Related Artwork: L. Subramaniam: Master of Indian Music

This concert podcast begins with two religious compositions called kritis, south Indian songs devoted to Hindu gods and featuring variations on a melodic theme. L. Subramaniam and his ensemble perform instrumental versions of the songs. Many kritis are devoted to Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge and the arts. The ancient sculptures above show Saraswati playing the vina, an Indian zither still in use today. In fact, the modern vina is sometimes called the Saraswati vina.

Left: Detail, Vishnu with Consorts; Bihar/Bengal, India; 12th century, Pala-Sena dynasty; stone; purchase, F1927.7
Right: Detail, Vishnu with Consorts; Orissa, India;Eastern Ganga dynasty, 12th-13th century; bronze; purchase, F1966.15

Kritis are also sung in devotion to Shiva, the god of creation and destruction who is revered as the essence of sound and as the deity who brought music to the world. This tenth-century bronze sculpture shows him holding a now-missing vina.

Detail: Shiva Vinadhara (Holder of the Lute); Tamil Nadu, India; Chola dynasty, ca. 950; bronze; purchase, F1997.28

In this podcast, L. Subramaniam and his son, Ambi, play the violin, an instrument brought to India by British colonialists and incorporated into south Indian music around 1800. Bowed instruments were played in India long before, however, most notably the sarangi, which is mentioned in eleventh-century Indian texts and depicted in sixteenth-century Indian paintings. At left, a musician plays the sarangi in a courtly garden scene in early nineteenth-century Rajasthan. At right, the instrument is played in an eighteenth-century Mughal court.

Left: Detail, Akhairaj with Courtiers and Musicians in a Garden; Jodhpur, Marwar, Rajasthan, India; ca. 1820; opaque watercolor and gold on paper; purchase, F1999.17
Right: Detail, A Palace scene, including a portrait of one of the late Mughal rulers; India; Mughal dynasty, 18th century; color and gold on paper, surface marred; gift of Charles Lang Freer, F1907.207

For each of the three pieces in this concert, L. Subramaniam plays a different raga (melodic mode) of south Indian music. Each raga is associated with a particular emotion, time of day, and, in north India, with a season of the year. For centuries, Indian artists have depicted ragas and their moods in paintings. This sixteenth-century painting portrays Kedar, a serious and contemplative north Indian raga meant to be played on a winter night and typically represented as an ascetic in meditation. Here, a yogic practitioner holding a vina (an Indian zither) is visited by a Muslim dervish.

Detail: Kedar Ragini; by Shaykh Hatim; Chunar, Uttar Pradesh, India; Hara dynasty, reign of Rao Raja Bhoj Singh, 1591; opaque watercolor and gold on paper; purchase, F1985.2

Here are two renditions of the north Indian raga Shri, meant to be heard on a late afternoon in winter and conveying a mood of love. At left, an early seventeenth-century painter has portrayed the raga as a prince on his throne listening to music. The nineteenth-century painting at right depicts the same raga as the god Krishna listening to music with his consort Radha.

Left: Detail, Shri Raga from the Chawand Ragamala; by Nasiruddin; Chawand, Rajasthan, India; Sisodia dynasty, reign of Maharana Amar Singh, dated 1605; opaque watercolor on paper; purchase, F1991.1
Right: Detail, A musical mode (Sri Raga): Krisna and Radha on a terrace; Rajasthan, India; 19th century; opaque watercolor and gold on paper; gift of Charles Lang Freer, F1907.248