2 - Echoes of a Royal Heritage: Vestiges of Naubat

Summary

In an old book on the history of Garhwal written by Harikrishna Raturi, the author presents extensive lists of the various caste names of families in Garhwal. The book was originally published in 1928 during the days of the Garhwali Raja and would seem to present a first-hand account of practices from that time. Within his list of untouchable castes, Raturi (1988 [1928]: 90) lists ‘aṭpahariyā’ and describes these as: ‘nakarāchīs [players of the naqqara drums] who used to sound out the eight times of day on the naubat in the naubatkhānā of the court', Very few present-day musicians play these kinds of drums though drummers regularly refer back to a shared memory of court drumming. Raturi's statement is significant because it is one of the few sources from the time that mentions musical activity in the Garhwali rājā's court.

As the previous chapter illustrates, musical instruments as well as their combinations within specific ensembles are frequently associated with political power and military conquest. While instruments may hold a variety of symbolic meanings in different contexts, their use as sonic expressions of power may be heard in numerous musical traditions throughout the world. The adoption of the bagpipe into village-level musical practice as well as that of the Garhwal and Gorkha Regiments of the Indian Army enmeshes a complex history of imperial power within local sonic expressions of regional identity.