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htm

Sangeetanubhava
MUSICAL EXPRESSIONS

The Chembur Fine Arts Society, one of the foremost cultural organisations in Mumbai, is going places
with its innovative and pioneering efforts in promoting and propagating Indian music and dance. The
recent thematic annual conferences on Carnatic music have certainly caught the imagination of the music-
loving public. The last three years have witnessed detailed discussions and demonstrations on the Musical
instsruments of Carnatic music. The first conference, on String instruments, was held in February 1999.
Spread over two days, it highlighted in detail the various stringed instruments used in Carnatic music.
Whereas the first day was dedicated to string instruments of Indian origin, like the Vina, Chitravina etc,
the second day covered instruments of western origin that have been successfully adopted in Carnatic
music (Violin, Guitar, Mandolin etc). The participants included top-notch instrumentalists. Wherever
possible, different schools and styles were also featured. The conferences in 2000 and 2001 covered Wind
instruments and Percussion instruments respectively.

In the coming weeks, Carnatica will bring you the papers presented by the participants at these
Conferences.

STRING INSTRUMENTS - 1999

VINA: ITS EXALTED STATUS IN CARNATIC MUSIC - PART 1

- By E Gaayathri

Introduction

The greatest western thinker who related to the art of music is Sir Herbert Reads. He observed, "All art, sculpting,
painting, music, acting, etc. are meant to convey the artistes’ experience to the people through their particular medium
of art. It is therefore necessary for the artiste to have a deep and intense feeling to be conveyed through his or her
art." Art therefore is the language of the artiste. An artiste must have a core or bhava and work out his theme through
his medium.

What Herbert Reads meant is that of all forms of art, music is the most powerful medium capable of conveying the
artistes’ feeling to the listener. The origin of music therefore is feeling, musically termed as manodharma or bhava.
Every bhava has a rasa in it.

Rasa is the experience that arises in the emotional core of a listener as he registers the bhava conveyed by the artiste.
Therfore from the rasa and bhava of the artiste, music flows and ends up in the same rasa and bhava of the listener.
This is the ideal of music. If that bhava and rasa of the artiste are ennobling, his or her music can certainly elevate the
listener’s consciousness to heights. For this reason alone great devotees like Tyagaraja, Muthuswami Dikshitar, Syama
Sastri, known as the music Trinity, and many other great devotees whose hearts were filled with love of God, chose
music to reach the feet of their chosen deity.

The bhava or the thought in praise of God is the lyric or sahitya and the music on which the sahitya is based is the
rasa. The core of devotion has found expression through lyric in thought and through music in experience. Raga and
rasa being identical, the Indian science of music developed a language of its own to express any emotion or rasa in

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music.

The human being is inseparable from his surroundings. At times it happens that the day, the night, the morning, the
evening, the season, the nature, the cloud, the thunder, the lightening, the twilight, the moon and the like exercise an
influence on the conciousness of the man and take him into a mood. This mood gives rise to a rasa. Every possible kind
of rasa in relation to these circumstantial surroundings has been found to be conveyed through a raga. So, the world of
ragas has all the variety of life and experience. This is most true about Indian music.

The Vina

Vina is a very ancient instrument dating back to Vedic times. This instrument is in the hands of
Saraswati, the consort of our creator, who therefore is our Mother. While the Vedas, the
storehouse of our knowledge have come out of the faces of Brahma, the creator, all emotions,
feelings, experiences called the rasa-s have emanted from this instrument in the hands of
Goddess Saraswati. This instrument is therefore of divine origin and fills our emotional lives. If
our emotions are noble and satvic in nature, they find expresion in music played particularly on
Vina.

In Hindu astronomy, Tula Rasi (Libra in the western zodiac system) contains the star Swati.
This constellation is also described as Alpha Cygnus indicating Hamsa (swan), which is the seat
of Saraswati. The constellation’s name Swati forms the major part of the Goddess’s name
Saraswati, as Saraswati means white swan. Swati also indicates sweta (white colour), and
according to our ancient scriptures the Goddess is always adorned in white garments. Venus,
the lord of Libra or Tula Rasi, is again astrologically indicated through the colour white. Also, this
constellation, Swati presents the picture of a lyre or Vina. Many decades ago, scientists and
philosophers discovered a cosmic hiss emanting from this constellation. This is the nada, the
musical resonance that pervades the Universe. It pervades the human body also, only to be
discovered by one within oneself. This nada is the mother of all ragas which are expressions of
emotions. Nada in all ragas therefore is like gold in all ornaments. The instrument Vina finds
description in Vedic literature as well as epic literature.

Atha Khalviyam deivi Vina Bhavati tadanukriti rasau maanushi vina bhavati ||

The above quote from Aithreya Brahmana mentions Vina as of two kinds, Deive (divine) and Manushi (human).

The human body created by God is the Deiva vina. The vina made out of wood by the human being is Manushi vina.
The divine vina obviously expresses the emotions of the immortals in the higher worlds. The human vina expresses the
emotions of the mortals. Man was also known as Gatra vina. Gatra means human body and not human voices. The vina
played by him was known as Daru Vina (wood vina).

A sloka in the Sama Veda says:

Daaruvee gaatra vina satve vina ga na jaatishu |

Saamikee gaatra vina tu srutyai lakshanam ||

Meaning, the body known as Gatra vina and vina made of tree known as Daru vina are meant for divine music.

There are innumerable references in our scriptures to show that the human body and the vina are similarly patterned.
Since the vina resembles the Brahmadi Danu responsible for Vishnu Gana, the Manushya vina and Deiva vina are equal
or analogous to each other. The deiva or gatra vina which is the human body, is permeated with nada (musical
resonance). Deiva vina contains dhwani and nada. Like the head of the body, vina also has a siras or head (kudam in
Tamil). Like man’s udara, vina also has a udara. Like the human fingers, vina has ‘strings. Sa-Pa and Sa-Ma swaras
permeate both the human body and the vina. If you closely examine the human body and the vina, you will come to
know this.

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The backbone of a human being has 24 important centres on the spinal column.
The vina has four main or melody strings made of steel, of which two are coiled
with copper to facilitate the playing of a chromatic scale exending over two
octaves. These strings are mounted on a base of hard wax to which resin and
lamp soot have been added. This feature accounts for the characterisetic
sound of the vina. The frets need to be reset from time to time by an expert as
a result of the vigorous movements that are performed whenever
embellishments of notes are produced on a particular fret, or between two
frets.

The Vina has a tonal range convering three and a half octaves. Three
secondary strings, also made of steel, are fitted on the side. This serves the
function of keeping the time cycles (tala) of a song, to articulate phrases, and
to provide the basic note (drone). Similarly, the human body has a head above
its spinal cord. The man’s head is analogous to the kudam of the vina. The
human being attains poornatva or mukti with the help of seven dhatu-s namely
skin, bone, brain, flesh, blood, semen and shonita of the female. Similarly the
distance between the bridge and the beginning of the eyebrows to the nucleus
and mooladhara of a man is 48 inches. Like the human vertebrae in the
ascending order become narrow and narrower, the swarasthanas from the fret
to the bridge of the vina get reduced in geometric progression. As the space
between the frets gets narrowed down from the first fret towards the bridge,
the nada get progressively enchanced. The music gushes forth in the
merusthan (bridge) and consequently, the prana floating and touching the
mooladhara lingers at a particular distance and only from this the music
originates. This phenomenon of music originating from prana is described in
Silappadikaram.

The centre of the human body is prescribed as the place two inches above the mooladhara. The vina resembles the
human body both in the sthoola form and in the subtle nada form. The prana in human body flows in the upper six and
lower six, that is in 12 sthana-s (regions) and explains breath. Similarly, nada in vina flows in the upper six and the
lower six sthana-s and produces Raga moorchana-s. The human body is divided into moolasthana-s, swargam,
martyam and patalam. Similarly in vina there are three sthayis (ranges or octaves) - Mandra, Madhya and Tara. All
these similarities created by God are striking evidences that vina is a divine instrument to be used by human being for
the liberetion of soul and to detach himself from the unending cycle of births and deaths.

Vina playing as the highest form of yoga brings about the merging of jeevatma and paramatma only when the vina
player handles the vina through the sheer force and power of his prana or kundalini sakti, aising from the mooladhara
and not merely by moving his fingers across the frets and strings. The nada of the vina and the kundalini prana of the
vina player enter together like passionate lovers seeking union to become one. As they unite, they take the shape of
the finest thread and make contact with the fingertips of the vina player that are already moving across the frets and
strings of the vina. Now the vina player is a full-fledged yogi, rendering divine music on the veena and in kumbhakam
(neither inhaling not exhaling - in other words, retention of breath) without effort or consciousness. If the artiste is able
to develop and improvise along these lines, at some point it will become possible for him to have the vision of God and
to merge with him.

Yagnavalkya said.

Vina Vadana tatvagnyana, Sruti Jaati Visaradaha |

Talagnyanascha aprayatneva moksha marga niyacchati ||

The artiste who knows the science behind vina playing, who can play vina by tuning the instrument and maintaining it
perfectly, and has superb rhythmic control without any effort can attain salvation or mukti.

The movement of prana in the human body and the flow of sound, nada, in the vina is similarly patterned. According to
Maitrayaniya Upanishad, prana circulates in the human body on a single day and night for 21,600 breaths. According
to our ancestors, the Sun revolves around the Mahameru 21,600 times in a single day. A day in the life of a man is

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known as one revolution of the earth and one breath of sun. 21,600 days constitute 60 years in a man’s life time which
is known as parivriti. Two parivriti-s constitute a kalacharam. This is also known as Purush Ayushu consisting of 120
years in astrology. This constitutes two days in the life of Sun. A drop of blood as it circulates within a human body
takes along with it one breath of the human being. This drop of blood along with one breath of the human being takes
nearly 7 nimisha to circulate within the human body. Similarly, when the vina string is plucked once, the nada wave
emanating from it takes nearly 7 nimisha to travel back and forth between the bridges of the vina to the beginning frets
of the vina.

A man who reciets Gayatri mantra 100 times is absolutely elevated. He reduces 21,600 breaths to 108 breaths per
day through pranayama. Hence he enhances one year of life span to 200 years of life span. The vina yogi, by
meditating on the Tara sthayi Shadja within the lotus of his heart is able to reduce the 21,600 breaths. He reduces the
same to 1,080 breaths by meditating on Madhya sthayi Shadja and to 540 breaths by meditating on the Adhara Shadja.
Therefore the yogic power of the longevity of man to make good use of life towards realizing God. Incidentally the
hridayakamalam, the lotus of the heart, has 12 petals bearing beejakshara-s ‘ka’, ‘kha’, ‘ga’ ‘gha’ ‘nga’ ‘cha’ ‘chcha’ ‘ja’
‘jha’ ‘gnya’ ‘ta’ and ‘tha’.

The first, eighth and eleventh petals, ‘ka’, ‘ja’ and ‘ta’ are beejakshara-s to be meditated upon to unravel the secrets
and mysteries of all fine arts towards cosmic truth. Muthuswami Dikshitar’s kritis ‘Kanja Dalayatakshi’ in
Kamalamanohari has been composed in the beginning of the kritis itself. It is also interesting to note that Tyagaraja
composed ‘Sobhillu Saptaswara’ with the seven aksharas of the Taraka Mantra, ‘Sri Rama Rama’ in mind and not Sa ri
ga ma pa da ni as misunderstood by many. Tyagaraja, overjoyed by the vision of Lord Rama sang in praise of the
Taraka Mantara that granted him the vision.

The yogis who practiced Vasi yoga played the yazh or vina when heat was generated due to yoga sadhana. Jatis are
rendered in seven swaras with Arohana and Kumbhakam (retention of breath) is made possible beyond the proportions
of nature. Conversely speaking the right kind of raga on vina can create the satvic and noble rasa and bhava in human
beings. The human being needs to be elevated from the mundane, materialistic and ignoble thoughts and feelings of his
material life to noble and satvic feelings and consciousness. The nada of vina is much more perfect than the human
voice itself, capable of creating a satvic peace in the human heart and elevate him to superhuman or divine plane of
consciousness. This infact is the avowed purpose of Indian music. The rajas and tamas are sought to be subdued and
satva guna aroused. Music in general, related to other cultures, seeks only to entertain the man or to whip up the
animal instincts in him. Vina playing through the yogic method is meant to subdue these passions.

It is no wonder that this vina is held in the hands of Lord Dakshinamurti, the God who confers pure gnana or knowledge
to release the soul from its bondage. In Pallava and Chola temples of the South, Lord Dakshinamurti is worshiped with
a vina in his hands. Lord Siva was known as Vina Gana Priya, i.e. as one who enjoyed vina music. In Tiruvilayadal
Puranam, Lord Siva takes the form of woodcutter and playes yazh for the sake of his disciple, Panipatiran. The Lord
stated that yazh or vina is an instrument bubbling with life because kuril and nedil i.e., consonants and gamaka-s can
be played in it without interruption.

Even Tyagaraja in his kriti ‘Mokshamu galada’ in raga Saramati says:

Vina Vadana Loludou Sivamano Vidhamerugaru

Liberation is difficult for people who do not understand the mind of Lord Siva, who enjoys playing his vina in tune to the
universal nada. Attuning oneself to the divine mind of Siva is moksha itself. Dakshinamurti therefore conveys such
ultimate gnana through vina. The great sage, Narada did Nadopasana by tuning his consciousness to the vina. The
saint of recent times Raghavendra Swami of Mantralaya was engaged in the contemplation of his soul while playing
divine music on his vina. Paramacharya Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam has started in
his Deivattin Kural that japam, dhyanam, pooja and other rituals are not necessary for a real vina artiste to achieve
divine glory.

Not only Goddess Saraswati, but Goddess Parasakti also has a vina in her hand. This is told by Kalidasa in the
Navaratnamala stotra. He says that the Goddess Parasakti plays vina with her finger-tips and glows in the musical
splendour created by the chaturya of Saptaswaras.

Sarigamapadani rathaan tam Vina Sankraata Kanta Hastaan taam ||

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Goddess Rajamatangi is the most important deity for vina. She has to be worshipped fervently to understand the divine
nuances of vina.

Vina is the only instrument prescribed by divine scriptures as an instrument containing many universal code secrets to
help reveal the ultimate truth to human being. That is why vina has been given an exalted status in Carnatic music.

To be continued

Related links: Yazh to Guitar - Prof. V V Subramanyam

Musical Expressions
Sangeetanubhava

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