THE MUSIC OF HINDOOSTAN.*

INTEREST, as well as utility, results from investigations of Eastern arts, which are impressed with the character of originality. It is but of late years, that Europeans have condescended to believe that fine arts had ever existed in India; its architecture and sculpture have, at length, forced themselves upon our attention, and we are now indebted to Captain Willard for a sensible treatise on Indian music, derived not merely from books but from living professors and performers (veenkars), and in which he has shewn some remarkable analogies between the music of the ancient Greeks and that of the ancient Hindus.

Captain Willard endeavours, in the outset, to rescue Hindoostance music from the contempt into which it has fallen, partly, he considers, from ignorance, partly from prejudice, but mainly, we surmise, from the gross ignorance (which he admits) of the native professors.

The natives, it appears, are not unanimous in their sentiments respecting this art. The Hindoos extol music and consider it a lawful enjoyment; some of the Musulman doctors, however, denounce it as profane, and others merely tolerate it.

The native music, which consists of melodies (harmony being unknown), is commended by our author, who also praises the vocal performers, judiciously abstaining from any defence of " that medley of confusion and noise, which consists of drums of different sorts, and perhaps a fife," the effect of which it is difficult even to remember without a pang.

The degeneracy of Hindoostanee music Captain Willard dates from the time of Mohummud Shah, who patronized it; his successors had not tranquillity and leisure for such amusements, and "the security and stability proferred, from political motives, by the British government, to the native chieftains, perhaps, materially conduced to render them luxurious and effeminate in a still greater degree than the climate, to which those vices are generally attributed; and these have been the bane of the music of Hindoostan."

Music in India is termed Sungeet, and is the subject of various treatises in Sanscrit as well as in the dialects; it is divided into seven parts, of which the first three only relate properly to music. These are soor-udhyay, which treats of the seven musical tones, with their subdivisions; rag udhyay, which defines the melody; and tal-udhyay, which describes the measures and the mode of beating time. The gamut is termed soorgum, from the first four notes of the scale, abbreviated. The number of tones is the same as in European music, but there are subdivisions of semitones into quarter tones, in the manner of the enharmonic genus of the Greeks. The musicians of Hindoostan, however, never appear to have had any determined pitch by which their instruments were regulated; whence it is immaterial which note is designated by any given letter. Writers say that the various sounds of the gamut were originally derived from the cries of animals; the first, from the call of the peacock; the second, from that of the bird pupecha; the third, from the bleat of a sheep, &c.

In respect to time, or measure, the Hindoos, according to our author, have "beautiful melody, comprising seven and other unequal number of notes in a measure," and have musicians in abundance able to execute these difficult measures. The time of the Hindoos resembles the rhythmical measure of the

A Treatise on the Music of Hindoostan, comprising a Detail of the Ancient Theory and Modern Practice. By Captain N. Augustus Willard, commanding in the service of H.M. the Nuwab of Banda. Calcutta, 1834.

ancient Greeks; but there are four, if not five, distinct characters used for time in Hindoostanee music. The peculiar nature of Hindoo melody requires that the singer, in repeating the strain, should break off in different parts, and fall into a rhapsodical embellishment called Alap, in the manner of grace-notes, and recover the measure, which is done without violence to time.

Not only are the Hindoos ignorant of harmony, but Captain Willard perceives so wide a difference between the European and Oriental music, that he considers many of their pieces would baffle the attempts of a contrapuntist to set a harmony to them. Their authentic melody is limited to a certain number, and their prejudice teaches them to believe that it is impossible to add to that number. Hindoostanee melodies are short, lengthened by repetitions and variations; they all partake of the nature of the Rondo, the piece concluding with the first strain, and sometimes the first bar.

The general term for melody is rag or raginee, which have been usually translated “modes;" but Captain Willard shews that mode, as a technical term, is expressed by t'hat, and that rag and raginee signify tune, as rendered by Dr. Carey, in his Bengalí dictionary. It is well known that the terms have been applied to personifications, which imply a relation between sounds and zodiacal changes. Captain Willard has given a pretty full account of the various rags and raginees, and their personifications.

Then follows a description of the Hindoo Musical Instruments, with hints for their improvement. They have all the radical defect of not admitting a change of keys. Of the veen (vína), the most ancient of the musical instruments of Hindoostan, he says that, in the hands of an expert performer, it is, perhaps, little inferior to a fine-toned piano. It is strung with seven metal wires, three steel and four brass; but the melody is generally played on one of the steel wires; the rest are chiefly for accompaniment.

Of the various species of vocal compositions, our author has described no less than twenty. The dhoorpud is the heroic song; the subject either memorable actions of heroes, or love-matters; the style is masculine, easy, and free from ornament. The kheal, on the contrary, is of a more feminine character, graceful and replete with embellishments. The tuppa is the favourite species, and has been brought to great perfection by the late Shoree, a famous singer; its subject is love. The holees or horees are the well-known ditties, sometimes in courtesy styled hymns, which recite the amours of Crishna in the groves of Vrij.

Captain Willard has very properly added an account" of the peculiarities of manners and customs, in Hindoostan, to which allusions are made in their songs;" the necessity of which must be apparent when it is known that, amongst other "peculiarities" in Hindoostan, "the fair sex are the first to woo; and the men yield, after much courting." The tenor of their love-ditties is one or more of the following themes: beseeching the lover to be propitious; lamentations for his absence; imprecating of rivals; complaints of inability to meet the lover, from the watchfulness of the mother and sisters-in-law, and the tinkling of the little bells worn round the ancles; supplication of female friends, named Sukhees, &c.

Some of the modern Hindoo songs, since the Mahomedan invasion, abound in praise of drunkenness; but Captain Willard says that "the songs of the aborigines will bear comparison with those of any other country for purity and chasteness of diction, and elevation and tenderness of sentiment."

A variety of original airs, with the poetry, accompany the work, which we recommend strongly to the notice of connoisseurs.

CHIRRA PUNJI.

WHILE the inhabitants of the Upper Provinces of India have for some years enjoyed the advantage of an asylum from the overpowering sultriness of the plains, during the hot season, the residents of Calcutta have only very lately had their attention drawn to the hills in their neighbourhood. Even now that the benefit to be derived from change of climate, without the necessity of proceeding to sea, is fully understood and appreciated, many adverse circumstances have tended to prevent, or at least retard, the extension of a station, which it would be reasonable to expect would have spread as rapidly as those on the Himalaya. The navigation of the Indian rivers by steam will, however, materially facilitate the access, and there seems to be every prospect of a flourishing colony rising up in the midst of a territory, which, until the present period, has been left almost in its primitive condition.

The Kasiah hills were brought under the notice of the Government of India during the Burmese war, one or two detachments of the enemy having crossed this range into Cachar, while another came down through the Jynteah rajah's country, and threatened Sylhet and Cachar. Ram Sing, the Jynteah rajah, was either unable to prevent this force from taking up a position in his hills, or, like most weak princes, threatened on either side by powerful neighbours, he vacillated between both. Government, in consequence, sent a military force to dislodge this detachment, and the march of these troops, in all probability, afforded the British who accompanied it, if not the earliest, the best opportunity of learning any thing relating to the hills, though, as early as 1776, we were obliged to attack Jynteahpore, while the aggressions of the Kasiahs, along the Sylhet frontier, had rendered us tolerably well acquainted with that people. After the Burmese had shewn that there were practicable routes across the hills, it of course became necessary for the British government to obtain a perfect knowledge of the country, in order to despatch reinforcements to the invading army, without the necessity of taking the immense bend round the Garrow hills, or of essaying the difficult navigation of the Brahmapootra. A survey was accordingly made, which was either accompanied or followed by the late Mr. David Scott, a gentleman who took a very lively interest in the occupation of the hills, and in the establishment of Chirra Punji; and, subsequently, it was determined to construct a good road from Jynteahpore to Rahar, in Newgong: Ram Sing having been prevailed upon to grant his permission. Considerable sums of money were expended for the purpose; but the result, at the end of three years, did not answer the anticipations which had been formed of it. Mr. Scott, being much delighted with the province thus unexpectedly opened before him, brought the Kasiah hills to the notice of Government, as offering very desirable situations for sanatory stations for Europeans, and, with the permission of the ruling powers, he entered into a treaty with two Kasiah rajahs, Dewan Sing of Chirra and Teerut Sing of Nunklow, for small grants of land at both places. These he obtained by giving the rajahs farms below in exchange. Mr. Scott also received their permission to open a road between the two stations, and upon his representations, several officers went up to Chirra, two or three being sent by government to report upon it. Their opinion of the climate proved so favourable, that it was immediately proposed to commence the establishment of a sanatarium; when, unfortunately, the massacre at Nunklow took place, in which two European officers were murdered. This outrage, which occurred in 1829, involved us in a war with the Kasiahs, which was ended with more Asiat.Journ.N.S.VOL.21.No.81. D

difficulty than had been anticipated. The unsettled state of the affairs on the Kasiah hills, during the disturbances which followed the catastrophe at Nunklow, deterred European strangers from visiting a place in which so much treachery had been manifested; but as things returned to quiet, Major (now Colonel) Watson, who had been employed in the negotiations for peace, and who had taken his family with him to Chirra, again called the attention of Government and of the public to a place which he found very salubrious, and which had agreed wonderfully with his children. Lord William Bentinck was, at first, strongly opposed to the project of an establishment on the Kasiah hills, preferring those of Siccim, to which he sent up the late Capt. Herbert on a survey. The favourable account given by that officer retarded the progress at Chirra during a considerable period, in which the government had nearly determined to select a favourable spot on the Siccim hills, for the sanatarium so much required, there being political reasons for the choice.

The sepahis and their rajah, a Goorkah, were getting on very badly together, and the state of their affairs called loudly for the interference of the British government, to whom the people looked up for the redress of their grievances. It was, it is confidently supposed, at one time, intended to remove the rajah, by pensioning him off, and to place the Siccimites under a British officer; but this measure, unfortunately, was not carried into effect, in consequence of the perverse influence of the non-interference system having come over the spirit of the councils, inducing the authorities of Calcutta to leave á deserving race to the continuance of an ineffectual struggle with a worthless wretch, a foreigner also, belonging to a tribe whom they detested, and whose dominion will, in all probability, retard the progress of civilization in that quarter for many years to come. The subjection of the Kasiah chiefs, and the abandonment of Siccim, restored Chirra to notice, and a station has been formed there, which, however, has not as yet flourished with the rapidity which has characterized Simla, Landour, or Mussooree.

Chirra Punji, up to this period, has not been of sufficient importance to be marked upon a map or noticed by a gazetteer; it lies in lat. 25° 12′ 30′′ north, and in long. 91′ 35° east, thirty miles to the south-east of Sylhet, and about 4,000 feet above the level of the sea. The first detachment of convalescents left Dum Dum in August 1830, and arrived in October; the distance from Calcutta to the foot of the hills being now performed by steam in six days. A fatiguing march of nine hours from the level ground brought the party up to Chirra, where they found the thermometer, which had been 93° on the bank of the river, down to 76°. The change was felt immediately, and its beneficial effects manifested by the improvement of the health of the soldiers, who, in a short time, recovered their good looks, assuming the robust appearance which is so seldom to be found upon the plains. The portion of territory ceded by the Kasiah government, for the sanatarium, consists of a tract of table-land, about two miles long and one in breadth. At the northern extremity of this plain, a range of low hills occur, varying in height from 50 to 150 feet. These have been chosen for the site of the quarters of the officers, the hospital and the barracks. The esplanade, if it may be so called, is bounded on the northeast, the east, and south, by a very extensive valley, at least 200 feet deep, which commences a little to the northward, shewing a perpendicular face of sandstone; the side next to Chirra is also exceedingly precipitous in many places, while in others the high lands slope, and are broken into numerous ravines, altogether forming a scene which even the dullest eye could scarcely view without admiration. There were ten or twelve bungalows erected when

the latest accounts reached the writer, bearing date November 1835, constructed of brick, stone, wattle, and dab, much in the same style as bungalows elsewhere; two puckha houses have been erected, however, and though the flat-terraced roof has failed, in consequence of some fault in the construction, there is no want of materials for buildings equal to those in Calcutta ; and Colonel Watson, who has resided for a considerable period in the hills, and whose authority carries great weight, is of opinion that the disappointment sustained by Messrs. Serjent and Cracroft proceeded from causes which might be obviated in future attempts.

The whole of the table-land at Chirra is a stratum of the common grey sandstone, which occurs in quantities almost inexhaustible, and which is admirably adapted for building, since it is found in slabs from six inches to two feet in thickness, which are easily split, and as, in addition to the facility of working, it hardens by exposure to the air, and is not subject to any species of decay or decomposition, it has since its discovery superseded the soft spongy sand-stone which the natives had been in the habit of using, and which costs considerable labour to prepare for the hands of the mason. Timber for joists and rafters is not expensive, and rattans and good grass for thatching are brought from the plains and sold at moderate prices. Native labourers may be hired, on the spot, for three annas per day (about four-pence of our money), or they will work by contract, which they prefer, and when thus employed are not to be exceeded in the quantity they get through, by the most industrious classes of Europe.

Ignorant and half-barbarous as the natives of the Kasiah hills have continued to this day, they possess every qualification that can be desired for an artificer, being expert, dexterous, and yielding to none in perseverance and industry. They are already well aware of the advantages to be derived from manufactures and commerce, and have employed themselves, as far as their limited means have extended, in digging, washing, and smelting the iron ore, which abounds in their hills, and which opened to them a lucrative trade with their neighbours. The attention of the Indian government will doubtless be turned towards a scene, which promises to afford a far wider field for talent and enterprize than has yet been opened on the continent of India.

It must be a matter of surprize that so few persons have hitherto been tempted to speculations upon these hills. At present, the resident families do not exceed eight or ten, and the number of visitants has been extremely limited, not comprizing a dozen in the course of the year. This is the more extraordinary, since there can be little doubt that the erection of houses, for the accommodation of invalids, would yield a large return, so many persons being obliged to go out to sea every season, in search of a more genial temperature. The climate, from November until March or April, is described as being the finest in the world. During December and January, the whole country is covered at night with a hoar-frost, which disappears under the influence of a cheering sun, rising amidst heavens without a cloud. A cold bracing wind, at the same time, renders a fire indispensable in the house, and obliges the pedestrian to move briskly along, or to sit in some sheltered sunny spot, where the planet, so baneful in its influence on the plains below, may be encountered with impunity; not even an umbrella being necessary to screen the head from its rays. The rainy season is not so agreeable, the falls being very heavy, and the fogs thick; but good coal fires reconcile the visitants to the interior of their houses during bad weather, and they are never obliged to remain within on account of the heat: an advantage which a residence of a