Music and dance when viewed in Indian tradition are fundamentally one spiritual art, an integral yoga and a science of harmony. To some extent, this is matched in the Hellenic tradition of the West. Pythagoras, the ancient Greek philosopher, taught that the human soul was basically formed of harmony, and that music could restore this pre-existing harmony to a mind tormented by contacts with the lower world.

Anthropology suggests that art had its origin in ritual. In India, the study of ancient cultures shows that the arts are closely associated with religious practice and worship of the gods. Chanted aloud, the puranas become a reaffirmation of life. They foster the values and nurture the bonds of the entire community. The oral pieces were not read, but performed before an immediate audience and experienced through the senses and emotions. With dance and music, there were refrains in which the listeners joined, in active and ritual participation.

The Quest for Music Divine

According to the Vedas, the Divine Mother Vak (Vag Devi) sang the whole creation into being. God's eternal life-force, Para Sakthi, entered or rather assumed the perennial causal sound Nada through the monosyllabic seed-sound Om (Pranava). Thereby the phenomenal world with its multiple forms evolved. This process of physical, vital, mental and soul contact or holy communion with God aims at complete harmony, perfect integration, and absolute identification with God, in all His manifested as well as unmanifested Lila (divine play and dance) at the individual, cosmic and supra-cosmic levels of existence.

Mystics the world over are familiar with the 'music of the spheres', which is the inner sound incessantly heard both in the cosmos and the innermost recesses of the heart when the mind is still. Every religious tradition has a distinct way of expression, yet experience always comes as a revelation, and can never be mistaken.

Vak is measured in four steps; of these, three are established in secrecy, they are not manifested. Humanity speaks only the fourth step, that of speech (Rig Veda 1.1,64.5). The four stages are Para, Pashyanthi, Madhyama and Vaikhari, ranging from the subtlest through to the human level. The primordial sound becomes grosser at each successive stage until at the human level it becomes materially audible.

Therefore it is possible to trace each human sound or word back to its source by retracing step-by-step to the positive source, until the body of Brahman called Sabda Brahman is reached:

"In the beginning was Prajapathi, the Brahman" (Prajapath vai idam agtre aseet)
"With whom was the word" (Tasya vag dvitiya aseet)
"And the word was verily the supreme Brahman" (Vag vai paraman Brahman)

This vedic verse finds parallel in the fourth Gospel of the Christian New Testament:
"In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God". (John 1.1)

The 'Word' referred to here is the primal sound or Nama. It cannot be the spoken word, and hence it is the creative power of God. The mis-named Odes of Solomon, which are probably from 2nd century Christian Palestine or Syria convey the same truth metaphorically :

"There is nothing that is apart from the Lord, because He was before anything came into being. And the worlds came in to being by His word" (Ode XVI:18 - 19)

Music and Religion

Against this background, it is interesting to analyse the role of religion in music. However many questions come to mind: Has music always been religious in content? Is religion required for the understanding or appreciation of music? What is Bakthi (devotion) in music? Can we separate religion from music?
However many questions come to mind :

It is difficult to look back beyond a certain period, because mythology gets woven into reality. Indian music is said to have originated from the Vedas and music was considered one of the best forms of worship. Carnatic music is said to have evolved from sacred music, but though it moved through time in the realm of 'art music', the content never changed. Many ragas (recitative songs) are named after Gods, and it is believed that each God has a favourite raga.

It is important that we understand Carnatic music also as an artform. Respect and reverence have to be given to the art for its depth, intensity and grandeur as art-music. Its lyrical content is a personal choice made by the composers and does not define the music. The raga, tala, thanam and aesthetics of the kirthis constitute Carnatic music which by itself is Beauty and Art.

The Cosmic Dance of Time

In his book The Tao of Physics (1976), the physicist Fritjof Capra explores the similarities between modern physics on the one hand - its interpretation of the dance of matter, both on the earth and in outer space - and, on the other hand, the Hindu view of the rhythmic process of creation and destruction, birth and death, all of which is symbolised in the dance of the God Siva. It also reminds us that the manifold forms in the world are maya, that is not fundamental, but illusory and always changing as He keeps creating and destroying. What He creates is an endless flow as He dances. This is the Dance of the Universe and the Dance of Life.

The origin and development of classical dance as portrayed in the Siva Pradhosha Stotra is dancing in the golden hall of the temple. All the divine beings take an active part in this blissful moment of the dance: Saraswati plays on the veena, Indra the flute, Brahma on cymbals, Vishnu on the mirudangam, while Lakshmi sings. Meanwhile, the Gods, demi-Gods, Apsaras, Yakshas, Gandharvas all stand around to witness the celestial dance and music of the Divine Choir.

Indian culture today has a distinct identity enlivened through temple traditions whose mission was to take art to the people and to convey a message, thereby eradicating their ignorance and lifting them to the path of Divyagyana, enlightenment.

Why is Indian classical dance so different from any other genre, both of the West and the East? What has shaped its distinctive 'Indian-ness'? How is it that regardless of the features and peculiar characteristics of each of the seven forms, namely Bharatha Natyam, Kathak, Odissi, Manipuri, Kuchupudi, Kathakali and Mohiniattam, it is possible to say that all seven are parts of a single whole?

More than any other of India's several art forms, Indian classical dance provides a mirror view of the ancient Hindu conception of the universe, and the nature of reality. As a medium of expression, it gives scope for the most mundane and the most profound concepts to be expressed. Secularism and religion have existed in history without conflict, because secularism is not understood as being irreligious. Hence it is not correct to view Indian Classical music and dance as religious art only. The same dance technique has been used in temples, royal courts and in sabhas.

Tradition and Change

Parampara literally means 'after and after'. It unmistakably suggests continuous change - like the flow of a river that takes several turns. Conservatives think of parampara as an accumulation like a lake, and that individual talents are like showers which raise its level. In fact, individual talents and influences are like tributaries which increase the quality and quantity of the parampara's flow. The concept of innovation and influence is inherent in the parampara. The inflows, which are the influences and innovations, should enrich the flow rather and pollute it. Only then can parampara grow and maintain its true character.

Great importance is attached to the search for knowledge in India. The ultimate goal is a philosophical one - a journey through life aided by the particular study of knowledge, routed as it were, through knowledge. Hence it is not merely a subject, but also the marga, the path to that knowledge, that is important.

In this parampara, the relationship between the guru (teacher) and shisya (disciple) becomes vital. The word guru is made up of two syllables gu and ru - etymologically gu stands for darkness, and ru for one who dispels darkness. The Guru is thus considered as the one who shows the way for the Shisya through the process of life and change.

Future Challenges

People often ask: "How long will it be before India, already sucked into the vortex of globalisation loses its core cultural identity?" In our endeavour to create in the world outside an awareness of India and its 'Indianness', we Indians have embarked on festivals and cultural diplomacy missions, packaging culture and exporting it. In the process, we are opening out to global influence what for centuries has been nurtured within a protected environment.

No nation can afford to bask in the past, because changes in style and ideas are inevitable with the passage of time. Tradition, one realises, is not as orthodox as one imagines, nor is modernity as radical as one fears. Cultural identities are essentially built on differences in lifestyle emphasis. Ideas are universal, but born in specific contexts. As long as culture remains rooted to what are its essential truths, it can acquire temporarily and then discard in its passage through time what is adventitious. Its basic nature is in no danger of being changed. As long as our arts remain internalised journeys of the subliminal stages of consciousness, unrelated to changes in and around us, no force can destroy our music and dance, which is its outward visual dimension.

Catholicity of outlook, diversity of taste and beliefs and freedom of expression have always been the cornerstone of our culture and philosophy. There can be no single formula to spell out what constitutes creative music and dance. What matters is not so much the genre of the music and dance itself, but rather the conviction, the integrity and the fire and light which we bring to it, within. Only then will it have the power to reach out and touch and become means of communication between soul and soul, in order to express what is too deep and too fine for words.

A. Stephen

(edited version of chapter in Resurgence 25th Anniversary handbook)

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