ABSTRACT
Chapter 2 studies the relationship of music and religions and the sacred and the secular in India. The chapter investigates different ideas associated with music-making in India pointing out that they are connected with the theological or philosophical perspective of the religious communities and sects which adopt music in their cult. The author explains the point of view he adopted to approach the concepts of sacred and secular, and to study the relationship between courts and temples and their contribution to the evolution of the ideas linked with the mṛdaṅga-pakhāvaj. This chapter also contributes to the studies of the gharānā system of transmission of knowledge with a new point of view emerging from the words of pakhāvaj players.
