Indian music traditions
Hindustani and Carnatic classical music, their theory, instruments, gharanas and saint-composers, with the UPSC-relevant facts and PYQ angles.
The Sources and the Grammar
Indian classical music traces its theoretical foundation to the Samaveda, whose chants are regarded as the earliest organised musical expression of the subcontinent. The first systematic treatise is Bharata's Natyasastra (c. 200 BCE–200 CE), which describes the 22 shrutis (microtonal intervals) and the jati system that preceded ragas. The decisive medieval text is Sarangadeva's Sangita Ratnakara (13th century, composed at the Yadava court of Devagiri), revered by both the Hindustani and Carnatic streams because it predates their bifurcation.
The two systems diverged from roughly the 13th–14th centuries. Amir Khusrau (1253–1325), attached to the court of Alauddin Khalji, is traditionally credited with synthesising Persian and Indian elements and is associated with the qawwali, the khayal, the tarana, and the invention claim of the sitar and tabla (the attributions are traditional, not documentary).
Swara, Raga, Tala
The saptak (octave) comprises seven swaras: Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni. Sa (Shadja) and Pa (Pancham) are achala (fixed); the rest are vikrit (variable), yielding twelve semitones.
A raga is a melodic framework defined by its ascending (aroha) and descending (avaroha) movement, its vadi (dominant note) and samvadi (sub-dominant), and characteristic phrases (pakad). Ragas are linked to times of day and seasons (e.g., Bhairav at dawn, Megh Malhar with the monsoon). A tala is the rhythmic cycle; the common Hindustani Teentaal has 16 beats (matras) in 4 vibhags.
The Two Streams
The Hindustani tradition of the north absorbed Persian and Central Asian influence, emphasises improvisation through the slow alap–jor–jhala progression, and organises ragas under the thaat system of ten parent scales codified by V.N. Bhatkhande (1860–1936). Principal vocal forms are dhrupad (the austere older form patronised by Raja Man Singh Tomar of Gwalior, late 15th century) and khayal.
The Carnatic tradition of the south, more composition-centred, is built on the 72 melakarta (parent raga) scheme systematised by Venkatamakhin in his Chaturdandi Prakasika (1620). Its core form is the kriti, and a concert (kacheri) culminates in the elaborate Ragam-Tanam-Pallavi. The Trinity of Carnatic music—Tyagaraja, Muthuswami Dikshitar, and Syama Sastri, all born within a few years around 1762–1775 at Tiruvarur, Tamil Nadu—defined its repertoire.