The Jaunpur sultans were patrons of music, under whose patronage a Muslim scholar wrote a text on music titled Ghunyat-ul-Munyas in 1375. It is said that khayal was the contribution of the royal house of Jaunpur to Indian music, specifically of Sultan Husain Shah Sharqi, himself a great musician. In addition, he encouraged several scholars to write a great book on Indian music, the Sangeet Siromani.
The Gujarat sultan as also Sultan Baz Bahadur of Malwa were great lovers of music, while Rupmati, Baz Bahadur’s wife, was an accomplished musician herself. In Kashmir, Sultan Zainul Abidin promoted music by encouraging Buddi Datta to write a treatise on it. Chintamani from Bihar earned the title Bihari Bulbul for his musical accomplishment and, in
Tirhut, Vidyapati became a famous singer where one of his songs kajari gained wide popularity. Raja Man Singh of Gwalior, an accomplished musician himself, patronised eminent musicians like Baksu and Baiju Bawra. The Dhrupad was introduced in Indian music by his court musicians.
In the southern Bahmani kingdom, sultans Firuz Shah Bahmani and Mahmud Shah Bahmani were great lovers of music. So were Sultan Yusuf Adil Shah of Bijapur and his son, while at Ahmadnagar, Chand Bibi was a musician herself and its great patron. Music was also patronised at the Vijayanagara court where it flourished.
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The proponents of the Bhakti cult and Sufisin helped the development of music through compositions conveying their messages. In Bengal, Chaitanya Deva sung songs in praise of Lord Krishna, introducing there by a form of devotional group singing known as Kirtana.
Chandidas, his contemporary immortalised the love of Radha and Krishna in his songs. Shankar in Assam became famous for his Barr songs. The Sufi saints contributed towards the progress of Indian music by engaging themselves in collective singing.
A number of muscial texts were written also during this period. The Sangita Ratnakara, considered to be an encyclopaedia of Indian music, was written by Sharangadeva.
It enumerates the various styles of music prevailing at that time in different parts of India and provides a compendium of fifteen types of melodies from which all other minor melodies or ragas have originated. Lochana Kavi’s Ragatarngini is another epochal text on music produced at that time.
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It contains an exposition of the twelve basic ragas of Indian music; Bhairavi, Todi, Karnata, Gauri, Kedara, Yamana, Saranga, Megha, Dhanesri, Puravi, Tukhari and Diyaka. In another compendium of Indian music, titled Mana-Kutubala, Raja Man Singh of Gwalior brought out in detail the important features of Indian music prevailing at that time in northern India.
It would therefore appear the ban on music in Islam notwithstanding, music continued to flourish in the days of the Sultanate. In view of this, it has been remarked that “music both of secular and spiritual character seems to have reached a high level of perfection during this period.” Likewise, there might have been some development in the field of dance as well.