What is the term for a structured musical composition in Hindustani classical music?

Correct — B. A bandish is a fixed, melodic composition in Hindustani vocal or instrumental music, set in a specific raga and performed with rhythmic accompaniment on tabla or pakhawaj.

It opens with the sthayi, the first line or phrase, and moves to the antara. Dhrupad bandishes may add the sanchari and abhog.

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  Kriti — Kriti is the principal composition form of Carnatic music, the southern tradition of Tyagaraja and his contemporaries. It is not the Hindustani term.
• (c)
  Gamaka — Gamaka is ornamentation, the oscillation or graceful movement around a note. It decorates a composition; it is not one.
• (d)
  Rasa — Rasa is the aesthetic emotion a performance evokes, a concept set out in Bharata's Natyashastra. It names a mood, not a composition.

Hindustani music rests on two frames: the raga, a melodic framework, and the tala, a rhythmic cycle.

A bandish fixes words and melody inside both, and the performer improvises around it. It is also called a cheez, or a gat in instrumental music.

Key facts

• A bandish is set in a specific raga and performed with tabla or pakhawaj accompaniment.
• Its first section is the sthayi (or asthayi), and the second is the antara.
• Kriti is the principal composition form of Carnatic music.

Common traps

• Choosing kriti because it means composition, without noticing it is the Carnatic term.
• Taking gamaka, an ornament, for a type of composition.

No directly related past PYQ was found.