Transformative Power of Music in the Hindustani Tradition

This chapter explores how music can transform individuals and their relationships, drawing on the philosophical and spiritual foundations of the Hindustani musical tradition. It examines the mechanisms by which these changes occur and the factors that contribute to them, blending analysis of foundational concepts with insights from musicians about their lived experiences.

The meaning and roots of “music”

The term “music” originates from ancient Greek mousike, meaning “like the muses”—the goddesses who granted inspiration to humanity. Hazrat Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan, in The Mysticism of Sound Music and Word (Vol. 2), describes what we ordinarily call music as a miniature representation of a universal harmony that underlies all existence. He observes that all religions unite in the idea that creation springs from vibrations, known in Hindu thought as Nâd and in the Bible as the primordial “Word.”

Cosmically, the union of purusa (the subtle dimension of manifestation) and prakriti (the gross manifestation) initiates all creation. The causal sound nâd emerges from the fusion of prâna (breath), which gives “Na,” and dâh (burning fire or energy), which gives “Da.” Similarly, tâl combines tândava (movement, “Ta”) and laya (rhythm, “La”). Nâd, the eternal sound, is one of the five elements (earth, water, fire, ether, air) and gave birth to music across both Eastern and Western traditions. So nâd literally blends breath and energy, implying that sound from living beings originates in the lungs and emerges from the mouth.

Two types of nâd exist: Âhat and Anâhat/Anâhad. Âhat nâd results from the collision of two objects or through physical manipulation, such as striking cymbals or producing vocal sounds. Its vibrations generate sound that fades as the vibrations cease—this is the sound we encounter in music. Anâhad nâd is a self-generating, “unstruck sound,” such as the music of the spheres created by vibrations of ether in upper regions. Rabindranath Tagore wrote of it: “The life-breath of Thy music runs from sky to sky.” Also called subtle or Suksham nâd, this is the sound heard internally by yogis or highly spiritual individuals when they attain elevated states of consciousness.

Nâd connects to Dhvani (a type of sound). Music concerns itself with sweet and pleasant dhvani. Classical vocalist Manju Sundaram, senior disciple of Girja Devi, described music as “the exact miniature of the cosmic laws,” containing harmony, rhythm, and order. She further stated that music resembles a liquid capable of penetrating deep into the soul.

Steve Dillon, in Music, Meaning, and Transformation, observes that making music strongly influences emotions and can shape identity. Musical experiences enable self-knowledge, wordless communication with others, and a deeper understanding of one’s place within a distinctive culture. Such experiences, he argues, can be deeply meaningful and lead to personal transformation.

What does “transformation” mean here?

Literally, “transformation” denotes a marked or qualitative change—in character, behaviour, or attitude, generally for the better at various levels. The focus here is on personal and interpersonal change. Professor Ritwik Sanyal, disciple of the Dagar brothers, explained that in Indian mythology and particularly in Hindustani music, transformation is conceived as a spiritual pathway leading toward perfection, liberation, freeing, and salvation, with an unchanging essence (œâúvat) beneath. The Advaita Vedanta tradition aims at freeing (mukti) a person from inner bondage (bandha) that ties them to the consequences of past thoughts and actions, achieving this through conscious acceptance of certain truths about the Self.

Hindus traditionally believe that salvation can be achieved through the practice of music, which is why a good musician must live retired from the world like an ascetic.

Music and transformation in practice

Dr. Manju Sundaram shared that music—whether singing, practicing, listening, or performing—increases acceptance and reduces resistance and resentment, gradually transforming one’s entire being. The Advaita Vedantic texts offer a complex model of this process by positing an “inner instrument” (antahkarana) responsible for perception, cognition, and recollection. This inner instrument encompasses the mind (manas, manifesting attentivity), the intellect (buddhi, the capacity for determination and ascertainment), and citta, a storehouse of past impressions and memories. As a crucial aspect of the embodied person, it coordinates sensory and bodily functions while interacting constantly with internal and external events. It “reaches out” to environmental objects through the senses and becomes transformed into their shapes, essentially knowing them by assuming their form.

Such transformation occurs not only personally but also interpersonally. Dr. Manju recounted a performance at an International Convention by the Theosophical Society in Madras. After her concert, a Russian delegate who could not understand a single word or syllable requested a meeting and conveyed through an interpreter that “although he could not understand and follow a single word or a single syllable of what you chanted, but it has transformed his whole being.” This demonstrates music’s capacity to effect change beyond personal and cultural boundaries. Dr. Manju attributed this to the eternal and universal power of nâd that was communicated.

Tom Kenyon (Director of Research and Development, Acoustic Brain Research, U.S.) found in his work with groups and individuals that mantras or chants can seemingly transport people to other dimensions of consciousness, even among participants from cultures in which these practices are not native. He concludes that touching the depth of one’s nature through sound has a universally transformative effect.

Paranjpe observed commonalities among Indian artistic and aesthete communities in regarding art, especially classical music, as a form of meditation, even though many others see music merely as entertainment. Nevertheless, two medieval scholars, Jiva Gosvami and Rupa Gosvami, applied rasa theory to understanding religious devotion as a path to self-transformation. On psychological and aesthetic levels, rasa means a direct perception of a quality or state of being—an immediate interior awareness provoked by artistic expression techniques. It is neither object, emotion, nor concept but an immediate experience, a tasting of life and pure joy that relishes its own essence while communing with the “other.”

In the Natyasastra, bhâv results from a fundamental rasa, expressing all emotions and incidental psychic states that nuance the fundamental savour (rasa). It expresses the dominant emotion when that emotion becomes potent enough to subject a person to physiological actions that supply unmistakable signs of an interior state. Rasa thus deals with emotional behaviour and functions as an awareness of the total emotional situation.

What does music accomplish?

Professor Sharda Valenkar, Head of the Department of Music at BHU, stated that this awareness of emotional situations provides control over emotions in both supportive and adverse conditions. She explained that this control enhances acceptance and gradually transforms one’s entire personality. Dr. Ritwik elaborated that it is a natural, gradual, continuous process of growth: “Music, certainly changes our attitude, our life, and you constantly grow and evolve.”

Professor Premchand Humbal, a Bharat Nâtyam dancer, noted that as one grows with music, emotional sensitivity increases. When comparing his earlier compositions with recent ones, he finds increased creativity and maturity, along with centered energy. Professor Shashi Kumar, a vocalist, described music’s effect as mental healing and questioned whether music could alter blood character and the character acquired during childhood through upbringing and socialization. In contrast, Dr. Sanjay Verma, a classical guitarist, completely rejected such effects, stating that for him, spiritual practices like meditation, rather than music, had transformed his behaviour.

Contributing factors to transformation

Regarding factors that affect and foster transformation, Professors Shashi and Sharda agreed that inborn nature and the character acquired through upbringing and early socialization determine the intensity and depth of spiritual transformation. Professor Praveen Uddhav, a tabla player, stated that music does not direct everyone toward spirituality; it depends on one’s sanskâras (innate dispositions).

Additionally, Professor Humbal and Dr. Manju emphasised the role of knowledge, musical and other life experience, and surroundings. Dr. Manju expressed gratitude for life, which had given her the right atmosphere, environment, milieu, surroundings, and people to live life on her own terms. When considering interpersonal transformation through music, Dr. Manju found that receptivity determines the intensity and depth of transformation: the more intense the receptivity, the deeper the music penetrates the soul. Dillon’s explanation of transformation is relevant: “I have become aware that the way I think ‘musically’ has affected the way that I do things and solve problems, beyond the process of making music, in fact my music making experiences have had generic consequences…. Through the process of making and thinking about music, I have also been ‘made’ by it.”

Closing thoughts

Examining the transformative nature of music at personal and interpersonal levels within Hindustani music and Indian ethos reveals that music and the individual are mutually inclusive—they transform each other in many ways. As artist Jorge Oteiza stated (quoted in Patxi del Campo’s Creative Psyche and Music Therapy): “Art does not transform anything, it does not change the world, it does not change reality. What really transforms man in his evolution and completes his languages is he himself. And it is this man, transformed by art, who can try to transform reality through life.”

There is no question that music has transformative effects, yet questions remain: what kind of music making produces this effect, where in the self is change located, and to what end? Measuring and evaluating music’s impact on human nature and health falls outside this chapter’s scope, but this represents the crucial next step for rigorous, accountable inquiry. For now, the position taken is that music does and has transformative effects across all cultures. Research already exists on different types of sound and their physiological, hormonal, and neurological effects. An urgent need remains to measure and identify neural changes, altered brain activity, and actual physical and micro processes—such as genetic and neurotransmitter alterations—during transformation.