Volume-I, Issue-V, May 2025 > Volume-I, Issue-VI, July 2025
Volume-I, Issue-VI, July, 2025 |
Received: 18.07.2025 | Accepted: 21.07.2025 | ||
Published Online: 31.07.2025 | Page No: 1514-1519 | ||
DOI: 10.69655/atmadeep.vol.1.issue.06W.158 | |||
ভারতীয় সঙ্গীতে খেয়াল গীত-রীতির উৎপত্তি এবং ক্রমবিকাশ: একটি সংক্ষিপ্ত বিবরণ সুপর্ণা পতি, শিক্ষক, সঙ্গীত বিভাগ, ভট্টের কলেজ দাঁতন, পশ্চিম মেদিনীপুর, পশ্চিমবঙ্গ, ভারত |
The Origin and Evolution of the Khayal Style in Indian Classical Music: A Brief Overview Suparna Pati, Teacher, Department of Music, Bhatter College, Dantan, Paschim Medinipur, West Bengal, India | ||
ABSTRACT | ||
Humans are the greatest creature in the living world of the Universe. They are the eternal worshippers of Satya, Shiva and Sundara (truth, goodness and beauty). This adoration gives rise to the Charu Shilpa (fine arts) and Lalit Kala Vidya (creative arts). Music is one of the most important of all creative arts as well as performing arts. Through this, men can express their thoughts and feelings, their languages, their inner happiness, their sorrows and sufferings etc. In the context of music, the core principles are listening, contemplation, reflection, practice, discipline and experience. Various types of music are performed in Indian culture through many changes over the ages. A variety of musical forms and variations has seen in political, socio-cultural and religious ups and downs of the country, originating different styles of music. One of the most beloved styles among them is 'Khayal'. The word khayal is originally an Arabic word. Its pronunciation in Arabic is something like this -'kh'yal. The meaning of the word khayal in Bengali is imagination, thought, cogitation, impulse, affinity etc. Generally, when we talk about khayal song, we think of a style that’s imaginative and largely dependent on the performer’s individual interpretation and discretion. Music maestros of that time sang Dhrupad songs basically. When the khayal songs started to become popular, Dhrupad singers mocked them by telling khayal gaiye (khayal singer). This particular musical style is called khayal because of its imaginative nature in terms of both content and application. Unlike Dhrupad, khayal does not have such a firm structure of raga. It offers the artist more freedom. Krishnadhan Bandopadhyay in his ‘Gitsutrasar’, defined the meaning of the term khayal as jothechhachar (arbitrariness). However, regardless of the exact meaning of the term khayal, there is no disagreement that khayal is the subsequent form of Dhrupad. No style of music came into being all of a sudden, in a single day. Behind it lies a clear imprint of the gradual evolution of a rich cultural tradition. Writing the history of music is not an easy task because there are so many aspects involved in music that is impossible to write an accurate history of any type or style of music without a profound knowledge of it. Writing a history of any subject requires a thorough knowledge of the political, social, cultural and religious ups and downs of the country, in addition to the subject itself. This is very important in music also. Much of our country's history of music have been shrouded in hearsay. In many cases, historical stories have been built upon hearsay and many images have been depicted on the page of history. These are now considered as historical materials. Ancient texts on music and foreign historians, while writing the history of the rise and fall of contemporary kings and emperors, have documented the identity of society, literature, painting, and music. From these musical treatises and historical accounts, a clear and vivid understanding of the evolutionary progression of khayal, from its origin to its development, can be traced. | ||
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