CULTURE | Indian Dance & Music

India, as one of the earliest cradles of civilization, has a long and glorious history of art and culture that spans longer than the history of most countries in existence today.  Music & dance have always been an important part of Indian life. 

'Sangeet' - music is defined by Indian Culture as a combination of Sam+Geet that means lyrics and speech. Sangeet includes 3 main aspects in its Vocal, instrument & Dance.  

The root of music in Ancient India is found in Vedic Literature of Hinduism. Among the four Vedas, Sama Veda is considered as the origin of Indian music.  It consists of a collection (Samhita) of hymns, portions of hymns, and detached verses that were sung during religious rituals performed by priests named Udgatar. During that period, music was the medium for prayer in religious ceremonies as well as entertainment and social occasions. The development of notes originated in the Vedic period itself. There was a lot of influence of Mughals over a period of time.  The music of India includes Indian classical music, multiple varieties of folk, popular, pop, and, most recently, rock music. 

History of Indian dance form can also be traced to pre Vedic period i.e. Indus Valley Civilization. The Dancing Girl - a bronze statuette - was found in the ancient Mohenjo-Daro site in 1926.  It is revealed from the dancing figurine that  dance had important place in the social life of the people of those times and they were quite well versed in this art. In traditional Indian culture the function of dance was to give symbolic expression to religious ideas. The figure of Lord Shiva as Nataraja represents the creation and destruction of the cosmic cycle. The popular image of Shiva in the form of Nataraja clearly shows the popularity of dance form on the Indian people. The Sangeet Natak Akademi currently confers classical status on eight Indian classical dance styles: Bharatanatyam (Tamil Nadu), Kathak (North, West and Central India), Kathakali (Kerala), Kuchipudi (Andhra), Odissi (Odisha), Manipuri (Manipur), Mohiniyattam (Kerala), and Sattriya(Assam).