Hindustani music is identified with North India. The system is more vigorous and masculine, as compared to the South Indian Carnatic music.
Though both these systems stem from the very foundation of Indian ragas known for its unique characteristics of emotion- inducing oscillatory note (swara or sur), the northern system faced the rugged, aesthetic trades, brought in by the inward movement of peoples from the North Western parts of the subcontinent through the Khyber and Bolon passes.
The ‘masculinity’ determinism and directness, in the Hindustani recital (as compared to the ‘femininess’, non threatening and ‘round aboutness’ one witnesses in a Carnatic recital) reflects the influence of the hardy men and women who, braving the the severest of climates and treacherous terrains, manage to land in their ‘ Paradise of Dreams’.
The immigrants belong to a motley group : scholars, soldiers, daredevils, religious travelers, traders and those who were in search of of greener pasture.
The ruggedness in aesthetic traits that come with such immigrants, brought in certain welcome vigour and vitality to the already existing native music, which was becoming more and more cerebral with the ageing civilization of the subcontinent.
With the shaping up of this new system of music later come to be termed as ‘ Hindustani’ ( mainly to distinguish it from the Carnatic citadel of pure Indian music, celebrated in South India), Indian music achieved a sort of welcome change.
Though this ‘hybridization’, spontaneity was infused (through elaborate alap of a single raga, developing for hours!), oscillations of sur was regulated ‘to the point’ and mellifluous melody was kept at centre-stage, though tal was never ignored. This ‘de-cerebralisation’ of Indian music had a better mass apparel as compared to the intricate and complex original system, which was more restricted and snobbish.
The secure peninsular India, retained the original purity partly because of the comparatively peaceful time witnessed by the people here – historically.
There was also certain conservation among the scholars here who had emphasized the need of adhering to the ‘pristine purity’ of the original music.
This was quite easy as the religion came to be linked with music.
‘Music was for gods and not for sultans!’ was the popular approach by many a vaggeyakara here.
Unlike the commoner or court-oriented music of the North, Carnatic music was restricted to sacred portals of places of worship, sung with full devotion.
Innumerable saint-musicians inculcated bhakti in music along with a kind of verbosity, choicest of words, not witnessed elsewhere.
Gods and goddesses were addressed by their names, which could run into thousands. Their exploits as celebrated in legends and mythology became the perennial theme for the poets and the performers.
This was unlike the Hindustani system, which by and large, explored the syllabus often through clap, tarana and taan as a form of expression sans words or sahitya.
The System Traits
A comparative account of both the systems is given in a nutshell in the following table:-
| Carnatic | Hindustani |
| Practised and popular in the peninsular India | Practised and popular north of the Vindhya mountains. |
| More formal, structured and therefore more rigorous in its concepts and methods. It has a well-defined and codified grammar and a veritable treasure-house of kritis(musical compositions). | Less codified and usually based on manodharma sangita. Improvisation is the key-word. |
| Raga logically and elaborately classified. | Classification of ragas, much simpler. |
| More stress laid on bhava rather than melody or voice culture. Hence somewhat less popular among the masses. (Note: this trait is somewhat changing for the last few decades). | Stress laid on voice culture and melody (total alignment with sruti). Hence more melodic. |
| Excessive stress based on gamaka or graces, which bring out a feminine quality. In other words, oscillations of notes are quite frequent. (Note: How the oscillating notes of Nilambari are made use of in lullabies!) | Taan, the fast-paced torrent of music ideas expressed using only akaaram, reflects a more masculine approach. (Note: Less oscillation of notes here as compared to the Carnatic system). |
| Greater use of intricate rhythmic patterns using solfas is quite popular | Limited use of solfas. |
| Use of kalpana swaram somewhat less, as less time is allotted to one raga. | Tremendous possibility as more time is devoted to one raga. |
This article was published in Bhavan’s Journal, July 31, 2005 – Pages 70 to 72
Edited by Geeta Shreedar, Mar 31, 2021