Indian classical music and value pattern: a study on the school children of Guwahati, India.

India has presently witnessed a tremendous growth and development in science and technology ever than before. As a result, a paradigm of shifting and drifting of education towards westernization and technological know how leaving aside our rich traditional heritage, values and ethics have been realized almost at all levels. The growing concern over this erosion of essential values and pervasive cynicism has brought to focus the need of readjustment in educational curriculum in order to make education a forceful tool for the inculcation of values and great virtues of Indian life. Indian Classical Music, originated in early Vedic age has been an ideal fabrication of our religion, culture and heritage and greatly contributed to the mankind through centuries. This devotional music had reached Assam as Hindustani music, one sub-genre of Indian classical music during the period of Koch and Ahom kings and flourished at the hands of their successors. It has arrived at a turning point in Assam with the effort made by Lakhiram Baruah in the last part of 19^th century AD. The king of Gouripur, Prabhat Baruah and a number of artists of classical music who had training in Lucknow remarkably contributed to the development of music in the state. At present, there are a large number of private institutions and cultural organisations imparting education and training on classical music in the state. Besides, the State College of Music at Guwahati (1980) and Kokrajhar Music and Fine Arts College (1995) have helped the young learners to join higher education in music. In this paper an attempt has been made to study the influence of Indian classical music in the inculcation of moral and aesthetic values among school children of Guwahati, India.