Difference between indian classical and carnatic music??
Answers
#BAL
Hindustani and Carnatic music systems are comparable to two species that have evolved from a common ancestor. So it helps to describe the nature of their 'ancestor' first and then show how the two systems evolved into distinct branches.
The common ancestor of Carnatic and Hindustani
The history of Indian music can be traced to 200 BC - 400 BC - when Bharatha Muni, a Musicologist, wrote down a basic theory of Music (and dance and drama) called "Natya shastra'. Under this system:
there were 22 notes in an octave.
primtive elements of 'taal' or meter were also identified.
the concept of 'sruti' was introduced to allow people to choose a convenient reference 'root' pitch based on the singers'/musicians' convenience.
A set of 'bhavas' (or expressions) and 'rasas' (the evoked feelings) were identifed.
A musical grammar theorized which of these 22 notes for any chosen 'sruti' will sound in harmony or in dissonance (somewhat similar to pythagorean rules, except this is all relative) with the sruti.
Using these grammatical rules, primitive recipes called 'ragas' were formed each specifically designed to evoke one of the 'rasas' (or combinations thereof). These 'raga' recipes would comprise a chosen set of notes from the 22 total available notes.
The ragas also evolved to prescribe many other details - such as how to transition from one note to another while ascending (aroh) and descending (avaroh) or what 'phrases' are quick formulae to evoke what specific complex derivative rasas.
Thus, with the formation of Natya shastra, the Indian system of music was set in motion. It is important to keep in mind that around this period India was a place of prosperity that welcomed travelers from across the world. Music kept evolving, organically as new cultures were met and assimilated.
The speciation of Carnatic music / Hindustani music
After several years of the Mughals entering the nation, most of the then-existing Hindu kings had already been chased down south as the Mughal empire and culture spread across North India. The prevalent system of music kept constantly evolving under the 'selection pressure' of the mughal rulers - which had a persian/mughal bias. Somewhere around this time, a need was felt (by the hindu kings of the era) to 'standardize' the original musical system that used to be in existence[1].
Thus, if we imagined two kingdoms - the "Hindustan" (the one that was occupied by the mughals) and the "Carnatic" (the one occupied by the remaining hindu kings of the south). Hence the names "Carnatic" and "Hindustani".
The way Carnatic and Hindustani diverged was mainly through an organized effort to make Carnatic "different", while Hindustani continued to evolve in myriad unorganized, organic ways.
The effort took place in Thanjavur (then Carnatic empire, now Tamil Nadu) originating with Raghunatha Nayak stating something on the following lines[2]:
"The listener hearing the recitals by different musicians is certainly puzzled to know what raga is being rendered as no two musicians sing the same raga alike. There is such a diversity of rendering that one cannot even recognize the well-known ragas. Most musicians, barring a few, do not conform to the definition or grammar of each raga as expounded in authoritative treatises. To put it bluntly, no musician seems to follow the sangita sastra for there is no correlation between the lakshana and lakshya and yet they call it Carnatic music."