Music in stones

Written by Jaya Guruswamy

Music has been part of human lives for a long long time. The ancient kings encouraged this art by supporting and encouraging the musicians . They even built temples with the skills of artisans and encouraged them to select granite stone  pillars in the temples which produced  muscical notes when struck or played with sticks. 
Such musical pillars are found in some of the temples of South India which are marvels of architectural and musical skill. They are of ferrous granite and support the roof like the ordinary pillars. The cluster of pillars chiseled out of a huge block of resonant stone was played upon with two sticks. The performers stand on opposite sides and play on the pillars.

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A brief history of Carnatic Music

Written by Sri.V.Sriram. Extracted from the book Carnatic Summer with the author’s kind permission and published in Nadasurabhi Souvenir 2007

Carnatic Music is a peculiar name for an art form that lays claim to a lineage stretching back over many centuries. But why the term ‘Carnatic’ music, or its more Indian version ‘Karnatak’ music ? It certainly had nothing to do with the eponymous modern state in south India that has its capital as Bangalore.

Several reasons have been given as to why the name Karnataka Sangita for the music of south India. Many have opined that the region south of the Vindhyas was referred to as Karnatakam and hence the name. The word Karnatakam also stands for ‘that which is very old’ and scholars have interpreted it to mean that this music form is an old one. Yet another explanation is that the word derives from Karna (the ear) + Ata (to haunt) or ‘that which haunts the ear’. That would certainly be an apt description for Carnatic Music.

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Varnas

Written by Smt.Harini Raghavan

The word ‘Varna’ in general, has different meanings like, colour, a syllable or people belonging to a particular sect, and so on.  Bharata, the author of ‘Natyasastra’- one of the earliest literature on music- describes Varna as ‘a mode of singing’  (Ganakriyaa uchchyate varnaha). Here Varna means musical notes or ‘Swaras’. Varna evolves from ‘sapta swaras’ and expresses itself through various combinations of these ‘sapta swaras’.  In yet another treatise the process of singing itself is described as Varna.  Matanga   explains the features of Varna as existing in groups of notes, traversing in the pattern of ‘Taanas’.  An earlier treatise says that the ancient Varna patterns have absolutely no relation with the present Varna forms, and therefore Varnas must have come into existence only after ‘Kritis’ were shaped.  Presently, in the field of carnatic music Varna is one of the most popular pieces of composition which has its own definite form and a huge variety.   It has prime of place both as a practice piece (abhyasa gana) and a warming up piece in a regular concert.

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