Chennai: ”Art unites hearts. It enriches the quality of our lives,” said Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu.
Speaking after launching a monograph on ‘Musical excellence of mridangam’ here Tuesday, he said what defines India was the rich heritage of music and its unifying role in bringing people together cutting across religions, regions, castes and communities.
”Art unites hearts. It enriches the quality of our lives. Like every facet of India, there is a fascinating diversity, extraordinary breadth and incredible depth in Indian music,” he said, adding, it has a treasure house of songs that has been providing continuous nourishment to the mind, heart
and soul.
He said ”every note and cadence associated with our ancient music systems has to be preserved and propagated.”
Noting that India has a long, rich musical heritage starting with Samaveda and Natyasastra composed almost 2,000 years ago, Venkaiah said the roots of Indian music could be traced to Vedic literature, Sama Veda in particular.
The Sanskrit saying–Sisurvetti pasurvetti, vetti gana rasam phanihi–aptly sums up the magical power of music, he said.
The classical music and dances of India, like India’s philosophical and religious thoughts, have flourished over ages. The unbroken tradition of musical excellence continues even to this day, Venkaiah said.
About the monograph, the Vice President said what the authors of the book have attempted was to add ‘Vigyana’ (science) to ‘Sangeeta Gyaana’ (musical knowledge) to bring out the musical excellence of one of the most important musical instruments, mridangam.
He also supported Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for collectively harnessing the diversity of our culture and classical music to realise our vision — Ek Bharat-Shreshtha Bharat.