Forum for Research in Indian Music (FRIM 2026)

Committee

Conference Co-chairs

• Lakshmi Sreeram, Associate Professor, Ahmedabad University
• Arati Rao, Adjunct Professor, JAIN (Deemed-to-be) University
• Naresh Keerthi, Assistant Professor, Ashoka University
• Srijan Deshpande Research Associate, University of California, Santa Cruz
• K. Srilatha Guest Faculty, Bangalore University

Local Organising Committee

• Aditi Deo, Assistant Professor, Ahmedabad University
• Lakshmi Sreeram, Associate Professor, Ahmedabad University

Tourism in Ahmedabad

Welcome to Ahmedabad: Heart of Gujarat

Ahmedabad, often referred to as the heart of Gujarat, is a city that seamlessly blends its rich cultural heritage with modern infrastructure. As the first city in India to be inscribed in UNESCO’s World Heritage City list in 2017, Ahmedabad offers a unique experience that combines an exploration of its history with the opportunity to savour its contemporary delights.

Cultural and Historical Architecture
Ahmedabad boasts of an impressive array of heritage sites reflecting its rich cultural past. The Sidi Saiyyed Mosque, known for its exquisite and intricately carved stone latticework windows (jali), is a prime example of Islamic architecture. The famous 'tree of life' motif carved into the jali is a must-see. Another architectural marvel is the Adalaj Stepwell, built in the 15th century. This stepwell showcases a beautiful fusion of Indo-Islamic architecture with intricate carvings on its pillars and a natural cooling system that keeps the water six degrees cooler than the prevalent temperature. The city's heritage precincts of Pols and traditional clusters from the medieval period offer a glimpse into Ahmedabad’s historical narrative, making it a haven for history enthusiasts.

Mughal Architectural Influence
Several areas in Ahmedabad, such as Laal-Darwaja, Ratan-Pod, and the vicinity of Relief Road, exhibit a strong Mughal architectural influence. These neighbourhoods are perfect locations for a leisurely stroll to appreciate the historical essence of Ahmedabad and the distinct charm of Mughal-era constructions that still stand tall in the city.

Modern Infrastructure
Ahmedabad is not just about the past; it is also a city that also provides a glimpse into the future. The Sabarmati Riverfront and Atal Bridge are modern projects that not only offer scenic views but are also ideal places for enjoying a relaxing walk along the river. The Sindhu Bhavan and Satellite areas, home to numerous corporations and multinational companies, reflect the city's rapid economic growth, juxtaposed in stark contrast to its traditional roots. Ahmedabad is also known as a paradise for food lovers, offering a diverse range of cuisines. For a taste of local specialties, Manek Chowk is the place to be. This bustling night market on Sindhu Bhavan Marg offers a variety of street food and traditional dishes, ensuring a delightful culinary experience. Additionally, the city boasts of a variety of international multi-cuisine restaurants that cater to every palate, making Ahmedabad a foodie's haven.

Tourism in Gujarat

Statue of Unity
The Statue of Unity, located 200 km from Ahmedabad, is the world's tallest statue, with a height of 182 metres. It is a memorial to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, India's first Home Minister. The statue is situated on an island near the Sardar Sarovar Dam. The area around the statue has other attractions, including an exhibition gallery, viewing gallery, the valley of flowers, a memorial, an audiovisual gallery, the Sardar Sarovar Dam, and river rafting and jungle safari options. With so many activities, a visit to the Statue is bound to be a fun-filled day trip with loads to do and see.

Polo Forest
The Polo Forest, located at a distance of 150 km from Ahmedabad, is a picturesque forested area with ancient Jain temples, a dam, and waterfalls. It is an ideal spot for trekking, cycling, riverside walks, and picnicking amidst lush green surroundings, especially during the monsoon season. The 1500-year-old Jain temple with intricate carvings is a highlight of the forest. Visitors can spend an entire day exploring the natural beauty and historical sites of Polo Forest.

Modhera Sun Temple and Rani ki Vav
The Modhera Sun Temple, located at a distance of 110 km from Ahmedabad, is an 11th century Hindu temple dedicated to the Sun God. It is known for its stunning architecture and elaborate carvings. Located nearby is Rani ki Vav, an 11th-century stepwell with intricately carved panels over seven levels of stairs. Both the temple and the stepwell are UNESCO World Heritage sites and visiting them makes for a fascinating day trip.

Nalsarovar Bird Sanctuary
Nalsarovar, located at a distance of 62 km from Ahmedabad, is Gujarat's largest wetland bird sanctuary. It is home to over 200 species of resident and migratory birds, especially during the winter months. Flamingos are a major attraction here. Visitors to the site can hire a guide for the day for exploring the sanctuary and surrounding plains to spot birds and other wildlife.

List of Hotels

• Hotel Cosmopolitan
• Regenta Central Antarim Hotel
• Hotel Dev Corporate
• SK Lords Eco Inn Ahmedabad
• Hotel Nalanda
• Lemon Tree Hotel, Ahmedabad
• Hyatt Regency Ahmedabad
• Fortune Landmark Ahmedabad
• Fairfield by Marriott Ahmedabad
• Welcomhotel By ITC Hotels, Ashram Road, Ahmedabad
• Ginger Ahmedabad (Vastrapur)
• Binori A Boutique Hotel
• The Grand Bhagwati

Registration Fees

Early Bird Registration Deadline: Wednesday, July 15, 2026

The dinner fees is INR 2360/ USD 120

Register Now

Regular Registration Deadline: September 1, 2026

The dinner fees is INR 2360/ USD 120

Register Now

Speakers

To be announced soon

Day 1: Saturday, February 7, 2026

Sessions marked with an asterisk(*) will be hybrid sessions with virtual presentations by the speakers. 

Day 2: Sunday, February 8, 2026

Sessions marked with an asterisk(*) will be hybrid sessions with virtual presentations by the speakers. 

Social Excursion

• Option 1: Atal Bridge + Sabarmati Ashram + Akshardham Temple
• Option 2: Rani Ki Vav (Stepwell), Patan

The fees are USD 60/ INR 2360 which includes entry ticket and return coach transfer.

Abstracts

An Analytical Study of the Rāgamūrti Tradition of Odissi Music

Jyoti Singh, Mahāgāmi Gurukul Center for Performing Arts, MGM University

Odissi music has a distinctive tradition, evident not only in texts written in Odisha between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, but also in some of the compositions and rāgas used in contemporary Odissi music. A clear reflection on the melodic nature of medieval rāgas, known as Rāgamūrti is evident in musicological treatises of Odissi (lakṣaṇa texts). The present paper will analyse the concept of Rāgamūrti in the context of these texts, including the origin of rāgas, their tonal structure (svara–saṅgati), and the figurative imagery (rāga–mūrti–kalpanā) of rāgas. Through a comparative study of the principles of Rāga formation (Rāga–nirmāṇa–siddhānta), Rāga metaphors (Rāga–rūpaka), and descriptions of rāga deities (Rāga–devatā) described in Saṅgīta–Nārāyaṇa (1750 CE) and Gītaprakāśa (1565 CE), this research will attempt to uncover the historical, cultural, and philosophical dimensions of the rāga tradition of Odissi music. This study not only helps rediscover the ancient textual tradition of Odissi music but also underlines the relevance of the concept of Rāgamūrti in contemporary Odissi musicology.

A Contrastive Analysis of the Padam-s Ōsōsi and Payyada in Karnāṭaka Music and Bharatanāṭyam Dance Recitals

Priyashri V Rao, JAIN (Deemed-to-be University), Bengaluru

The Padam is a genre common to the repertories of Karnāṭaka music and Bharatanāṭyam dance. Performing a padam is considered a mark of a virtuoso and requires specialised training. The genre is musically sophisticated as well as rich with possibilities for depiction in histrionic expression (abhinaya). The primary focus of this paper is to analyse whether there are differences when the same genre is performed for a musical and a dance recital. Two padam-s are chosen for the analysis, namely, Ōsōsi nā madi (rāga Mukhāri) and Payyada paimīda (rāga Nādanāmakriyā) from of the Vīṇā Dhanammāl bāṇi. This school is special as it boasts of both music and dance versions. For instance, the Karnāṭaka music rendition by T Brinda and T Mukta, and a rendition of Jayamma for the dance performance of Balasarasvati. A few other renditions, such as those of R. Vedavalli and M.S. Subbulakshmi, and the choreography of the well-known Bharatanāṭyam exponent Kalanidhi Narayanan will also be taken for analysis. The analysis will look at what governs the choice of the rāga phrase(s) in the different renditions: the abhinaya interpretation or the organic progression of the rāga?

An Analysis of Tānam (Ghanam) in Subbarāma Dīkṣita’s Prathamābhyāsa Pustakamu

Rajshri Ramakrishna, University of Madras

This paper examines the method of playing tānam, also traditionally known as ghanam on the vīṇā as described by Subbarāma Dīkṣita in his Prathamābhyāsa Pustakamu (PAP, 1905).The paper presents and analyses all available tānam (ghanam) notations in PAP. These include extensive passages in the rāgas Nāṭa, Gauḷa, Śrī, Ārabhi, Rītigauḷa, and Nārāyaṇagauḷa, all of which belong to the traditional ghana-rāga group known for their suitability for tānam singing and playing. Subbarāma Dīkṣita’s notations are remarkable for their technical specificity: they include detailed string-position instructions, mīṭṭu (plucking) instructions, explicit octave (sthāyi) transitions, and an elaborate gamaka vocabulary. A key contribution of this paper is the establishment of a clear distinction between the ghana-rāga tānam described and illustrated in the PAP and the tāna passages presented in the Saṅgīta Sampradāya Pradarśini (SSP, 1904). Although SSP provides tānam notations for 42 rāgāṅga rāga-s, these passages function primarily as model patterns illustrating rāga structure rather than as expositions of ghanam-style tānam playing. The paper further examines the purpose of the tānam passages in the SSP vis-à-vis the ghanam-oriented tānam-s presented in the PAP, thereby understanding the distinct aims of the two sources.

The Theory of Warm and Cold Rāga-s in the Music of the Puṣṭimārga

Ranchodlalaji (Abharan) Goswami, Goswami Haveli, Ahmedabad

Vallabhācārya (1478-1530) the founder of the Śuddhādvaita Vedānta philosophy and the path of devotional love (Puṣṭimārg), established a liturgy of serving Lord Krishna-Shrinathji through rāga music, and songs (kirtan) in particular. In the Puṣṭimārg tradition, Lord Krishna is considered the sole recipient of all offerings, including music known as Haveli Sangeet. In this system, special attention is paid to the tangible nature of the ragas, based on the principle of "as in the body, so in the deity." (yathā dehe tathā deve). Here, the repertoires of rāga-s and rāgiṇī-s are arrayed based on the 'hot' and 'cold' nature of the ragas, which is linked to the cycle of seasons. In this context, the musical elements of these rāgas such as dominant notes (aṁśa), and resting notes (nyāsa) are analysed in an attempt to understand the hot and cold nature of the rāga-s used in kīrtan music, and to determine whether this classification is imaginative-emotional or if it has a musical basis.

Between Rhyme, Metre and Syntax: Svāti Tirunāḷ's Science of the Song

Naresh Keerthi, Ashoka University

Head-rhyme (etukai, prāsa) and caesural assonance (mōṉai, yati) are obligatory features of many poetic and lyric genres in the Dravidian languages. The sung genres of Early Modern South India — padam and kr̥ti —adopt these same elements as markers of 'vertical' and 'horizontal' structural relations within the song. While composers of Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam songs in the 15th-18th centuries seem to know and comply with these rules inductively, it is not clear if they are discussed in treatises of prosody or metrics. The rules for the application of head-rhyme, caesural assonance and enjambment (in Sanskrit songs) are articulated for the first time in Svāti Tirunāḷ's tract Muhanāprāsāntyaprāsavyavasthā (Syntax of Song) with illustrations from the songs of a certain Śēṣayyaṅgār. This paper will discuss the principles of composition enunciated in this Sanskrit text in light of a little-known Malayalam archetype. Knowledge of these principles can aid in the critical reconstructions of songs.

Rāga Dohā: A Case Study from Two Texts of the Early Twentieth Century

Keshavchaitanya J. Kunte, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune

Rāga Lakṣaṇa or the rules of performing raga-s in Hindustani music are sometimes found codified in verse in musicological texts. Such verses called Rāga Dohā-s were preserved in the oral tradition of performers. These Rāga Dohā-s were part of pedagogy in Dhrupad Bāni and Khayāl Gharānā-s till the early decades of the 20th century. The practice of reciting and memorising, reciting and teaching Rāga Dohās faded away by the middle of the 20th century, and now it seems that Rāga Dohās are almost extinct in Hindustani Art music. This paper discusses the nature and importance of Rāga Dohā-s, with a case study of Rāga Dohā-s documented by two Khayal singers from the early 20th century.

Locating a Lost Authority: The Discovery of the Kaḷāṅkura-nibandha

Prateek Pattanaik, Berhampur University

The Kaḷāṅkura-nibandha is a central text in the rāga tradition of Odissi music ascribed to an eponymous sage. Despite its seminal authority, demonstrated by frequent citations in all major subsequent treatises such as the Gītaprakāśa (15th-16th c.) and the Saṅgītanārāyaṇa (17th c.), this foundational treatise on music has long been considered lost. The text's importance is twofold. First, as a technical work on music, it is a primary source for the medieval theoretical framework of Odissi music. Second, it is significant that it is composed in the Odia language, rather than the customary Sanskrit. It is dated to the 15th century, which makes it a contemporary of the Saraḷā Mahābhārata. This means it is not only among the oldest known technical treatises in Odia but also one of the earliest examples of Odia literature. This paper presents the landmark discovery of two extant manuscripts of this vital text, a preliminary description of the content of the manuscripts, and the first account of the text as an integral entity. This work should fill a major lacuna, offering direct access to a 15th-century primary source of Odissi music theory, especially the Odishan rāga-visualisation (rāga-citra) system and its unique features. Further, the text should also serve as an invaluable new resource for Odia linguistic studies.

Book Introduction: Puṇḍarīkamāla - An Overview of R. Sathyanarayana’s Critical Editions of Paṇḍarī Viṭṭhala’s Musicological Treatises

Arati Rao, Jain University, Bengaluru

Paṇḍarī Viṭṭhala (PV) has authored six works: Sadrāgacandrōdaya (SC), Rāgamañjarī (RM), Rāgamālā (RMāla), Nartananirṇaya (NN), Dūtīkarmaprakāśa (DP) and Sīghrabōdhini-nāmamālā (SN). Of these, the four texts SC, RM, RMāla and NN have been critically edited and translated into Kannada by R. Sathyanarayana in his ‘Puṇḍarīkamālā’ (PM). This publication was brought out by Karnataka Sangeetha Nrithya Academy and Directorate of Kannada and Culture in 1986. Of these works, SC describes the rāga-s of South Indian Music, RM and RMāla describe the rāga-s of North Indian Music. RM is not an independent work, but an extract of the first subdivision of the third chapter of NN. The three works SC, RM and RMala also deal with the concept of svara, śruti, grāma, mūrchana, tāna, varṇa, alaṁkāra, ālapti, sthāya, gamaka etc., as well as schemes and criteria of rāga classification. In his introduction to PM, Sathyanarayana gives biographical details about PV and the time-period of his works. He discusses key concepts elucidated in the four texts – svara vikṛti, rāga-s with kākali and antara svara-s, rāga mēla-s and computation of scales, vīṇā mēla, Persian pardah-s etc. He examines the influence of PV in the works of later authors such as Śrīkaṇṭha, Bhāvabhaṭṭa and Tulajēndra. PM has the complete translation of the four texts along with the original Sanskrit verses. The publication has indexes pertaining to musicological texts, authors, technical terms and special names. The book introduction session gives an overview of the PM and attempts to highlight its seminal contribution to Indian Musicology.

The Concept of Music in Bhāratīya Thought

N. Ramanathan, Madras University (Ret.)

The session is planned as a 45-minute question-and-answer discussion with the author. The author will not be presenting the paper during the session. Participants are requested to read his paper in advance and come prepared with questions.

Download Paper

A Notation for the Ancient Indian Harp: The Kuḍumiyāmalai Music Inscription Reconsidered

Richard Widdess, SOAS University of London

The most prestigious and ubiquitous instrument type of ancient Indian music was the arched harp (vīṇā, yāḻ). Yet little is known about the playing technique of the instrument: the evidence of iconography and literary references is diverse and inconclusive.

The 7th-or 8th-century CE music inscription at Kuḍumiyāmalai, in Tamil Nadu, South India, is the oldest surviving example of musical notation from South Asia. This anonymous pedagogical document provides extended melodies, totalling some 2,400 notes, in the seven earliest rāgas, the śuddha grāmarāgas. The notation includes unique vowel-inflections of the sargam syllables that have been interpreted as denoting melodic contour (Widdess 1979).

Digitisation and statistical analysis of the text now provides compelling evidence for this interpretation. But a melodic contour notation is unprecedented and unparalleled in saṅgīta-śāstra, and is redundant in the inscriptional notation because superscript dots distinguish octave registers, which also determines melodic contour. A possible explanation is that the vowel-inflections constitute a fingering notation for a stringed instrument; correlation with melodic contour can then be seen as a by-product of this notation, rather than its direct purpose. An interpretation of the notation as a fingering system for a large arched harp will be presented with reference to statistical evidence, iconography, and a description of harp technique from the Nāṭyaśāstra.

Oral Scholasticism in Hindustani Musical Aesthetics

Dard Neuman, University of California, Santa Cruz

Drawing on audio recordings of spoken and sung discourse alongside musical performance by five musicians—Sadiq Ali Khan, Faiyaz Khan, Abdul Wahid Khan, Vilayat Khan, and Bade Ghulam Ali Khan—this paper rethinks the epistemology of modern Hindustani music through the lens of what I call oral scholasticism: a mode of research and aesthetic reasoning developed through oral–aural media of pedagogy, practice, and performance. Working through archival recordings, the paper traces how musicians engaged both Indic and Islamicate aesthetic vocabularies—śāstra and ʿilm—while articulating a secularity grounded not in scriptural authority, but in sonic discernment, judgment, and practice. Using new technologies of transcription, specifically the Interactive Digital Transcription and Analysis Platform (IDTAP), I align speech, melody, and syllabic articulation on a shared temporal grid, making acts of oral theorising analytically legible on their own terms.

By treating musicians as theorists of their own art, the paper situates Hindustani music within a broader history of sound-based epistemology and proposes a new methodological vocabulary for studying the knowledge practices of performance.

The Reading Circle in FRIM 2026

To do good Historical Musicology, one needs a formidable list of skills: musical, historical and textual. And if one wants to go beyond printed texts, they will require some degree of text-critical and philological expertise. This means learning to use print and manuscript material, to constitute a reliable reading of the text, preparing an edition, and translating the text precisely. It is only with a reliable edition and a rigorous translation that further interpretations can be built.

This can seem like a tall order, regardless of how many years of experience one has. One doesn't have to dive down the deep end of linguistic and philological pool, certainly not by themselves One of the ways to make the experience less stressful, and the end-product better, is to organise a reading circle with the materials one is editing or translating. The Reading circle is simply an exercise where people gather - either in person or online, and take turns reading, translating and annotating a text. The reading circle is meant to be collaborative, not competitive, and participants can choose to be active (or not) in the translation exercise. Participating in the reading circle doesn't mean one is compelled to translate; one can learn a great deal by being an auditor in such sessions.

What does one do in the Reading Circle?

The idea behind this session is to 'workshop' the idea of the reading circle for FRIM. We've chosen a selection from the Gītavinōda chapter from Sōmēśvara's Rājamānasōllāsa for this time. Here's a folder with a transcript of the Kannada Edition, and a pdf of the Baroda edition of the Rājamānasōllāsa.

We could aim to read the first 30 verses; the goal is to be thorough, and to take everyone along, rather than to cover ground. This is the format we will follow:

• We will read the verses in advance and note textual problems
• We will take turns translating one verse each, followed by annotations and comments from the rest of room (and the zoom)
• We will finalise the text and translation of the verse based on the collective understanding, and add any annotations
• Repeat the cycle for another verse, and another, till we run out of time

Uncovering Musical Histories in South Asian Oral Musics

Eshantha Peiris, University of British Columbia

How can we study the histories of musical styles that have no written documentation? In this talk, I suggest that it is important not only to explore the oral histories of musical sounds, but also to re-examine the stories and motivations behind particular historical narratives that we have received. Observing deep-rooted similarities between musics in Sri Lanka and the Indian subcontinent, and uncovering more recent interventions, I argue that identifying shared characteristics among musical vocabularies can point toward shared cultural histories among communities that are today commonly defined by their differences.

Subbarāma Dīkṣita As a Source: A Study of His Compositions in Two Twentieth Century Musical Publications

Aishwarya Shankar, Queen Mary's College, University of Madras

Eight of his Subbarāma Dīkṣita's compositions are found published in the Oriental Music in English Notation (OMEN, 1893). While it is quite clear that he must have been A.M. Chinnaswamy Mudaliyar's source for these songs, the OMEN versions include certain modifications and additional details, vis-à-vis the subsequent text: Subbarāma Dīkṣita's Saṅgīta Sampradāya Pradarśinī (SSP, 1905). A comparison of the two sets of notations reveals differences in melodic phrasing, sāhitya, and tāla nomenclature. Mudaliyar’s documentation also mirrors several aspects of Subbarāma Dīkṣita’s gamaka indications, while employing Western notation symbols to approximate specific gamaka articulations. Furthermore, the Oriental Music periodicals provide supplementary notes and even the years of composition for some pieces—information that is absent in the SSP. This paper will compare the convergences and the differences between Dīkṣita's compositions in these two publications, and reflect on these changes that appear within a short time, with such a close line of transmission.

Ambiguous Articulations - A re-look at the Gāyakī and Tantrakārī styles in Hindustānī Instrumental Music

Sugnan Dani, Jain University

The Gāyakī (vocal) and Tantrakārī (instrumental) styles are central to the performance of Hindustānī instrumental music. Though these terms are widely invoked in both performance discourse and scholarly writing, their usage remains inconsistent and often imprecise. Does a Hindustānī instrumental rāga performance described as Gāyakī style imply adherence to the vocal idiom of khyāl or dhrupad, or both? Does the term refer to the adherence to lyrics, concert format, stylistic treatment of melodic phrases, or some combination of these elements? Furthermore, can the Gāyakī or Tantrakārī styles be attributed to individuals as part of their performance identities? This study examines such questions by exploring the characteristics and performance methodologies associated with Gāyakī and Tantrakārī styles within the context of Hindustānī instrumental music. Through qualitative interpretation of different segments of select Hindustānī performances of Bānsurī, Harmonium, Jaltaraṅg, Santūr, Sarōd, Sitār, and Violin, the study attempts to revisit these terms, and to unpack the conceptual ambiguities surrounding them.

Where Is Rāga Born? A Musicological Analysis of Kṣemakarṇa’s Rāgotpatti.

Ayesha Sheth, Ahmedabad University

This paper examines the unusual rāgotpatti (origin of rāga) section of Kṣemakarṇa’s Rāgamālā (1570), in which each rāga is said to originate from a specific sound of the animate or inanimate world—from birdsong and animal calls to the noises of daily labour. While art historians have analysed these verses for their influence on the rāgamālā painting tradition, their implications for musicology remain largely unexamined. Such features are often characterised in modern scholarship as “extra-musical,” peripheral to rāga grammar or performance practice. Through a close reading of earlier saṅgītasāstra—especially Śārṅgadeva’s theorisation of sthāya—this paper investigates the musicological function of these sonic analogies. By examining how premodern theorists mobilised so-called “extra-musical” material to conceptualise rāga, the paper argues that these origin sounds were not peripheral but central to how rāga was theorised. The paper concludes by reflecting on a broader shift in rāga theorisation: from scalar organisational systems (grāma, mūrchhanā) to later texts that draw on the wider material and sonic world as constitutive parameters of rāga identity.

Rhythm and Movement in Hindustani Raga Performance

Martin Clayton, Durham University

The Hindustani tradition is well known both for its sophisticated tala system and range of techniques for developing complex rhythmic variations, and for its development of free rhythm alap. In recent years it has become possible to gather data relating to the movement of musicians from performance videos, using pose estimation algorithms such as OpenPose. Given the close relationship between rhythm and movement in music, what can this movement data tell us about the rhythmic structure of the music? In this paper I will illustrate the kind of data that can be generated and explore some of the ways in which it complements our existing knowledge about rhythm and tala in Hindustani music.

Meditating on the Mandala: Sādhana Visualisation as Presented in Traditional Ladakhi Songs

Noé Dinnerstein, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York

Situated as it was on the caravan routes between India, Tibet, China, and Central Asia, Ladakhi culture developed distinctive hybrid characteristics, including musical styles. One of the most iconic features of Ladakhi music is the Muslim-derived surna/daman ensemble which was a symbol of royal power and general prestige. In the 17th-18th centuries, this Muslim-influenced music was combined with sophisticated Buddhist texts to produce a genre of sophisticated art songs in Leh’s royal court. These congregational songs, or zhung lu, are in praise of important persons and places. Within the repertoire coming out of both the old royal house and rural populations we find many songs with strong Buddhist content. Many songs are reflections of the socio-political structure of Ladakhi society, with texts that evoke a mandala or symbolic representation of the world. The mandala and other Vajrayana Buddhist iconography are invoked in a manner evocative of ritual and meditative visualisation practices known as sādhana (Tibetan, sgrub thabs). This paper examines the texts from the point of view of the Sanskrit-Tibetan philosophical continuum, while also looking at how they have been performed in the past and present in terms of dance, singing, and instrumental practices.

Modernising Hindustani Rāg Theory in the Late Nineteenth Century

Peter Manuel, Graduate Center, City University of New York

Hindustani rāg theory, as articulated in written texts, underwent a conspicuous modernisation in the latter nineteenth century, liberating itself from traditional Sanskritic preoccupations with mythology, lore, and arbitrary classification systems. Fundamental to this process were the belated spread of printing in India, and the attendant expansion of vernacular-language readership beyond the realm of Sanskrit and Persian literati. Particularly relevant to music was the publication of Urdu-language books written by knowledgeable performers and aimed at amateur students—especially sitarists and singers--rather than dilettante Brahmin aesthetes. This paper, focusing on selected Urdu texts, traces the replacement of archaic and uninformative modes of Sanskritic “erudition” by straightforward and empirical descriptions of rāg forms and performance techniques, ultimately climaxing in the monumental Marathi-language publications of V.N. Bhatkhande.