Both earlier editions of Ragadhana were well received in India and beyond. Being out of print for several years it is time to make it available again as a 3rd (free) edition.
In tune with today’s needs, Ragadhana may now be read as well as browsed:
online with the help of any browser
offline via eReader (any tablet or pc)
in printed form (PDF download)
The present edition incorporates the 2nd, revised and enlarged edition (1993).
Carnatic music is a vast realm with room for both, adherence to tradition and creative exploration of melody in all its diversity. This observation may account for the enthusiastic feedback received received from students, teachers and composers for the earlier editions. The present updates and some additional material are intended as a way of returning their compliments.
Expected to be completed and made available by September 2020
For up-to-date information from several leading periodicals and other websites, simply type one or several keywords such as a personal name or institution you want to learn more about, e.g. “carnatic”, “karnatak composer”, “hindustani musician”, “ragamalika”); optionally add a city or state (e.g. “Madurai singer”, “Karnataka violinist”, “Trivandrum music festival”, “Chennai music season”):
To confine results to one website, include its name in the search field (e.g. “MS Subbulakshmi sruti.com” or “MS Subbulakshmi musicresearch.org”).
Note: if the Google Custom Search window isn’t displayed on this page (on a tablet device and smartphone or any PC) – “Enable JavaScript” in the “Security” settings of your internet browser – Toggle to regular web view if you happen to use the “Reader” view
Example: what a Google search field looks like (screenshot) Note: – an active search field is included higher up – its colour scheme may differ from this example
Periodicals and other recommended sites included in the above Google custom search:
Interview with filmmaker Beeban Kidron, plus exclusive clips from her new film. Sex, Death and the Gods explores the complex world of India’s devadasi, girls devoted to a goddess and then sold for sex at puberty | Lindsay Poulton and Joanna Moorhead, theguardian.com, 21 January 2011 >>
Documentary maker Beeban Kidron (4:49): “They [the devadasis themselves] know what an education means. And what an education means is a possible way out. Not necessarily a way out but a possibility that you could earn your money some other way. […] This is about economics. This is about poverty. This is about not having alternatives.” […]
Girl taken out of school at a young age by her mother (5:30 onwards): “It’s been two years. […] No money in our hands, so I don’t go [to school].”
Beeban Kidron (7:27): “One of the things that is fascinating but complicates the whole issue is that there is more than one form of being a devadasi. I think what is important is to know and to understand that the elite devadasi are actually the grandmothers of Indian national dance bharata natyam in the elite world of temple and court. These women were the lovers of princes and priests and other high caste men. And it was a huge privilege and a sign of social mobility to be a devadasi. But there has obviously been a break in the tradition and it was made illegal in 1947 as the British left India. […] We have to be careful how we view things. And that was the journey for me. […] That system of dedicating young girls is abusive, is sex slavery, and so on. It’s paradoxical, you have to raise the age of consent, you have to work with the women, you have to help them educate their daughters, you have to help with the alternative.”
Read a recent interview with Beeban Kidron in The New York Times, on protecting children online
The Baroness Fighting to Protect Children Online By Natasha Singer, August 27, 2019
Beeban Kidron has successfully pushed stricter limits on how tech companies can target children online in Britain. […]
A member of the House of Lords, she had just flown in from London to attend an international meeting hosted by the social network. And now, in a hotel thronging with tech executives, she was recounting her plan to overhaul how their companies treat children. […] Read the full interview here >>
More (documentary) films by Director, Producer and writer Beeban Kidron on imdb.com >>
Learn more about the devadasis throughout (known) history in Music, Dance and the Art of Seduction
Chapters by Joep Bor (pp. 233), “On the dancers or Devadasis: Jacob Haafner’s Account of the Eighteenth-Century Indian Temple Dancers” and Tiziana Leucci (pp. 261), “Between Seduction and Redemption – The European Perception of India’s Temple Dancers in Travel Accounts and Stage Productions from the Thirteenth to the Nineteenth Century”
e.g. search for “Shodhganga Carnatic music”, “Shodhganga veena”, “Shodhganga bamboo flute”, “Shodhganga Indian music education”, “Shodhganga music bani”, “Shodhganga percussion instrument” in the search field below:
Track missing details for search results
To trace the source document of any separate chapter listed among the search results hosted on Shodhganga’s server, look for its “handle” number: e.g. “138940” from the URL (in search for more publishing details): http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/handle/10603/138940
Copy-paste the second part of this “handle” number (e.g. 138940) into the How to Cite window in order to trace the document’s publishing data on the Shodhganga website http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in.
e.g. “handle” number 138940 refers to “The influence of Nagaswaram on Karnataka classical vocal music”, Researcher: Radhika Balakrishnan, Guide: Sreelatha, R. N., University of Mysore, Completed Date: 2016, University of College Fine Arts
Browse and download any chapter from the Shodhganga server.
Note: search results appear without much delay. More patience is needed for consulting the Shodhganga website (waiting time varies depending on the hour of the day).
SHAMSA Database
Link: goo.gl/o8rwBx
Category: Sources of Research
Brief: The following is a database uploaded by the scholar Katherine Butler Schofield to the website www.academia.edu, which gives many sources useful for research in Music and Dance in South Asia.
Sahapedia
Link: https://www.sahapedia.org/
Category: Sources of Research
Brief: Sahapedia is an open online resource on the arts, cultures and heritage of India. At Sahapedia, one can read articles, watch videos, listen to interviews, and browse image galleries.
Merger of websites: The two sites www.musicresearch.in and www.musicresearchlibrary.net have now merged! We have closed www.musicresearch.in and moved its contents to www.musicresearchlibrary.net. In the ‘musicresearchlibrary.net’ site, a menu ‘musicresearch.in‘ has been created which will house some of the earlier contributions of senior scholars. Please like and follow our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Musicresearchlibraryadmin/ for latest news and updates.
“Unity in Diversity, Antiquity in Contemporary Practice? South Indian Music Reconsidered” by Ludwig Pesch (Amsterdam) in Music – Politics – Identity published by Goettingen University
Music always mirrors and acts as a focal point for social paradigms and discourses surrounding political and national identity. The essays in this volume combine contributions on historical and present-day questions about the relationship between politics and musical creativity. The first part concentrates on musical identity and political reality, discussing ideological values in musical discourses. The second part deals with (musical) constructions, drwawing on diverse national connections within our own and foreign identity. – Matthew Gardner & Hanna Walsdorf (eds.)
