Playing the Spinal Chord: Tantric Musicology and Bengali Songs in the Nineteenth Century

Williams, Richard David

Abstract

Across the nineteenth century, Bengali songbook editors applied musicological theory to their tantric religious practices. Responding to the new possibilities of musical publishing, these editors developed innovative techniques of relating the body to music by tying together tantric tropes with music theory and performance practice. Theories about the affective potential and poetic connotations of rāgas were brought into conversation with understandings of the yogic body, cakras, and the visualization of goddesses. These different theories, stemming from aesthetics and yogic philosophy, were put into effect through lyrical composition and the ways in which songs were set to music and edited for printed anthologies. This article considers different examples of tantric musical editorial, and explores how esoteric knowledge was applied in innovative ways through the medium of printed musical literature.

Citation

Williams, R. D. (2019). Playing the Spinal Chord: Tantric Musicology and Bengali Songs in the Nineteenth Century. Journal of Hindu Studies, 12(3), 319-338. https://doi.org/10.1093/jhs/hiz017

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Nov 16, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Jan 22, 2020
• Publication Date: Nov 1, 2019
• Deposit Date: Nov 22, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 22, 2019
• Journal: Journal of Hindu Studies
• Print ISSN: 1756-4255
• Electronic ISSN: 1756-4263
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 12
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 319-338
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/jhs/hiz017
• Keywords: tantra; nineteenth century; songs; śākta religion; North Indian music; Bengali literature