Gāndharva Music and Its Basic Constituents: A Study

The tradition of Indian music is phenomenal. Beginning with the Sāmaveda, it has flowed through various forms, each with its own specificity and nomenclature, such as gāndharva mārga, deśī, dhrupada, kheyāla, ṭhuṃri, ṭappā, bhajana, kīrttana, padāvalī, rāgamālikā, kṛti, padam, jāvali, and tillānā, among others. The sāmagāna, gāndharva-saṁgīta have been lost to the passage of time. But, in the present time, the Indian classical music, both Hindustani and Carnatic, bears historical lineage to the ancient gāndharva music. The music which is popularised by the gāndharvas, a community who had been the great connoisseur of music, is called, generally, gāndharva music. Bharata, the great writer of Nāṭyaśāstra, presented gāndharva music as “svara-tāla-padātmakam”, which means that music has been formed mainly with three components, they are – svara (musical notes), tāla (beat) and pada (meaningful words). Details of these three will be discussed in the paper.