The Pitfalls in the Study & Translation of the Ancient Tamil Texts (18)

    How Abraham Pandithar was wrong in identifying ET          

   as the vattap pAlai - வட்டப் பாலை?

      As a pioneer in the modern period to explore ancient Tamil texts to discover ancient Tamil music , Abraham Pandhithar(AP)  seemed to be first person to apply the consonant frequency vibrating length ratios ( Sa-Pa 2/3 & Sa –Ma 3/4 ) as revealed in his book ‘karuNamirtha sAgaram’ (KS)( Page 512-513). Also unlike Vipulananda Adigal(VA)  who undertook the similar calculations and bypassed the resulting problem, AP identified and discussed it in the above reference. 

     Also unlike VA, AP seemed to be following the developments in Western Music closely, as he was an expert both in western music and Karnatic music. 

      We had seen in the previous post the following points suggesting that VA did not seem to follow the developments in Western Music, though he was a science graduate from the University of London.

(1)  Like the Karnatic Music Scholar Prof.P.Sambamoorthy), VA did not seem to be aware (based on ‘yAzh nhool’) that “in 1939, an international conference recommended that the A above middle C be tuned to 440 Hz, now known as concert pitch.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_pitch_standards_in_Western_music#History_of_pitch_standards_in_Western_music ).

(2)  In just Intonation, middle C shall be tuned to 264Hz, following A = 440Hz. Instead VA had used the tuning fork frequency 256 Hz (used for Physics-Acoustics experiments) in his calculations of the frequencies of the pitches of the musical notes.

(3)  VA did not seem to be aware of the corrections involved in calculating the vibrating length of air columns, as mentioned in the previous post.

Surprisingly AP was so closely following the developments in the western music, he explored if Equal Temperament in the Western music would solve the above mentioned problems he had encountered.

Note that though the history of the discovery of Equal Temperament started from the 4th century B.C, its world wide adoption replacing Just Intonation started from the first decade of the 19th century “completing only in the second decade of the 19th century.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal_temperament). 

Probably AP was one of the very few early Indian writers who wrote about Equal Temperament (ET) in his book published in 1917 and explained the method of calculating the frequency ratios of the musical notes.

Also AP was right that ET solved the problems in the calculations he had encountered. In fact the success of ET over the Just Intonation was due to such advantages including solving the difficulty with respect to modulation in the Just Intonation.

Unfortunately AP was tempted to identifying the Equal Temperament as the vattap pAlai - வட்டப் பாலை of the ancient Tamil Music.

After explaining the logarithmic calculation of the frequency ratios for the 12 semitones in the middle octave and how it solved the problems with respect to the consonant relations, he concluded that ET could be identified as the vattap pAlai  (Page 833 KS) of the ancient Tamil music.

Unfortunately AP did not seem to be aware of the short comings of ET briefed below.

Consonant intervals play a significant role in good music. In ET, except the octave, “not a single one is in perfect tune” (‘Science & Music’ (1937) by Sir James Jeans, page 176; ‘Physics of Music’(1944)  by Alexander Wood Page 193). Also it was proved in these references that unlike ET music instruments like Harmonium, organ, etc, violinists & vocalists always follow Just Intonation. Of course all these references were published after the life time of AP and hence AP could not be blamed for not being aware of the above results.

AP was aware that ET was just an approximation in following the consonant relations in music. Unfortunately AP concluded that the consonant relations could not be applied to the ancient Tamil Music. (Page 503 KS). In fact he called those ratios as ‘mOtta aLavu” - மோட்டா அளவு (Page 506 KS).But AP was honest to admit that the ancient Tamil texts insisted that the ancient Tamil music system should follow Sa-Pa & Sa-Ma methods.(Pages 717-818,KS).

In fact tuning in ancient Tamil Music was done using the octave, Sa-Pa & Sa-Ma relations, according to a formula cited in pancha marapu and it was explained in my doctoral thesis referred in the previous post.

Those experienced in tuning the string instruments knew that while tuning for the fifth above, even minute changes in the tension of the string above or below the right tension will cause dissonance. It was also proved through the experiments. (‘Physics of Music’, Pages 157, 164). Hence ET , in view of its imperfect fifth, could not be used for tuning as explained in pancha marapu. 

Also vattap pAlai  explained in chilappathikAram , u.ve.cA - சிலப்பதிகாரம் உ.வெ.சா (232,439,449) , was an interesting method, involving the 12 semi tonal points in a circle employing the cycle of fifth both clock-wise and anti clock-wise for the modulation.

Hence AP’s identification of ET as the vattap pAlai could not be justified based on the evidences in the ancient Tamil texts.

Disproving the research findings of AP & VA could not be viewed as defaming their research. It needs to be viewed as the progress in research.

Even in science, the great prestige of the scientists delayed the acceptance of findings that over ruled earlier ones, as briefed below.

“For more than 100 years, Newton's corpuscular theory of light was favored over the wave theory, partly because of Newton's great prestige and partly because not enough experimental evidence existed to provide an adequate basis of comparison between the two theories. Finally, important experiments were done on the diffraction and interference of light by Thomas Young (1801) and A. J. Fresnel (1814–15) that could only be interpreted in terms of the wave theory. The polarization of light was still another phenomenon that could only be explained by the wave theory. Thus, in the 19th cent. the wave theory became the dominant theory of the nature of light. “(http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/science/light-the-nature-light.html )

But in the light of conclusive evidences, the acceptance of the right findings became inevitable in science.

One of the reasons for not taking advantage of the developments in Music Information technology to develop marketable products related to Indian music like the innumerable products related to western music, seem to be the ‘great prestige’ of the personalities and theories preventing open minded scientific enquiry in music.

Compared to Hindustani Music and Karnatic Music, Tamil Music seems to be suffering more from subjective emotional approach, preventing its development, as explained in ‘ Tavaraana Disaiyil Tamizhisai Aarvam’ - தவறான திசையில் தமிழிசை ஆர்வம்  (http://www.musicresearch.in/categorydetails.php?imgid=82 ).

I had witnessed that the present youth learning music had started raising boldly controversial questions with respect to the pitch problems in Karnatic Music. Hence I am optimistic that the constraints preventing open minded scientific enquiry will die soon to open the gateway to new areas of employment and business,  exploiting the rich potential of the ancient Indian music.

------------------------------------------