Sangeeta and sahitya: No one right answer

The Bible says: In the beginning was the Word. Does this mean that sahitya preceded sangeeta? It is very unlikely. Language is a later development in human evolution. What is more probable is that, long before any formal language was spoken, our cavemen ancestors must have resorted to wordless ‘singing’ (whatever it meant then) using symbolic sounds expressing joy, sorrow or fear. If so, sangeeta must be senior to sahitya. But this does not settle the debate whether sahitya is indispensable for sangeeta.

The debate is complex and paradoxical. It was the main cause of the Tamil Isai movement. In a recent TV programme, a participant asked one of the panellists – a Sangita Kalanidhi – why Carnatic music was often sung in languages which neither most musicians nor most listeners understood. The same participant later admitted that his children were crazy about the film songs Humma, humma, humma and Muqaabla, though they hadn’t the faintest idea what these words meant. If Tirukkural were to be set to music, I am sure a majority of even Tamilian listeners won’t understand most of what was being sung. Interestingly, no such issue seems to arise when we listen to instrumental music even when the composition is in an unknown language. The issue, therefore, is not cut-and-dried, and has nuances which need to be explored.