Previous Year Question
Given below are two statements, one is labelled as Assertion (A) and the other as Reason (R).
Assertion (A): Many Sanskrit works on music were translated into Persian during the medieval period.
Reason (R): The early Chishti sufis were fond of musical assemblies called, ‘sama’.
Select the correct answer from the codes given below:
Both (A) and (R) are true and (R) is the correct explanation of (A).
Both (A) and (R) are true, but (R) is not the correct explanation of (A).
(A) is true, but (R) is false.
(A) is false, but (R) is true.
Correct Answer: A
Detailed Solution
During medieval India, extensive interaction developed between Sanskrit and Persian intellectual traditions. Indian texts and traditions of knowledge relating to religion, literature, science and music were translated or adapted into Persian.
An important example in the field of music is the Manakutuhala. The material of this work on music, prepared under the patronage of Raja Man Singh Tomar of Gwalior, was later preserved in Persian. The Tarjuma-i-Manakutuhala and Risala-i-Ragadarpana, prepared by Faqirullah in the 17th century, are important examples of this interaction between Indian music and the Persian scholarly tradition.
Reason (R) is also correct. In the Chishti Sufi tradition, music acquired importance as a means of spiritual experience. The music-centred spiritual assembly of the Sufis was known as sama.
Such musical assemblies were particularly popular in the Chishti tradition. Through poetry and music, an attempt was made to experience love for God and spiritual nearness. In the same cultural environment, musical traditions such as qawwali also developed subsequently.
However, Sanskrit works on music were not translated into Persian because the early Chishti Sufis were fond of sama. The translation of texts was part of the wider process of Indo-Persian cultural and intellectual interaction, royal patronage and exchange of knowledge, whereas sama was a spiritual-musical tradition of the Chishti Sufis.