15 Topics.
0 of 16 Concepts Done
What to Study: Which Veda is the root of Indian music, and why? Understand how its chanting differs from the recitation of the other Vedas. What is the Naradiya Shiksha, and what did it codify?
What to Study: Who wrote the Natyashastra, and in which period? It covers drama, dance and music as one whole. Remember the music-theory ideas it first set out (shrutis, gramas, murchhanas, jatis and rasa), and understand why later Indian music theory builds on it.
What to Study: Who wrote the Brihaddeshi, and when? Why is it important for the word 'raga'? Understand how Matanga defined a raga, and how this text links the Natyashastra to the medieval raga system.
What to Study: Remember the author, the century, and the court and place where it was written. Be able to tell its author apart from Bharata Muni and Bhatkhande. What do its seven chapters deal with, and why is it seen as the last unified treatment before Hindustani and Carnatic music went separate ways?
What to Study: Which text does the Abhinavabharati comment on, and who wrote it? Do not mix up the text with its commentator. What is sadharanikarana, and how does it help an audience feel a rasa?
What to Study: What is a shruti, and how many divide the octave compared with Western semitones? Understand a swara as a note selected from the shrutis, and how many shrutis a swara can take. Remember the seven swaras of the Saptaswara with their full names.
Asked in UPSC PrelimsUPSC 2000
What to Study: What is a raga? Remember its components: aroha, avaroha, vadi, samvadi, anuvadi, vivadi, gamaka and pakad, along with its mood and its time or season. Understand how shruti, swara, raga and composition follow one another. How does vadi differ from samvadi, and a raga from a composition?
What to Study: What are tala and laya? Remember the beat counts of Tintal, Ektal, Jhaptal, Keherwa, Rupak and Dadra. What are the three tempos?
What to Study: What is rasa, and who is a sahridaya? Remember the nine rasas and the emotion each stands for. Which rasa was a later addition, who is said to have added it, and how many rasas were there originally?
What to Study: Understand what bhava is. How do sthayibhava, vibhava, anubhava and sanchari (vyabhichari) bhava work together to produce rasa? Be clear about who feels bhava and who feels rasa.
What to Study: What are the three gramas, which note is the base of each, and which one is considered lost? Understand how murchhanas are formed and how many there are. Which Greek system is comparable to murchhanas?
What to Study: What were jaatis, and how many are described? Remember how many are pure (shuddha) and how many are mixed (vikrita), and how they relate to murchhanas. Understand how music moved from jaatis to ragas, and which text captures that shift.
What to Study: For each of these forms (Dhrupad, Khayal, Thumri, Tarana, Tappa, Kriti, Varnam, Tillana, Ragam-Tanam-Pallavi, Ghazal and Qawwali), remember the tradition it belongs to and its usual language. Be able to tell Tarana and Tillana apart as parallel forms in the two traditions. Leave structure aside here.
What to Study: What kind of composition is a Tarana? Remember its tempo and the type of syllables it uses. To whom is it attributed, and how firm is that attribution?
What to Study: What do Margi and Desi mean? Be clear how they differ in rules (shastra), spread across India, audience and setting. Remember the audience and the places linked to Margi music.
What to Study: How did regional (Desi) forms enrich classical music over the centuries? Understand how the Sufi influence on Hindustani music is an example of this.