Month: June 2016

                                     STORY OF MUSIKAR OR DIPAK LATA

        Indian classical music is believed to be a divine art which originated from Hindu Gods and Goddesses and is known as Naada Brahman.

The traditions most often referred as music is descended from Brahma, brought into vogue by Mahadev and Narada and performed by the great Naiks from time to time.  Naiks are Masters of Music.

* It is also quoted that a strange bird called Musikar or Dipak Lata inhabited the Caucasus mountains and its beak and seven apertures through each of these opening he was able to blow a different note, and at different seasons of the year he combined these notes into harmony and produced Ragas congenial to that particular hour of the day and season of the year.

His age was a thousand years and when death drew near he fell into a state of ecstasy, and accumulated a pile of combustibles from his environs, and danced around it in a state of absolute frenzy, playing the various notes and tunes from his beak for a length of time, in harmony with the seasons.  When, however, he touched upon the notes of the Raag Deepak+, fire was at once ignited, the pile burnt up, and ultimately he himself plunged into it, and became sati.

After a time an egg was created out of the warm ashes which in due course became a Deepak -Lata.

Therefore, from times immemorial, one bird was born, lives its weird life and in the end turned to ashes; then another and another.  The bird is supposed to be extinct now.

This is the strange and fanciful story, handed down to posterity, and which every musician of repute is fond of repeating.

* Reference:  Atiya Begum Fyzee Rahaman – History of Indian Music

+ Hindustani Raga.

– Dr.V.Meenakshi Jayakumar

—– to be continued.

   INTRODUCTION TO CARNATIC MUSIC.

  The South Indian Classical music or Carnatic music often called as Karnataka Sangeetham can be dated back to the age of Vedas.  This tradition has a rich heritage and is perfectly suited to the Hindu religion and culture.  Music is an integral part of India’s culture.  It is the one art which is in evidence in all the stratum of society.

Carnatic Music is typical example of the living systems of music in the world.  Indian music is so very ancient that it would not be exaggeration to credit its origin to the primitive Gods.  It is a Hindu Tradition to attribute all ancient Hindu works to mythological personages.

According to modern European method of calculation, History of the old Sanskrit literature must be divided into four periods:

1. The Mantra Period from 2000 to 1500 BC
2. The Chhand Period from 1000 to 800 BC
3. from 800 to 600 BC
4. from 600 to 200 BC.

 

This takes us back to a time which, though it may seem lost in the mists of antiquity, clearly shows that in all these ages music not only existed but had attained a very high degree of perfection and that the musical scale, the fundamental basis of the science, and the result of music activities of ages past was practised by the Vedic Rishis.

Our Music is three thousand years old.  It is considered to be of Divine Origin.  It is by far the most complicated and intricate system of music among the musical systems of all nations, and a science hardly to be excelled by any creation of the human mind.

And of course, it has a highly coloured and fascinating history to be found in the ancient texts, preserved and handed down to us, surviving cycles of ages and the ravages of time.

It is interesting to note that like all old branches of learning, it is also based upon the religious faiths, legends, observances and traditions of the Country, depicting the social manners and customs of the people, in the history of the tunes and words of the song.

-Dr.V.Meenakshi Jayakumar

—– to be continued.