Sitar and Sarod in the 18th and 19th Centuries.

• Author: HOWARD, WAYNE
• Position: Review

Sitar and Sarod in the 18th and 19th Centuries. By ALLYN MINER. Performing Arts Series, vol. 7. Delhi: MOTILAL BANARSIDASS, 1997. Pp. 265. Rs 325 (cloth); Rs 195 (paper)

Although appreciated for some time by a small number of connoisseurs and savants, the music of India, in general, and of the sitar, in particular, was introduced to millions of Westerners by way of long-playing records on such labels as Capitol and World Pacific during the late 1960s and early 1970s. This period was, of course, that of the Vietnam conflict and the resulting anti-war protests and experiments with hallucinogenic drugs. Almost everyone who grew up during those years knew a friend or relative who lapsed occasionally into a psychedelic stupor while listening to the metallic strains of the sitar, performed almost invariably by Pandit Ravi Shankar. Author Allyn Miner began her study of the sitar during these years, traveling to Varanasi in 1971 on the University of Wisconsin Year in India Program. Happily, she avoided the superficial entrapments of the time and embarked on much-needed serious study of the sitar and the sarod, knowledge of which has culminated in this excellent volume.

Miner begins her study by rejecting the notion that the origin of the sitar can be traced back to Amir Khusrau, who flourished in the early fourteenth century Delhi court. She argues that "actual performance practice is traced only to the time of Masit Khan, a figure of late 18th-century Delhi" (p. 21). The author further disputes the conjecture that the sitar has a Hindu origin, which some Hindu writers support by pointing to ancient Sanskrit texts. She instead argues for a Persian origin of the sitar: "the Persian setar in Kashmir found its way into courts and regional use in North India" (p. 33).

The sarod, Miner maintains, developed likewise from a non-Hindu source--the Afghani rabab. The earliest musician connected by oral tradition with the sarod is Ghulam Ali Khan, who lived in various courts but finally settled in Gwalior. It deserves mention at this point that Miner's book is essentially a chronicle of Muslim contributions and...