Ube Journal Of T L h e flftustc H cabem g /Ilbabras. A QUARTERLY DEVOTED TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF THE SCIENCE AND ART OF MUSIC. ^OL. !•] JULY 1930. [NO. 3. THE INDIAN MUSICAL SCALE: ITS DEVELOPMENT AND CONTINUITY. BY HULUGUR KRISHNACHARIAR, BHARATIYA SANGITA SALA, HUBLI. llany scholars have written on the sub­ show distinctly the continuity of the de­ fund tried to prove the continuity of the velopment nor drawn the lines of demar­ ^relopment of the Indian Musical Scale, cation between one period and another- [attempting to show this continuity many Thus though we have many references from ive had recourse to arguments drawn from the Vedas, Brahmanas, Upanishads and ,jr imagination ; some have tried to ana- Pralisakhyas and from the ancient works of sc the actual notes used at present in Panini, Katyayna, Patanjali and Yajnavalkya aging Sttma chants and to record them. and many references from the works or whether the present mode of singing music proper, no research scholar has pro-: •mis a true reproduction of the ancient perly interpreted them to produce a reliable •tbod may be questioned in the absence history of Indian Music. Without any pre­ lound and satisfactory evidence. How- tensions to finality on 'the matter I now <r there is a persistent tendency to be­ place before the public my views. ne that the Indian art of Music is derived >m the Sama Veda. This statement is Origin and the first stage of the inimously made by every ancient sati- usage of Musical Sound. :it writer on Music, such as Bharata and I do not propose to discuss what consti­ tutes a musical sound as that has a uni- ■inujaili’ca in their Natya Sustra and San- < tkalmikara respectively. While modern versally accepted significance and there is olurs have found out all the references no controversy about it. In Sangita we find Tiusie in the Vedas and other Sanskrit two words and about which many Its, which point to various stages in the scholars'have been misguided and arrived lutfon of the art, they have not distin- at wrong conclusions. may be appli-' M the successive periods so as . to cd to any sound heard by the ear.as its root THE JOURNAL OF THE MUSIC ACADEMY 158 THE INDIAN MUSICAL SCALE 169 meaning shows, sj, to hear, Sjfo, that which higher is q qr-q and the lower J j^npletion of the Rigveda and is therefore the fundamental and the note at the end of is heard ; and may be applied to a sjfq Looking to the development of the [‘nearly 3500 B. C. the third interval, and <_qf-J implies muscial sound, it is not possible to c< the note coming at the end of the seventh ( sound) which is beard uncbaDgiDgly flow­ The third stage ing to a certain extent of time. So is that the authors of the Bichas ori| interval, in other words, the octave. From composed all of them with the risiaj musical sound andqffqis musical sound >flie period as proved by the above mention- the above quotation it is clear that the Samic falling sounds as at present. The Rit led scholars falls at about 2500 B. C. because scale was repeated in three ways—from and ordinary sound both. But the ancients the prayers to different Gods of Ijl has been proved that Taithiriya Samhita have chosen the word for of the R, q which are the bases for the higher and and the composers of the Bichas Last have been completed by that period. later period and used it in the same sense. lower registers or octaves. The repetition they become more audible and agrees,] Ifhe doubt may arise as to why 2500 B. C. To denote all possible musical notes in a of the scale with r or q as fundamental reciting in consonance with one fixei ■ibould be taken as the period of the Santa scale this word is used in a technical with its component notes unaltered in pitch than otherwise and that this fundai |fgia Samhita if, as is stated, it marks the sense and out of such settled ^f^Ts a and order gives us three different scales— note should be common to all perso; smpletion of the Taithiriya Samhita. The which is the result of the development of few are chosen to form a Raga, only the join in the prayer service at the sanr leason is this. The verses of the Santa Veda ^r r r TR. Until the phenomenon of the q ^ ; notes so chosen are named as ^q^s; the And as the lengths of the syllables; 'amhita have not been independently com- ^qq; was noticed by the ancients they did rest are ^ { rs which are not used in the Bichas had been definitely classifii iosed. Out of the available Samhita we see same raga. Properly there is no distin­ g^q, i^q and qgq they were able Lost of the Bichas, about 1800 have been not term the notes q , R and q as ^q ction between and ^qr as adopted by form their services most harraon: Iborrowed from the Rigve-la Samhita except This system might have been current dur­ all dlas sical authors. Out of the definitely The effect of this harmony encouragei few about 75, which have been inde- ing the period between 3500 and 2^00 E.*C.- set(led srfqs those chosen as being essen­ to make further investigations ini Ipendently composed. If we take this fact In the later period this system was modified subject and they fixed on the mode i and a scale of 7 notes was fixed by means tial to form a raga are agreeable to the ear, consideration we may judge that a ing the verses in three different n of the measure 0r ?T. while the others are not, but may play the eriod required to complete the Rile Samhita already stated. This system was ■issufficient for translating the same into a the same part in any other raga. Hence The usage of the Sama scale with me­ mously accepted by all the Vedic wr ■notation adopted for Sumo singing. So we the agreeaKeness of a set of Sjfqs in a thodical progress by means of 7 fixed notes the subsequent periods. So we arriy [arrive at the conclusion that Taithiriya and particular raga is later on described by the falls between 2500 to 1400 B. C. which is the following conclusion Santa Samhitas are of the same period, i. e word ^q^ on account of its contribution to the Brahmanical and Upanishadic period. COO B. C. The first stage of usage of musical We have sufficient evidence from the Bra- the formation of a raga and its pleasant 'Santa Gana is distinguished by the addi­ synchronises with the first period hmanas and the Pratisakhyas to confirm the e ffect on the ear. ^qq: tion of new notes to the Rffq$r system- Rigveda and this period according tppc (%. t. \ 3T.) above fact. There is a passage in Tandya researches of the late Lokamanyar Various notes were tried until a certain Maha Brahmana (1—1—3) which runs as f So whenever the word sjfq occurs in Tilak and Pandit V. B. Kelkari pote was found to combine very agreeably follows:— connection with music it is not distinct 4500 B. C. * The musical system with the fundamental. When, this pheno- rT?7T^ qq- from ^qv; which is sinrply used with respect period is described by writers as nenon of ^ qftqR fq was noticed it was jftqfcr, qtsq\qr st«i r *r Rg«rr, qnseffra^r to the notes of any particular raga. t i m or . Vid« bed as a measure for fixing the relation of |Jie new notes. UErqfcRirGT, q^rqi, qsrgq*q We can now take up the 1st stage of de­ sita * & \-\ -\ . velopment. Vedic literature is the most n srrtg I II also wRn is a term used by the later writers, ancient authority we can find in order to *US'9T^eWt‘Srarqt qR^qqqt i ' 3T, K— |fier the scale of 7 notes was fixed. Before trace the sources of all kinds of Indian lear­ it was termed as q-g:^q^T or grig: In the above passage the author men­ ning- If we look at the hymns of the Rigveda. i a n f W = 7U. Evidence for this may be found in tions 7 notes and gives an imaginary descri­ the most ancient of the Vedas, we find that The second stage. vnjita Ratnakara. ption of the inventors of all notes descend­ there are three different sounds uised to ing from the note, the highest in pitch of recite or sing the Bichas and ther are named The second stage is or the sin the scale. Notes have been mentioned in as . the JTYIrT, and ^qftcT. The of Bichas in the manner customary.at i JT^f^JTffsrq-f^TiTTT etc. Here their respective order and not by their tech-' t~Ri jddje ineanSjtJhe harmoni^chord between nical names. They are .. 160 THE JOURNAL OF THE MUSIC ACADEMY THE INDIAN MUSICAL SCALE 161 1st is qjTTarJT which means the highest 7 notes is Samika. There are some} or and as stated T 3:4 ^ 3:4 >T 2nd is the 1st of the remaining ptional examples /raises of scales in j„ the previous para, if 2 such chords are 8:9 7 3:4 W 3 :4 8:9 T 3rd is the 2nd „ „ „ which take more than 3 notes of the combined the scale will be complete and iS| system and more examples of these ra^ 4th n 3rd ,, ,, ,, c}||ed the Sama saptaka.