In the Natya Shastra, Bharata Muni classified musical instruments into how many groups?

Explanation

The Natya Shastra, the ancient Sanskrit text on drama, dance and music attributed to the sage Bharata Muni, classifies musical instruments into four groups, based on how they produce sound. This system is still used today to describe Indian instruments.

The four groups are:

• Tata vadya: string instruments, in which sound is produced by vibrating strings, such as the veena, sitar, sarod and violin.
• Sushira vadya: wind instruments, in which sound is produced by blowing air, such as the flute, shehnai and nadaswaram.
• Avanaddha vadya: instruments with a skin stretched over a body or frame, such as the tabla, mridangam, pakhawaj and dholak.
• Ghana vadya: solid instruments that are struck, such as cymbals, bells, the ghatam and the jaltarang.

This classification is very similar to the system developed much later in Europe by Erich von Hornbostel and Curt Sachs (1914), which divides instruments into chordophones, aerophones, membranophones and idiophones. A fifth group, electrophones, was added later for electronic instruments.

The Natya Shastra is believed to have been composed between about 200 BCE and 200 CE. It is the oldest surviving text on the performing arts in India and is sometimes called the "Fifth Veda". It deals with every aspect of drama: the design of the stage, acting, gestures (mudras), costumes, make-up, music and dance. It explains the theory of "rasa", the emotional experience of the audience, and lists eight rasas (a ninth, shanta, was added later). It also describes the "abhinaya", or means of expression, of which there are four kinds: angika (body), vachika (speech), aharya (costume and make-up) and sattvika (inner feeling). All the classical dances of India trace their roots to the Natya Shastra.

Why not the other options?

• ✗Three is incorrect; there are four groups.
• ✗Five would include electrophones, a modern Western addition.
• ✗Seven is the number of basic notes (swaras) of Indian music, not the groups of instruments.