Chapter 4 PLAYING TECHNIQUES IN SAMA GANA PERIOD VEENA AND VEDAS Though it is impossible to assign any particular time frame to the origin of Vedas, it is said that the Vedas of ancient Hindus are at least four thousand years old. Even so, they bear witness to an advance culture and civilization with a long period of evolution and development before. Indian Music traces its origin to the Sama Veda. Lord Krishna says, "Of the four Vedas, I personify "Sama Veda". Narada Muni says, "Brahma developed music with the help of Sama Veda". This goes on to elucidate that our music arose from transcendental vision, inspiration and genius. The Vedas are known as 'Sruthi'- Eternal truths heard through intuition. Music is but a subsidiary branch of Vedas. It is Naada Vidya, Science of Sound. Its study leads to Nadopasana, self-realization, through contemplating Naada. The Vedas of the Hindus are the earliest documents known to man in the realm of higher thought and speculative philosophy. Music, of course had a profound significance for Vedic scholars. They enjoyed reciting spiritual verses in groups. Their reverence for sound as a 72
manifestation of God and their instinctive sensitiveness to melody led them to develop music as a branch of Vedas. A great amount of reference about ancient Indian Music is found in Sama Veda. The word 'Sama' means 'sweet note' or 'tune based on harmony'. The Sama Veda is the Yoga of Song. It consists of various hynms of the Rig Veda put to a different and more musical chant. Hence the text of the Sama Veda is a reduced version of the Rig Veda. Its secret is in its musical annotation and rendering. The Sama Veda represents the ecstasy of spiritual knowledge and the power of devotion. The Rig Veda is the word; the Sama Veda is the song or the meaning. The Rig Veda is the knowledge, the Sama Veda its realization. Hence the two always go together like husband and wife. The Rig Veda is the wife and the Sama is the husband. 'Sama Veda is suitable to be sung to the accompaniment of instruments, both tonal and percussion. The three instruments, Veena, Venu and Mridangam have been mentioned, even from the Vedic times (more than four thousand years before). The other instruments of the three categories are all of later origin. There are about hundreds of instruments in each of the three categories. 73
Veena is called the King of instruments, since it is believed to be the perfect instrument, which is capable of producing music almost equal to that of Vocal rendering. From time immemorial, Veena of all musical instruments, is the most honoured and respected one. This may be the reason why the Goddess of Learning, Saraswathi is depicted adorned with a Veena. She is also called Veenapani. Right from Vedic ages, Veena has been glorified to such an extent that it is deemed as an incarnation of God. It rightly occupies the first place amongst the celebrated 'Vadhya Trayam' - Veena, Venu and Mridangam. All the delicate quartertones, the subtle nuances and the fine touches can be played with accuracy on this instrument. The instrument is also mentioned in the Sutras and Aranyakas. The Veena of the Vedic period had: - Siras (head or neck) Udara (bowl) Ambhana (Sounding board or the belly) Tantu or tantra (string) and Vadana Kona (plectrum) During Yajnas (holy sacrifice), the priest and the performer chanted, and the latter's wife played the Veena called 'Audumbari', that is made of 74
Audumbara wood. In another place, it is said that 'Picchola' was the Veena played upon by the wife of the performer of the Yajna. The word Veena seems to have been first used in the Vedas. In the Ashwamedha sacrifice, the Veena was used as an accompaniment to chant the mantras. The Vedas extol the Veena as "This, the Veena is verily the embodiment of beauty and prosperity". Evidently, it was also played particularly at dawn, for there is an anecdote in the Rig Veda, which goes thus- Once the demons imprisoned the Sage Kanva in a dark room and blindfolded him. The condition for his release was that, without using his eyes in any manner, he should be able to tell the coming of dawn. Hours passed and then the Sage heard the gentle sound of the Veena and he knew that day had dawned. He told his captors of course without revealing the source of his information and he was set fi-ee. The best known of the Vedic Veenas was the Vana or MahaVeena (the Great Veena) of one hundred strings of Munja (grass) that was played with two bamboo pieces. There were ten holes in the Danda of the instrument and fi*om each emerged 10 strings, thus totaling a hundred. In later literature, this instrument is generally equated with the Sata Tantri Veena, which means the 75
'Veena with the hundred strings'. Some are of the opinion that the Vana Veena might have been the prototype of the Kashmiri Santoor. Another name found a similar instrument is 'Katyayana Veena' The Veena that was played at the time of Sama gana was placed on the lap or thigh, as it is the practice now, held by one of the hands and played with the top of the thumb, and middle portion of the closed fingers of the other one. The strings were touched by the fingers in such a way that the thumb used to remain freefi*om the finger bases. In the beginning, the Veena players used to utter Pranava, then the Vahruthi and Savitri or the Gayathri mantra and finally the Vritta. In this process, they used to adopt different kinds of vibrations at the time of playing Sama gana. The Construction and playing method were similar to the Lyre and Harp of the Western Countries. When they wanted to produce short sound, the strings were given soft touches at the topmost part (Tilapramana) of the thumb and half of the upper part of the middle finger and so on. In the Rig, Yajur and Atharvana Vedas only three notes called Anudatta (Nishadha), Swaritha (Shadjam) and Udatta (Rishabam) were used. But in Sama ganam seven notes Ma Ga Ri Sa Ni Da Pa were used in the order of descent (Avarohana). These notes correspond to the notes of Harapriya 76
(Modem Karaharapriya). Subsequently, the full scale of Harapriya both 'Aarohana' and 'Avarohana' was developed. Thyagaraja, in his kxiti "Nada Thanumanisam" defined the Sama Saptakam (sa-ri-ga-ma-pa-da-ni) of the above notes. The original monotonic recitation, known as Archika Gana, gave place to Gathika or two toned chant. After a time Gathika was replaced by Samika, a triad with a higher note, a lower one and a third sandwiched in between. They were called Udatta, Anudatta and Svaritta respectively. Soon, a fourth note, Prachaya, was introduced close to the Anudatta. Now there was a tetra chord, Swarantara. It marked a step in advance of Samika Gana. They were of three kinds: Deergha, Hrasva and Pluta. The notes of the tetra chord were detached and unadorned. However, the chant promoted a sense of unison. The Yajur Veda mentions the Veena as an accompaniment to vocal recitation during sacrifices. The Hindus of Vedic times unraveled a natural tetra chord of their own in Ni-Sa-Ri-Ga with no other aid other than the ear. They inverted the four notes and set up the nucleus for Sama Gana viz., Ga-Ri-Sa-Ni. pie $eale of Sama Gana is the earliest scale of India. Simpler and primitive scales pr&cedsd this scale. There were the Archika (scale of one note), 77
Gathika (scale of two notes) and Samika (Scale of three notes), scales used in very early times. The indication of Ekaswari gayana or Archika gayana simply meant that the concerned passage was substantially sung to one note. Similarly the indications - 'Gathino Gayanthi and Samino Gayanthi'. The Rig Veda was recited to the three notes. Panini in his 'Vyakarana Sutra' refers to these three Swaras as the Aadhi Swaras. And as mentioned earlier, they were Udatta, Anudatta and Svaritta corresponding to Ri-Ni and Sa of frequencies 10/9, 8/9 and 1 respectively, the Nishada being a note belonging to the lower octave. The stringed instruments of the lute (Veena) type and the harp (Jya) type have been in existence side by side from the Vedic times. The Rig Vedic lute had only two frets. Guts were tied on to the fingerboard around the Dandi or arm to indicate the Swarasthanas- a practice that continues even now in the case of the Svarabat. The open string gave the note Anudatta (nishada). The first fret, the Svarita (Shadja) and the second fret, the Udatta (Rishabha). This scale of three notes developed into a quadrotonic^scs^ by the addition of Ga 32/27, a semitone above Ri. Since the length of tfie fingerboard was small, pulling the Chanterelle string slightly from the Rishabha Swarasthana produced this note. With the addition of Dhaivatha (5/6) below, the pentatonic scale Gi, Ri, Sa, Ni, Da developed, still later, this developed into 78
the heptatonic scale with the addition of Ma (4/3) above and Pa (3/4) below. The scale of Sama Gana was a downward scale and Ma, Ga, Ri, Sa and Sa, Ni, Da, Pa were perfectly balanced and symmetrical tetra chords, the extreme notes of each tetra chord bearing the ratio 3:4. Thus the Sama Gana scale may be regarded as a Madhyamaantya scale. When Sa, Ni, Da, Pa was sung an octave higher, the idea of an octave was perceived. The Sama Saptaka gave birth to the Shadja grama, the primordial scale of Indian Music. The beauty of the Scale of Shadja grama lies in the fact that it uses within it all the important and known musical intervals. There was the Chatusruthi interval (9/8) between Ma and Pa; tissruthi interval 10/9 between Sa and Ri and Pa and Da; the dvisruthi interval 16/15 between Ri and Ga and Da and Ni. The Indian Music scale with seven notes of defined pitch was fixed more than three thousand years ago. Three octaves were recognized even in that distant past. It was also noticed that the notes in the second and third octaves were twice in pitch compared to thefi-equenciesof the notes of the preceding octaves. The notes of the Sama Gana were styled the Sudha Swaras and the other notes that received recognition from time to time were Vikrithi Swaras. The note given by the open string of the Veena continued to the Kaisiki Nishadha (16/9 - Suddha Nishadha in early nomenclature) till 79
Bharata's time and there were frets on the fingerboard, for the remaining Sudha Swaras. On the two stringed Veena, the second string was tuned to the Madhyama of the lower octave and the notes, Da and Pa of the Sama Gana were played on the second string. When the note given by the open string was taken as Shadja and the remaining notes of the Suddha Swaras Saptaka were played in the ascending order of pitch, the Shankarabaranam scale was produced. The Sama Veda was compiled from Rig Veda. Only about seventy five verses were new. As if to complete the transformation from the plain Vedic chant, Sama Gana was adorned with thrills and other graces - prenkhanna, Vikara, Vikarshana, Vishesha, Virama, Abhyasa and Sivodotta. Also, variety in intonation, mode of singing, and the objectives to be gained by different rituals were reflected in the Gayatra, Vamadevya, Rathantara, Sakwari, Nirukta, Anirukta, Apadhvanta and many other denominations of Sama Gana, Somayaga was an elaborate ritual - it called for days of preparation and lasted for many days. It invoked the grace of Indra and other celestials. Participants in it were allotted portions of the Sama Veda termed Bhaktis, Seven in all - Humkara, Udgita, Prastava, Pratihara, Upadrava, Nidhana and 80
Pranava. Melodies presented on such occasions had the sanctity of rituals. So they were learnt and practiced to perfection. Otherwise the sacrifice would lose its esoteric power and forfeit the benefits flowing from it. Those who conducted these sacrifices rendered Sama Gana while their wives accompanied them on the flute and the Veena. Some sacrifices had specific melodies for the different parts of the day. The Yagasala (the venue of the sacrifice) resounded with the sonorous chanting in the Mandhara Sthayi, the lower register, in the early hours of the morning, in the middle register at daybreak and in the higher octaves thereafter. Several kinds of Veenas are mentioned in Vedic literature. The 'Alabu Veena', the 'Vakra Veena', the 'Kapisirsha', the 'Maha Veena', the 'Chala Veena' etc. There are also references to special types of instruments for women. The 'Picchola' and the 'Kanda Veena' are two examples. The 'Taittiriya Samhita' gives a fiill description of the Veena. It is brightly painted and studded with precious stones. The belly of the instrument is covered with red leather, and has ten holes to which the strings, of twisted darbha grass or Munja are fastened. The stem is made of wood. 81
In the end of the Vedic period, some of the renowned sages wrote a few books called 'Sikshas' and 'Pratisakhyas' detailing the rules of grammar involved in Vedic Literature in respect of its language and music so that the purity of the original Vedic Literature is not mauled by raw and immature pundits. The first of its kind can be found in 'Naradiya Siksha' supposed to have been written in the 5* Century B.C. 'Naradiya Siksha' deals mainly with the musical notes and the pronunciation of the words in the Vedic language. Vedic language contained 16 vowels and the 'Naradiya Siksha' gives the details to maintain the Sonorousness of the language. According to Naradiya Siksha, Sama Gana used to be performed by a combination of vital musical elements comprising of- > Seven notes (Saptha Swaras) > Three gramas (Shadja, Madhyama and Gandhara grama) > Twenty one Murchanas (scales) and > Forty-nine Tanas. Names of the seven notes mentioned therein were - Prathama (first) Dvitiya (second) Tritiya (third) Chathurdha (fourth) Mandra(low) 82
Krusta(loud) Atiswara (too loud) In Yajnavalkya Siksha the name of the seven notes were given as SA-RI- GA-MA-PA-DA-NI that belong to the 'Gandharva Veda'. During that period the Rishis in the ' Aranya Gana' used all these notes. Ideas of music are not static. Sama Gana is no exception. Narada, Panini, Yagnavalkya and other celebrated writers on music, developed it as an art. They wrought a synthesis between philosophy, psychology and aesthetics. 83