Visual Mental Imagery Evoked in Indian Classical Music: A Listener-Oriented Study

Music and visual mental imagery (VMI) are closely associated. The visual depiction of musical instruments and musical settings is central to music iconography and music-mediated visual culture. Music-evoked VMI, mediated by emotions, is another established field of study. Hindustani classical music (HCM) has a medieval musical pictorial tradition based on dhyanaslokas (meditative verses), which visually represent the ragas (musical modes) based on the evocation of their rasas or aesthetic emotion. This, incidentally, comes close to the contemporary understanding of music-evoked VMI. However, VMI evoked in response to music has received very little attention in studies on HCM, both for contemporary listeners and historically. In this context, we investigated whether HCM evoked VMI and whether its content was related to emotions, such as “calm” and “sad”, that dominate HCM. Additionally, the themes of the VMI in response to calm and sad clips were compared with corresponding VMI in Western music. Finally, medieval dhyanaslokas were analyzed for associated visual imagery (VI) that was compared with VMI generated in these contexts. Findings revealed that HCM evokes VMI, which is well differentiated for calm and sad clips. When the VMI for HCM was compared with Western VMI, though common themes emerged, cultural differences were identified. While VI in dhyanaslokas had similarities to VMI in response to HCM, marked differences also existed.