Fundamental of Ancient Indian Music and Dance

Author(s): Sureshchandra Benarji
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 10

INTRODUCTION
General remarks
The utility of music and dance in human life is universally admitted. These arts, when cultivated, help the development of personality to the fullest extent. Music and dance evoke the finer feelings in us. They afford unspeakable joy to not only the performers but also to the listeners. The influence of music even on lower animals is marked. We see how even the fickle fawn is enraptured by songs, and falls an easy prey to the hunter. It is a common experience that the most veno. mous and menacing serpent is charmed by playing on flutes. Of human beings, not only the grown-ups but also children can be pacified by songs and lulled into sleep.
The usefulness of songs for the fulfilment of spiritual aspirations was recognised in hoary antiquity. The Rgveda, the earliest literary work of not only the Indians but also of Indo-Europeans inhabiting a vast area of the globe, is full of invocations and prayers to gods. These prayers have to be uttered with three accents, viz. Udātta, Anudātta and Svarita; all these accents are musical. The eighth book (mandala) of this ancient work is called pragātha (full of songs). The sacrificial rites, closely associated with the life of the Vedic Indians, were accompanied by songs without which these were believed to be incomplete. These songs constitute the SamaVeda. In the Gitā (X.22), the Lord says-vedānām sāmavedo'smi (of the Vedas, I am the Sāmaveda). According to the ancient Greeks, as a result of the movement of the heavenly bodies, there arises the Music of the Spheres; by realising this one's mind is attracted to the Divine Being, It seems as if the entire universe is praying to Almighty with charming notes. F-1