Mārgi Saṅgīta in ancient Indian music was rooted in:

Correct — B. Sanskrit music treatises split music into mārga and deśī.

Śārṅgadeva's 13th-century Saṅgītaratnākara describes mārga as the music Brahma discovered and Bharata first performed before Shiva: sacred, and bound by rule.

That sacred, classical strand is traced to the sung hymns of the Sāmaveda, the Vedic root option (b) names. Deśī, by contrast, is regional music suited to local taste.

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  Folk music — Folk and regional music is the other half of the pair, deśī: song, instrument and dance that please people in different regions.
• (c)
  Courtly entertainment — Mārga is defined by its divine origin and its rules, not by court display. Music made to please local taste is deśī.
• (d)
  Western-influence — The mārga-deśī division is set out in Sanskrit treatises on Indian music, and mārga looks back to Vedic chant. Nothing Western enters it.

Indian music theory uses a two-way split. Mārga, 'the path', is the codified, sacred music of the treatises. Deśī, 'of the region', is song, instrumental music and dance that please people according to local taste.

The Saṅgītaratnākara gives mārga a divine origin: sought out by Brahma, first performed by Bharata before Shiva.

The Vedic link runs through the Sāmaveda, whose hymns are set to melody. Indian classical music is traced back to that chant.

Key facts

• Śārṅgadeva's Saṅgītaratnākara (13th century) divides music into mārga and deśī.
• In that text, mārga is the music sought out by Brahma and first performed by Bharata before Shiva.
• Deśī is song, instrumental music and dance that please people according to their taste in different regions.
• The Sāmaveda sets its hymns to melody, and Indian classical music is traced back to that chant.

Common traps

• Reading mārga as folk music, when folk and regional music is deśī.
• Linking mārga to royal courts because it is classical, when the texts give it a divine origin.

No directly related past PYQ was found.