Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande, who wrote the first modern treatise on the subject, is related to which field?

Explanation

Pandit Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande (1860-1936) was a musicologist who did more than anyone else to organise, document and modernise the study of Hindustani classical music in the early 20th century. He wrote what is regarded as the first modern treatise on Hindustani classical music.

Bhatkhande was born in Mumbai and trained as a lawyer, but his real passion was music. He travelled across India, meeting musicians of many gharanas, collecting thousands of compositions (bandishes) and studying old texts on music. At that time, Hindustani music was taught orally within families and gharanas, and there was no common system for classifying ragas or writing music down. Bhatkhande created the "thaat" system, which classifies the ragas of Hindustani music into ten parent scales (thaats): Bilawal, Kalyan, Khamaj, Bhairav, Poorvi, Marwa, Kafi, Asavari, Bhairavi and Todi. He also created a simple system of notation, which is still widely used. His most important works include the "Hindustani Sangeet Paddhati", a four-volume treatise in Marathi, and the "Kramik Pustak Malika", a six-volume collection of compositions. He organised the first All India Music Conferences, starting in Baroda in 1916, and helped found music schools, such as the Madhav Sangeet Mahavidyalaya in Gwalior (1918) and the Marris College of Music in Lucknow (1926), which is now the Bhatkhande Sanskriti Vishwavidyalaya. A postage stamp was issued in his honour in 1961.

Why not the other options?

Carnatic classical music is the music of South India. Its theory is linked with scholars such as Venkatamakhin, who devised the 72 melakarta system.

Bharatanatyam dance is linked with E. Krishna Iyer and Rukmini Devi Arundale.

Folk theatre is not Bhatkhande's field.