[/quote][/b][color=blue][/color]Apart from its aesthetic and artistic value, this wonderful art of music had always held for the Indian mind, a clarion call to spiritual development, and had been widely cultivated and had attained a high level of perfection in India, at least some three thousand years ago. It was in fact one of the unmistakable indications to us of the high state of civilisation which the people of the land had reached even in those early times. What distinguished Indian Music, however, from its prototypes in other climes was its outlook and tendency: it was never regarded in India as a mere lay art, as a mere system of pleasing the sensuous part of man. It was always held to be but an extension and outward symbolisation of the Omnipresent Pranava Sound - OM - and utilised only for purposes of God attainment - a feature it has retained to the present day, as will be evident from the fact that, up to the end of the last century, the subject of musical compositions has rarely been anything but God and His glories.
Classical music of the Indian subcontinent has a rich history of being one the most developed expressions of our cultural heritage. Its foundations pre-cede 5000 years, going back to the ancient Indus civilisation. Many instruments such as harps, flutes and percussion instruments were found during the excavations at Harappa and Mohenjo Daro, the centres of the Indus valley situated in present day Sindh, Pakistan.
The earliest form of Indian music was based on chants or recitation of hymns, found in scriptures or Vedas, the earliest of which were the Rig Veda and Sama Veda. The music of the Vedic era was of a simple nature, yet it retained a systematic order, the basis of which is still in existence today. The earliest musical treatise, the Natya Shastra was written 2000 years ago and gave details on dance, vocal and instrumental music. In this treatise differentiation between classical music and folk music was made using the terms Marga and Deshi. The next important treatises on music of the early period were the Brihaddeshi and Sangeet Ratnakar.
Sarangdevâ₉„¢s Sangeet Ratnakar was written at the end of the 12th century and gave valuable information on the state of music before the coming of the Muslims. The text revealed the progression of Indian music since the Vedic era. Prabandhas had now replaced the Vedas, different scales (raags) were being used and the text also included a detailed description of musical instruments. The music was still firmly rooted in religion and often performed in temples as part of worship rituals.
The first encounter of Indian music with Muslims was through Sufi saints who were attracted by traditional Hindu temple music. Sensing that music was an essential feature of the daily lives of the local inhabitants, Sufis used music to spread the message of Islam across to the populace of India.
Sufi saints such as Khawaja Moinuddin Chishti, Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya, Hazrat Bahauddin Zikriya Multani, Sheikh Allaudin Lajuri, and Shaikh Pir Bodhan held regular sessions of sama or qawwali at their khanqahs to propagate Islam to the masses.
"LOVE"
Padmanabha.Bapu.
