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

manuals, Miner discusses the evolution of both the construction of and the respective
repertories of the sitar and sarod in the period in question. One of Miner’s means of
organizing her data is to discuss how instrumental music developed in specific regional
centers, such as Lucknow, Benares, Rampur, Jaipur, etc. What emerged from these
centers in the latter part of the 19th century, as Miner rightly notes, were two broad
streams or styles of sitar playing (this applies to sitar only, as sarod is more thoroughly
eastern-based). These two styles of sitar were designated as the Purab Baaj, or Eastern
style, and the Pashchim Baaj, or Western style. 12 Gottlieb (1993), among others, has also
noted the very similar east-west stylistic division (also known in Hindi as Purab-
Pashchim) present in the style of the paired tabla drums, the primary percussion
instrument used in accompaniment of Khyal and sitar and sarod music. I will examine the
validity of this broad, bipartite division of style in more detail in my respective chapters
on tabla (chapter 5) and instrumental music (chapter 6). To a certain extent, Maharashtra
has become the west and Bengal the east in terms of classical music. However, these
older divisions (which, by their names and respective locations, again point to the Delhi
region as the historical center of the tradition), are also limited in certain ways. Most
notably, to give one example, in instrumental music, the distinction has become
meaningless, as Bengalis now thoroughly dominate the field and the vast majority of
instrumentalists in Bombay (the only true current center of instrumental music west of
Delhi) are ethnically Bengali and North Indian.
Beyond these studies, however, most other studies of Hindustani classical music,
12 Cohn argues that, in terms of the largest number of variables, an east-west split is at least as logical in
understanding India as a whole as is the conventional north-south division (1967:19).
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