Indian music: Hindustani & Carnatic systems
UPSC lesson on the Hindustani and Carnatic systems of Indian classical music: raga, tala, gharanas, instruments, key texts and exponents.
A single root, two streams
Indian classical music traces its theoretical foundation to the Samaveda, whose chants set the melodic seed, and to Bharata's Natyashastra (c. 200 BCE–200 CE), which codified the 22 shrutis (microtonal intervals) and the jati and grama systems. The medieval synthesis appears in Sharngadeva's Sangita Ratnakara (13th century, composed in the Yadava court at Devagiri), the last great text recognised as authoritative by both the northern and southern traditions before they bifurcated.
The split crystallised after the 13th century. The Hindustani tradition of north India absorbed Perso-Arabic and Central Asian influence through the Delhi Sultanate and Mughal courts; Amir Khusrau (1253–1325) is credited by tradition with the sitar, the tabla and forms such as the qawwali and khayal. The Carnatic tradition of the south remained more text-bound and devotional, consolidated by the Sangita Saramrita and especially by the codifying genius of Venkatamakhin, whose Chaturdandi Prakasika (1660) established the 72 melakarta (parent scale) scheme still used today.
Raga and Tala: the twin pillars
Both systems rest on two organising concepts. The raga is a melodic framework—a set of ascending (aroha) and descending (avaroha) notes, characteristic phrases (pakad/sancharas), and emotive identity—built from seven swaras (Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni). Hindustani practice organises ragas into ten thaats (Bhatkhande's classification, early 20th century) and assigns them to prahars (times of day) and seasons; Carnatic music organises ragas under the 72 melakartas with their janya (derived) ragas.
Tala is the rhythmic cycle. Hindustani talas (e.g. Teentaal of 16 beats, Jhaptaal of 10, Ektaal of 12) are marked by tali (claps) and khali (wave); Carnatic uses the suladi sapta tala system of seven talas with five jatis, generating 35 combinations, counted on the fingers and palm. The Carnatic mridangam and Hindustani tabla are the principal percussion partners.
The decisive distinction is emphasis. Hindustani music privileges improvisation and slow elaboration—the unmetered alap, the jor and jhala—giving the soloist vast latitude. Carnatic music is more composition-centric, built around the kriti and the structured raga-tana-pallavi, with improvisation woven tightly around a fixed text. Hindustani performance foregrounds the individual; Carnatic foregrounds the composed song and its devotional content.
