History of Indian Music: Treatises, Composers and Musicians
History answers are marked for precision: which treatise, which author, which contribution. Dates matter less than correct attribution.
Foundational texts
- Bharata's Natyashastra - earliest systematic treatment of svara, grama, murchhana and tala.
- Matanga's Brihaddeshi - an early use of the term 'raga' and of desi music.
- Sharangadeva's Sangita Ratnakara (13th century) - the great medieval compendium.
- Man Kautuhal - compiled under Raja Man Singh Tomar of Gwalior.
Composers and performers
- Amir Khusrau (13th century) - traditionally credited with the qaul, the tarana and with early forms of sitar and tabla; write "traditionally credited", not fact.
- Tansen (16th century, Akbar's court) - dhrupad master; Miyan ki Malhar, Miyan ki Todi and Darbari Kanada are associated with him; Swami Haridas was his teacher and Baiju Bawra his contemporary.
- Sadarang (Niamat Khan) and Adarang (Firoz Khan) - khayal composers whose bandishes are still sung.
- V. N. Bhatkhande (1860–1936) - ten-thaat classification, Hindustani Sangeet Paddhati, the 1916 All India Music Conference, Marris College, Lucknow (1926).
- V. D. Paluskar (1872–1931) - Gandharva Mahavidyalaya (1901), Sangeet Bal Prakash, and notation-based institutional teaching.
Gharanas
Gwalior, Kirana (Abdul Karim Khan), Agra (Faiyaz Khan), Jaipur-Atrauli (Alladiya Khan), Patiala, Rampur-Sahaswan, Maihar (Allauddin Khan). Modern figures: Ravi Shankar, Ali Akbar Khan, Vilayat Khan, Bismillah Khan, Bhimsen Joshi, Amir Khan.
Worked example
Asked to link khayal's rise to specific people, answer in steps: the form grows after dhrupad's court dominance; Sadarang and Adarang supply its bandish repertoire; Bhatkhande later systematises it through thaat classification and notation; Paluskar takes it into classrooms.
Traps
Naming Bharata as author of Sangita Ratnakara; crediting thaats to Paluskar; stating the sitar's invention by Khusrau as settled fact; swapping Bhatkhande's and Paluskar's institutions.