 One who sings knowing the proper time remains
happy.
By singing ragas at the wrong time one ill-treats them.
Listening to them, one becomes impoverished
and sees the length of one's life reduced."
(Sangita-makaranda, I, 23-24)
If the true meaning of
self-knowledge implies a state of enquiry into the Self that is not guided by the will,
then Nature's call to prayer is the activity mankind takes for granted - sleep. When the
Sun fades and all extroversion, entertainment, and distraction is denied to Man, the mind
retreats into a state of meditative introversion we call sleep. Thoughts that are
unfinished in the mind, during the day, continue throughout the night in the forms of
dreams, striving towards their resolution, as part of the brain's intrinsic mechanism to
find order. In a sense then, sleep is Nature's way of reuniting Man with him or herself,
enabling that which lies dormant in the hidden recesses of the mind, to reveal and express
itself in secure isolation from the world. The dawn of a morning then, has tremendous
significance. It is the first witness of the conscious mind to the revelations of the
night. To many, the waking hours may express the calm satisfaction of a release, the
relief of a burden, and a feeling of pious quietude. To others, however, the meditation of
sleep may have brought to the surface of the mind, the most secret burdens of one's life,
and leave one in emotional turmoil. Therefore, if one were to provide a general
description of the mood of a morning, perhaps it would be one of serenity and depth, holy,
while simultaneously tinged with emotions ranging from great disturbance to supreme
calmness.
The rich diversity of life-forms
that inhabit the world have one key to their survival through the ages - interdependence.
Each component of the Natural world lives its limited period in world, fulfilling its own
role and purpose. The purpose of the Sun is to give light, the purpose of a flower, to
bloom, and the breeze, to travel the Earth. Yet, without the Sun's rays, the flower would
not bloom, and without the breeze, its pollen would not spread. Therefore, each life-form
indirectly fulfils the purpose of the other, through mutual interdependence, its short
life playing only a humble yet significant role in Nature's greater Order.
There is perhaps no greater myth
than Mankind's self-created illusion of his own individuality, as separate from Nature.
The word "individual" originates from the word "indivisible", meaning
unfragmented, whole, complete in itself. Yet, Mankind treads on life's soils confident in
his own power of influence, and ignorant of his fundamental subservience to the influences
of Natural forces.
Ancient civilisations however,
understood the extent to which Man is influenced by Nature, and thus strove to act in
harmony with it, through intimate understanding of its moods and workings. The concept of
Pranic energy in Hindu thought, or Qi in Chinese philosophy, is central to understanding
the various associations that exist, between human emotions on one side, and sound,
colour, and the time of day on the other.
The theory is centred around the
fundamental assumption that there exists a universal, unquenchable life-force in all
things, the intensity of which varies in time, geographically, emotionally, from person to
person, as well as internally, between the various energy point or chakras. The nine
emotions can also be defined in terms of the intensity of Pranic energy, where, for
example, depression and sorrow is associated with low or weak Prana/Qi and joy and
happiness is associated with a high or strong level of Prana/Qi. On a larger scale, the
planetary movements, the levels of the tides, the progression of the seasons and the
on-going cycles of days and nights, are all explicable in terms of shifts in the levels of
Prana/Qi.
As no aspect of life can be divorced
from the Pranic theory, it is only logical that all aspects of life are actually
inter-connected and interdependent. Thus, a musical note has its own distinct
psychological effect or emotion, and is also related specifically to a colour, mood,
chakra, and time of day. All Sanskrit treatises on music have to some extent or other
discussed this network of relationships. Thus, for example, the note Pa is associated with
the emotions of love and laughter, and is also associated with dark colours. Therefore,
according to the theory, ragas in which the note Pa is particularly strong, have in their
emotional content, the emotions of love and the emotions associated with laughter. A
ragamala painting expressing this raga, would also predominate with darker colours. This
note is also associated with the deity Krishna, and so, he may be the subject of the
painting. It may also be the case that a combination of notes, collectively express
particular sentiments or moods. Consider the two notes Ma (shuddha) and ma (tivra), the
natural and augmented fourth. It is perhaps the close proximity of these two notes to each
other, as well as their position at the mid-point of the scale, which make them expressive
of crucial moments or precise moments of transition. Such moments include the sunrise,
sunset, midday, and midnight, during the period of a day, and solstices and equinoxes
during the period of a year. To give examples, consider the ragas Lalit and Ramkali, both
of which contain shuddha and tivra Ma and are played/sung at daybreak.
The historical musicologist, Vishnu
Narayan Bhatkhande, in his attempt to organise and neatly categorise the various
components of North Indian Classical Music, listed a series of characteristics which
collectively distinguished a morning raga from an afternoon or evening raga. His first
observation stated that those ragas which contained the notes Re, Dha, and Ga, were to be
played between 7-10 o'clock in the morning or the evening. Secondly, those ragas which
contained the notes re (flat), Ga, and Ni, came under the time period of sandhiprakas or
twilight, and were to be played at either 4-7 o'clock in the morning or the evening.
Thirdly, those ragas which contained the notes ga (flat) and ni (flat) were to be played
before sunrise or sunset, between 10-4 o'clock am. or pm. This category included the
exception of the Tori family or That, which contains ragas with the notes Ga and Ni. The
final factor, which ultimately determined whether the raga was to be played in the morning
or the evening, was the position of the vadi (the most important or pivotal note of the
raga). If the vadi of a raga was in the lower tetrachord or purvanga, that is, between
Sa-Ma or Sa-Pa, then the raga was to be played between the hours of 12pm-12am. Similarly,
if the vadi of the raga was in the upper tetrachord or uttaranga, then the raga was to be
played between the hours of 12am-12pm. Thus, for example, consider the raga Bhairav. The
notes played in this raga are Sa re (flat) Ga Ma Pa dha (flat) Ni Sa. Because the raga
contains the notes re (flat), Ga, and Ni, it satisfies the requirements for Bhatkhande's
second category, and is classified as a sandhiprakas raga, played during the period of
twilight. Secondly, the vadi of this raga is the note dha (flat). As this note is in the
upper tetrachord of the scale, the raga is then classified as a morning raga. Therefore,
raga Bhairav is played at daybreak.
The fundamental problem with the
entire time theory of ragas is that few people are sensitive enough to feel the
appropriateness of ragas played at their designated times. Instead, one is left accepting
the words of the various scriptures, and the question remains whether one is better left
to rediscover first-hand the relationship between the ragas and the time of the day,
rather than resort to conformity.
(c) Asian Music Circuit
What is A Raga? |
Hari Prasad Chaurasia 