The Charyapada as a musical form:

Abstract

In ancient times, the influence of the religious traditions of the Bengal region had crossed the modern political boundaries of West and East Bengal. The religion and the arts of Bengal have a historical background of Charyagiti which were composed by the Buddhist Siddhacharyas with a great spiritual significance. The main object was to preserve certain doctrines of Charyapadas and deliver it through songs to the disciples of a certain religious order. Accordingly, the subject matter of Charyapadas became more important for Buddhist Siddhacharyas as has been mentioned by some medieval authors in their works. The composition of Charyapadas were similar to the ‗Prabandha‘ which is an ancient musical form mentioned by some renowned authors. Subsequently, the description of musical forms of Charya became less popular and stressed mainly on melas and ragas. Charya, as we have surveyed, was meant to be sung as a full-fledged composition in ragas and talas. The historical background of the Charya herein contains some extra musical elements, such as a brief history of the Pala Kingdom, Tantric Buddhism and religious background, etc. Reference to the medieval works in the context of the Charya is rather far- fetched.