The Hindus.
In the Brahmin mythology of the Hindus the god Nareda is the inventor of the vina, the principal national instrument of Hindustan. Saraswati, the consort of Brahma, may be regarded as the Minerva of the Hindus. She is the goddess of music as well as of speech; to her is attributed the invention of the systematic arrangement of the sounds into a musical scale. She is represented seated on a peacock and playing on a stringed instrument of the lute kind. Brahma himself we find depicted as a vigorous man with four handsome heads, beating with his hands upon a small drum; and Vishnu, in his incarnation as Krishna, is represented as a beautiful youth playing upon a flute. The Hindus construct a peculiar kind of flute, which they consider as the favourite instrument of Krishna. They have also the divinity Ganesa, the god of Wisdom, who is represented as a man with the head of an elephant, holding a tamboura in his hands.
It is a suggestive fact that we find among several nations in different parts of the world an ancient tradition, according to which their most popular stringed instrument was originally derived from the water.
In Hindu mythology the god Nareda invented the vina—the principal national instrument of Hindustan—which has also the name cach’-hapi, signifying a tortoise (testudo). Moreover, nara denotes in Sanskrit water, and narada, or nareda, the giver of water. Like Nareda, Nereus and his fifty daughters, the Nereides, were much renowned for their musical accomplishments; and Hermes (it will be remembered) made his lyre, the chelys, of a tortoise-shell. The Scandinavian god Odin, the originator of magic songs, is mentioned as the ruler of the sea, and as such he had the name of Nikarr. In the depth of the sea he played the harp with his subordinate spirits, who occasionally came up to the surface of the water to teach some favoured human being their wonderful instrument. Wäinämöinen, the divine player on the Finnish kantele (according to the Kalewala, the old national epic of the Finns) constructed his instrument of fish-bones. The frame he made out of the bones of the pike; and the teeth of the pike he used for the tuning-pegs.
Jacob Grimm in his work on German mythology points out an old tradition, preserved in Swedish and Scotch national ballads, of a skilful harper who constructs his instrument out of the bones of a young girl drowned by a wicked woman. Her fingers he uses for the tuning screws, and her golden hair for the strings. The harper plays, and his music kills the murderess. A similar story is told in the old Icelandic national songs; and the same tradition has been preserved in the Faroe islands, as well as in Norway and Denmark.
May not the agreeable impression produced by the rhythmical flow of the waves and the soothing murmur of running water have led various nations, independently of each other, to the widespread conception that they obtained their favourite instrument of music from the water? Or is the notion traceable to a common source dating from a pre-historic age, perhaps from the early period when the Aryan race is surmised to have diffused its lore through various countries? Or did it originate in the old belief that the world, with all its charms and delights, arose from a chaos in which water constituted the predominant element?
Howbeit, Nareda, the giver of water, was evidently also the ruler of the clouds; and Odin had his throne in the skies. Indeed, many of the musical water-spirits appear to have been originally considered as rain deities. Their music may therefore be regarded as derived from the clouds rather than from the sea. In short, the traditions respecting spirits and water are not in contradiction to the opinion of the ancient Hindus that music is of heavenly origin, but rather tend to support it.
The earliest musical instruments of the Hindus on record have, almost all of them, remained in popular use until the present day scarcely altered. Besides these, the Hindus possess several Arabic and Persian instruments which are of comparatively modern date in Hindustan: evidently having been introduced into that country scarcely a thousand years ago, at the time of the Mahomedan irruption. There is a treatise on music extant, written in Sanskrit, which contains a description of the ancient instruments. Its title is Sângita râthnakara. If, as may be hoped, it be translated by a Sanskrit scholar who is at the same time a good musician, we shall probably be enabled to ascertain more exactly which of the Hindu instruments of the present day are of comparatively modern origin.
The vina is undoubtedly of high antiquity. It has seven wire strings, and movable frets which are generally fastened with wax. Two hollowed gourds, often tastefully ornamented, are affixed to it for the purpose of increasing the sonorousness. There are several kinds of the vina in different districts; but that represented in the illustration is regarded as the oldest. The performer shown is Jeewan Shah, a celebrated virtuoso on the vina, who lived about a hundred years ago. The Hindus divided their musical scale into several intervals smaller than our modern semitones. They adopted twenty-two intervals called sruti in the compass of an octave, which may therefore be compared to our chromatic intervals. As the frets of the vina are movable the performer can easily regulate them according to the scale, or mode, which he requires for his music.
The harp, chang, has become almost obsolete. If some Hindu drawings of it can be relied upon, it had at an early time a triangular frame and was in construction as well as in shape and size almost identical with the Assyrian harp.
The Hindus claim to have invented the violin bow. They maintain that the ravanastron, one of their old instruments played with the bow, was invented about five thousand years ago by Ravanon, a mighty king of Ceylon. However this may be there is a great probability that the fiddle-bow originated in Hindustan; because Sanskrit scholars inform us that there are names for it in works which cannot be less than from 1500 to 2000 years old. The non-occurrence of any instrument played with a bow on the monuments of the nations of antiquity is by no means so sure a proof as has generally been supposed, that the bow was unknown. The fiddle in its primitive condition must have been a poor contrivance. It probably was despised by players who could produce better tones with greater facility by twanging the strings with their fingers, or with a plectrum. Thus it may have remained through many centuries without experiencing any material improvement. It must also be borne in mind that the monuments transmitted to us chiefly represent historical events, religious ceremonies, and royal entertainments. On such occasions instruments of a certain kind only were used, and these we find represented; while others, which may have been even more common, never occur. In two thousand years’ time people will possibly maintain that some highly perfected instrument popular with them was entirely unknown to us, because it is at present in so primitive a condition that no one hardly notices it. If the ravanastron was an importation of the Mahomedans it would most likely bear some resemblance to the Arabian and Persian instruments, and it would be found rather in the hands of the higher classes in the towns; whereas it is principally met with among the lower order of people, in isolated and mountainous districts. It is further remarkable that the most simple kind of ravanastron is almost identical with the Chinese fiddle called ur-heen. This species has only two strings, and its body consists of a small block of wood, hollowed out and covered with the skin of a serpent. The ur-heen has not been mentioned among the most ancient instruments of the Chinese, since there is no evidence of its having been known in China before the introduction of the Buddhist religion into that country. From indications, which to point out would lead too far here, it would appear that several instruments found in China originated in Hindustan. They seem to have been gradually diffused from Hindustan and Thibet, more or less altered in the course of time, through the east as far as Japan.
Another curious Hindu instrument, probably of very high antiquity, is the poongi, also called toumrie and magoudi. It consists of a gourd or of the Cuddos nut, hollowed, into which two pipes are inserted. The poongi therefore somewhat resembles in appearance a bagpipe. It is generally used by the Sampuris or snake charmers, who play upon it when they exhibit the antics of the cobra. The name magoudi, given in certain districts to this instrument, rather tends to corroborate the opinion of some musical historians that the magadis of the ancient Greeks was a sort of double-pipe, or bagpipe.
Many instruments of Hindustan are known by different names in different districts; and, besides, there are varieties of them. On the whole, the Hindus possess about fifty instruments. To describe them properly would fill a volume. Some, which are in the Kensington museum, will be found noticed in the large catalogue of that collection.