The original rock music

Seshadri K S delves into how music has been explored in the ancient architecture of Hampi

Music has been an integral part of human endeavour across cultures. Although classified as an art, music is as much science, often following the principles of mathematics and physics. Sound production and propagation depend on the physical properties of the material, as well as the medium through which sound waves propagate. It is no surprise that throughout human history, there are abundant references to music and musical instruments. 

One may then wonder how our ancestors created music, especially in the absence of technological advances that we have at our disposal today. The answer often lies in a natural resource available across the planet — rocks. The instruments made of rocks that produce musical notes are called ‘lithophones’.

Musical pillars 

The erstwhile Vijayanagara empire, with Hampi as its capital, is renowned for its architectural intricacy and grandeur. Although a large part of this empire lies in ruins, there are several surviving architectural wonders. Inside the Vittala temple, for example, are the musical pillars that are named after instruments, based on the notes produced. 

The music is not produced by the pillars themselves, but by striking the slender columns carved out of the load-bearing pillars, called colonettes. Even to the untrained ear, the musical notes are distinct, and it is not difficult to imagine the music to be that of the mridangam. Combined with the soft evening light and with cool air wafting through, it is easy to be carried back in time, and stand in awe of the artisans who made it happen. 

There are several narratives about the purpose of these musical pillars. While one story goes on about how the courtesan would dance to the musical notes, other narratives dismiss this entirely, suggesting that the musical notes are merely an accident. Nevertheless, one can see that most of the colonettes have dark patches on them, presumably from modern-day visitors striking them to listen to the music.

In the past, researchers have cut the colonettes to check if the insides are hollow, but they were not. They also tested the composition, only to find that they were all granite rocks. “When I observed the pillars and measured them, I found that they were not all the same height as was previously thought. Some of the colonettes on the same pillar were of varying lengths,” said Professor Srikumar Menon, who recently spoke at the Science Gallery in Bengaluru on exploring the science of music.   

Menon, an architect by training, has extensively studied rock cultures across India and is currently based at the National Institute of Advanced Studies. 

“The colonettes are slender with a lotus-shaped capital or crown. However, I found many of them to have varying capitals, sometimes just a lump of rock, in contrast to the intricate carvings in other, less prestigious temple complexes,” he added. “The unfinished nature of the colonettes, in a monument widely regarded as the climax of Vijayanagara architecture, indicates that the artisan did so on purpose. They were likely chipping off the rock to reach a point where the required musical note was achieved,” he explained. 

“Early humans likely had a thing for producing music from rocks!” he said. Musical structures built with rocks are found globally. For instance, rock gongs are reported from across Europe, Africa, and the Americas, apart from multiple locations in Asia. This association of music and rocks probably came from how intimately they knew rocks from the enormous amount of time they spent striking rock against rock — to knap stone tools or chipping stone to create monuments like megaliths, the professor hypothesised.

Megalithic structures 

We have all grown up hearing about Stonehenge or other structures that go back to prehistoric times. There are, however, equally important structures right under our noses in Bengaluru. All along the rocky outcrops surrounding the city, one can find dolmens, megalithic structures. Dolmens are large, irregularly-shaped stone slabs, held up by irregularly-shaped stones. The large flat slab is called a capstone. The rounded rocks holding up the capstone are sometimes replaced by three or more vertical slabs. Sometimes, one of the vertical slabs has a circular hole called the porthole. 

The dolmens are monuments erected by our ancestors in what is called the period of megalith-building, roughly coinciding with the Iron Age in South India. Deriving its name quite literally from ‘large rocks’, some of the megaliths date back to nearly 5000 BCE (about 7,000 years ago). Dolmens are funerary structures, and excavations have indicated the presence of iron and bronze artefacts tools as well as skeletal remains, buried underneath. Other forms of megalithic structures include cairns, stone circles, and menhirs.  

The musical pillars at the temple.

The disappearing rocks

Bengaluru sits on a land mass called the Dharwar Craton, comprising granitic rocks. With the thirst for buildings and urbanisation, rocks are being quarried out rapidly. Many of these rocky boundaries had monuments of historical significance. In many places such as Bande Kodigehalli near the Bengaluru airport, the entire hillock, except for the dolmen on top, has been quarried out. “In other parts of the city, 3,000-year-old prehistoric rock art at Kaneli and Gatigere has been blasted away,” said Udayakumar P L, honorary director of The Mythic Society, Bengaluru. “Dolmens at Kannur and prehistoric tool finds at Jalahalli, Thippasandra, Lalbagh, the old racecourse and other places have also been lost,” he added. 

Local prehistoric sites are not given the attention they deserve, lament experts. Monuments from more recent periods, with refined architecture and sculptural embellishments that appeal to the masses are in better shape. 

A view from inside the temple complex. Photos by author

However, Menon is hopeful: “The protection of the Neolithic site at Sanganakallu, near Bellary, and its subsequent showcasing, including a well-designed site museum is a refreshing change in the scheme of things, and the way forward,” he said.

The rolling hillocks around Bengaluru are also unique to biodiversity with several forms of endemic plants and many forms of wildlife. There is an urgent need to conserve these rocks for multiple values including that of the prehistoric. Unfortunately, cities continue to expand at breakneck speed without a master plan, consuming natural spaces along the way. 

(The author is an ecologist and faculty at the Ashoka Trust For Research In Ecology And The Environment)