set for this play.With insistence on emotional rendering of the 'songs, inter-relationship ofthe characters expressed through sustained responses and with the statue­sque poses of the living frescoe, made significantly elaborate at vital points,a coherrent style of acting did seem to emerge, to which mobility was givenby Ranga in his different roles.

Required Restraint

In the case of the Bhavai play, Jasma Odan the problem had to be facedfrom exactly the opposite direction. Its over-flexibility had to be containedin a more defined frame-work so as to shape it effectively. This was doneby introducing precisely structured choreography at specificjunctures in theplay, while leaving the characters free in the intervening period. In thisform, there is a ritual element, realistic horse-play as well as stylised inter­ludes. An attempt was made to integrate these elements through simplechoreographic devices while clearly demarcating one from the other.Throughout the production it was the Satvik Abhinaya that controlled the.other three i.e. Angik, Vachik and Aharya.

While Nautanki has a real potential of developing into a full-fledgedIndian Opera, provided its structural rigidity is overcome, Bhavai canbecome an effective dramatic form of social comment if it can develop amore defined and polished structure.

As regards the other aspects of production such as costumes, sets,lighting, make up etc. the problems are common to both. The chaoticimpact of urban influence has resulted in the use of nylons, cheap tinsels andplastic beads, adding visual vulgarity to the general aesthetic deterioration.Costumes of both these re-oriented productions were based on the historicalperiod from which the stories are taken. In Jasma Odan the point of re­ference was the Jain paintings of the 11th and 12th century A.D. Over thecenturies the costumes of rural folk have not shown any marked changeso it was comparatively easy to balance the claims of the popular image offolk characters and the demands of the chosen period. But, our peoplebeing fond of using the whole spectrum of primary colours, to bring outany coherent and meaningful colour schemes does indeed become difficult.

While looking for indigenous fabrics and motifs for the costumes ofAmar .Singh Rathod I was made aware of an unexpected fact that the pre­ference in this respect is community-wise rather than region-wise..•Thecharacteristic· motifs of. different communities are to be found prevalenton the routes. of their·ancient migrations through centuries, overlapping

SANGEET NATAK 58

me provincial boundaries of contemporarypolitical maps; perhaps anotherpointer towards the inherent unity of Indian culture.

Nautanki lovers insist on rich costumes. I had to overcome consider­able resistance before persuading the singers to wear costumes made outof thick dosuti dyed, printed and suitably embellished with gold and silverbrocades to create a rich effect. Some of these costumes can be furtherenriched without taking away from their indigenous character if greaterfunds are made available.

Both Nautanki and Bhavai are open-air forms. While traditionalBhavai has retained its informal character, Nautanki has been using theproscenium stage with gaudily painted roller curtains for decades, probablyunder the influence of the Parsee Theatre. For the re-oriented version Iused six big boxes which could serve as a multi-level' stage during the showand as packing cases for the musical instruments, costumes and set-piecesduring travel. Besides this, two portable frames to serve as gates weremade which can be used for any Nautanki play by fixing relevant cut-outson them to demarcate two main locales in the play. This set can be put upanywhere on a regular stage, ordinary hall or on open ground.How­ever, Nautanki, has a special problem because of its music-orientation.It must have a roof over the head of the singers which could serve as aresounding board for their voices. While playing in the open, some sort ofa temporary pandal is inevitable.

Available electric lights were used in both cases to enhance the visi­bility as well as the changing moods of the play. In Jasma, characteristiclighting devices of wooden and cloth torches (kadas) were used by individualcharacters to spot-light significant moments. Electric light was made sub­servient to this lighting. Make-up in both cases was sparingly used. Therich variety in complexion of our Indian actors creates exciting contrasts.

Varying Backgrounds

Apart from these technical pre-occupations, the most rewardingaspect of this experiment for me was the opportunity that I got of workingwith actors coming from entirely different backgrounds and playing todifferent types of audiences within a short span of three months. TheGujarati version of Jasma was played by untrained amateur Gujarati actorsresiding in Delhi. A majority of them had not seen a Bhavai play beforei­but were familiar with the general milieu of the soil from which this form has

IIZustrations: P. 59. Traditional Bhungal players•. P. 60.. ' Left: Lord Ganesh Puja,Right: The dan.cer enters with lighted torches. P. 6.1•.Rangla (the clown) and M.a.'Y.ak(th..e.narrator). National School 01Drama, New Delhi. .. . ' .>,

65 FOLK DRAMA

sprung. Its Hindi version was acted by students from different linguisticregions (Kashmir, Punjab, V.P., M.P., Maharashtra, Andhra, Tamilnad,Kerala, Bengal and only one student from Gujarat) under training at theNational School of Drama. They were unfamiliar with the form as wellas its social background but were better equipped to understand the techni­cal aspects of this form.

For both these sets of actors the major problem was of voice pro­jection. They lacked the specialised training essential for building upnecessary peak points of emotional tension. But the uninhibited identi­fication of the first and the neat disciplined acting of the second team ofactors helped to convey the basic spirit of the play. Both groups were inenthusiastic agreement with the non-feudal tum given to the value systemthrough this re-oriented version and they projected it with conviction,to the totally different types of audiences ranging from rural to urban,sophisticated elite to building workers and jhuggi dwellers. They playedto purely Gujarati audiences as well as to non-Gujarati speaking people.They succeeded in evoking a spontaneous response in every case althoughthere was significant difference in the degree of involvement and its ex­pression. With the language barrier removed, identification of unsophisti­cated audiences was spontaneous and the response was overwhelming. The'unfamiliarity of form did not prevent them from responding to the essenceof the story. This is an interesting contrast to the fact that one communityof dancers conditioned to certain types of drum-beats are not moved tojoin the dance of a neighbouring community, dancing to a slightly differentvariation ofa given rhythmic pattern.

In the case of the professional Nautanki players the problem wasmore deeply rooted in the socio-economic milieu of India. Nautanki isplayed and patronised bypeople who continue to cling to the feudal valuesof life even in Independent India which professes to move towards modemscientific rationality. Traditional Nautankiplays continues to glorifyfeudal values. Through change of emphasis the re-oriented version hasattempted to project socially liberal and rational values. It took consider­able time to overcome the resistance of professional actors with a ruralbackground to these changes. Their resistance was stronger in the case.• ofnew social values than in the case of politico-economic values. Howeverthey. readily entered into the spirit of humanism via universally acceptedhuman values, irrespective of the purposeful selectivity and juxtaposition­ing of these values. With· the technical command over their .voices theprofessional actors succeeded. in projecting the values they.themselves were

Illustrations: P. 62. Above: Nala Rishi succumbs to the temptations 0/ KDmkUJUkJIi (left)Below: The wedding scene. P.63. Above: Jasma and her husband Rupaji -.Below:TheKing is rebuffed by Jasma. P. 64. Jasma becomes 'Sati":

SANGEEI' NATAK 66

not convinced of, with such powerful impact, that they evoked enthusiasticresponse from the sophisticated as well as unsophisticated urban audienceswho were deeply moved.

In the process of the preparation for these productions all the teamswere aware that they were under going a new experience. For each per­formance of Jasma Odan two players of the bhungal, (a long narrow trumpet­like instrument as indispensible to the orchestra accompanying Bhavai asthe Nakkara is to Nautanki) had to be called from a village in Gujarat.In all, three different pairs came to Delhi for this purpose. They werevisibly impressed by the choreographic element introduced in their tradi­tional form. They expressed a desire to include it in their own perfor­mances.

The confrontation of artists with different social backgrounds didcreate a stimulating situation for all concerned. Such a cross-fertilisationpromises to give.interesting results both in aesthetic as well as social terms;if the human problems inherrent in such a confrontation can be handledwith sensitive care. Sustained effort in this desirable direction involvessubstantial investment of finance as well as the dedicated energy of talentedaritsts.

NOTES ON TEXT

1. Jasma Ollan

A popular legend of Gujerat associated with Jasma says that in her previous birthshe was an Apsara (a divine dancer at Lord Indra's Court) named Kamkundala. Atthe command of her Lord she tried to seduce a sage named Nala Rishi whose successfulpenance had made Indra feel insecure about his throne. After attracting the sage, whenshe refused to live with him because of his ugly appearance, the sage cursed her sayingthat she should be reborn in the community of Od who eam their living by digging andcarrying earth for construction works. Furthermore she would have to marry the ugliestman from that community. The proud Apsara was mortified but not brow-beaten.. Shepromptly confronted him with a counter-curse that the sage who could be tempted, shouldhimself be reborn in the same Od community as the ugly man who she would marry;

Thus our folk imagination explains the basis of the. unusual love between 1asmaand Rudaji V'!ala Rishi) in terms of their philosophy which demands that each individualmust square his account on this earth, taking as many births as necessary in order to atonefor the wrongs he may have done to his fellow beings.

When Jasma goes with her husband to Patan, the capital of Gujarat to dig thefamous Tank of the thousand Shivalings (Sahastraling Talav) the king becomes enamour­e~ by her beauty and wants to marry her.. Enraged by he'r refusal to comply with hisWishes he orders a general massacre of all the Ods in which Rudaji also dies. Jasma C01IllIlltssuicide after cu.rsingthe king with the total destruction of his capital and the fearful·disea;seof lepr?sy. Finally, a Muslim mendicant turns up who brings all of them back to lifeand builds a mosque on the site of the Raja's palace.

In the traditional Bhavai play based on this legend, Jasma refuses to leave her husbandto m~ the king because the greatest virtue of a Hindu woman is supposed to be herchastity and faithfulness to he~ husband, Traditional Bhavai players, even today empha­SISe: thl.s theme m their improvised dialogues, but the ballad forming the core of this \,l!!y,which includes the duet m verse between the king and Jasma gives scope for emphasising

67 FOLK DRAMA

instead, the dignity of labour. After all, Jasma was a working-woman and the mannerof her refusing the king's tempting offers of comfort that his wealth could provide, showher pride in her work and the independence of an incorruptible mind moulded by honestlabour. .

2. Sanskrit Drama

Ancient India had its classical as well as folk theatre developing side by side. Theformer evolved ten different types of plays with complex and compact dramatic structureand subtle sophistication, classified under the collective heading as Rupakas by our ancientdramaturgists. The ancient folk theatre, on the other hand evolved about 18-24 dramaticforms with looser dramatic structures and broader character, collectively known asUprupakas.

3. Rasa Theory

Unlike Greek drama, Sanskrit drama has been indifferent to the conceptof the Three Unities of Time, Place and Action, but from its very inception it has insistedon the Unity of Impact. Inspite of developing several different moods inthe same playit achieved the unity of impact by choosing one of the moods as the dominant or primemood (Pradhan Rasa) of a given play. All the other moods were subordinated to thedevelopment of this dominant mood, and were made instrumental in strengthening thisprocess. The subordinate moods were called the Gauna rasas of the play.

4. Arthopkshepas:

Five types of Dramatic devices used by the ancient playwrights to inform the audienceof the relevent events off-stage, which are not enacted but knowledge of which is essentialto follow the story that is unfolding on the stage.

5. Amar Singh Rathod

Amar Singh Rathod is a popular tale of Rajasthan from its chivalrous medievalperiod. Amar Singh is Commander-in-Chief at the Court of Emperor Shahjahan, enviedby the other courtiers, especially by Salavat Khan, the Emperior's brother-in-law. AmarSingh is recently married to a princess of Bundi, named Hadi Rani. He asks the Emperior'spermission to go to Bundi to bring her back to his palace. The Emperor is reluctant topart with him but grants seven days' leave of absence on condition that he pays one lakhrupees per day for each additional day he remains away from the court.

On the way back from Bundi, while passing through a desert Amar Singh meetsNarshahbaz Khan, a Pathan Officer in the Mughal Army, who is dying of thirst. AmarSingh saves his life by giving him water from his own scanty supply. The grateful Pathanswears to give his life for Amar Singh if such a necessity should arise. They become life­long friends.

Taking advantage of the fact that fifteen days after his return from Bundi, AmarSingh absorbed in his new-found happiness, forgets to report to the Court, Salavat Khanpoison's the Emperor's mind against Amar Singh. Ram Singh, the son of AmarSingh'selder brother, is sent to Naumehala with the Imperial firman summoning Amar Singhto the Emperor's presence with the fine of rupees seven lakhs for his seven days of un­authorised absence. Enraged by the tone of this order, Amar Singh is rude to. theEmperor who in turn confirms the fine which Salavat gleefully tries to collect. Amar Singhkills Salavat and challenges the might of the Mughal Armies. The Emperor announcesa reward for the capture of the rebellious Amar Singh whom nobody dares to face on thebattlefield. Finally, Arjun Gaud, a brother of Amar Singh's first wife, who is now dead,comes forward to defeat him. •

After winning the confidence of Amar Singh and Hadi Rani, Arjun kills the hero onhis way to the Agra Fort through a sly trick. Shahjahan is enraged at the manner of hisfavourite Commander's 'death and punishes the traitor. He is worried about finding aworthy successor to Amar Singh's post. He decides to test the quality of the man beforeappointing him Commander-in-Chief. He declares that if the relatives of Amar Singhwant his body, they must fight for it, else the Emperor would bury him in Agra instead ofburning his body according to the Hindu custom.

SANGEET NATAK 68

Hadi Rani and Ram Singh try to mobilise support for this task but fail until AmarSingh's sworn friend, the Pathan Narshahbaz Khan comes to their rescue with his youngson Nabi Rasool. The Pathan dies during one of the battles but the war is brought to avictorious conclusion by his son, side by side with Ram Singh. The Emperor is pleasedwith their valour and dignity. He makes Ram Singh his new Commander-in-Chief andappoints Nabi Rasul to his father's post. Hadi Rani performs sati.

Smt, Shanta Gandhi B.Sc., T.D.; Associate of the Drama Board of Great Britain; studiedunder Uday .Shanka~ at Almora; founder member of Central Ballet Troupe, IP.T.A., underthe late Shri Shanti Bardhan; research in classical Indiandrama and theatre architecture:awarded U!VESCO fellowship for Theatre in Education 1959-60. At present. on the staffof the National School of Drama, New Delhi.

THE MUSIC OFKASHMJR

Mohanlal Aima

In music, dance and drama Kashmir, too, has its traditions. Historicalfacts reveal that from the 10th to the lith century,music in Kashmirenjoyed royal patronage; Khem Indra a popular poet of the 11 th centuryrecords that Kashmir possessed its own theatre. In Kalhana's Rajtarangini,which is a chronicle of the Kings of Kashmir over a period of about 2000years and the most authentic document of the culture of Kashmir, mentionis made of Maharaja Jalok (200 B.C.). He is known for the patronage heextended to music and to hundreds of musicians at his court. Maharaja I

Lalitadita, who came a thousand years later, is also reported to have sharedthis enthusiasm for music. Indra Prabha, the most celebrated womandancer of ancient times was in his court. Other Hindu ruling princes likeHarshdev also continued their patronage to music. Not only that, theywere themselves talented musicians.

Fresh Influences

During the Muslim era the music of Kashmir did not only thrive,but imbibed some influences from Iran, Arabia, Samarkand and Tashkand.It is in this period that muqams (i.e. ragas) like Araq, Baya, Isphahan, Segah,Charargah, Shah-Naz, Kohi and Ras-i-Fars were introduced in the musicof Kashmir. Some of the patterns of rhythm like Neemdoor and Turki Zarbwere also introduced during this period.

Every year, in the reign of Sultan Zain-ul-Abdin, a grand music con­ference was held in spring"at Bijbehara which is about 30 miles to the southof Srinagar. This was invariably attended by eminent musicians fromIran, Iraq, Arabia and. India (Deccan). Sultan Zain-ul-Abdin was a greatclassical singer himself and at one of these conferences, an outside musician

SANGEET NATAK 70

presented him with Sangeet Chandatnini, which is one of the most authentictreatises on music.

Sultan Hassan Shah who came soon after him did a great service tothe music of Kashmir. He had as many as 1022 musicians at his court;for the first time, books on music were written. Unfortunately none ofthese treatises are available now. It is also said that he once invited sixKarnatak musicians to popularise some of the Karnatakragas in Kashmir.

During the Chak Dynasty rule over Kashmir, Yusuf Shah Chak(1576) is famous for having shown a keen interest and enthusiasm forKashmiri music. His wife, Habba Khatoon, the renowned poetess­musician, queen and mystic, definitely added a fresh note in the tone ofKashmiri classical music i.e. Soofiana Ka/am.

With the downfall of the Chak dynasty, the music of KashmirIostits royal patronage and it received an obvious set-back. But musiciansand talented artistes like Soom Bhat, Shridhar Bhat, Mulla Ahmad, AbdulQadir, Mulla Jamil, Bahlol, Arnimal (wife of the great Kashmiri Persianpoet, Bhawani bas Kachru), Ayodya Bhat, Abdulla Shah and his con­temporary Khala Saib, Hait Saib, Pher-Bhat Munshi and Rahim Shahare known for their extraordinary work and talent in music. When Kashmirlost its freedom, its music was kept alive by the genius and interest of indi­viduals. It withstood the storm of tyranny and barbarism. It lighted thehearts of people through centuries of darkness and oppression.

Trends of Today

With the coming of freedom the art and culture of Kashmir is cominginto its own. The revival of its music is phenomenal. The music of Kashmir,as we find it today, is thus the result of a curious admixture of many aninfluence under different rules. Because in music, too Kashmir had toassimilate various foreign characteristics it has lost, in this process, some ofits intricate and subtle classical details. Unfortunately, for want of anexact notation, which Indian classical music also does not yet possess, themusic of Kashmir could not be written. Nor are there any authenticworks giving a comprehensive background of the music of Kashmir. Most.of the manuscripts that may be traced, are at best, a collection of the poetrysung to this music. The music of Kashmir has, therefore, been handeddown from person tc person. This too has made our music suffer. Butsome of its broad details and original characteristics are still retained whichhave tempted a s~udy.

Classical and Folk

Soofiana Ka/am is the classical music of Kashmir while the mainof folk music are Chhakkri, Bacha Naghma, Band Jashna (Wathore

71 MUSIC OF KASHMIR

Tambur Naghma (Rabab Chorus) Ruff, Wanwun and Changa display.Chhakkri, however, is the most popular of them all.

Soojiana Kalam possesses some unique elements. This form of music,is not only grammatical, both in its patterns of rhythms and the combina­tion of notes, but contains a rich literature, with deep thought content, ofPersian and Kashmiri poetry. The melodies, muqams as they are called,were sung to the accompaniment of a dance known as the Hajiz Naghma.This dance,was, till very recently performed by a female dancer - the Hajiz- who added a further ornamentation to the Soofiana music. This dan­cing part ultimately fell into the hands of professionalsand is now com­pletely out of vogue. The names of dancers, like Noon Kain, Babi Chatare still famous. The Hajiz dressed themselves in ghagra attire but theirhead-gear was different. It consisted of a profusely bedecked taich (a bro­cade cap) with ornaments generallyof gold and over it a chunni hung loosely;

It seems that this was not the original dress used by the dancers. Theauthor has come across pen-pictures of a 'nautch' girl which shows that theHafiz used the traditional pheran-and-shilwar-dress with typical embroi­dery over it and no chunni was used. Probably the ghagra came with thePathan Rule over Kashmir. Later this dress minus the head-gear was

. adopted in the Bacha Naghma of folk music. This is prevalent even atpresent.

Like the Indian Classical music Soofiana Kalam has a complete circleof muqams (classical tunes) which have to be sung at certain parts of the dayand cover the 24 hours in 54 main muqams. The names of some of themuqams are the same as the Indian ragas, i.e. Bhairvi, Jhanjoi, Kanara,Lalit, Bihar, Khamach, Kalyan and the like. Other muqams have Persiannames i.e. Isbhan, Dogah, Panjgah, etc. The origin of most of thesemuqamsis attributed to the sounds of the birds and so on. Kalyan for instance isbased on the voice of the dove, Surath on that of the kite. Khamach issimilarly based on the voice of the parrot, Lalit on that of the crow andDev Gandhar is based on that sound which is produced by a boat glidingover calm waters.

. In its talas, Kashmiri music has its owned metres and the bols of thetalas are different from Indian music. Prevalent among them areDuyeka, Sehtal, Neemdor, Neemsaqeel, Ravani, .Kukhamas, Chapandaz,Duroya,Yeka, Hajas, Door-i-Khafeefand Turki Zarb. All these talas havetheir own nomenclature and are read as dhish, taka, toon and so on.

Unlike Indian Classical Music Soofiana Kalam is sung in chorus andusually a brief Lahara known as the Shakal precedes the muqam. .Thisis, in a way the alapa of the muqam. Each melody is divided into two parts,the asthaee and the antara. The asthaee is called the zamin and the antara

SANGEET NATAK

is known as the bah. In style it resembles the Dhrupad Gayakee and thecharacteristic of tan, murki, zamzama and the like cannot possibly findscope in this form of music as the real stress lies on the set of songs to be sung

in each muqam.

Soofiana Kalam, though broadly based on Indian music has thus aseparate entity and a history of its own. Recently when I asked one of thegreatest living musicians the' age of this music of Kashmir, he said it wasas old as Kashmir itself.

Typical InstrumentsInstruments used in this music have also a pattern of their own.

Usually, the santoor, rightly termed as the "Veena of Kashmir", the sehtar,a miniature Indian sitar with frets made of thick thread, the saz, also knownas the Saz-i-Kashmir and the tabla (dukra) as it is called, forms its orchestra,santoorbeing the most important of all. In it, strings of It octave arestretched over a rectangular hollow wooden box and it is played with twodelicate curved hockey-shaped sticks known as the qualams. .

Among the forms of folk music Chhakkri is the most popular and maybe termed as the craze of the country.

Besides the placid lakeside, under the shade of rich mountains profusewith huge spreading chinars by the side of murmuring streams, rich greenverdures and in beautiful landscape, cut off from each other by the in­numerable hillocks of the Valley, the earliest seeds of its folk music havegrown and entered the very being of the nation.

For obvious political reasons this bounteous part of the world hasgenerated in the poorest human beings an unusual endurance and forti­tude. Its folk music has thus developed a predominant shriek the heaveor sigh, which have either been reflected in a longing of love or portrayedin a mood plaintive, woeful and melancholic. Sometimes it has chosento express helplessness and resignation to fate. But it has all along beenorthodox and keen to retain its melody and shown a bias towards musicalrhyme and ever-recurringrefrains rich in its alliterations and assonances.Most of its typical lyrics, have however been brief, musically abounding inrhymes and assonances and have often been put in a woman's mouth asa cry from her heart.

Probably like all folk musics, Kashmiri folk music has a simpleorchestra to accompany it. Generally ghara (pitcher) with ghungarusa sarangi (too crude to bear comparison with its Indian equivalent)tumbaknari (an earthen drum) form its entire orchestra. Harmoniumtoo has had its place, but is fast vanishing. The string instrumenthas actually replaced it. All the instruments have a primitive element

73 MUSIC OF KASHMIR

in them. Sarangi which obviously forms the main accompaniment istermed as saran and is barely a foot-and-a-half in length, and a couple ofinches in breadth. It has a very limited scope of surs. You can at bestplay the surs of one octave over it with a crude bow. But musically it iscomplete for its purpose as most folk tunes are composed on three notesgenerally from madhyam and often on a bi/wa/ atha. The folk tunes ofKashmir can rightly be termed as Trabendi (Tra : three) and Bendi (of note).

Emphasis on Rhythm

The most outstanding feature of most of the types in Chhakkriis the deviation from the usual type of rhythm you find in Kashmiri folkmusic. The doubling of /aya is done in a way which not only is simpleand pleasing but has given Kashmiri folk music a style of its own.

Usually a young boy known asbacha used to form an integral partof this type of music.. The bacha is a handsome musical 'voice' dressed asa lady who used to act the verses and engage the audience by some crudemovementsof dance while the orchestral interlude - jawab as they call it ­followed. This can safely be explained from the Pathan rulers Kashmirhad to cater to irr the 18th century. But this practise is almost dead nowespecially after the recently political upheaval. In any case it has fallenfrom grace. Recently the inspiration of Kashmiri folk music has veryproperly been exploited and has served a great deal in contributing to thestruggle of Kashmir. The results have been unexpectedly encouraging.The recent trends in Kashmiri poetry have also developed side by sidewith present-day folk music and are keeping pace with the changedenvironment.

M. L. Alma, a writer and critic has composed Kashmirl music for over 12 documentaries, someof them have won the President's Award. He has contributed music for 3 full-length films.Essentially a composer he has written a number ofarticles on Music in general andKashmiri .music in particular and at present is working on a book enti~led 'Sociology of M,usic' wi!hreference to the Music of Kashmir, Tashkent, Iran, AfghanIstan and North-Indian MUSIC.He is also working as Adviser and Composer ofMusic in Afghan Radio System where he wassent on deputation by Ministry ofI. & B. At present he is the Programme Executive (Produc­tion) T.V. Centre, A.I.R. New Delhi.

FORM AND VARIATION INRAJASTHANI FOLK SONGS

Dr. Shanno Khurana

The contribution of Rajasthan to the music of India is considerable.It has a rich heritage of folk songs which have been preserved among itsdifferent communities. The songs, as most folk songs, deal with humanrelations and everyday emotions and beliefs of people, and the variedexperiences of their lives. Not only is the poetic element beautiful andmeaningful, but even the musical element is most delightful. To a trainedear, it is a very systematic music, taking in its fold; hidden intricacies,glissand and nuances of the human voice. To a person knowing classicalmusic, the folk music of Rajasthan, depicts a systematic arrangement ofnotes, with special stresses, giving the impression of vadi, samvadi,notes aroh, avroh of our Indian classical music. Yet, with all the depthand richness it has, it is a spontaneous, free music.

In order to understand the different forms and styles, I shall dividethe songs in two regions of Rajasthan.

(1) Songs of Marubhumi, (Desert area)(2) Hilly area.

In the first, is included Jodhpur, Alwar, Bharatpur, Bikaner, JaisaImer,Shekhavati, Jaipur and the surrounding villages. In the second, songsfrom Mewar, Dhungarpur, Pratapgarh, Abu and Sirohi.

In Marubhumi area, one cannot help thinking that the credit of pre­serving Rajasthani folk music, goes to the professional singers, belongingto different' communities. Some of.the-names of these communities are,.Langa, Mangiyad, Kamad, Bhope, Sarangade, Mirasi, Patar, Kalavant.The Langas and Mangiyad communities specialise in singing song knownas Jangda.

75 FOLK SONGS OF RAJASTHAN

This is a metrical composition. The Langas sing Jangdas with theaccompaniment of Sindhi or Gujarati sarangi (a string bowed instrument,)while the Mangiyad community sings with Kamayacha (a string instrumentwith twenty-seven strings). It is only with these two instruments thatJangda is rendered. The rhythm for Jangda is established with the handlingof the bow.

The theme of Jangda is always that of love. The wife or loveralways looking forward to her husband's or lover's visit. Amazinglyenough, the text of Jangda proves that the singeralwayslooks ahead-neverbackwards. Its remarkable feature is that this form of song is always sungby men alone.

The Langa community has given names of differentragas to differentJangdas. As far as I have been able to examine, they are seven in number,

I. Soob

2. Maru

3.,--Sorath

4. Gund M'alhar

5. Todi

6. Kafi

7. Khamayachi

Before a Jangda is sung, a couplet denoting the raga is sung and thename of the raga is constantly heard in the song. The Jangda in seven typesof ragas is given at the end of this article.

After hearing these seventypesof Jangdas, I concluded, that the rhythmused consisted of a division of seven beats. It was neither Roopak norTeevra tala of our classicalmusic but as gathered, while the musician playedon the'dfwJqk, it was like this!

Intricate patterns of notes, turning into short taans are in abundancein this form. The short taans turn into lengthy ones,moving uninterrupted,in the way•. of words or rhythm, of the song.

One aspect, which one should not overlook, is that though some ofthe names of the ragas are similar to those we have in our classical music,they have no similarity in the structure or mode.of the raga. But at thesame time, the folk singers sing the particular raga it has remarkableuniformity.

SANGEEI' NATAK 76

The next form of song of Marubhumi is Maand. Maand connotes thearea of Jaisalmer in Rajasthan. There are four types of Maand prevalentin Rajasthan,

1. Soob Maand2. Sameri ra M .aand3. Asa ra Maand4. Shudh Maand

Some of the famous Maands are:

Soob orttrfu:rr Cfi\+iTSameri mfl m~ ~Asa ~~ aT 00 orrr cmftShudh ;rm:r mw <rnllT

'"The mode of Soob Maand is,

MP GM PD N-N.B NS-NN SR ~ ~ ~ SG MP

DN PD M P G M P D M P GM - - S G M P D G

Sameri .... .S R M P W. S - ill:[ SRGR R - - -- S N 0 P S, N

OPM PG (S R N S) P P N - P 0 M P R M

(The note of rest is Nishad. In some places Kamal Dhaivat is

Asa

N N S, NO PD MP R M POMP G R R S, R - M P D S--- -In Asa, only Bhajans are sung and tJ:ey are sung only in the mornil~gs.

Shudha

S GM PO NS N NN NO NS, NS, 0 ON PS OP MG SR GR CiS-'" --'. ..-' ---"'. ---" . -.:::; -' --' ....." --' --"" ~

Tala, in Maand is confined to 'Dadra (6 beats), Chanchar .(7Teevra (7 beats) and Kaharva (8 beats).

Regarding the style of singing aMaand, one could compare itThumri style sung in Northern India. In some portions of thethe .Tappa style is noticeable;

The third form of folk songs in Rajasthan, I should likethe heading of "Uniformity of tune but variety of words".songssung by children or RamBhanat These are some examples of

77 FOLK SONGS OF RAJASTHAN

. Songs of Adivasis

These songs are always sung in chorus. Really speaking this isspontaneous music. People find the words and tune on the spot. Therefrain is the same but the words of the song keep changing. In otherwords these simple village-folk, are both poets and musical composers.Whether in school or at harvest, these songs are very popular.

Bhanat songs are sung at harvest time. When a farmer has to cut thecrop, he distributes sugar to his fellow workers and then they all sing andhelp in the cutting process.

Songs sung by the Adivasis are very simple, the range of notes isvery limited. Usually, only sthai (the first line) of the song is sung. Antrais used in very rare cases.

The fourth form heard In Rajasthan, comes under the heading ofManglik,

Manglik songs are sung on auspicious occasions, like weddings andfestivals. They denote good wishes for the occasion. Banna Ghar; areare some of the themes. These songs can be described as "LogogenicMusic". One word, based on one note, is the usual practice. There isno tala in these songs but only rhythm. The range of notes is only fromthree to five notes. Choruses are more popular, hence the style of singingis very simple, though meaningful.

The fifth form, is "Religious Music". There is a variety of thesesongs. The main ones are (1) Vani (2) Heli (3) Harjas,

Religious songs are sung by all but there are a few communities whospecialise in this field.

Gadalia are popular singers of bhajans. Songs are based onShiva, Parvati, Lakshmi, Saraswati· and different gods and godesses.In Harjas and Prabhati, songs are based on Radha-Krishna. Dhuji songs,connected with Ramayana, are in plenty. These songs, as far as the tunesare concerned, are not very developed, but the religious element is so greatthat people sing them with great abandon.

Some of the famous songs.which are sung by women alone are,

lA"im~~m

lJiI1n" ;mr f.r:;:rrU ~

~ irtT <tmrr~~mU=t II

8ANGEET NATAK 78

In the same way there are a few songs, known as Nirgun Bhajanwhich are rendered by men alone. This type of bhajan describes the tran­sistory nature of human life. Songs by Mirabai and Kabir are alsopopular.

Folk Ballads

The sixth form is Kathayen or Ballads.

These are historical tales and love songs. Pabuji - ki - Khatha,Bija Sorath, Bhanwara-Bhanwari are well-known ballads. The entire BijaSorath is in Sorath raga and Bhanwara-Bhanwari is in Gund Malhar raga.

The seventh form is Natya Sangeet, Dramatic Songs.

The dramas or dances are staged with the accompaniment of songsknown as Khyal. Khyals are many in number, about three hundred havebeen published.

The literal meaning of Khyal is imagination. There are differentversions and meanings of this word. According to Devi Lal Samar,~ tJllT!iIT w:rcrr lii11'0li1 ~ CfirolT~ '11lf 11T+l"11: tm" I (Rajasthan ka LokSangeet Pp. 29). According to Shri Ram Lal . Mathur, in his paper'"Rajasthani Lok geetan men Khyal," songs sung with Ger Nritya on theoccasion of HoIi, are known as Khyal.

Some well known Khyals are 1. Gopichand Raja ke Khyal, 2. ChailaPanihari, 3. Ath kheeve Aamal ko Khyal, 4. Prahlad Bhakta ko Khyal,5. Khyal Dayaram Madvi ko, 6. Nene Kasham ki Khyal, 7. Khyal BiramSingh Nautanki ka, 8. Khyal Raja Risalu ko.

The language of Khyals is always Marwari. They are always basedon folk melodies. Singers are expected to sing in full-throatedThe style of singing is more difficult than Maand. Rhythm is slow inthis form. Only experienced people are able to sing in the correctThe accompanying instruments for Khyal are shahmar and naqqara.

There are a few songs known as Rammaten. There are also aof Khyals.

Khyal from Bikaner is very popular. Participants wearskirts and high turbans. Names of some of the famous Khyalare. Shri MotiIal of Bikaner, and Nanoo Rana, Ujira Teli from Shl~k1Jlvaltl.

Khyals play an important part when Nautanki or Rasdhari arethemes are historical or religious.

79 FOLK SONGS OF RAJASTHAN

Another form of Natya Sangeet is Lavni

According to Shri Komal Kothari, who has done some research onfolk music of Rajasthan, there are twelve different types of Lavni. Accord­ing to Shri Devilal Samar, the word Lavni means "becoming". Asfar as I can gather four types of Lavni are in vogue. Sadharan, JyanakiLangdi and Vashikaran. .

Some of the famous songs of this form are,

1.. Lavni Rangat Vasikaran

f,;Hl~l"lil ~~ <fiif"l'fl'-1\ilICi ~~ Cfim~m <fiTlT mel ~~~ Ul1 'flT <rTlT~wr ~II

2. Lavni Sadharan

lTm"Cj"\if ~;;r;rcr if <flG1ll +l\ilf~tt~I'11

a-u~ a'flT~~ <tiT~m'll1fcIT'1T

~~~01F~¥lrtmretT I~mWl"IT mn=ctc:o'flJilfl!~W~ etT II

3. Langdi Lavni

~etTqft;;r~~ ~q-~~~ <fiT ;ftm <rom qT f.ri;rffi~~

~~ +m: tJ1PIT~~+ffil+r w mr~ etT w:r qj;IT fcrq~~ 1\

~-~~etT~~~~~~~or@~~rchrflTt etT m:r~ f<ffi~~ 1\

(Words of above mentioned Lavni are from Shri Devi Lal Samar's Rajasthanka Lok Sangeet Pp-.27)

Lavni is rendered in different lokragas.

. We shall now take folk songs of the hilly or thePahadiarea of Rajasthan.This consists ofUdaipur, Banswara, Serohi.. Doongarpur and Abu.

Considered from·.both .angles i.e., musical·and· the textual form, thesongs of this area are very simple. •There is •lack of imagination both innotes and words. There is no ornamentation- or melodic. feature. Thesphere of notes is very limited only three to four notes are used.

SANGEET NATAK

Example

RS N - N S R - S N S R S R S, S (- -) S.. .~PTT ~ U lIT ;:ft ~ 'if 'IT q ~ Cf1it OfT <r<f<iT

80

Bhils of Udaipur, and villages of Sinhar near Nathdwara singsongs on Kali Devi, Chamunda Devi, during Navratri. These songs aresung by men alone with the accompaniment, Madal Dhak Tahali. Ifwomen do sing they sing separately, never along with the men. The talagenerally used is division of four beats. The Bhils tune Dhak (drum) in threeor four swaras or notes. This is done by tightening the rope which is tiedover the Dhak, The effect of this is likea a Tabla Tarang.

Amongst the Adivasis, a love story, Raraji, is very popular. Thisis rendered in very simple style.

There is hardly any rhythm in the songs of this area. Only one lineis fixed which is known as Tek. This style, we may accept as the principleof recurrent sound value. T!<I,!fu CIlT ftr.GRi. Other words are com­posed and fitted in on the spot, the song Vir is an example of this type.

The language of Bhils is Dingal. Themes of songs are varied, suchas the Sword the Arrow etc. other communities in Adivasis, besides the

• Bhils are, Garasiya and Sahariya.

From these few examples, it is obvious that Rajasthan is exceedinglyrich in folk music. Not only are there so many varieties. of folk tunes,but there are also many varieties of folk instruments.

In point of rhythm, grace, melodic variation individual expression,sublimity and grandeur of theme, there is hardly any folk music that canequal and none that can surpass that of Rajasthan. Some of thetunes of Rajasthan e.g.; Maand, Asa etc. have acquired the status and dignityof classical ragas. The ballads are a class by themselves and are matchlessin stimulating heroic sentiments. The folk songs of this area provide anextensive field for research workes, and in their exquisiteness of ~a,l",";lu

can delight even the most fastidious critic.

SEVEN TYPES OF J.ANGDA

Couplet 1. ~m W3~U~ ;;f@" t£l1lft \ilTc'f

R mrr.~,~ fu;r 11fu <mi II

Couplet 2. ~~ m<rT~~~~

mm~~crrol~ @";;f~ II

81 FOLK SONGS OF RAJASTIlAN

Couplet 3. w:r m ~~~ 'fi<:~~ U~ IIfcrJr;;r~~~~ \iflC II

Couplet 4. w:r mi~ 'fi<:~ IDlft mT~~~~~, tur'J;fertT~ II

The mode of Raga Soob is:

,~ 2M !.£N-~ N S-~ ~NNDN DP N NR D PM DP MG~ -=:..- --.::;. - ......,.. --' ...........GM PO SN DP MG R N S-----.", ---' ----' ~ --.-." ..::::::..----~S GMMG--N.QP MMG

In some places sharp fourth or tivra madhyam is used which enhancesthe beauty of the raga. This Lokaraga as 'I call it, is somewhat like ourraga kalngra in classical music.

RAGA SOOB

Jangda

~~oot~~

~ Pm mit ~ ¥l~I(I"I1 ~ ~~~~r

~ ~, ~ ~, ~ ¥ltfl(I"I1~ t~~~I

men:~oot~~t~ .... ""l.~IUI<i Pm m<r t, ¥ltfl(I"I1~ t

~~~

~~oot,~~t~ Pm m<l t, crrfu;rr~ t

~~~~~,~~ ¥ltfl(1"1 I~

~~~men:~ 00 t "I"l"'Il1~ t~ t Pm mer t ¥l~1 (jJli tttU t~~~

~~,~~¥ltfl(I"I1 ~t

~~WNotation

MP GMPDN---NR NS-NN SR........ .........-.=,.. --.:::;.. ---- . .: ---' -..;:,

mq- tf;r Ullf if S ;it S~ S· tf'f Gl1............ -.....,........ .......... ......... -- ..........

~NQ~~ .N1'JB. S-:-.~ Q.g. M9 .@!"USSS~ m~ifSPmm<f ~.'<m-- ......... -._----

SANGEET NATAK

(All the stanzas are sung to the same tune)

Couplet

Couplet

Couplet

GUND .MALHAR

~*' .m~<rir~1. <11~"II"';ylJT • •

~li~~WTT¥~1I

2. ~m'f>l":;icr€t~~~~~uufrm~,~~¥~11

3. ~a-~~f~ f<itllf(l41 ~~~ IffiI1lTI ~~ ¥ ~n: II

Jangda

~~~;ro;fT~~:maT: wf.f~~:;ittt~~~~~~~II

<Rtt~~~il"ri~ ortm t

mft cit~ ;f rnCfiA'iaT~~~~-t

~~~~;f~~11

maT wrar ~ ~ :;itt tme m<n: ~;.~ ~

m aT <r crt m<n: U 'm' -trrar \iff aT lTl"fli ;f~~~aTmrr~~~~~~,~~~~

maT ;wr;l~~ :;itt~ I

Notation• • •

@ N, NN SN S - SN SN PG MP. ---- - ---,!ITO tIT, ~ 00 <PIT cnr <rir maTs s- ~ --""-- -:.-----

DN, N SN PG G MG, M MR-RR, R~......::::.~ ~-~<r Cf, -t tITIf ft if ft lIT S, S . c:'( S UemIT--- - - ---

83 FOLK SONGS OF RAJASTHAN

MG-PMR-PNNP GP M DP MGR---'- - -.:::;:...- - --mSSS ;ft S l:frIVT':' ~S tt ttS SSS

R - MP, MG RS,NS RMMG RS GR SNS- ~---'--~ S if) S S S if· S S S lJ"{, m: S ss ~ S S iJ7it- - -----' - - ---'

The mode of Raga Gund Mahar is like this:

N N S N P M PM G R, N P, M P

M G R, R N S.

D P M P G M, P N P M P M G M

RAGA SORATH

Couplet .1. ~;;ror ~T ~,m @"~ ;;rp:r;ur mr~ ;ur ;ui lft5T~ II

C'\ • C\. C'\

Couplet 2. ~~ avrTfu;rit~w lliG<rrlrnfTlrT~or<pr ~~ <flT~ fWllI

Couplet 3. ~;nf~~~m:nft ~ mmro 'U~ \i<j,~ \1?m 'Wr II

The mode of Raga Sorath is

N N S, N SR S ~ - P, M P M R,

!iP MP MR R R GMP-RGM­

MPN -S,RSNP DDNRNP--. ---

MP MRRGM __ -

RAGA! MARU. ,GM QNS. NQP,GM MG---. . ..... .S!.--SNSRNS& GMQN--N, Q.M M G, G M pOD M P-'""""

Couplet 1."fCfiCIT~ 'll1''1mHtl~~~"fTCr~~~mi~~ il'lilA" II

RAGA TODI

Couplet I. m ~ 'UflruiT,~~ otor~.~~ ftur lft5T mr<m: .11

"SANGEET NATAK 84

Couplet

Couplet

Couplet

2. ~~'fiTO"1~~~ m<r~~<f~,~~Gfl'l11

3. Uf;rr ~ ;rur \ifT'f i ~~ 'fiTO00 'lfta m ft,~ fir<: t:r<: Gll"C: II

4. ~aT If! fu1:~+ftU~f~~

JA.l~GDA .

qf;r,~ ttrcro Cfilufr 'fT+f~

~~t~: maT: ;;nuT qor '<R~:t:~mlfif~

<:fu<it "U'if~~~u~t

<:fu<it "U'if~~~~~~.<mr

Cfli'r :m.n- ~ ~"ij' t: maT: '+Ii'fi +mi mm~:t: ~~lfif~t

<:fu<it "U'if~<:i WT~ f.r<m;r t

<:fu<it "U'if~. II

~ zrrrrn~~ fqurr~t~ tlfTfum

w~iPi~:t:~~lfif~t

~"U'if~WT~ f.r<m;r t

<:fu<it~~~ ,~ lTfu, tftiT~ tron1Jf~~~mwrr

~~~t~~lfif~t<:fu<it _ .

.. ..:+ "' "U'if~~ ~I I:9lf<fill1t .....

<:fu<it "U'if ~"

Mode of Raga Todi:

RPM G S N S R S, G M P D N S

RNDMP-S R~·D PD"MPDP

RPMG SNS

85 FOLK SONGS OF RAJASTHAN

RAGA KAFI

Couplet

Couplet

Couplet

Couplet

1. CfiM'ir~ lJi<:rurr, fm cf; l1<Sf~~ ;;nclll"W1fcr <fT'I) m"''liT ifN II

2. ~ t:lIlm ~if 'fiT tfTcruT~ ¥TUTtfTcruT qffi fu'fi~, WR~ ¥ ~Ff II

3. 'fi'T'C 'fi'T'C~ Cfifr~~ 'fit ijh:~ if'f mcrufr aol~ ;rufr ;f~fR II

'"4. \iflT f~~ st wrur ar3m:~~~~iflT'9ffi~~~~ Ie

Jangda - 'Jhalo'

Rrom:~~ fof;ur ;;fT Wrfrfof;ur ;;fT fop<iT~~~.~ =t q;f;:r~ fof;ur ;;fT ~T II

m:r =t liN ~T=t<fit~~~mq=t

Wf':~~~~=t

~fw~'+!im"T~ fof;ur ;;rT fop<iTfof;ur ;;fT Wrfr, mft~"""iW""'fliilrF.f(nT~ =t oR =t ~~ fop<iT ;;rr Wrfr II

~~~ fof;ur ;;fT fct;<:itU<f~ =t <rtm tT =t

qqiT fln;ilr fermlf =tWf':~=t~~=t

~W~=t~ fof;ur ;;fT .fct;<:it

fof;ur ~ fct;<:it m{~'1cF1f€l~ =t oR =t ;N

~ fop<iT ;;ft fop<iT II

~~~ fof;ur ~ fop<iTl:IITU =t~~~

~::r.TT ' =t... \\~l~...if'f 'fit~ =t~ =t

;;rr;l~ =t ;;r(1f =tm:IT~ fof;ur ~fop<iT

fof;ur~~m{~~ fof;ur~ fop<iT, Rrom:~ f.fUr~ Ri<:IT II

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