Vedic Music

The Vedic religious life was such that the priests composed hymns in praise of the nature gods, which had to be sung or chanted at religious sacrifices. This tradition led to the composition of a sizable body of the religious poetry, which we call Shruti Literature.

The Vedic hymns or Richās were not committed to written texts but the hymns and the method of chanting them, was handed down by word of mouth from one generation to generation. So, the richās of the Vedas are arranged at per the priestly families, who composed and chanted them.

The composition of Yajurveda and Samveda followed the Rig-Veda. While Yajurveda tells us the procedures followed in the sacrifice, the Samveda contains the hymns to be sung by those who chanting them. Samveda is related to the origin of music in India. Samveda basically consists of a samhita (collection) of richās or their portions from the Sakala Sakha of the Rig-Veda.

Vedic Music

How these Rigvedic richās should be sung – is known as Sām. This means that Sām is the composition of Rig-Veda richās in the form of notes, while Sāmgana is the song thus sung. This music is called the Vedic Music. It is the testimony to the deep relationship of music with religion in India.

The sāmgana included the instrumental music also. The prominent instruments in the Vedic Music were the veena, tunav, dundubhi, bhoomi-dundubhi and talav.