Jean Deloche

Musical Instruments in Hoysala Sculpture (Twelfth and

Thirteenth Centuries)
In: Bulletin de l'Ecole franaise d'Extrme-Orient. Tome 77, 1988. pp. 57-68.

Citer ce document / Cite this document :

Deloche Jean. Musical Instruments in Hoysala Sculpture (Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries). In: Bulletin de l'Ecole franaise
d'Extrme-Orient. Tome 77, 1988. pp. 57-68.
http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/befeo_0336-1519_1988_num_77_1_1741

MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS IN HOYSALA SCULPTURE

(Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries)
BY
Jean DELOCHE

Introduction
The aim of this study is to collect and classify the representations of musical
instruments found in XIIth-XHIth century Hoysala monuments scattered over the
Karntaka plateau.1
The outer walls of several temples are decorated with a number of friezes
showing music and dance performances, and, in addition, there are large images,
depicting musicians in a very realistic manner and providing specific details on the
techniques of the period; a great treasure which the historians of Indian music have
not yet fully exploited.2
This most fascinating and rewarding source enables us to define the
characteristics of the instruments and point to major milestones in their evolution.3
They have been classified into four different groups, known in sanskrit as
ghana, susira, tata and avanaddha vdya or respectively idiophones, aerophones,
cordophones and membranophones.4
I. Description
1. Ghana (solid) instruments.
The simplest idiophones shown in the sculptures are single plain metal discs
(1) The sculptures of the following temples have served as the basis of our study: Amrtpura,
Amrtsvara t. (1196), Arajaguppe, Cennaksava t. (1250), Basarlu, Mallikrjuna t. (1235), Belavadi,
Vra Nryana t. (1300), Bluru, Ksava t. (1117), Halbdu, Hoysalsvara t. (1141), indicated by
Halbdu (H), Kdrsvara t. (1219), indicated by Halbdu(K), HranahaUi, Cennaksava t. (c. 1234),
Hosaho|alu, Laksmi Nryana t. (1250), Jvagallu, Laksmi Narasimha t. (1250), Kikkeri, Brahmsvara
t. (1171), Koravagala, Buchevara t. (1173), Marale, Siddhvara t. (1130), Ngalpura, Cennaksava t.
(c. 1250), Nuggihalli, Laksmi Narasimha t. (1249), Smanthapura, Ksava t. (1268).
(2) All these documents have been systematically photographed by the Institut Franais de
Pondichry. A small part of this material has already been used in our study: Techniques militaires dans
les royaumes du Dekkan au temps des Hoysaja (xiie-xme sicle) d'aprs l'iconographie, Artibus Asiae,
vol. XLVII, 3/4, 1986, chapter on martial music, pp. 184-189, fig. 28-30, pi. XXIII-XXVIII.
(3) The author is indebted to M. Ganesan for his drawings.
(4) The number of representations of each instrument, in friezes (F), and large images (LI) is
mentioned in the footnotes.

58

JEAN DELOCHE

beaten with sticks, or pairs of convex plates struck together. They are meant for
rhythm.
a. The first5 is a thick, even-shaped and circular bell-metal gong, 30 to 40 cm in
diameter, with holes pierced on its rim, through which a thread is passed. It is held
in the left hand and struck by a round stick (fig. l,a, photos Nos. 3, 4, 8).

Fig. 1. a, Hajebidu (K), b, Smanthapura.

b. Pairs of metallic cymbals are used as accompaniment.6 They are flat discs,
made of brass or bell-metal, of the larger kind (about 25 cm in diameter). One is
held in the left palm and is struck by the other in the right (fig. l,b, photo No. 5),
used more for rhythmic than melodic purposes.

Fig. 2. a, Bluru, b, Hajbdu (H).

(5) Representations: 3 in Ilajebdu (K) (F), and 3 in Smanthapura (F).

(6) Representation: 1 in Smanthapura (F).

MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS IN HOYSALA SCULPTURE

59

c. The most unusual is the scraper or stridulator.7 It is a stick or a piece of

bamboo, 1 to 1,80 m in length, with one end shaped like a serpent's hood. On its
surface there are dents against which a rod also of bamboo is rubbed vigourously
(fig. 2, a, b, photos Nos. 1,2).
2. Susira (wind) instruments.
Of the aerophones the flute is the most common, but the trumpet and the horn
are also found.
a. The straight trumpet8 in which tones are produced by the lips vibrating
within a cup-shaped mouthpiece, apparently of brass and copper, is fairly long
(50 to 70 cm). It is blown at the narrow end (fig. S, a, b, c, photos Nos. 6, 7, 8).
b. The horn,9 about 30 to 40 cm in length, is made of a horn of buffalo or cow,
decorated with rings and the blowing end has a mouthpiece (fig. 3, d, photos Nos. 5,
9).

Fig. 3. a, Hranahajji, b, Basaralu, c, Amrtpura, d, Hajebidu (K), e, Hajbdu (H).

. The flute10 (in which wind is blown through an orifice in the wall of the
instrument itself) is a simple cylindrical tube, obviously in bamboo or reed, closed
at one end, whose length varies from 40 cm to 1 m. It is held in horizontal position

(F).

(7) Representations: 1 in Blru (LI), 1 in Hajbdu (H) (LI), 1 in Halebdu () (F) and 4 in Basaralu

(8) Representations: 1 in Amrtpura, 1 in Basaralu, 1 in Hajbdu (), 1 in Hranahajji, 1 in

Smanthapura (all F).
(9) Representations: 1 in Hajbdu (II) (LI), 1 in Smanthapura (F), 1 in Basaralu (F).
(10) Representations are found in almost all the sites in the F. Among the LI, we find 1 in
Arajaguppe, 1 in Bejavadi, 1 in Blru, 1 in Hajbdu (H), 1 in Hajbdu (), 2 in Hranahajji, 1 in
Koravagala, 1 in Smanthapura.

60

JEAN DELOCHE

with a slight downward inclination; while the two thumbs are used to keep the
instrument in position, the fingers of the right and left hand close the finger holes.
The number of holes is not seen (fig. 3,e, photos Nos. 10, 11, 12).
3. Tata (stringed) instruments : straight-board zithers.
The cordophones shown are zithers. They consist of a finger board with string(s),
below which one or two gourd resonators are fixed at the upper and lower ends.11
They are fretless or fretted and are always played by females.

Fig. 4. a, Hajbdu (H), b, Hajbdu (H), , Jvagallu.

(11) It is not easy to study the stringed instruments depicted in the friezes, as they are too small to
render details, like strings or frets, which are often omitted or suggested in simplified forms; on the other
hand large images are quite clear.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS IN HOYSALA SCULPTURE

61

a. The frets are absent from the instruments12 in most of the representations.
The one-stringed instrument is a long piece of bamboo of about 1 m in
length, fixed to a small-sized dried pumpkin, along which is stretched a string,
passing over a bridge (?) at the lower end. The cordophone is held diagonally across
the body of the player with this fruit shell on his shoulder; the right hand plucks the
string with the third finger at the lower end, while the left is used for stopping it at
the other end (fig. 4, a, photo No. 13).
The two-stringed instrument is also a round stick of bamboo of almost the
same length or shorter, to which are attached one or two gourd resonators, the
upper one being against the chest of the player who plucks the two strings with the
fingers of his right hand (fig. 4,b,c, photos Nos. 14, 15).

Fig. 5. a, Bluru, b, Halbdu (H), c, Hajbdu (H).

b. By fixing frets on the stick, the production of several notes is facilitated. We

find three specimens of these fretted cordophones, all with two hollow gourds as
resonators.13
One has a fingerboard nearly 75 cm long, on which are fixed 1 1 frets, with a
carved decoration at the lower end which serves as a bridge; over these passes a
string tensed by a pin at the other side (fig. 5, a, photo No. 16).

(12) Representations in LI: 1 in Aralaguppe, 1 in Basarlu, 1 in Hajbdu (H), 2 in Halbdu (), 1 in

Hranahajji, 1 in Jvagallu, 1 in Koravagala and 2 in Smanthapura.
(13) Representations in LI: 1 in Bluru, 1 in Hajbdu (H), 1 in Hajbdu ().

62

JEAN DELOCHE

The other built on the same principle, with the same number of frets, but
with a simple decorative motif, appears longer; the string passes on a rectangular
piece of metal or wood at the lower end, and is fixed at the upper one by a ring
(fig. 5,b, photo No. 18).
The third one, broader and shorter, has 14 frets and the string is fixed at
both ends by rings (fig. 5,c, photo No. 17).
4. Avanaddha (percussion) instruments.
Hoysala sculpture shows an astounding variety of drums: hemispheral
kettledrums, double-faced drums, with a skin stretched over a hollow, cylindrical,
bulging, or hourglass-shaped body.
a. The double kettledrums14 are represented hanging over the flanks of camels
and horses only. They are made of a conically-shaped basin, 40 to 70 cm in height,
covered with a skin, strained upon hoops of metal or wood and stretched by ropes or
leather thongs going round the underside of the shell. They are carried in pairs
secured by straps to each side of the animal's saddle and are beaten by a single
drummer using two straight sticks (fig. 6, a, b, c, d, e, f, photos Nos. 19, 20, 21, 22).

abed

Fig. 6. a, Ngalpura, b, c, f, Smanthapura, d, Basarlu, e, Nuggihaljj.

b. The double-faced drums15 are of different sizes and shapes and are held in
various positions.
The bulging drum or barrel drum consists of a hollow shell of wood, about
50 cm in length and 30 cm in diameter at the centre, looking like two bottomless
flower pots joined at their rims. The skin covers, stretched tight over the openings,
are fastened to leather hoops and strained by leather thongs interlaced in X or W
shapes, and going round the length of the instrument, while a central band goes
round the body in the middle (fig. 7,a,c,e, photos Nos. 23, 25, 27).
The cylindrical drum is also a hollowed shell of wood, about 40 cm in length
and 20 or 25 cm in diameter, though some are larger, as much as 70 cm long. Its
skins on the two sides are stretched round hoops, fastened to the shell and strained
(14) They are represented in F: in Arajaguppe, Basarlu, HranahaUi, Ngalpura, Nuggihajji and
Smanthapura.
(15) Representations in LI: 1 in Basarlu, 3 in Bluru, 5 in Halbdu (II), 8 in Halbdu (), 1 in
Ilosahojalu, 1 in Koravagala, 1 in Kikkeri, 2 in Marale, 1 in Smanthapura.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS IN HOYSALA SCULPTURE

Fig. 7. a, Hosahojalu, b, Somanthapura, , d, e, f, Hajbdu (K).

63

64

JEAN DELOCHE

Fig. 8. a, Basarlu, b, f, Hajbdu (H), c, d, Halbdu (K), e, Bluru.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS IN HOYSALA SCULPTURE

65

by means of twine or tick cotton thread or leather thongs, shaped like X or W or I

(i.e. longitudinally). In the middle a band of leather passes round over or below the
laces. In some of them we have, on both sides, some braces interlaced and
connected to a forked strap (fig. 8, a, b, c, d, e, f, photos Nos. 30, 31, 32, 33, 34).
Another drum, also of wood, but shorter (30 cm in length) with its skin heads
stretched by the same network of twisted braces is sometimes shown (fig. 9, a, b,
photos Nos. 35, 36).

Fig. 9. a, b, Beluru.
The last one is the hourglass-shaped drum, measuring between 40 and 60 cm
in length, bearing two heads held together by twine threads or thongs with a band
of leather in the middle, passing over the braces, which tightens them (fig. 7, b,d,f,
photos Nos. 24, 26, 28).
All these instruments are not held in the same manner. The barrel drums and
certain hourglass-shaped instruments are played standing, carried in front of the

66

JEAN DELOCHE

body which is slightly bent over it, and are held in place by a strap going round the
waist (they are beaten with the two hands) (fig. 7, a, b, c, e, f, photos Nos. 23, 24, 25,
27, 28). Most of the others are suspended from the left shoulcer, usually with the
help of a forked strap. They are held in the left hand and played by the fingers of
the right hand (fig. 8, a, b, c, d, e, f, photos Nos. 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 37) or beaten
with a curved stick in the right hand (fig. 9, a, b, photos Nos. 35, 36).
The problem of tuning the instrument.
How did the artists of the Xllth and Xlllth centuries manage to tighten the
instrument up to the required pitch? Today, in the concert drums like the
mrdagam and the tabla, there is provision for adjusting the pitch: small pieces of
wood, placed between the drum wall and the braces, serve to tune the instrument.
During the Hoysala period, as can be seen from fig. 8, a, c, d, cylindrical blocks were
sometimes put crosswise under the laces and could be moved along the shell for
gross tuning. But usually the musicians had a special technique of tonal variations.
In the sculptures we can clearly see that, in most of the instruments, while
beating the drum with the right hand or with the help of a stick, the lacing is
always slightly lifted away from the shell; the left hand is inserted in the straps and,
by tightening or loosening it, the tension of the skin can be increased or decreased,
effecting a change in the sound produced (fig. 8, a, b, c, d, e, f, 9, a, b, photos Nos. 29,
30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36). By exerting slight pressure on the shoulder strap and the
middle braces which stretch the skin on both sides, the drummer can produce a rise
in the pitch. Therefore the change in tension so achieved enables him to create
attractive tonal effects.
II. Comments
On the basis of the evidence we have presented, it can be said that, though most
of the musical instruments have not altered significantly from their ancient form
and are still in use today, the Hoysala period witnessed some very important
changes regarding techniques of tonal variations in drums and also in the
development of stringed instruments.
1. We don't see much evolution in the ghana and susira vdya group of
instruments.
a. The metal discs, like gongs and cymbals, shown in all the monuments of
Ancient India16 are still struck in the same manner in folk music and dance,
devotional songs and kirlna.
b. The scraper, generating weird sounds, is today employed as a kind of
accompaniment by some of the forest dwellers;17 it is astonishing to find that it was
so popular at that time (photo 2 shows a company of musicians playing the
scraper, accompanied by trumpet, drum and cymbals).

(16) See M a reel- Du bois C, Les instruments de musique de l'Inde ancienne, Paris, 1941, 30-40; Krishna
Murthy K., Archaeology of Indian Musical Instruments, Delhi, 1985, 71-77.
(17) Simpler rasps are found in the Ajanta paintings and Ellora reliefs and are mentioned in sanskrit
treatises of the Xlllth century (see Deva B.C.) Musical instruments, New Delhi, 1979, 19-21).

MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS IN HOYSALA SCULPTURE

67

c. The straight trumpets which appeared to be of great antiquity are not

different from the Mughal qarna1% and the modern instruments made in various
sizes and played by certain mendicants or in religious ceremonies.19
d. The horn, not much represented in early sculpture,20 is today a curved brass
instrument used in temple processions, receptions and public amusements.
e. The flute, depicted in most of the ancient temples21 (Krsna is usually shown
as standing cross-legged playing this instrument), "looked upon with the same
veneration as the lyre was to the Greeks",22 has always been a major instrument in
India, and its morphology has remained the same.
2. However, among the avanaddha and lla vdya group of instruments,
important innovations have taken place.
a. Regarding the membranophones, emphasis should be put on the special
technique in vogue during the Hoysaja period. We have mentioned the manner of
stretching the hide over the mouth of the drum and also the lacing which, in many
instruments, has been carried to a high degree of sophistication not seen in earlier
periods. This enabled the musician to create a great variety of sounds. All the
panels of the various temples show significantly how the player has mastered his
technique and his control of the instrument, by applying small changing tensions on
the shoulder's strap as well as by an imperceptible movement of the body,
balancing their drum on their knees, following the rhythmic steps of the dancers.
b. Among the cordophones, the bow-shaped harp and the luth type, so common
in the ancient period23 are not seen in Hoysaja sculpture. Only straight-board
zithers are represented. The one-stringed instrument, which appeared in the
Vlth century monuments, with a fingerboard to which are added one, then two
gourds, as resonators, was fretless, and throughout the Xllth and XIHth centuries,
most of the cordophones depicted in large images (see above f.n. 12) have no frets
affixed to the stem. However, fretted instruments did exist during the Hoysaja
period. They are described in the musical treatises of the Xllth and XHIth
centuries24 and the iconographie evidence corroborates the literary sources. The
earliest representation of a bamboo, upon which frets are placed, is found in the
Ksava temple of Blru (first quarter of the Xllth century);25 two others are seen
in the Hoysalsvara temple of Hajbdu (first half of the XIHth century) (fig. 5, a,
b, c, photos Nos. 16, 17, 18).
This is a considerable invention which constitutes an important landmark in the
evolution of stringed instruments, and we can consider the cordophone represented
in the two temples as the true precursor of the modern vn.
(18) Verma Som Prakash, Art and Material Culture in the Paintings of Akbar's Court, New Delhi,
1978, pi. XL IX, fig. 14-21.
(19) See Day C.R., The music and Musical Instruments of Southern India and the Deccan, Delhi, rep.
1974, 153-154, pi. XVII; Sambamoorthy P., Catalogue of the Musical Instruments exhibited in the
Government Museum, Madras, Madras, 1976, 17, pi. Ill, fig. 7-8.
(20) See Marcel-Dubois C, op. cit., 101.
(21) See Marcel-Dubois , op. cit., 94-99; Krishna Murthy K., op. cit., 59-61.
(22) Day C.R., op. cit., 104.
(23) See Marcel-Dubois C, op. cit., 72-93; Krishna Murthy K., op. cit., 18-41.
(24) See Tarlekar G. H., Musical Instruments in Indian sculpture, Poona, 1972, 29-35.
(25) Tarlekar G. H. was the first to mention it in The Journal of the Music Academy, vol. XXXVI,
1965, 172-173, in a paper on fretted vna in Indian sculpture.

68

JEAN DELOCHE
Conclusion

To conclude we may state that Hoysala sculpture provides massive evidence of

musical culture in the Dekkan during the Xllth and Xlllth centuries. When we
observe the various stone panels, we are struck by the role of music in the daily life
of the people. The scenes depicted (photos Nos. 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42) show the
dancers moving to both the beat of the drums and the melody of the flute or the
vln, the favourite instruments of the time and, as Settar says:26
"music and dance swayed the life [of the mediaeval sculptor] and shaped his social
and spiritual attitudes. He sang songs to win his lord, to win his love, he danced in
ecstasy to the rhythmic tunes of folk and traditional music".
It is therefore not surprising that, in such a favourable environment, a vigorous
and daring effort at innovation should have been attempted to improve the musical
instruments.
(26) Settar S., Hoysala sculptures in the National Museum, Copenhagen, Copenhagen, 1975.

Planche VI

Ph. 1. Scraper : Hajbdu (H).

Planche VII

Ph. 2. Scrapers, trumpet, drum, cymbals: Basarlu.

Ph. 3. Gong : Ha|bdu ().

Planche VIII

Ph. 4. Gongs : Hajbdu ().

Ph. 5. Cymbals and horn: Smanthapura.

Planche IX

Ph. 6. Trumpet: Hranahalji.

Ph. 7. Trumpet: Amrtapura.

Planche X

Ph. 8. Gong and trumpet: Smanthapura.

Ph. 9. Horn: Halbdu (K).

Planche XI
*

Ph. 10. Flute: Hajbdu (K).

Ph. 11. Flute: Bluru.

Planche XII

Ph. 12. Flute: Halbdu (K).

Planche XIII

Ph. 13. Fretless zither: Halbdu (H).

Ph. 14. Fretless zither: Javagallu.

Ph. 15. Fretless zither: Somanthapura.

Planche XIV

Ph. 16. Fretted zither: Bluru.

Ph. 17. Fretted zither: Halbdu (H).

Ph. 18. Fretted zither: Halbdu (H).

Planche XV

Ph. 19. Kettledrums: Nagalpura.

Ph. 20. Kettledrums: Smanthapura.

Planche XVI

Ph. 21. Kettledrums: Basarlu.

Ph. 22. Kettledrums: Smanthapura.

Planche XVII

Ph. 23. Drum: Hosaholalu.

Ph. 24. Drum: Smanthapura.

Ph. 25. Drum: Hajbdu (K).

Ph. 26. Drum: Halbdu (K).

/3

Planche XVIII

Ph. 27. Drum: Hajbdu ().

Ph. 29. Drum: Basarlu.

Ph. 28. Drum: Hajbidu ().

Ph. 30. Drum: Hajbdu (H).

Planche XIX

Ph. 31.

Ph. 33. Drum: Beluru.

Ph. 32. Drum: Hajbdu ().

Ph. 34. Drum: Hajbdu (H).

Planche XX

Ph. 35. Drum: Bluru.

Ph. 36. Drum: Beluru.

Planche XXI

Ph. 37. Musicians and dancers: Halbdu (H).

Ph. 38. Musicians: Halbdu (H).

Planche XXII

Ph. 39. Musicians and dancers: Hajebdu (H).

Ph. 40. Musicians: Hajebdu (H).

Planche XXIII

Ph. 41. Musicians and dancers: Halbdu (H).

Ph. 42. Musicians and dancers: Halbdu (H).