Copyright by Jeffrey Michael Grimes 2008 - The University of Texas ...

asic point seems to be that, if religious communalism is present in every sphere of
Indian life, it must be present in classical music as well. One needs only to search for it.
So, while I again do not necessarily agree with all of Bakhle’s assertions, I can orient
myself similarly to the issue I am examining. If region affects every aspect of Indian life
(a point to which I will return), it must affect classical music also. It is my task to argue
how, why, and to what extent region really is important in Hindustani raga music.
It is common knowledge that the homeland of Hindustani music is North India,
and that due to the patronage of the Muslim aristocracy, particularly the Moghuls, the
performers belonging to this tradition have historically been Muslim. That large numbers
of middle-class Hindus began to learn music starting in the last decades of the 19th
century, to the point where they became numerically dominant in the field by the second
half of the last century, is a well-documented fact. Indeed, as in Bakhle’s monograph,
this transitional period has been the focus of a large number of scholarly works. 3 What I
would argue has been neglected in recent examinations of this period in Hindustani
music’s history was that, not only were the newcomers to the field middle-class Hindus,
they were also mostly Bengalis and Maharashtrians (as well as members of some other
regional/linguistic groups, notably Kannadigas). These are groups that historically have
had much different lifestyles, food habits, religious practices, and, most importantly,
aesthetic preferences, than those of the North Indian Muslims whom they succeeded (or
supplanted, depending on your perspective). That these differing tastes and aesthetic
practices must play a role in shaping the tradition in a variety of ways is the core
3 see also Kobayashi (2003)
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