Factors Underlying Important Notes in North Indian Music

M usical theory in India stems from the Natyasastra, ascribed to the author Bharata, which is generally dated from the second to the fifth century A.D. Some of the technical terms used in North Indian music today can be traced back to this early source; the terms have, however, often undergone a radical change of meaning over the years. Much of the old terminology is no longer in use and new terms have been added, some of which very nearly duplicate the sense of the old. In this early period the modes, of which there were eighteen, were called jdti. Apart from descriptions of their scales, they were defined in terms of ten characteristics: graha, initial notes; amsa, predominant note; tdra, the note which forms the upper limit of the mode; mandra, the note which forms the lower limit; nydsa, the final; apanyasa, secondary final; alpatva, note which is used only infrequently in the mode; bahutva, note which is used frequently; sadavita, 'hexatonic quality' viz. the note which must be omitted to make the mode hexatonic; and audavita, 'pentatonic quality' viz. the two notes which must be omitted to make the mode pentatonic (Bharata, ch. XXVIII, sl. 74). Three other characteristics alluded to in the Natyasdstra could be added to this list: antaramdrga, the tendency towards transilience when a note is frequently omitted (ch. XXVIII, prose following sl. 95); samnydsa and vinydsa, initial cadence note and textual cadence note, respectively1 (ch. XXVIII, sl. 78 and ch. XXXI, sl. 218-9). Of these terms, by far the most important is the amsa, which is itself assigned ten characteristics (ch. XXVIII, sl. 76-78). From these it is evident that the amsa is the predominant note whose mood (rasa) influences that of the whole mode. Its location helps to determine the upper and lower limits as well as the initial and the various finals of the mode. It is interesting to note that in many jdtis more than one amsa is prescribed, and in one, .Sadjamadhyamd, all seven notes are listed in this capacity. It is not certain whether this means that all these notes are to be made predominant in each rendering, perhaps successively, or that each one of these represents an alternative method of rendering the jdti. I am inclined toward the latter interpretation, as the Natyasdstra is a work dealing primarily with the many facets of stage production where music is intended to set the appropriate mood for the action, and it seems unlikely that the predominant note, which