It is well known that Indian music is based on an oral tradition. However, it is often erroneously presumed that this oral tradition precluded any musical notation. This is not the case; musical notation in India extends back to the Vedas. Musical notation, known as swar lipi has existed in India from ancient Vedic age up to the modern internet age.
Historical Overview
The history of Indian musical notation is very rich. Musical treatises have appeared throughout Indian history going all the way back to the Vedas.
The Vedic hymns are arguably the earliest examples of musical notation. The oldest of these, the Rigveda, is typically sung in three notes. There is a central note which is designated my a vertical line above it, there is a middle note which has no mark, and there a lower pitched note which is designated by a horizontal line underneath it.
Unfortunately there is a lack of agreement as to what these notes are called. One school of thought has it that the raised note is the “swarita“, the middle note is the “udatta“, while the lower note is the “anudatta“. This is countered by another school of thought which has it that the raised note is the “udatta“, the middle note is the “anudatta“, while the lower note is the”swarita“. Opinions in this matter are often very strongly held, and discussions can become acrimonious. We are presenting both views without expressing any opinion.
Below is a pre-1890 Devnagri reproduction of section of the Rigveda (Welch 2018).
There are questions which come to mind. For a very long time, Sanskrit has been written in the Devnagri script; but before this, the Brahmi script was in use (see image below). Devnagri only dates to about the 1st-4th century CE. But what about the diacritical marks used to denote the udatta, swarita and anudatta? Were these marks adapted from earlier Brahmi? Did they arise at the same time as Devnagri? Were they added during some period after the adoption of Devnagri?
These questions are particularly germane to this web page. The age of these diacritical marks may very well mark the beginning of musical notation in South Asia.
The Samaveda introduces its own twist to the subject of musical notation. This was of a later date, but incorporated many elements of the earlier Rigved (Klostermaier 1994). But unlike the Rigveda which had a very limited number of notes, the Samaveda was a fully developed “song book”.
The Sangeet Ratnakar is a musical treatise written in the 13th century by Sharangdev. It is replete with well notated musical examples.
Musical notations were used in a variety of texts through the next few centuries. They were in many languages and a variety of scripts.
Modern musical notation may be said to have begun with Vishnu Digambar Paluskar at the turn of the 20th century. Paluskar’s notational system was used by music colleges in Northern India for the next few decades. An example of Paluskar’s notation is shown below:
Although Paluskar’s system was precise, it was difficult. It was soon to be replaced with an equally precise system, but one which was more intuitive. This system was introduced by Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande. Today it is his system which has become the standard. An example of Bhatkhande’s notational system is shown below:
There are a few other minor systems that may sometimes be found. One of which is Western staff notation. Although this makes Indian music accessible to Europeans and Americans, it has a poor acceptance within India (this will be discussed later). Another is the system in use by the Ali Akbar College. There are probably other minor systems as well, but any notation other than Bhatkhande’s is marginal and may be discounted. They clearly do not have a wide acceptance.
Basics of Bhatkhande Notation
Let us become familiar with the particulars of Bhatkhande’s notational system. The previous example is re-shown below with annotations to make it easier to follow:
The above example was taken from Hindustani Sangeet Paddhati – Kramak Pustak Malika (Volume 4) (Bhatkhande, 1985). However we must not forget that Bhatkhande’s system does not specify a script, therefore it can be written in other scripts such as the Roman script.
The above example shows two lines of a sthai in rag Basant. We see that there is a melody line with the corresponding lyrics underneath. This particular example is in tintal so the four vibhags are delineated with vertical lines. The clapping arrangement is shown with the numbers underneath each line. (Some authors place these symbols at the top.) There are also occasional grace notes which may be indicated.
The Bhatkhande system is a model of elegance and simplicity. The basic notational elements are shown in the figure below:
In the above table we see that one simply has to write out the Sa, Re, Ga, etc. The komal swar (flattened notes) are designated with a horizontal bar beneath. The only note which may be sharpened is the Ma, this is designated with a vertical line over it. The various claps of the tal are designated with their appropriate number (e. g. “2” for the second clap, “3” for the third clap etc.) the khali is designated with a zero. The sam is designated with an “X”. Some authors may use a “+”. The vibhag is just a vertical line. A rest is indicated with a dash. The register is indicated by placing dots either above or below the swar. Finally complex beats (matras) are indicated by a crescent beneath the notes.
Although Dev Nagri is the most common script, it is not specified in Bhatkhande notation. One often finds Roman, Kannada, or a variety of scripts used. This makes it very well suited for the regionalisation and internationalisation of the musical notation.
One noteworthy adaptation of Bhatkhande notation is to be found in the 1998 publication of “Rag Swaroop” by Ustad Mahfooz Khokhar in Pakistan. An example is shown below:
This previous notation is a straightforward implementation of Bhatkhande notation in the Urdu language. Because it is in Urdu, it moves from right to left instead of Bhatkhande’s original left to right. The top most line (within the blocks) contains the numbers 1-16 to designate the sixteen matras of Teental. Immediately below that are the tabla bols for Teental. These are very nice pedagogical considerations, but not strictly part of the notational system. Subsequent blocks show the sargam with the usual Bhatkhande elements.
There is one remarkable departure from the Bhatkhande system. In this approach, every clap, not just the sam, is indicated with an “X”. Therefore the clapping arrangement of Tintal becomes “X1. . . X2 . . . 0 . . . X3 . . .” For a beginning student, this seems to be far more intuitive than Bhatkhande’s “X . . . 2 . . . 0 . . . 3 . . . “
Musical Notation and the Internationalisation of North Indian Music
There have been two overall approaches to the internationalisation of north Indian music notation. One approach is to translate everything into staff notation, and the other is to use a Bhatkhande notation, but shift the script to Roman script.
The use of staff notation for Indian music is a very controversial issue. It is true that staff notation has the widest acceptance outside of India. This is no doubt a major advantage. Unfortunately, the use of staff notation distorts the music by implying things that were never meant to be implied.
The biggest false implication of staff notation is the key. Western staff notation inherently ties the music to a particular key. This is something that has never been implied in Indian music. The key is merely a question of personal convenience. Material is routinely transposed up and down to whatever the musician finds comfortable. Over the years a convention of transposing all material to the key of C has been adopted; unfortunately, this convention is usually not understood by the casual reader.
One other problem associated with staff notation is the implication of equal-temperament. This clearly is not implied in Indian music.
Staff notation is not the only approach to the internationalisation of North Indian music, simply writing in Roman script is the another approach. There are advantages and disadvantages to this.
The biggest advantage of writing Bhatkhande notation in Roman script is that it does not distort the original material. Since Bhatkhande’s notation was never actually tied to any particular script, it is arguable that this is really no change at all. Furthermore, the widespread acceptance of Roman script, even in India, means that it has a wide acceptance.
However, the use of Roman script / Bhatkhande notation is not without its deficiencies. The biggest problem is that it absolutely requires a firm understanding of the structure and theory of North Indian music. The practical realities of international book distribution and more especially the Internet, means that information should be instantaneously accessible. One should not expect a casual visitor to a website, or a musician browsing through a music book, to invest the energy required to master the Bhatkhande notation.
An easy way to promote the internationalisation of North Indian music is with a combined notation. An example of the basic structure of rag Lalit in a combined notation is shown below:
Rag Lalit
Let us look at this example in greater detail. We see that it starts with the staff notation. This is an approximation of the Bhatkhande notation shown below it; in this particular example there are two sections. the first section is the ascending structure of Lalit while the second section is the descending structure.
This notation presents all of the clarity of Bhatkhande notation as well as the instant accessibility of staff notation. This is the reason why we use this extensively throughout this site.
Works Cited
Khokhar, Mahfooz
1998 Rag Swaroop. Karachi: Fareed Publishers
Klostermaier, Klaus K.
1994 A Survey of Hinduism. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Griffith, Ralph T.H.
1896 The Hymns of the Rig Veda: Translated with a Popular Commentary. Benares: E.J. Lazarus & Co.
Welch, Sarah
2018 File:1500-1200 BCE, Vivaha sukta, Rigveda 10.85.1-8, Sanskrit, Devanagari, manuscript page.jpg. Uploaded by Sarah Welch.https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1500-1200_BCE,_Vivaha_sukta,_Rigveda_10.85.1-8,_Sanskrit,_Devanagari,_manuscript_page.jpg Downloaded Sept 3, 2021.
Wikimedia Commons
2009 Brahmi pillar inscription in Sarnath. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/Brahmi_pillar_inscription_in_Sarnath.jpg. Downloaded Sept 10, 2021.