ABSTRACT
In India, the performance of music (sangīt) has nearly always been associated with divine experience, beginning with chants uttered by the seers and sages of Vedic times (c. 4000–600 b.c.). Thus most Indian music is religious in content or function. Even the classical music traditions—the refined, frequently nonsectarian ensemble music of the sovereign courts, produced by settled, professional, highly skilled musicians—had their roots in devotional music. The development of classical music often followed its own course, shaped by the preferences of patrons, individual artistry and improvisation, and even foreign influences. Purely religious music, in contrast, was always more conservative, with great attention given to preserving established liturgical patterns within specific devotional lineages. But just as church music laid the groundwork for the evolving classical tradition in the West, so in India the religious music of the various bhakti or devotional movements, along with the musical styles inherited from the ancient period, provided raw materials for the polished classical music heard today, both the northern Hindustani and southern Karnatak traditions. Karnatak music emerged from the devotional songs and hymns of the great Vaishnavite and Shaivite saints performed in the temples and shrines of Vijayanagar, Tanjavur, Srirangam, Tirupati, and Cidambaram. What became known in succeeding centuries as Hindustani classical music developed primarily from the temple vocal form known as dhrupad and from the elaborate bhajan music performed by Vaishnavite singers in the northern region of Braj.
