| Every culture of the world develops from the | | | | that succeeded one another erected many |
| beliefs, practices and customs, traditions | | | | monuments in varying styles. The most notable |
| and values of its people. Through their | | | | structures in this phase are found in the |
| lifestyle they develop systems of moral codes | | | | capital, Ahmadabad. The Mughal phase of the |
| and norms, which they enrich with their | | | | Indo-Islamic style, from the 16th to the 18th |
| activities and customs, of, which the arts, | | | | century, developed to a high degree the use |
| music, architecture, literature etc. have | | | | of such luxurious materials as marble. The |
| been a very majorly integral component. To | | | | culminating example of the style is the Taj |
| understand a kind of people the most | | | | Mahal in Agra. This domed mausoleum of white |
| important thing to study is their literature, | | | | marble inlaid with gemstones was built |
| and art. In case of India, the cultures that | | | | (1632-1648) by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan |
| have developed are not one but many. The | | | | as a tomb for his beloved wife. It stands on |
| subcontinent has been a rich base for the | | | | a platform set off by four slender minarets |
| cultivation of an even richer set of | | | | and is reflected in a shallow pool. |
| cultures, which have been influenced by | | | | |
| different settlers of over thousands of | | | | Building in India since the 18th century has |
| years. The multitude of languages spoken and | | | | either carried on the indigenous historical |
| the mix of religions present have further | | | | forms or has been modelled after European |
| enriched the land and its people. This paper | | | | models introduced by the British. Numerous |
| in particular focuses on the visual arts and | | | | examples of Western styles of the 18th, 19th, |
| architecture in relation to their influence | | | | and 20th centuries may be seen in public |
| on Indian music. | | | | buildings, factories, hotels, and houses. The |
| | | | most outstanding example of modern |
| Indian art is highly symbolic. The | | | | architecture in India is the city of |
| much-developed ritual-religious symbolism | | | | Chandîgarh, the joint capital of Haryana |
| presupposes the existence of a spiritual | | | | and Punjab; the city was designed by the |
| reality that, being in constant touch with | | | | Swiss-born French architect Le Corbusier in |
| phenomenal reality, may make its presence and | | | | collaboration with Indian architects. The |
| influence felt and can also be approached | | | | broad layout of the city was completed in the |
| through the symbols that belong to both | | | | early 1960s. Notable architectural features |
| spheres. The art and architecture produced on | | | | include the vaulted structure, topped by a |
| the Indian subcontinent dates back to the 3rd | | | | huge, concrete dome, and the use of concrete |
| millennium BC. Therefore from that alone it | | | | grille and bright pastel colours in the |
| can be determined as to how culturally | | | | Palace of Justice; the arrangement of |
| influenced it must have been. To Western | | | | concrete cubes topped by a concrete dome that |
| eyes, Indian art can appear strikingly | | | | is the Governor's Palace; and the use of |
| ornate, exaggeratedly sensuous, and | | | | projections, recesses, stair towers, and |
| voluptuous. A strong sense of design is also | | | | other contrasting elements to break the |
| characteristic of Indian art and can be | | | | monotony of the long façades of the |
| observed in its modern as well as in its | | | | secretariat building, which are 244 m (800 |
| traditional forms. | | | | ft) long. Modern Indian architecture has |
| | | | incorporated Western styles, adapting them to |
| Indian art is religious inasmuch as it is | | | | local traditions and needs-as in the design |
| largely dedicated to the service of one of | | | | of the railway station at Alwar, Rajasthan |
| several great religions. It may be didactic | | | | State. |
| or edificatory as is the relief sculpture of | | | | |
| the two centuries before and after Christ; | | | | The next most important aspect of Indian |
| or, by representing the divinity in symbolic | | | | culture is Indian Music. It is an element |
| form (whether architectural or figural), its | | | | that forms an integral part of their religion |
| purpose may be to induce contemplation and | | | | in addition to the culture. Dance in fact is |
| thereby put the worshipper in communication | | | | an expression of that music and that too has |
| with the divine. Not all Indian art, however, | | | | religious importance in Hinduism. However one |
| is purely religious, and some of it is only | | | | other important issue to consider is that the |
| nominally so. There were periods when | | | | art and the architecture of the land were |
| humanistic currents flowed strongly under the | | | | greatly influenced by religious beliefs and |
| guise of edificatory or contemplative | | | | customs, as has been seen especially by the |
| imagery, the art inspired by and delighting | | | | Buddhist and Islamic religions. The same is |
| in the life of this world. | | | | true for the music. That too was greatly |
| | | | influenced by religion. In fact the first |
| Although Indian art is religious, there is no | | | | forms of music were religious hymns and |
| such thing as a sectarian Hindu or Buddhist | | | | ballads called bhajans. They were songs sets |
| art, for style is a function of time and | | | | to musical instruments such as the sitar and |
| place and not of religion. Thus it is not | | | | table and they were stories about religion |
| strictly correct to speak of Hindu or | | | | and mythology. |
| Buddhist art, but, rather, of Indian art that | | | | |
| happens to render Hindu or Buddhist themes. | | | | Just as there is no such language as Indian, |
| For example, an image of Vishnu and an image | | | | but instead many hundreds of languages, with |
| of Buddha of the same period are | | | | over a dozen considered major, so there is no |
| stylistically the same, religion having | | | | single entity as Indian music. The range of |
| little to do with the mode of artistic | | | | musical styles and traditions in the |
| expression. Nor should this be surprising in | | | | subcontinent of South Asia, which comprises |
| view of the fact that the artists belonged to | | | | modern India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, |
| nondenominational guilds, ready to lend their | | | | and Sri Lanka, is in proportion to the |
| services to any patron, whether Hindu, | | | | vastness of the geographical area and the |
| Buddhist, or Jaina. | | | | density of population. This is most obviously |
| | | | the case with folk and tribal music. Given |
| The religious nature of Indian art accounts | | | | that India is predominantly rural, it could |
| to some extent for its essentially symbolic | | | | be claimed that such categories of music are |
| and abstract nature. It scrupulously avoids | | | | those of the majority. On the other hand, the |
| illusionistic effects, evoked by imitation of | | | | rapid development of communications and wider |
| the physical and ephemeral world of the | | | | access to the mass media have helped to |
| senses; instead, objects are made in | | | | create what is almost, despite the language |
| imitation of ideal, divine prototypes, whose | | | | differences, a pan-Indian popular music, |
| source is the inner world of the mind. This | | | | recorded and disseminated electronically. |
| attitude may account for the relative absence | | | | This emanates from the Indian film industry, |
| of portraiture and for the fact that, even | | | | the largest in the world, of which the |
| when it is attempted, the emphasis is on the | | | | products tend to adhere to formulaic devices, |
| ideal person behind the human lineaments | | | | including many songs and dances. |
| rather than on the physical likeness. | | | | |
| | | | What is usually understood by the term Indian |
| To be properly understood, the art of India | | | | music refers to the classical tradition, |
| must be placed in the ideological, aesthetic, | | | | based on the melodic system of raga and the |
| and religious framework of Indian | | | | rhythmic system of tala. This music is traced |
| civilization. This framework was formed as | | | | back thousands of years to the vedic chants |
| early as the 1st century BC and has shown a | | | | of the early Hindu settlers, though it has |
| remarkable continuity through the ages. The | | | | reached its present form in the last four or |
| Hindu-Buddhist-Jain view of the world is | | | | five hundred years. Its development over |
| largely concerned with the resolution of the | | | | almost the last two thousand years has been |
| central paradox of all existence, which is | | | | documented in a series of theoretical |
| that change and perfection, time and | | | | treatises, mostly written in Sanskrit, which |
| eternity, immanence and transcendence, | | | | enhance its status, whether they elucidate or |
| operate dichotomously and integrally as parts | | | | obscure its actual practices. The word |
| of a single process. In such a situation | | | | commonly found in Sanskrit for music is |
| creation cannot be separated from the | | | | sangit, which denotes the primacy of vocal |
| creator, and time can be comprehended only as | | | | music, with instrumental music largely |
| eternity. This conceptual view, when | | | | derived from it, and dance as a further |
| expressed in art, divides the universe of | | | | integral element. Although it is not expected |
| aesthetic experience into three distinct, | | | | that musicians will be dancers, it is still |
| although interrelated, elements-the senses, | | | | vital that dancers be musicians. Muslim |
| the emotions, and the spirit. These elements | | | | invasions and the establishment of the Delhi |
| dictate the norms for architecture as an | | | | Sultanate in the 13th century and the Mughal |
| instrument of enclosing and transforming | | | | Empire in the 16th century in the northern |
| space and for sculpture in its volume, | | | | part of the subcontinent greatly contributed |
| plasticity, modeling, composition, and | | | | to a bifurcation of classical music by the |
| aesthetic values. Instead of depicting the | | | | 16th century into a northern tradition of |
| dichotomy between the flesh and the spirit, | | | | Hindustani music, and a southern tradition of |
| Indian art, through a deliberate sensuousness | | | | Carnatic music, and a gradual shift in both |
| and voluptuousness, uses one with the other | | | | from religious application to a courtly |
| through a complex symbolism that, for | | | | entertainment. Both retain their basis in |
| example, attempts to transform the fleshiness | | | | raga and tala and share many other general |
| of a feminine form into a perennial mystery | | | | features, though they are sufficiently |
| of sex and creativity, wherein the momentary | | | | different in detail to necessitate separate |
| spouse stands revealed as the eternal mother. | | | | training. Since independence from British |
| | | | rule in 1947 and the demise of the princely |
| The Indian artist deftly uses certain | | | | courts, Indian music has moved to the concert |
| primeval motifs, such as the feminine figure, | | | | hall, the recording studio, and the world |
| the tree, water, the lion, and the elephant. | | | | stage. |
| In a given composition, although the result | | | | |
| is sometimes conceptually unsettling, the | | | | Hindustani Music is the classical tradition |
| qualities of sensuous vitality, earthiness, | | | | of the northern part of the Indian |
| muscular energy, and rhythmic movement remain | | | | subcontinent, including Pakistan, Bangladesh |
| unmistakable. | | | | and, to some extent, Afghanistan. It also |
| | | | corresponds to the area of Indo-Aryan |
| The form of the Hindu temple; the contours of | | | | languages and the greatest concentrations of |
| the bodies of the Hindu gods and goddesses; | | | | Muslims within a predominantly Hindu region. |
| and the light, shade, composition, and volume | | | | Many of its characteristics are traced back |
| in Indian painting are all used to glorify | | | | to the court poet and musician, Amir Khusrou, |
| the mystery that resolves the conflict | | | | at the end of the 13th century. From his |
| between life and death, time and eternity. | | | | accounts, and from treatises by other |
| | | | authors, it is clear that the Indian music of |
| The arts of India expressed in architecture, | | | | that time was already highly sophisticated, |
| sculpture, painting, jewelers, pottery, | | | | and he is said to have introduced several |
| metalwork, and textiles, were spread | | | | Arabic and Persian elements. This process |
| throughout the Far East with the diffusion of | | | | continued under subsequent rulers, especially |
| Buddhism and Hinduism and exercised a strong | | | | the Mughal Emperor Akbar in the late 16th |
| influence on the arts of China, Japan, | | | | century, whose court boasted the legendary |
| Myanmar (formerly Burma), Thailand, Cambodia, | | | | singer, Tansen, and the later Mughals and |
| and Java. These two religions with their | | | | regional rulers in the 18th and 19th |
| various offshoots were dominant in India | | | | centuries. |
| until Islam became powerful from the 13th to | | | | |
| the 18th century. With Islam, which forbids | | | | Under their patronage music became a matter |
| the representation of the human figure in | | | | of prestige, and there was intense rivalry |
| religious contexts, geometrical patterns | | | | between courts and between the musicians |
| became the most common form of decoration in | | | | themselves. Repertoires were often jealously |
| art and architecture created under India's | | | | guarded, and much of the teaching was kept |
| Muslim rulers, especially the Mughals. | | | | strictly within the family. This helps to |
| | | | explain the rise of gharanas, traditions |
| The earliest surviving Indian architecture | | | | associated with different families, usually |
| consists of brick buildings. While early | | | | of Muslim court musicians and named after the |
| wooden structures have generally not | | | | city in which they were employed. Although |
| survived, later stone buildings, built in a | | | | gharanas are still talked about as a means of |
| similar style, are known. The oldest traces | | | | indicating a musical pedigree, they have been |
| of architecture in India are the vestiges of | | | | dying out since the demise of the courts and |
| buildings of burnt brick found at | | | | the advent of recordings and rapid |
| Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa (now in Pakistan), | | | | communication, and also because of the |
| dating from about 2500-1750 BC. The | | | | greater mobility and independence of the |
| subsequent Vedic period, which precedes the | | | | musicians. |
| beginning of historical styles, is | | | | |
| represented by burial mounds at Lauriya | | | | When the great theorist, Bhatkhande, |
| Nandangarh, in Bihâr State, and rock-cut | | | | collected music from court musicians in the |
| tombs in Malabar, Kerala State. | | | | early years of the 20th century, he found not |
| | | | only a huge range of compositions but also of |
| The establishment of historical styles began | | | | performing styles. As part of his effort to |
| about 250 BC in the time of the Indian king | | | | classify Hindustani music and reconcile |
| Ashoka, who gave imperial patronage to | | | | theory with practice, he grouped the |
| Buddhism. Accordingly, the monuments of this | | | | thousands of melodic types, ragas, under ten |
| time were built for Buddhist purposes. A | | | | scales, or thats. Only a fraction of the |
| characteristic Buddhist construction was the | | | | ragas in existence are in common use. The |
| tope, or stupa, a hemispherical or | | | | priority in Hindustani music is the maximum |
| bell-shaped masonry monument, typically | | | | development of the minimum material, so a |
| surrounded by a railing, and with four | | | | musician needs to know a few ragas in depth, |
| entrances marked by gateways, and designed as | | | | rather than a large number superficially. |
| a shrine or reliquary. Buddhism waned after | | | | |
| the 5th century as Hinduism and Jainism | | | | However the most important relation of Indian |
| became dominant. The Jain and Hindu styles | | | | music to art is through the raga. Raga is the |
| overlapped and produced the elaborate allover | | | | melodic basis of Indian classical music. Each |
| patterns carved in bands that became the | | | | raga has infinite possibilities of variation, |
| distinguishing feature of Indian | | | | and a skilful performer can extend improvised |
| architecture. The Jains often built on a | | | | and composed material from a few minutes to |
| gigantic scale, a marked feature of their | | | | well over an hour. The origin of the word, |
| architecture being pointed domes constructed | | | | from a Sanskrit root meaning color, suggests |
| of level courses of corbelled stones. | | | | that a raga is more than a musical idea. Its |
| | | | correct rendition must instill a certain mood |
| The Hindu style is closely related to the | | | | in its listeners, creating aesthetic delight |
| Jain style. It is divided into three general | | | | (rasa), and ragas have been associated with |
| categories: northern, from AD 600 to the | | | | paintings and poetic aphorisms in the |
| present; central, from 1000 to 1300; and | | | | thousand or so years of their existence. |
| southern, or Dravidian, from 1350 to 1750. In | | | | Therefore the visual arts through the |
| all three periods the style is marked by | | | | paintings and their rendition into |
| great ornateness and the use of pyramidal | | | | architecture have influenced music through |
| roofs. Spire-like domes terminate in delicate | | | | the development of the ragas. There are many |
| finials. Other features include the | | | | and they in turn form the basis for all kinds |
| elaborate, grand-scale gopuras, or gates, and | | | | of musical interpretations. |
| the choultries, or ceremonial halls. The next | | | | |
| style that remained dominant was that of the | | | | In the North Indian tradition of Hindustani |
| Islamic era. Islamic architecture in India | | | | music, ragas are also assigned to particular |
| dates from the 13th century to the present. | | | | times of the day or night, and, in many |
| Brought to India by the first Muslim | | | | cases, also to seasons of the year. Each raga |
| conquerors, Islamic architecture soon lost | | | | must be distinguishable from all others, |
| its original purity and borrowed such | | | | whether in the Hindustani or the southern |
| elements from Indian architecture as | | | | tradition of Carnatic music. |
| courtyards surrounded by colonnades, | | | | |
| balconies supported by brackets, and above | | | | The development of the raga will normally |
| all, decoration. Islam, on the other hand, | | | | continue with one or more compositions, set |
| introduced to India the dome, the true arch, | | | | in particular talas, or time cycles. In vocal |
| geometric motifs, mosaics, and minarets. | | | | music, which is always pre-eminent in Indian |
| Despite fundamental conceptual differences, | | | | music, the main Hindustani song forms are the |
| Indian and Islamic architecture achieved a | | | | khyal and dhrupad, and there are several |
| harmonious fusion, especially in certain | | | | shorter forms, usually of a lighter nature, |
| regional styles. | | | | such as thumri, and tarana.Khyal, as its name |
| | | | suggests, has strong Muslim influences, while |
| Indo-Islamic style is usually divided into | | | | dhrupad, a term from Sanskrit, is older and |
| three phases: the Pashtun, the Provincial, | | | | regarded as essentially Hindu, although it |
| and the Mughal. Examples of the earlier | | | | developed to its present form in the Mughal |
| Pashtun style in stone are at Ahmadabad in | | | | courts. |
| Gujarat State, and in brick at Gaur-Pandua in | | | | |
| West Bengal State. These structures are | | | | Conclusively it can be said that the |
| closely allied to Hindu models, but are | | | | development of music descended for art, in |
| simpler and lack sculptures of human figures. | | | | the sense that the basis of Indian music the |
| The dome, the arch, and the minaret are | | | | ragas, were musical expressions of the |
| constant features of the style. The | | | | existing art, and architectural depictions of |
| Provincial style reflected the continued | | | | the periods and styles that they were |
| rebellion of the provinces against the | | | | developed in. In addition it can also be |
| imperial style of Delhi. The best example of | | | | determined that Indian music is the soul of |
| this phase is in Gujarat, where for almost | | | | the Indian culture whose body is the art of |
| two centuries until 1572, when Emperor Akbar | | | | the subcontinent. |
| finally conquered the region, the dynasties | | | | |