As I mindlessly scrolled my last few minutes of daily allotted Instagram time, my feed got flooded with posts of condolences and tributes for the tabla maestro, Ustad Zakir Hussain. The last of the doyens. This marked the end of an era.
Hussain was instrumental in shaping the way people perceived and accepted the tabla in the last six decades. He was not synonymous with the tabla but the tabla was synonymous with him. Hailing from a land as musically rich as India, he was exposed to the instrument and classical music by his legendary father Allah Rakha at a tender age. He went on to make his mark on a global stage receiving accolades ranging from the Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan, Padma Vibhushan to the illustrious Grammy awards.
India has a glorious music heritage, a lot of which has been documented extensively in ancient texts. The Natya Shastra constitutes 6,000 shlokas and the Vedic text, Samaveda, includes melodies and chants dating to 1200 BCE. Depictions of Indian classical music instruments are even present in historic monuments with remnants of some being discovered at archaeological sites.
In the quaint village of Bhaja, off the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, are a group of 22 rock-cut caves dating to the 2nd century BC. The caves, which are a monument of national importance, include intricate stone carvings of a woman playing the tabla. This is testimony that the percussion instruments’ history dates back to at least 23,000 years. Why is there such little research on these carvings if they are in fact the oldest markers of the tabla in India?
We are blessed with a plethora of historic monuments which shed light on the music heritage of our country. Tragically, not enough research has been done on the monuments celebrating India’s music heritage and the captivating stories they narrate. The Nata Mandir in the Konark Temple Complex of Orissa for example, depicts a group of women playing double headed drums while the Chennakeshava Temple in Belur depicts several ‘shilabhalike’ or damsels in various postures.
Among these there is a damsel holding the drums, while another playing the flute and one even playing the rudra veena. Unfortunately, there are only a handful of musicians who play the veena, the instrument associated with Goddess Saraswati today.
There is a unique synergy between classical art and music in India and the ragamala paintings encapsulate this emotion beautifully. An amalgamation of art, poetry and music, each miniature painting celebrates a particular ‘raga’, depicting the season and the setting when that melody would be appropriately sung. While the style and subject matter of the painting would differ from region to region the emotions of love and devotion they evoked was the same.
Modern artists continued to take interest in depicting classical Indian music. For example, a number of paintings by Raja Ravi Varma depict women engrossed in playing an instrument. His painting of Goddess Saraswati playing the veena, is perhaps the most popular of these. However, my absolute favourite would have to be, ‘Tara Devi playing the sitar’. Two women are seated in a beautiful boat, one of them, draped in a festive gold bordered saree with ornate jewellery, sitar in hand, shaded by an umbrella. The other, dressed more simply, lounging and listening diligently to the music being played. A calm, serene atmosphere prevails.
Art is a great way to understand the musical history of India. Sadly, we live in an era where the number of classical Indian music listeners are receding and few have the appetite and discipline to study and learn classical music. Simultaneously, there is also a decline in the makers of traditional instruments. I now wonder what cultural ethos and inspiration artists will take from today’s music.