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rmmAtya's'.li AARAMLAKLANIDHI

{A WORK ON MUSJC)EDITBD VTITH

INTRODUCTION AND TRANSLATIQNBY

M. S. RAMASWAMI AIYAR, B.A.. B.L., L.T.S^ian Leciurer ./ MusU U tke Mysore 192S), M^ras 1928),and Annamalai {1931) Universttm./ - -^ ^

/WITS \ ' ., FOREWORD ^V-;. . ' ' ' P ..BYM R. vNKATARAMA SASTRI, ESQ., C.I.E..l'P .. . B.Am B.L.

Ex-Advocate^Gefierah Madras

Sonuivm. Law Member, Executive Cmncil, Madras.

riso^^^0^

THE ANNAMALAl UNIVERSITY1932


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FOREWORDThe awakening in our country has a mch wider significancethan most people, with their preoccupation in the struggle forpolitical freedom, recognise. The desire for self-government isonly one phase and not the most important phase of thisgenerl awakening. The awakening is like a rising flood thatcovers the whole space between the banks or, more appropriately,like a flood of light that lights every nook and corner. In artsand letters, in music and painting and sculpture, and in fact, in allthe departments of life, the new consciousness is doing its work.

In the sphere of music, this awakening has been a visibleprocess. For years, Sangitha Sabhas hve, in different parts ofthe Madra^ City, had their annual celebrations ; and their weeklyperformances hve been increasing from year to year. There isnow a vast and growingly larger number of men and women in thecountry taking an interest in music and themselves leaming tosing. Academies of music are springing up ; and broadcasts ofmusic are being attended by vast crowds. There is evidence,which few can fail to recognise, that in music, as in other spheres,this awakening is at work.That there is a literatre dealing with South Indin musicis known. Few, outside the small class of experts conversantwith the theory of music or music as a science, know even thenames of the writers. It is, therefore, a great service at thismoment to open up the literatre of Indin music and make itavailable to the public. Mr. M. S. Ramaswami Aiyar, who is aneminent exponent of the present-day music, both in its theoreticand practical aspects, is eminently fitted to undertake this task.And the public owes a debt of gratitude to the AnnamalaiUniversity for the help and encouragement which it has given toMr. Ramaswami Aiyar in performing this very useful service.Rmmtya, the author of the book here published, recog-nised twenty Mlas; his successors went on increasing thenumber; and the present-day theory recognises seventy-two,though it is doubtful whether all of them are in actual use or cansatisfy the ear of the people. It is a result of pure mathematicsa question of how many combinations of the seven notes and their


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iv FOREWORDvariations can be made. Mr. Ramaswami Aiyar thinks that eventhe two and thirty were the resulting combination of the sevennotes, five of which had a sharp and flat sonanceand the word * raga'itself indicates the number 32, according to the peculiar IndinNotation of numbers by the letters of the alphabet. A questionmay here arise as to whether the word ' raga ' was a new intro-duction into music after the thirty-two Mlas had come to berecognsed.

Mr. Ramaswami Aiyar refers to a criticism of the author bya successor of his, that two of his twenty Mlas hve the samnotes. I am inclined to agree with Mr. Ramaswami Aiyar that itmut be a slip and the manuscripts may be responsible for it. Isit impossible to find out what combination it mut be for eitherthe one or the other that has been written amiss and resulted inthe error criticised ?

Experts, like Mr. Ramaswami Aiyar, mut not only open upthe pst of music but point the way to its future.Mylapore, ' ) T. R. VENKATARAMA SASTRI.

28k March, ig^2, J


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PREFACEThe manuscripts o SvarafflaJkaldnidki are found in Tanjore,Madras, Baroda, and Bikanir. Its bare text, for aught I know,was printed twice first^ at Kumbakonam in 1906 by Mr. S.Nrayanaswmi Aiyar and secondly, at Bombay in 1910 byMr. V. N. Bhtkhand, though under the pseudonym ofBhradvja Sarma. The latter edition contained, at least, arunning commentary in Maharti.But both the printed editions happened to be, alike,deective and even misleading. I shall give only one nstanceand pass on.

In the ifth chapter of the work, the two Rgas ofSudhavasantha and Mdlavasri are correctly defined, in twoverses,' thus:

^ ^ ^- : Ig B. I^f^f r55^: ^; ^T??I55tq ^ I

But how did Messrs. Nrayanaswmi Aiyar and Bhtkhandpresent to us, in their respective editions, the sam two Rgas ?Both of them gave us, alike, the following two lines regardingthe point under consideration :

Here, both of them consciously began with Sudhavasanthabut unconsciously ended with Mdlavasri. In other words, theytook the first Hne of A and the last Hne of B, mixed them

* The vere regrarding: Sndhavasantha is marked A, wbUe that regard-ing Mlavasri is marked B,


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vi PREFACBtogether with a little modification, and produced a meaninglessjargon which explained neither of the two Rgas.A fresh edition of Svaramlakaldnidki containing, as itought, a full and correct text, a true and free translation, and ahistorical and critical introduction is therefore felt as adesideratumto supply which mine is an humble contributionor, at best, a provoker of a better one.

I feel bound to record here that the credit of havingprepared a correct version of the Sanskrit Text of Svaramela-kaldnidhi and enabled me to bring it to the light of the daybelongs to the joint-labour of the two vetern Sanskrit scholarsof TanjoreMessrs. P. S. Sundaram Aiyar and Pundit S.Subrahmanya Sstri, who are also well-versed in the tkeory ofIndin Music. I heartily thank them therefor and also for thekindness wherewith they went through the proof-sheets andeven otherwise gave me very valuable hints and suggestions.

Thanks be, also, to the Diocesan Press, Madras, for itsprompt and neat execution of the work.

It only remains for me to say that, on February i, 1931,delivered the subject-matter of SvaramUakcdanidhi as a Lectureunder the auspices of the Annamalai University which, I feelthankful to state, was good enough to give her imprmatur to itspublication in the present form.

* Bai Bhavan 'Triplicane, \ M. s. RAMASWAMI AIYARist Mank^ zpj2.


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CONTENTSPAGE

INTRODUCTION .... .... .... xi to Ixxiii1 XT t* , ,, 1 to 37TRANSLATION .... .... .... .... 41 to 66


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P^MM^^rtita.*^

INTRODUCTION

,i..i I ' 'I

'I


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SVARAMELAKALANIDHIINTRODUCTION

Svaramilakaldnidki is one of the tandard works, in Sanskrit,on the Carnatic Music. Rmmtya, its author, was a native ofndhradsa and lived in or about Kndavit, ^ which was not faraway from Bezwada, in the principality o which he had a fort ofhis own and in the vicinity of which he enjoyed the overlordship'*of a large estate of land washed by the eastem sea. He belongedto the Tdarmal family ; his father was Thimmmtya^ ; and hehimself was uch an eficient musician-composer that he won thetitle of Abhinava Bharatchrya '.*He was associated with Rma Raja of Vijayanagar, perhapsas his minister, as the word amatya indicates. His father too hadthe sam title of * amatya ' appended to his name. But whetherthe father and the son were ever rel ministers, who moulded thedestinies of Vijayanagar, or were so called only byway of courtesya glance at the History of Vijayanagar seems to throw a doubt on.

Nothing else is known to us of the father than his fatherhood.As for the son, Rmmtya, he exhibited his person, in his work,more as a prolific Vdggiyakdra than a serious-minded politician.All that he could record of himself was :(i) He had studiedthe secret of music* (2) He alone, of all others, knew both thetheory and art of music* (3) The traditional lore of music, in-herited from his grandfather, Kallapadsikaevidently, Kallinth,

Svaramilakalnidhi.

* Ci. This means Modem Bharatchrya.Ci. 3It^t3Tldch^?'W'3[ Svaramilakalnidhi.


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xii SVARAMLAKALNIDHIa Commentator of Sangitkaratnkarapalpitated in his pulse.^(4) Rma Raja requested him, in preference to others, to write anew treatise on music reconciling the conflicting views that werethen in vogue.^ And (5) the sam Rma Raja gave him, inrecogniton of his (musical) services many a valuable present. ^This, surely, is not the language of a veritable minister^ whowielded the mighty empire of Vijayanagar and who, in theintervals of his State-business, managed to write a musical workalso, just as Mr. Gladstone wrofce his Homr or Vidyranya, hisPanchadasu

Further, a reference to Rbert Sewels Forgotten Empireshows that Achyutha succeeded Krishna Rya Deva in 1530, thatSadsiva succeeded Achyutha in 1542, and that the latter(Sadsiva) was virtually a prisoner in the hands of Rma Rajawho was, at first, his minister but 'became afterwards inde-pendent.'^ By * independen, Sewell should hve meant thatRma Raja was de facto the ruler of Vijayanagar. So he mighthve been. But de jure the ruler was, undoubtedly, Sadsiva ;for, a very^large number of inscriptions, ranging from 1542 to1568, recognize Sadsiva as the rel sovereign.^ Why, Rm-mtya himself admits that Rma Raja helped Sadsiva to regainhis throne.^ Hence, it is submitted, Rma Raja should hve

Svaramlakalnidhu

' cf. ^fgfi^^iqfuH ^TT mwM^ 5R5rilHi* Vide Sewels Forgotten Empire, page 109.s lidpage 179.

Svaramelakalnidhi.


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XIV SVARAMLAKALNIDHIIt is thus clear that Rma Raja belonged, i at all, to the

royal family only by marriage. Rmmtya only confirmed itwhen he observed : ** Krishna Rya gave his daughter inmarriage to Rma Raja and thereby enhanced the dignity of theparenthood o daughters/'^

History gives us no pedigree of Rma Raja except that hewas a son of one Ranga and that he had two brothers, namely,Thimma Raja and Venkatdri.^ This Thimma Raja is saidjtohve murdered Sadsiva in 1568 and usurped his throne.^ ButRma Raja ruled, f at all, only on behalf of his king, Sadsiva.True, he was a brave soldier ; ^ but he was over-ambitiousand a little reckiess too, with the result that he precipitatedthe battle of Talikota in 1565 and brought about his owndeath.

I digressed, so far, only to emphasise my doubt whetherRmmtya was a minister* in fact or only by courtesy, and alsoto warn the reader against blindly accepting unhistorical, andtherefore untruthful, statements.Let us now proceed to study Rmmtya as a Vdggyakra^pure and simple.His exact dte is not available. Being however a contem-porary of Rma Raja, he should hve lived in the sixteenth centurv.^He was well-versed in Sanskrit and Music ; and in RmaRja's opinion, he was the best of the then existing musicians.He wrote many musical works, uch as for instance, la,Rgakadamba, Mthrika, Sudaka, Panchathalsvara, Sriranga,Dvipada, Svarnka, Srivilsa, Dhruva, Pancharatna, and soforth.No wonder, then, that Rma Rajaat the instance of hisbrother, Venkatdrirequired Rmmtya to write a new workon music. Of this requisition, SvaramUakalnidhi was the result.

Svaramlakal&nidhi.^ Vide Sewels Forgotten Empircy page 214,^ Ibid, page 212.

Svaramilakalanidht.


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INTRODUCTION xvThe colophon^, at its end, clearly shows that Rmmtya finishedhis work in Saka 1472, Sdhrana Year, Srvana Month, and theytenth day of Nirmalathara (Sukla) Pakshaall of which correspondto Thursday, August 21, 1550 A.D.

Now, be it noted, it was in order to reconcile some con-flicting views on music that Sva^yamelakaldnidhi was written, asevidenced by Venkatdri, in his request to his brother, RmaRaja : * The science of music has, both in theory and practice,degenerated into conlicting views; let Rmamantri (Rmmtya),by your command, reconcile all (the confiicting views) and write a(new) science ' ; ^ and as conirmed by Rma Raja, in his requisi-tion to Rmmtya : Mn the science of music, conflicting viewshaveindeed arisen. Bring to afocus all their salient features andwrite an interesting treatise on music, embodying therein itstheory and practice.'^Be it, again, noted that, about the sam time or withinthe space of about a decade after the publication of Svaramla-kalanidhiy Pundarika Vittala finished his Sadrdgccckandrdaya.Even in that book, the sam note of complaint was soundedthat the theory and practice of music did conflict with eachother and that, therefore, Burhan Khan asked Vittala to re-concile them.^ Again, in 1609, the self-same note of complaint

SvaramSlakala7tidki.^ Vid L. D, Swamikannu Pillai^s Indin Ephemeris^ Vol. V.,page 303.

- ^ ^fi9T ^ ^vp^ TfflH 5rr^* ^^^T r^fT IISvaramilakalanidht

Ibid.

Sadragachanddaya^


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XVI SVARAMLAKALNIDHIwas resounded when Smanth declared : * I write Rgavibdkaonly to reconcile the conflict between the science and the art ofmusic ^ Even the recently published Sangithasudha contains asimilar note of complaint.^ ^A question, therefore, naturally arises, namely, * Whyskould/ie musical views conflict^ at all^ with one another ? ' To put thesam question sarcastically : * Why should the karnzonious musicproduce disharmony amongst its votaries ? 'Because the old order changes, giving plae to the new ; and,in the transition-period, both the orders struggle with each otherthe one anxious to get in and the other unwilling to get out.But why should the ' old order ' changp ? In addition toTennyson*s philosophical answer, there is here an important truthto be grasped. Into two broad divisions, Sciens falls exactand non-exaci. The rules of an * exact ' science are inflexible andnever change with the times. HgO, for instance, was, is, andshall ever be water and never anything else. But as regards a* non-exact * science, uch as for example Music, t is alwaysprogressive ; and, a fortioriy its rules do change from time to time,in order to suit the growing taste of the people.Mark I said * from time to time ' and not from day to day.For, if musiclike dreamchanges from day to day ; surely, likedream, it will be labelled as mere phantasy and treated as uch.Being, however, too momentous for his own welfare, man learntto so mould and fashion music as to make it grow only veryslowly and even imperceptibly, as well as to imprint every one ofthe stages of its growth with its peculiar technique. Thisposition Mr. P* C. Buck explains in his History of Music in afelicitous language, which I shall re-state with a little modificationthus : The various stages of musical progress are not the inventionsof the learted few impsed on^ and adopted by^ the unlearned nta^ty ;but rather^ a suntming-up and organisation by the former of t/tosepractices and usages at which the latter had arrived by instinct.

Ragavibddha.

^Sfq OT^fTTqt ^Wffl HSangiikasudka.


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xvui SVARAMLAKALNIDHINarayana, Ahbala, and Srinivasa will be enough to show us thatthe systems o music propounded by them mark a still furtheradvance and that they considerably differ from the systemsappearing in Ntya Sstra and Rankara. We ourselves are inthe twentieth century and the systm of music, now in vogue, haslet the other systems far behind.' 'We are, at this stage, tempted to inquire whether Rmmtyarecognised the progressive nture of music and whether heenunciated, in his work, any principle of guidance, wherewith hecould emphasise the importance of uch recognition. A study ofSvaramelakalnidhi enables us to answer both the questions in theaffirmative. The principle of guidance, spoken of, has alreadybeen referred to, though in another connection, but can bearrepetition ; and it runs as follows : ' The various stages of musicalprogress are not the inventions of the learned few imposed on, andadopted by, the unlearned many ; but, rather, a summing-up andorganisation by the former of those practices and usages at whichthe latter had arrived by instinct.'The idea, conveyed hereby, Shrngadv first put, in his ownway, thus : ' The learned men are of opinion that the Sciencefollows the Art and mut respect the current practice. If anydiscrepancy arises between the two, the proper procedre isto interpret the science in uch a way as it can be reconciled withthe practice.'* But, unfortunately, he relegated this principlealmost to the endto the sixth chapterof his work andmade it appear as a mere suggestion for any one to tak itfor what it was worth.Rmmtya, however, brought it to the forefront of his bookand laid uch an emphatic stress on it that it developed in his

* Vide the Report of the ^ih AU-India Music Coniermce of Lzccknow,page 117.One word of caution is here neoessary. The changes, referred to, arein connection with the superstructure of Indin Music, while its fotindationor basic principle remains as constant as ever. It is, jn fact, this asicprzncifile that distinguishes the Indin systm from all other systems ofmttsic.' cf. qirr 55^zn^iTrf^ ?rrwFqiT% w^^ i

SangUharatn&kara.


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INTRODUCTION xixhands into a star-like maxim or all future writers to follow.^ Hereis what he wrote on the point : ' The Gdndkarva-rnnsic is everemployed in conformity with the (inflexible) rules o its theory.But if the violation o those theoretical rules, inflexible though, donot lead to any absurdity ; and if , again, the contravention o anyof the rules o practice does not give pleasure, but jars, tothe ear; then, the practice of music shall be preferred to its iheory.And it is in conformity with the * practical ' rules of music(as opposed to its ' theoretical ' ones) that the Gna-roMscprevails. In his chapter on Instruments, Shrngadv, well-versedin music-lore, argued that the practice of music was more impor-tant than its theory.'^

If Shrngadv originated this principle, which mayforfuture guidancebe called ' the Principle of Lakskya '; if, again,Rmmtya elaborated and developed it into a maxim ; PundarikaVittala chose to condense it into an aphorismic form, namely :

(Science only Mlows Art ; isn't U f)Let us proceed to see how Rmmtya applied the principle'

of Lakshya to the development of his muical systm.Before so doing, we shall first get to know which systm of

music he took up for study. Even a cursory glance at his workwill show that he referred only to Shrngadv's systm of musicand made it clear that he wanted to modify and bring that systmalone in Hne with the condition of his own times.The reason is not far to seek. Almost all the musical worksthat are now cominginto prominence, uch as for instance,61fl:^:^-a-chandrdaya, Rgavibdha, Sangithadarpana, Sangithasudha,

Svaramilakal&nidhi,


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INTRODUCTION xziB. ^m^^ 5^r:^|W4iW5i q^T^T.-srfa: i

^=^tci-i?^ cI


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xxii SVARAMLAKALNIDHIAs regards the y^^riâ-sv2Lra.s, both Shrngadv andRmmtya differed from each othen While Shrngadv presented

to us so many as twelve Vikritka-%vzxz,s^ Rmmtya found, inactual practice^ only seven. He therefore recognised only thoseseven and left out the remaining five.Shrngadv worked up his twelve Vikrifha-sv^LXzs thus :* The twelve Vikritha Svaras are explained. The four-srutiedShadja becomes two-srutied Vikrithas, namely, Chyutha Sa andAchyutha S. When Ni takes the Kaisiki sruti, it is Chyutha ;but when it takes the Kkali sruti, it is Achyutha, That Rishabhawhich is four-srutis from Chyutha Pa is regarded as a Vikritha.Gndhra is declared by Shrngadv to fall into two divisions,three-srutied Sdhrana and four-srutied Anthara, Madhyama,like Shadja, falls into two divisions viz., Chyutha and Achyutha.Panchama o Madhyamagrma is three-srutxed and has one morevariety, namely, four-srutied Kaisiki Pa. Dhaivatha, in Madhya-magrma, becomes a four-srutied Vikritha. The three-srutiedNishda and the four-srutied Nishda are treated of as Vikrithasof Sa and named Kaisiki Ni and Kkali Ni respectively.' ^

qi.-^rmsfTfc i# -fîifr ^^^ u

q?grRt TpsqBim lîffr: ^%^ qr:T: o

Sangitharatnkara.


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INTRODUCTION xxiOn the other hand, Rmmtya worked up his seven Vikritka-

svaras thus :* How is it that only ^seven Vikritka-svzxzs are given here,

while Shrngadv mentixKied, in his Ratnkra^ so many astwelve ? It is true that, from the theoretical point of vew, thenumber twelve may be desirable. But, in actual practice^ that is,according to the principle of Lakshy^ there are only seven*Vikritha'SVKtz.% different from the seven Sudka-%V2XZB. Ifthe basic notes are left out, there does arise a difference insound, as regards the remaining five Vikritha-svaras. But if they(the basic notes) are retained, the said dflFerence disappears inpractice, though not in theory, by the process of taking theprecedingbut not the next precedingsrutis. I shall tel youhow. Achyutha-Shadja does not differ from SudhaSAdfanor does Achyutka-Madhyama differ from Sudkd-Madhyama.Again, Vikritha-Rishabka does not differ from Sudha-Rishabkanor does Vikritha-Dhaivatha differ from Sudha-Dhaivatha.Further again, Vikrika-Panckam which is taken from Madk^yama-Sruti does not surely differ from the other Vikriika-Panckama. Hence under the category of the above-mentionedfourteen {Sudha^Vikrith) svaras, no separte mention was madeof these five ^^svaras, inasmuch as they had effected a merger,as indicated above. We shall enunciate the seven Vikritka-^v^xzsby mentioning their names :

(i) Chyutha Shadja(2) Chyutha Madhyama(3) Chyutha Panchama(4) Sdhrana Gndhra(5) Anthara Gndhra(6) Kaisiki Nishda

and (7) Kkali Nishda.Chyutha Shadja is the name given to that Shadja which givesup its own fourth sruti and takes the third one. The sam ruleapplies equally to Chyutha Madhyama and Chyutha Panchama.When Sudha-Madhyama takes the first Gdndhara-sxxx^ it iscalled Sddhdrana-Gndhra; but when the sam Sudha-Madhyamatakes the second Gndhara-%x\x\A^ it goes by the name of AntharaGndhra. When, again, SudhorShadja takes the first Nishdasruti, it is called (by expert musicans) Kaisiki Nishda ; but whenthe sam Sudha-Shadja takes the second Nishdda-sMy it goes by


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3^iv SVARAMLAKALANIDHIthe name of Kakali Nishda. Thus, the seven Vikritka-^vzr^shve been described.' ^

' a. ^^ mm- ^t^^^ ^^r; st: i

aTq RSr^#fTnTSW^^T: I

q4^rfa?tr5Tsq8fi^^^3:

^ q ^^ tfff =^ 5^q?t iJi^cqa n

fi^ w: ^?[T^rmr%f'?27^ n

eir: q^sT^r TTSEFI: q^FlTr n?TrW^K^FH(Rrs:xRlTT:=SIR|?Tfq I


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INTRODUCTION XXVWe closely trod in the footsteps o both Shrngadv and

Rmmtya, only to correctly formulate the following table andrightly determine their respective Sud/ia- Vikritha Svaras :

1


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xxvi SVARAMLAKALNIDHI. The fourth column of Fg. 4, namely, * Rmmtya's specialNomenclature ' was drawn with the help of the following verses

in the text:

^FTil: ^m gtSI?qiq^fITqTr: II

-o vo

=q>^5I^:TqT^q ^sgT^ fr?Sa ^^: 1Having learnt the points of agreement and disagreementbetween Shrngadv and Rmmtya with regard to the Sudha-Vikritha svaras and having noted that, in all cases of disagree-ment, Rmmtya invariably invoked the help of the principle of

^ * In fulfilment o a usage, I shall now mention a few different nomen-clatures to some of these 14 Svaras obtaining elsewhere. On account of itsidentity with Nishda, Chyutha Shadja is also called Chyuih Skadj Niskda.On account of its identity with Gndhra, Chyutha Madhyama is also calledCkyuiha Madhyama G&7zdhra. On account of its identity with Madhyama,Chyutha Panchama is also called Chyutha Panchama Madhyama* Inasmuchas Rishabha is, i7t practice, known to identify itself with Sudha Gndhra, thelatter is also called Panchasruti Rishabha. When however, Rishabha identi-fies itself with Sdhrana Gndhra, that(Sadharana Gandhara) is, inpraciice,also called Shatsruii Rishabha. Likewise, when Dhaivatha identifies itselfwith Suddha Nishda, that Sudha Nishda is called Pa7ichasruti Dhaivatha ;but when it identifies with Kaisiki Nishda, that Kaiski Nishda is calledShatsruti Dhaivata.


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INTRODUCTION xxviiLakshya ; we shall now proceed to deal with the next questionwhich happens to be five-fold :

(i) Why were the Sudha-Vikritha svaras so-called ?(2) Wherein lay their importance ?(3) Are they extant to-day ? If not, why not ?(4) What, if any, are their modern proto-types ?and (5) What part, if at all, do they now play in actual practice ?These five questions we shall now consider.

First, why were the Sudha-Vikritha Svaras so called?No doubt, the time-honored vere, transmitted to us fromauthor to author, namely

NJ -o o N

sums up * the Rule of the ancient SudhaSvzxz.^^' according towhich the seven SudhaSv2LX2JS were Sa^ Ri^ Ga^ Ma^ Pa^ Dha^ Ni^made upas they wereof 4, 3, 2, 4, 4, 3, 2, srutis respectively.Or^ as Rmmtya would hve it, out of the 22 srutis, numbers4> 7j 9> J^3i 1 7 20, 22 were alone spoken of as Sudka-^v^LX^s^^ ; andthey were technically called Sa^ Ri^ Ga, Ma, Pa^ Dha, Ni^respectively.^ All other numbers were called Vikriha'SvsiB.s^of which Rmmtya chose seven.But the question is : How did the Sudha-svaras, mentionedabove, come to be called Sudha-svsLrzs ?One explanation is that those seven svaraswhich ormed,as they even now form, the scale of Smagnamwere calledSudha'Sva.^Si because they were used in singing the pure nausic ofSma-Vda.

There seems, here, to be a confusion of ideas. What didthe * pure ' music of Sama-Veda indicatethe purity of themusic or o the sentiment expressed thereby ? If the former,what was the tandard ? But, if the latter, what connection wasthere between musical notes and Vedie sentiments ?Another explanation Mr. E. Clements attempted to give.The ancient text-books on music took the Vina-point of view ; ^and almost all the ancient terms of music were derived fromstringed instruments with frets, which gave a serie of semitones

^ Vide Fig. 3, page xxi.


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xxvm SVARAMLAKALNIDHIup to a certain point and, then, a scale of tones and semitones.This latter scale (of tones and semitones) was, in the normlposition of the frets, known as the SudhaSz'dX^ and the notes itcomprised were called Sudha'Svzx2,^.^

The following tabular statement^ of Mr. Bulwant Trimbuckseems to strengthen the position of Mr. Clements :/yy Svaras


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INTRODUCTION XXIXyet, the first scale alone is held to be important and ever broughtinto the forefront for any kind of musical discussion ; so too, inIndin Music, rom amidst a variety of its scales, the SudhaSc2X^alone was considered to be important and was, in fact, constitutedto be the basis of the ancient Indin musical systm.Secondly, we shall determine the importance of the Sdka-svaras and of the Sudka-scdil^ formed thereby. I may state it, asa generl rule, that just as a tourist, on entering a new country,finds it convenient, nay, necessary to study its language with aview to understand the rel nture of that country ; so too, amusic-student, on opening any one of our ancient books on music,finds it convenient, nay, necessary to study the terms or phraseo-logy employed therein, with a view to understand the rel ntureof the Rdga System ^ which its author finally built. A mereglance at those texts will show that one and all their authorsspoke of their Rgas only in terms of Sudha-^v^xz,^ and alsoemployed therein the Sudha-Vikritha phraseology. Tak, forinstance, Srirga^ of which Rmmtya wrote : * The Mla ofSriraga consists of these seven svaras, namely, Sudha Sa,Panckasruti Ri^ Sdhrana Gdy Sudha Ma^ Sudha Pa, Pancha-syuti Dha and Kaisiki NL^ Surely, none could understand thiskind of description without a previous knowledge of the meaningof the terms employed therein. Hence, the Sudha- VikriihaSvaras of our ancient authors formed, as it were, a key to open,and see for ourselves, the rich treasures of their musical systems.Ax^ thosQ zxiCiQ.nt Sudha- Vikritka SvzxdiS extant to-day? Ifnot, why not ? What, if any, are their modern prototypes ? Whatpart, if at all, do they now play in actual practice ?

^ R&ga was, as it even now is, the soul of Indin Music, The Srutis^the Svaras, and even the MUas form so many means, while the Rgas aloneform the end. Even the compositions and their various types are so manyR&ga-maniesiaitofts, perhaps with the additional elements of rhythm andpoetry. Hence the determination of the Rgas and their Lakshanas formsthe main, if not the sle, portion of our musical systm.

o v -o c ^

Svaramilakalnidhi.


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XXX SVARAMLAKALNIDHIThese questions may be grouped together and discussed asuch.Now, the ancient Sdka- Vikritha Svaras are not extant

to-day. Because, according to Mr. Clements's opinion, they hadbeen looked at only from the Vina-point of view, while theirmodern prototypes hve had an entirely different principle tostand pon; because the ancient Sudha-Vikriha, systm wasbased pon Bharata Matka which had ' Dha ' for keynote, whileits modern prototype has been based on Hanumanta Matka whichhas Sa ' for keynote ; because, in Bharata Matha, the frets were somoved and adjusted as to give the exact scale required, while, inHanumanta Matha, the increase of tension is one of the chiefmeans of getting the right notes ; and lastly because the Sudha-Vikritka systm allowed itself to be difEerently interpreted, whileits modern prototype has only one interpretation to view it with.The last reason requires explanation. Three differentauthors, Rmmtya, Ahbala, and Bhtkhand, chose the samSudkarSvdcc?^^^ from Fig. 3, for their ^2r>-scales and, yet, arrivedat three different Rdgas^ viz., Mukhri, Kphi, and Bilval whichare said to respectively correspond to Kanakngi, Kharaharapriyaand Sankarbharanam of the Carnatic Music.A question, at once, arises as to why the self-same Sudha-scale, formed out of Sa (4th sruti), Ri (7th), Ga (gth). Ma (isth),Pa (lyth), Dha (20th), and Ni (22nd) gave rise to three differentKdgas.Mr. D. K. Joshi made an attempt to answer it and observed :' Suppose a man in Bombay buys a seer of sugar and a manin Poona buys a seer of sugar; they will find that the quantitiesof sugar, though identical in having the name seer, in each ase

1 a. ^^ pnq-^ ^ugrRs 3Tf?^: i

fl^Wrrqq^ ^^frfqqsfTTi: ILakshya Sangiiha,


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INTRODUCTION xxxidifiFered in their weightBombay seer weighing 28 Tolas andPoona seer 76 Tolas. I the quantities o sugar differed in theirvalue or weight, why should they be identical in having the samname seer f The answer to this question is sre to satisfy thequestion suggested in our ase. And I thnk the answer, in boththe cases, is one and the sam. It is Convenion \^Apart from the vibrational values^ which Mn Josh gave eachof the Sudha'Sv2^cz,% of each of the three authors he selected, theanalogy, that he took, seems to be a little unhappy and does- not,I fear, strengthen his position. In the ase of seers, there is aclear difference, according to Mr. Joshi, of 48 Tolas betweenBombay and Poona. Even in South India, there is a widediference, in quantity, between the measures of Madras andCoimbatore. Whereas, in the seer or measure^ there is the same-ness only in name but not in quantity; in the vS^^^^^-Scale, therewas the sameness not only in name but also in quantity. For,whether the Rga that emanated was Kanakngi, Kharaharapriya,or Sankarbharanam, the originl stock of the SudhaSciSt gaveSuy Riy Ga, Ma^ Pa^ Dka, Ni respectively srutis 4, 3, 2, 4, 4, 3, 2.Unless, therefore, the 4th srutito tak one for exampledoesnot mean only the 4th sruti but also anything above or below, noclue presents itself to explain why three different Rgas were saidto emanate from one and the sam Sudha-^cdX^.From all standpoints of view, the ancient theory of Sdka-Scale was given up, as being practically useless for the modernrequirements.

To-day there is no scale, called Sudh^So^Xt., unless the firstMil of Venkatamakhi's System counts for uch. Even that firstMla (Kanakngi), had to give way to Purandra Das's Mdya-malavagowla which the very Rmmtya proclaimed in his book,as ' the best of all Rgas \Of this * Mymlavagowla,' Mr. Clements remarked: *Iam not in favour of Sankarbharanam as the Sudha-^czX.^. Un-scientific writers put Bihag in the sam family. We do not wantany ambiguity in our SudkaSti^X^^ Mymlavagowla is entirely

^ Vde Report o the Second All-India Music Conerence, Delhi {19I8\page 44.2 Mr. E. Clements questions the correctness of Mr, Joshs * vibra-

tional values,' in his Ragas of Hindtcsian^ vol. II, page 37.


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xxxn SVARAMLAKALNIDHIfree from this defect. Further, to adopt the Mymalavagowla-scale as the Sudâ-Scale does no violence to the feelings o themusicians.^ Here came Mr. A. H. Fox Strangways, as it were,to help Mr. Clements and observed : ' Mydmlavaôwla onlydeveloped from Mukkari by way of modal shift o tonic, as in thease of the modern Greek Scale.^ And here, again, Mr.H. A. Popley amplified that the modal shift of tonic was made byone semitone higher and, having illustrated bis point by thefollowing diagram MymlavagowlaBCD bEFGA~bBC

1 iMukhri (Kanakngi)(Fg, 6)wrote, by way of explanation, ' B to B form Mukkari and C to C

is Mdymdlavagowla *.ÂU the three, I fear, overshot the mark, inasmuch as theMukhri of the above Fig. 6 points only to Kharakarapriyawherein alone Ga (D) and Ni (A) are Kmal ox flat and surelynot to Kanakdngiy wherein Ga and Ni are really conspicuous bytheir absence, though Ri Thivra and Dha Thivra are made tofalsely personate them.The trend of the modern view is that, while Bildvl is theSudhaScdl^ of North India, Mdydmlavagowla is that of SouthIndia. But, be it noted, that neither of them is the SudhaSczS,în the sense in which our ancient writers held, viz, that its sevensvaras had their respective sruti numbers 4, 7, 9, 13, 17, 20 and22, but that the elementary songs hve been traditionally taughtto the children in those Rdgds, uch traditional teaching began,at first, as a matter of convenience or, better, inclination ; but,then, it took root by force of habit. ''^Now, though the old seven Si^dkaS'^zxz.s and the Sudha-Scaleformed therebyhave, doubtless, become obsolete ; yet, we hve

1 Vide Mr. Clements' s Ragas of Tanjore, p. 15-* Vide Mr. Fox Strangways' s Music of Hindosian, p. 120,3 Vide Mr. Popley's Mtcsic of India, p. 43.* It may be that Purandra Ds wanted that the beînners of music

should not be tronbled with the controversial svaras (Rt^ or Sudha Gd)^(Ga^ or Shatsrut Ri\ {Dha^ or Sudha JVz), and (^Ni^ or Shatsruti Dha) butshould be confined, at the outset, only to the non-controversial svaras (Riând Ga^) (Dha^ and Ni^ and also Sudha Ma.


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INTRODUCTION XXXlllnow Sa and Pa as Sdka (or better, Prakritkt) Svaras, inasmuchas they are fixed or admit of no varieties at all ; while Ri, Ga, Ma,Dhay Ni are Vikritha'Sv2X2L%^ inasmuch as each of them admits oftwo^ clear varieties, viz, Kmal and TMvra, that is, flat and sharp,These modem [Sudha- Vtkritha Svaras, twelve^ in number, maybe tabulated thus :Sa I1-

jr 2 R23 Gaj.4 - Gaa Ma^IMag

\ -\ -(Fg. 7)

I

I IPa Dha, Dha,I I I 9 _ 10 Nit Ni,I I11 12

And, again, these modern Sudha-Vikritka Svaras enable usto formulate, according to the Principle of Lakshya, the followihgworking schme which may be styled Lagkumelakarha (^sg^rgir)as distinguished from the Brikanmlakartha (^^s^T) of Ven-katamakhi : '^

s d s


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XXXIV SVARAMLAKALNIDHIIn order to be able to compare the Mlas o Fig. 8 with

those of Rmmtya, it is desirable that we should, first, knowhow Fig. 8 was worked up and, secondly, learn how the Mlas ofSvaramlakaldnidki were formulated.Now, Ri and Ga may be combined in four different ways,viz^ (i) Rii and Gai (2) Rii and Ga^ (3) Ri^ and Ga^ and (4) Ri^and Gag. Similarly Dha and Ni may be combined in fourdifferent ways. By tacking the four varieties of Dha and Ni toeach of the four varieties of Ri and Ga^ we hve sixteen varietiesof Ri-i Ga^ Dha, and Ni. These sixteen varieties, when furthermanipulated with the two varieties of Ma, yield thirty-two ^ work-ing Mlas^ for which see Fig. 8, where it will be seen that MelasI to 16 are vS'z^^.^-Madhyama or Poorva Mlas^ while Melas 17 to32 are Pr^/^^-Madhyama or Uthara Mlas.Rmmtya, on the other hand, merely specified the namesof his Twenty Mlas and stopped with explaining their character*istics. Here is what he wrote :

g^GT FIH^^ ^^1^05 37Tf^; 11

NO

^ Even the Katapayadi-Sankhya seems to point to 32 as being theoriginl number of the prime-^^ (or Mlas) ; inasmugh as Ra (?;r)represents 2, and Ga (rt) represents 3, and theefore Rga (TTi) represents,according to the said formula, 32*


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INTRODUCTION XXXV

And continued Rmmtya :

In this way Rmmtya went on. Evidently he did not are todeduce his twenty Mlas from any kind o principles, but perhapsrecorded uch o the Mlas as were in vogue during his time.Even in so doing, he happened to slip into a palpable mistakeof giving the sam identical characteristics to two of his twentyMlas^ vz., Sdranganta and Kdragowla thus :

Sranganta KdragfowlaqaST^H^: 5I?[s[^5Wq^q^Trr: 1

. Jsff

Rmmtya characterises theMda of S&rangania as consistng ofthese seven svaras^ viz,, Sudha Sa,Panckasruii Ri^ Chyuiha MadhyamaGa^ Sudha Ma^ Sudha Pa^ Pancka-sruti Dha^ and Chyutha Shadja iW/

^5T^ g^rqr: q^^^ ^^^cvl i

* The Mil of Kidaragowla con-Ssts of these svaras^ vi^., SudhaSa^ PanchasruH J?z, Chyutha Madkya-ona Ga^ Sudha Ma^ Sudha Pa^Panchasruii Dha and Chyutha ShadjaNV

(Fg. 9)The veriest tyro will not fail to note the identical sameness

in the characteristics o both the Mlas in Fig. 9. Inasmuch,therefore, as Sdranganta and Kdragowla merged, in point o^ * I shall now specify the names (of the Mlas) and then explain their

characteristics. Of all the Mlas, Mukhari is the first- Other Mlas are asfoUows : Mlavagowlay Srzrga^ Sranganata^ Hindla^ Sudharamakriya^Deskshiy Kannadagowla^ Sudha7i&ti^ Ahari, Ndar&makriya^ Sudhavarali^Rithigowla^ Vasanthabhairavij Kd&ragowla^ Hjujji^ Svtavardli^ Rvaguf>*ihii Smantha^ and Kmbhju Thus there are twenty Milas.^

^ ' And their characteristics are explained thus : the Mela of Mukkari^or instance^ conists of seven Sudha-svara^^^


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xxxv SVARAMLAKALNIDHItheir characteristics, into one ; how could Rmmtya counttwenty different Mlas f Quickly, therefore, did Venkatamakhihasten to lash him on this vulnerable point and wrote :

Nor did Venkata-makhi stop here. But he proceeded toattack Rmmtya, using even rough language, on nine morepoints. We shall deal with them, one by one, and plae theviews, thereon, of both Rmmtya and Venkatamakhi in juxta-position :

(1) As regards some derivatives of'SRIRGA MLA:Rmam&iya.The Mil of Srirg-a coasists of these seven Svaras^

vz., Sndha Sa^ Panchasruii Ri^ Sadh&rana Ga, Sdka Ma, Sudha Pa^PanchasruH Dha, and Kaisiki NL Then do I enumerate some of theR&gas derived from this Mela, and they are : Srirga, Bhatravi, Gowli^Dhanyasi^ Sudhabhairavi^ Vilavali^ Mlavasrz, Sankar&bharanam, Andli,Divagandhari ^ and Madhyam&di,'^Venkatamakhu * You said that Bkairavi, Sankar&bharanam, and Gowliwere derived from Srirga Mela. Inasmuch as Bhairavi has Sudha Dfia,Sankarbharanam has Anthara Ga, and Gowli has Kkli Ni, and inasmuch^ C. : ' Accordingf to yourself (addressing Rmmtya) Srangantaand Kdragowla merged into one Mla. How then could there be twentyMelas

^55r-^^ JTr55^^: llT^TOTtSlq g II

q:^iTr?r^ 5R%f^^TiTr ^sst^^'^i: nSvaratnilakal&nidhi.


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INTRODUCTION xxxviias (the last mentioned) Gowli may (rightly) be derived from Mlavagowla^how can you (dare to) say that these Ragas were derived from theMla of Sriragaf O Rma Rma Rtna . How confused (is yourhead) '^

(2) As regards some derivates of' SUDHARAMAKRIYA MLA:

R&mamaiya.* Some of the Ragas derived from the Mil of Su-dharamakriya are : Sudkarmakriya, Pddi, Ardradsi^ and DipakaJ^Venkatamakhi.*Iaasmuch as you (wrongly) said that P&di and Ardra-

disi were derived from Sudharamakriya, and inasmuch as the truth is thatthey were derived from the Mil of Gowla^ O Rma, you hve committeda great sin, to remove which, you should contemplate the name of (thatgreat) Rma.'^

Tfem^ ^iqcir^q 1FW555Tr: ii

^ fl^^g w ?n7 R T^ ^spu:Chatkurdandiprak&sika.

Svaratnilakalnidhi.' a- q^ti ^^m 5T?[m^m5^: i

qitmT55inf'wisRT ra^-^ n

Chathurdandiprak&sika.


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xscxviii SVARAMELAKALANIDHI(3) As regards the Mla of

' KANTADAGOWLA.'Rmmtya. ' As between the characteristics of DSsakski and Kan.

nadagowlat there is one point of diference, viz., the latter {Kannadagowl)has Kaisiki NU as practised by the experts (instead of Chyutka Shadja Ni

Venkatamakhu ' The statement that Disakshi^ when it attains KaisikiNi^ becomes Kannadagowla leads to an absurdity, The fact is thatKannadagowla belongrs to the Mla of SrirgaJ ^

(4) As regards* GHANTRAVA RGA.'

Rmmiya.' Some of the Ragas derived from this Mla (pi Kan^Tiadagowla) are : Kanndagowla^ Gha?itrava, Sudkabang&la^ Chynta^Turushka T^di^ N&gadhvani^ and Dvakriya.^^Venkatamakhi^* The statement that Ghantarava was derived fromKannadagowla has involved you in a heinous sin^ from which, O Rma,you cannot escape even though you go (on a pilgrrimage) to Rmastu(Rmsvaram). The fact is that Ghantarava is derived from Bhairavi.'^

* CL ^?Tr^m^95q 55gGrf q^^fcTj; I

Svaramlakalanidhu

c

Chathurdandipraksika,' a. s^fer ^ ^*5ridi'


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xi SVARAMLAKALNIDHI(7) As regards

' kdragowla:R&mmtya.* The Mela of KSdaragotvla consists o these Svaras, viz.,

Sudha Sa, Panchasruti Ri, Chyutha Madhyama Ga, Sudha Ma, Sudha Pa,Panchasruii Dka, and Chyutha Shadja Ni.' ^Venkaiamakhi ' I feel sorry for your name (of Rma) ; for, youmistakenly placed Chyutha Shadja Ni in the Mil of Kid&ragowla. Theright Svara of the Mla is Kaisiki Ni.' ^

(8) As regards' HJUJJi:

Rm&matya.' The Mil of Hijujji consists of these Svaras, viz., SudhaSa Sudha Ri, Anthara Ga, Sudha Ma, Sudha Pa, Sudha Dha, and KakaliNi' ^Venkatamakhi.* It is stupid to plae K&kali Ni in the Mil ofHijuiji: or the right Svara of the Mil is Sudha Ni.' *

Chathurdandiprakasika.* a. 5T?iT^ wm'- q^rat '^^w^rt i

Svaramilakal&nidhi.

Chathurdandiprakasika,

Svaramilakal&nidhi.

R|chv'^|5*4l^^r5:^ OTfT |% T2T: l^ ^ Chaihurdandiprak&sika.


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INTRODUCTION xli(9) As regards' KMBHJi:

Rmm&tya.*The Mil o I^md/t consists o these Svaras, vz.,Sud/ia Sa, Pancha^ruti Ri, A^itkara Ga, Sudha Ma, Sdka Pa, PanchasruiiDha, and Kakali NV ^Venkaiamakhi, * Does not even the maid-servant of a Vainika knowthat Kmbhji has Kaisiki (and not Kakali) Nif ' ^

The reader will, at this stage, do well to guard himselfagainst entertaining any mistaken notion that Rmmtya was allwrong or that Veakatamakhi was all right. He will further dowell to remember that, between Svaramlakalnidhi and Chatkur-dandiprakdsika, there elapsed a full century and a little more ; thatthe musical systems, worked out in both the books, mutonaccount of the progressive nture of the artbe necessarilydifferent from each other ; and that some o the views of both theauthors might therefore be right and wxogright in their owntimes, and wrong in other times,

Living, as I do, three centuries after Venkatamakhi whoinsisted on having only Kaisiki Ni for Kmbhji, I may repay theauthor of Chathurdandiprakasika in his own coin and retort' Does not even the cook of a Vainika know that the Kmbhji ofthe present day has not only Kaisiki Ni but also Kakali Ni, as inthe ase of the phrase Sa-NiPa-Dha-Sa ? Again, in your chapteron Ragas, you dared to write

From this heinous sin, O Venkata, you cannot escape eventhough you go on a pilgrimage to Tirupati, the abode of LordVenkateswara. For, whether your Kmbhji corresponds to our

Svaramilakalanidhu

Chaihurdandiprak&sika.3 Cf . K&mbkji Rga, though Sampuma, leaves out in the ascent Ma

and Ni. 6


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INTRODUCTION xliiimadhyama Ga and Chyuthapanchama Ni respectively, and,therefore, chose to reduce, as an alternatve, his twentyintofifteen Mlas^ and also stated that the remaining five mut bedeemed to be implied in the fifteen. To illustrate, Hejujjimut be deemed to be implied in Vasanthabhairavi ; Smavarli,in Sudhavarli ; Rvagupthi, in Bowli ; Smantha, in Kannada-gowla ; and Kmbhji, in Sranganta.^

Further, the recognition of the theory of repi^esentationyreferred to, is tantamount to almost identifying ChyuthamadhyamaGa and Chyuthashadja Ni respectively with Anthara Ga andKkali Ni and also to driving, out of the field, one of the twopairs of svaras, preferably the latter,As regards Rgas^ Rmmtya divided them into three kindsSuperior^ Middling^ and Inferior. The * superior ' Ragas aresaid to hve been free from any kind of mixture and also suitablefor singing, composition, elaboration and for Tya; and theywere twenty in all. The * middling ' Rgas were employed tosing fragmentary portions of songs and were fifteen in all ; while,the *inferior' Rgas, plentiful though, were calculated to dazzle(and not illumine) the masses and were [dis-] regarded as beingunsuitable for compositions.These three divisions were once repeated by Smanth inhis Rgavibdha; but they disappeared from the tme ofVenkatamakhi, with the result that they are unknown to, andunrecognized by, the modern musicians- For, which musician ofto-day will reconcile himself to blackmark and taboo, for instance,Sankarharanaunless it be that it does not tally with our

S3 NO

Jbid.


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xliv SVARAMLAKALNIDHIownas an *infrior', and therefore disregardable, Rga asRmmtya had done ?Let us now tabulate the Mla and Rga systems ofRmmtya and make a closer study of his work.

/. Rmdmtya's * Genus-Species ' System/ Mlas (20) Janya-Ragas(64)Mukhari

Mlavagowla

Mukhri and a few Grma Rgas' (1) Mlavagowla(2) Lalitha(3) BowH(4) Sourshtra

. (5) Gurjari

(6) Mchabowli (11) Kuranji(7) Palamanjari (12) Kannadabangala(y) Gundakriya (13) Mangalakowsika(9) Sindhurmakriya (14) Malhri, etc.

(10) Chayagowla

9101112131415

Srraga

Sranganta

HindlSudharmakriyaD&akshi

Kannadagowla

SudhantaAhiriNdarmakriyaSudhavarliRithigowlaVasanthabhairaviKdragowla

16 Hjujji17 Smavarali

r (1) Srirga (2) Bhairavi(3) Gowli ^(4) Dhanysi

' (1) Sranganta(2) Savri(3) Slagabbairavi

(5) Sudhabhairavi(6) Vlvali(7) Mlavasri(8) Sankarbharana(4) Natanryani(5) Sudhavasanta(6) Purvagowla

(1) Hindl (2) Marga Hindl(1) Suddharamakrya (2) PdiDsksbi

' (1) Kannadagowla(2) Ghantrava(3) Sudhabangala

(4) Chyanta(5) Turushka-Tdi(6) Ngadbvani

(9) ndoli(10) Devagandhari(11) Madhyamdi,etc.(7) Kunthalavarli(8) Bhinnashadja(9) Nrayani, etc.

(3) Bhpala, etc.(3) Ardradsi(4) Dipaka

(7) Dvakriya, etc*

181920RvagupthiSmanthaKmbfaji

Sudhanata, etc.Ahiri, etc*Ndarmakriya, etc.Sudhavarli, etc.Rithigowla, etc.(1) Vasanthabhairavi (2) Smarga, etc.(1) Kdragowla (2) Nrayanagowla, etc.Hjujji and a few Grma RgasSamavarli do,Rvagtipthi do.Smantha, etc.Kmbhji, etc.

(FiG. 10).


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INTRODUCTION V xlv/// The Charactertstics ofa few ofRmmntya's

Derivative Rgas


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INTRODUCTION xlvSankarbharana to be each a Sampurna and, yet, a derivative ofSrirga, which was (also as it ought to hve been) a Sampurna ?Furthermore, Rmmtya's Srirga corresponds, as per Fg. 13,to the modern Kharaharapriya. Could, then, Bhairavi or Sankar-bharana come out of Kharaharapriya ? We feel, again, puzzled.There, yet, appears a way-out Gentle reader, follow.

In the first plae, I would putyou inmind of what I had said inconnection with Venkatamakhi's unwarranted onslaught on Rm-mtya, namely, Heaven knows what chmiges or modificaiions themanuscHpts of * Svaramelakalanidhi ' uitderwent m the kands ofdifferent indifferent copyists and what sort ofa copy finally fell intoour-own'handsn In the second plae, the names of the Rgas and,for that matter, of the Thlas, of the Svaras, and of even the 22Srutishve been from time to time changing, like chameleon'scolour, Here are, for instance, two sets of names, given in twodifferent periods of time, to one and the sam time-honored 22Srutis, wherein all the names differ, except Ugra, even whichfigures itself in the /th Sruti in the one ase and in the 2ist Srutiin the other :n


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xiviii SVARAMLAKALANIDHIHence, Rmmtya's Sankarbharana is not the modern

Sankarbharana; nor is his Bhairavi or even Srir&ga our own.The only sensible inference, that we can draw under the circum-stances, is that we should not allow ourselves to be [mis-] led bythe mere ^lames of Rmmatya's Ragas but should delve deep andstudy the characteristics of each of them and find out its modernprototype and its modern name as well.

Will a study of Rmmatya's Vina help us to understandhis Rga-system, especially as he assures us it would ? Let us, then,tak up the subject of Vhia^ which Rmmtya dealt with, in histhird chapter, at the very outset of which he emphasised theimportance of Vina, as creating a nice taste for, and a finediscrimination in, Srutis, Svaras, Melas, and Rgas ; besidesbeing a means of attaining Dharma, Artha, Kma, and Mksha.Be it noted that Rmmtya fundamentally differed fromShrngadv in the matter of constructing his Vinaz.x\6. therebycut a new path for his successors to follow. While Shrngadvpresented to us a Vina of twenty-two strings ; Rmmtya simpli-fied the process by requiring only four strings to produce all hisSudlia-Vikritha svaras in all the three registers. While, again,Shrngadv's Vina was only of two kinds, viz., Sruti Vina andSvara Vina; Rmmatya's Vina was of six kinds, which mayconveniently be tabulated thus :

Rudra Vina

Sudha Mla Madhya Mla Achyutharjndra MlaVna (I) Vna (11) Vna (III)I 1 I

Sarvarga karga Sarvarga karga Sarvarga karga(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)(FiG. 15.)

All the six kinds of Rmmatya's Vina were provided withfrets. In the Sarvarga Mla Vna^ they were fixed and immov-able, as in the ase of our modern Tanjore Vna ; while, in thekarga Mla Vna^ they were not fixed and therefore movable,as in the ase of the modern Sitar of North India. In fact,the frets of the latter kind were moved or changed every time aRga was changed ; while, those of the former kind were fixed and


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INTRODUCTION xHcyet made to produce all the Rgas in all the regsters. Hencetheir respective names.As for the construction and characteristics of Rmmtya'sVina ; first, there was a Cross-Bar, called Danda, on the left-handside o which there was a Gourd, called Tkumba, attached theretoby means of a round piece of metal, called Nbhu Over andalong the cross-bar, four metallic wires were fastened between theleft-hand bridge, called Meru^ and the right-hand piece of wood atthe end of the cross-bar, called Kakubha ; and these (four) wireswere also made to run over a metallic piece, on the right-handside, called Pathrik. The jDraj^a-stngs intervened betweenPathrik and Kakubha and held the four wires tightly fromthe basis o the latter ; while, bits of cotton (or woollen or evensilken) threads, called /ztja, were used over the Pathrik andunder the (four) wires, with a view to refine the sound. All overthe cross-bar but underneath the (four) wires were placed metallicfrets, called, Sdrikas^ by means of which alone proper sounds couldbe produced on the (four) wires. Below the cross-bar, but nearthe four wires and on the right-hand side, three additional wireswere fastened for 6y^/-purposes.What Svaras did each of the four upper-wires and of the threelower-wires speak, when sounded ? The answer depends onwhether the Vina was Sudha Mla, Madhya Mla, or Achyutha-rjndra Mla. For, while the order of the three lower-wires wasthe sam in all the three kinds of the Vina, namely, Madhya Sa^Mandra Pa^ and Mandra Sa^ except an additional Madhya Pa wastacked on to the lower-wires of the third kind of the Vna ; theorder of the four upper-wires, in Sudha Mla Vhta^ was :Anumandra Sa^ Anumandra Pa^ Mandra Sa^ and Mandra Ma ;that, in Madhya Mla Vina^ was :Anumandra Pa^ Mandra Sa^Mandra Pa^ and Madhya Sa ; and that, in Achyuthardjndra MlaVtna^ was :Anumandra Sa^ Anumandra Pa^ Mandra Sa^ andMandra Pa.

Conining, now, our attention to the Sudha Mla Vna, wenote that, over its cross-bar, six frets were placed in uch amanner as they produced, in order^ by tlte first (Anumandra Sa-)wire^ the following svaras :

1. Sudha Ri 4. Chyuthamadhyama Ga2. Sudha Ga 5. Sudha Ma3. Sdhrana Ga 6. Chyuthapanchama Ma7


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INTRODUCTION Hproceeding therefrom are blended into one note. The funda-mental Sa^ that is struck, is the loudest and is called the prime orthe prime partial tone^ while others are called the upper partialtones or the overtones ; and the whole serie of the upper partialtones form the Harmonics.The first upper partial tone is the higher octave of thefundamental Sa and makes twice as many vibrations as the primein the sam time ; and it is Sa. The second upper partial toneis the fifth of the octave Sa and makes thrice as many vibrations asthe prime in the sam time; and it is P, The third upperpartial tone is the second higher octave and makes four times asmany vibrations as the prme in the sam time ; and it is Sa.The fourth upper partial tone is the major third of the secondoctave and makes five times as many vibrations as the prime inthe sarae time ; and it is G. The fth upper partial tone is thefifth of the second octave and makes six times as many vibrationsas the prime in the sam time ; and it is P. And so on and on,Thus, the relative numbers of the vibrations which make theHarmnie Serie of sounds, are as 1:2:3:4:5:6 and so on. Youcan hear this serie in the wire of any intrumentsay, of thesonometreif you vibrate it after it has been successivelyshortened J, J, i, ^, ^, etc, of its whole length.But the point to be remembered is what we, in this connec-tion, began with. If a wire is struck, it vibrates not only in itswhole length but also in its aliquot parts- In other words, if you,by striking a wire, produce the fundamental Sa; all the upperpartial tones, mentioned above, namely.SaPS&GP^ etc, etc.are simultaneously produced on the sam wire by a naturalprocess. A trained ear will surely detect the upper partial tones,sounding of their own accord and blending with the prime orfundamental Saat least the first few partials which are loudenough to be heard, if not the other ones which become fainterand fainter as they rise higher and higher in pitch.We, thus, find that the striking of a wire, the productionthereby of the fundamental Sa and the detection, with a trainedear, of the upper partial tones which sound of their own accordby a natural process on the sam wireall these jointly form thefirst or natural way to kear, and thereby recognize the existence of,the Harmonics.


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lii SVARAMLAKALNIDHIIt is not, however, impossible to artificially produce and

distinctly hear each of the upper partial tones. I, for instance,you strike a wire and touch the said wire at its middle with yourfinger (or better still with a feather) ; you will distinctly hearthe higher octave of the fundamental Sa. Other upper partialtones may similarly be produced by touching the said wire at athird, a fourth, a fifth, a sixth and so on, of its length.There is, yet, a third way of hearing the Harmonics. Stretch,for instance, the two wiresA and Bof a sonometre and tunethem to exact unison. Plae, then, a moveable bridge underneaththe wire B, so as to gently touch it at its middle point and toproduce, if vibrated, the first upper partial tone, namely, theoctave Sa. Now, set the whole wire A in vibration and make itproduce the fundamental Sa. You will note that even the neigh-bouring wire B, though untouched, vibrates of its own accord andproduces the harmnie first higher octave Sa. This remarkablefact that a vibrating body may cause another elastic body, in tunewith it, also to vibrate is called the Co-vibration.We are, now, in a position to arrive at the foUowing conclu-sions regarding the Harmonics :

(i) Thte Harmonics co-exist, in nture, with the note of astring.

(2) Those Harmonics may be heard in more ways^ thanone, uch as for instance :

{a) Hearing the fundamental Sa^ struck in the wire ofany intrumentprovided it is in a proper stateof tensionalong with its naturally-arising upperpartials, all in a happy blending

or {b) Striking the wire and at the sam time touching itat a half, a third, a fourth, a ifth, a sixth and soon, of its length and hearing the correspondingupper partials, in order, as well as separately

or {c) Striking one of the two wires of a sonometre, both ofthem being tuned to exact unison, and touching theother wire at a half, a third, a fourth, a fifth, a sixthand so on, of its length and hearing the correspond-ing upper partials by virtue of the co-vibration.

^ In every one of those ways, only the first few partials will be loud andheard, while the other ones become fainter as they rise higher in pitch.


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INTRODUCTION KiiBefore we proceed to compare the * Harmonics ' with the

* Svayambhus,' we will do well to study the connotation importedinto the term Svayambku by Rmmtya* And on this point, Ishall let Rmmtya himself speak :

* The Mandra Sudha Pa^ produced on the fourth wire by thesecond fret is called Svayambhu. Hence all the svaras produced(on all the four wires) by the second fret are Svayambhus andcannot be otherwise. Inasmuch as the Anumandra Sudha Ni^produced on the second wire by the second fret, is of the samvalue as the Mandra Sudha iW, produced on the fourth wire by thefourth fret ; all the svaras, produced (on all the four wires) by thefourth fret are determined to be Svayambhus ; and they cannot beotherwise. Inasmuch, again, as the Anumandra ChyuthashadjaiW, produced on the second wire by the fourth fret, is of the samvalue as the Mandra Chyuthashadja Ni^ produced on the fourthwire by the sixth fret ; all the svaras produced (on all the fourwires) by the sixth fret are determined to be Svayambhus; and theycannot be otherwise. The Sa-Mct svaras, produced (on the irstthree wires) by the ifth fret are all Svayambhus. Inasmuch, again,as the Mandra Kaisiki AV, produced on the fourth wire by thefifth fret, is of the sam value as the Anumandra Kaisiki iW,produced on the second wire by the third fret ; all the svaras,produced (on all the wires) by the third fret are Svayambhus.Inasmuch, further again, as the Mandra Sudha Dha^ produced onthe fourth wire by the third fret is of the sam value as theAnumandra Sudha Dha, produced on the second wire by thefirst fret ; all the svaras hve been shewn to be of definitelydetermined values. In this manner Rmmtya determined thevalues of all the svaras produced on all the four wires by all thesix frets.'^

N C\ .^tSHli^Wi eTf:^Tt ^Rffftfl ^q^ IIc^irri:a\?wTq q sirar: ^Wsfq a wx\ \


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liv SVARAMLAKALNIDHIIn so many words, Rmmtya meant to drive horne to his

reader's mind that, among the twenty-four svaras, compressed inall the six frets on all the four upper-wires of his Vna, very manypairs would, on close scrutiny, be found to be related to each

'î^gTq 4m^ w^^ ^rfq a^tq^r i

HRFITTr; ^fF^ ^f^CTT 5B?^g

^^f^\ giR=hiiit T B^m mm ^^t i

gatqrat ^ÊT Bmr^m fr^wr n^PW^ ^^ ^^SJ^ WIFT JRPJIi; IsiiîWJTf ^2^ p^m ^q g^d)q^f tt

Svramlakalnidhi.


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INTROCTION Ivother as the fundamental or prime tone wouid be to its upperpartial tone ; uch as for instance, the Sudha Dka in the first freton the second wire to the Sudha Dka in the third fret on thefourth wire.

Evidently, therefore, Rmmtya*s Svayambhus had a closeaffinity with the Harmonics^ inasmuch as the former belongedto the second, and perhaps even third, category of the latter,mentioned above. Further, does not Rmmtya's method ofmerely tuning the four upper-wires, as well as the three lower-wires, of his Vna into SaPaSaMa, on the one hand, andinto SaPaSa, on the other, testify to the fact that he didrecognise the harmnie relation between those svaras ? Smanthtoo, harped, in his Rgambdka, on the sam point ; and it wasMr. K. B. Dval of Sangli that showed it to the music-world, in theface of his two opponents, Messrs. V. N. Bhtkhand and P. R.Bhandarkar.Having taken so mch pains to show that our ancient text-book writers, uch as Rmmtya and Smanth, knew, each inhis own way, the (modern) Harmonics] we should like to knowwhat part the Harmonics or, for that matter, the Svayambhusplayedand even now playin music. In other words, what isthe value of the discovery of the Harmonics or the Svayambhusin the actual or practical singing ?ProL Blaserna answers, in his Theory of Sound in relationto Music : * A note, not accompaned by its harmonics, maysometimes be sweet ; but it is always thin and poor and, there-fore, but little musical. This is the ase with tuning forks(and even with the flutes). The richest in harmonics arethe sounds of the human voice and of strings '. And Smanthadds, in his Rgavibdka : * The larger the number of the har-monics in a musical note, the more sonorous (and agreeable)itis\^Having studied the subject of the Vtna in almost all theaspects pointed out in Svaramlakalnidki^ we shall now revert tothe originl question as to how far that study helped us to under-stand Rmmtya's Rga-system.

Commeniayy to /, 14^ of Rgavibdka.


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\vi SVARAMLAKALANIDHIThe following Diagram,^ which represents Rmmtya's

Vina-system, shows that, from among the fourteen svaras whichRmmtya had originally taken up to build his Svara-syst&m,Anthara Ga and Kkali Ni were eliminated, for the reason thatNames of the four


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INTRODUCTION Ivand f you refresh your memory o the special instructions givenin connection with Fig, 13 ; you will not find it difficult tointerpret almost all the Rgas of Rmmtya in terms of themodern Rgas. Sufice it, therefore, for me to repeat once againand emphasise the importance of what I said a little while ago,viz,^ we shouldnot allow ourselves to be [mis-'] led by the 77tere * namesof Rmmtyd$ Rgas but should dehe deep and study the* ckaracteristics ' of^each of tkem and find out its modern prototypeand its modern name^ os well.

- It now remains for us to estimate the nture of the servicesrendered by Rmmtya to the music world.

Rmmtya, Smanth, and Venkatamakhi, the respectiveauthors of Svaramilakalnidki^ Rdgavibdka^ and Chathurdandi-prakasika^ were all South Indin musicians and wrote for SouthIndia. They might, therefore, be grouped together and called bya generic namethe Carnatic Trio. All these three authors were,alike, shrewd enough to realise the futility of wrting a v-o-l-u-m-i-n-o-u-s treatise, as Shrngadev had done, on the ever-progressive,and therefore ever-changing, art of music ; and they prudentlychose to be agreeably brief in their works and confined their atten-tion to the most fundamental portion of the Carnatic Music, viz,,the Rdga-system. Hence the ' Rgaprakarana * of each of theirworks formed, as it were, a pivot round which all other prakara-nas or chapters revolved. Rmmtya, no doubt, led the way, bycomprising his book intofive short chapters dealing with (i) Pre-face, (2) Svara, (3) Vina, (4) Mla, and (5) Rga, by not aliowingthe number of his verses to rise over 328, and by making eachsuccessive chapter lead ultimately to the last. Smanth wentone step further and made the very name of his book indicate theobject of his writing.^

Again, Rmmtya was the first to break loose rom Shrng-dv's theory of twelve Vikritha-^vzxzs and reduce those twelve intoseven, which Smanth chose to retain, but which, in the handsof Venkatamakhi, came further down to (the modern) five. In sobreaking loose, he justified his position by invoking the help of aprinciple, learnt from Shrngadev himself, viz., the principle ofLakshya.

^ cu ?r?i ml^^iMs^^ w^ ^m im ^^f : i~Ragambodha.


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Ivti SVARAMELAKALANIDHICalculating at least from Shrngadv's tme, this Principte

of Lakskya ' is, to-day, about seven centuries old. But long, longago, Klds had given us, in his Mlavikgmmitra, a popularversion of the sam principle in the following inspiring vere :

This vere, like the Principle o Lakskya, sounds to us a noteof warning that we cannot afford to live on our heritage, howevergreat it may be, except at the peril of stagnation but mut everprogress and conquer fresh fields and pastures new.Thanks be, therefore, to Rmmtya for his having set, to themusic-world, a wholesome example by mercilessly attacking theold theories, however time-honored they might be, if only theycontravened the eternal Principle of Lakskya. For, did he notmake, in his second chapter on Svara, the following state-ments :

* Achyutha Shadja does not differ from Sudha Shadja ; nordoes Achyutha Madhyama differ from Sudha Madhyama. Vikri-tha Rishabha does not differ from Sudha Rishabha; nor doesVikritha Dhaivatha differ from Sudha Dhaivatha. VikrithaPanchama, which is taken from Madhyamasruti, does not surelydiffer from the three-srutied Vikritha Panchama. Hence,under the category of the above-mentioned fourteen {Sudha-Vikrithc) svaras, no separte mention was made by me of thesefive svaras, inasmuch as they had efiected a merger * ?Did he not, thus, eliminate from his systm, on the plea ofmerger, the five (unnecessary) svaras, viz., Achyutha Sa, AchyuthaMa, Vikritha Ri, Vikritha Dka, and Vikritha Pa f Did not, again,Smanth and Venkatamakhi regard uch elimination as a goodprecedent and piously follow the example set by Rmmtya ?

* * All is not good, because it is old ; nor is a pom bad, because it inew. The wise men examine the things, old or new, and accept wliat theyapprove of ; while^ the fools allow thetnselves to be [mis-] led by others.'* The reader will do well to refer to Fig:, 4, while perusing the state-

mettt3*


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INTRODUCTION lixWhy, then, should any one demurif, to-day, we proceed, onthe strength of the sam time-honored Principle of Lakshya, tobreak loose from Venkatamakhi's Melakartha-sysiem andadvocate, on the plea o merger, the elimination therefrom of his

four (unnecessary) svaras, viz., Shatsruti Ri, Sudha Ga,Shatsruti Dha, and Sudha Nif Hence it was that I suggestedthe formation of a new working schme, called Laghumlakartha,as distingaished from the Brihanmelakartha of Venkatamakhi. Onthis controversial point, however, I shall reserve a full discussionto the Introduction to my edition of Ckathurdandipraksika^Suffice it, now, for me to state, once again, that we feel highlyindebted to Rmmtya for his having developed the Principle ofLakshya into a star-like maxim for all future musicians to follow.

Now, the credit of having first presented to us a /?^r-stringedVina, nstead of the old, antiquated twenty'tivo-%\x\n%^ one, surelybelongs to Rmmtya;^ and the tuning, especially, of hisMadhyamla Vna, almost corresponds with that of the modernVina. I say almost^ because the order of the three lower-wiresof the Madhyamla Vna seems, as per the following diagram, tohve undergone, from time to time, a little change ; though theorder of the four upper-wires thereof remains intact even to-dayas for example ;


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Ix SVARAMLAKALNIDHIAgain, of the eighteen svaras which appear in the seventhcolumn of Fig. 1 1 , it will be seen that Panchasruti Ri and SudhaGa overlap each other ; and so do Shatsruti Ri and SdhranaGa^ Panchasruti Dha and Sudha iW, and Shatsruti Dha and

Kaisiki Ni.^ Eliminating, then, the four overlapping svaras,we hve only ourteen svaras left. I again, as per Rmmtya'ssuggestion, the last five of his twenty mlas are omitted, evenAnthara Ga and Kkali Ni may hve to be eliminated. In thatase, the fourteen svaras will hve to be further reduced intotwelve. Hence, there seems to be a grain of truth in Mr. D. K.Joshi's remarks that almost all ancient authors invariably usedonly twelve svaras in their Rgaprakarana, irrespective of thenumber of svaras described by them in their Svaraprakarana.^Indeed, in his Svaraprakarana, Rmmtya professed he wouldmake use [at least] of fourteen svaras ^ in his Rga systmand hence, his final use of only twelve svaras, despite hisprofession to the contrary, shows that he anticipated, even in hisown time, the modern tendency of reducing all the musical soundsinto twelve notes. // Rdmdmtya was the first to recognize theconvenUnce ofusing only twelve svaras to build the Rdg-a systm ;Ahbala was the first to describe those twelve svaras in terms ofthe length of the speaking- wire.

^ As for the Mlas, Rmmtya rightly discarded the antic andantiquated method of deriving Ragas from the complicated systmof Grma-Moorchana-Jati, as well as the later puerie method ofbringing them under the fanciful systm of Rgor-gini-Putra.On the other hand, he had the gnius to discover unity in variety,that is, a unifying principle in the variety of Ragas that camunder his notice; and he therefore felt that the old cataloguingmethod of enumerating the Ragas mut give way to the newclassifying method of reducing them into what might be called thefairness, be deemed to hve written Madhya Sa for the fourth upper-wireand not Mandra Sa. Indeed, Venkatamakhi's criticism on this point smacksof the old trick of a gladitor who would even ofiEensively pick a quarrel onlywith the (innocent) object of giving his muscles the wanted exercise.* For uch overlapping, see Fig. 4.


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INTRODUCTION Ixiiegregiously follow, in this respect, the Mirage o Shrngadvrather than the Polar-Star of Rmmatya ? Why, is it not cariousor us that the very Rmmtya followed, in the beginning, thesam Mirage, although, at the end, he succeeded to give upfollowing the illusion and constitute himself to be a Polar-Star ?The reader will, at this stage, be anxious to know what I amdriving at, unless it be that he referred to the said seventeenthvere and appreciated the suggestion, thrown therein.On account of the present revival o musical taste, in India,on rational lines, a demand has recently and rightly arisen thatthe various Terms occurring in the Science of Music should, atfirst, be lucidly explained. But I fear that this is not the plaefor me to undertake uch an onerous task. Nevertheless, I shallas.a Test asetry to inquire here into the connotation of apair of oft-quoted, but very-much-misunderstood, musical terms,vz., Mrga and Dsi^ especially because Rmmtya broughtthem into prominence in his seventeenth vere of the fifth chapterof his book. How far I succeed in my attempt I leave for myreader to judge.

I shall begin from the very beginning of music and succinctlytrace it to Rmmtya's time, with an occasional peep even into alater time, and show that the said seventeenth vere clarified, forthe first time, the otherwise feculent matter under consideration.We shall, at first, understand the nture of the feculence,referred to, and shall, for this purpose, study the definitions ofMrga and Dsi, as given by Shrngadv and realise howdisappointed an eager inquirer will naturally feel at the muddlecreated thereby.Here are the definitions:Chapter I.

1. * Music is of two kinds Mrga and Dsi. That kindwas called Mrga which was sought after by Brahma and othergods and practised by Bharata and other sages in the presence ofSiv and which would yield everlasting prosperity.*

2. That kind was called Z>I2 which consisted of the vocal-instrumental-dance music and which pleased the people of diffe-rent countries according to their different tastes.'Ckapter IV, *

3. * That was called Gita or vocal music which consisted ofpleasing svaas ; and it fell into two divisxonsGndharva and


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txiv SVARAMLAKALNIDHIGna (which were the other names of Marga and Dsi respect-ively)/

4. * The wse men understood * Gndharva ' to be that musicwhch was, from time immemorial, practised by the Gandharvasand which was the means of acquiring everlasting reputation.'

5. * That was called Gd7ta-r\M.o which was sung in Desi-Rgas and which was ^cientifically improvised by Vaggyakaras.'6. * Gndharva has been described ; now G7ta would be

described. This, again, was recognised by wise men to fall intotwo divisions, Nibadha and Anibadha.'Be it noted that this long, and even tiresome, description ofMrga and Dsi^ after all, fails to satisfy a crucial point. Whatwere ihe essential characteristics of Mdrga and Desi ? In what waycould they de unfailingly recognised os suck ?Shrngadv and most of his successors, it mut be admitted,failed to answer these questions adequately but merely observed :' Brahma sought after Mdrga ; Bharata practised it ; evenGandharvas practised it from time immemorial ; it forms themeans of acquiring everlasting reputation. As for Dsi or Gnait was improvised by Vaggeyakras and was differently pleasingto the people living in different countries.'Are these answers worth the name ? Hve they furnished uswith akey whereby we could discern the essential characteristicsof Mdrga and Dsi, by which alone they coild be unfailinglyrecognised ? An emphatic No is my reply*

So, as I said, I shall trace our music from the very beginningand show how and when Mdrga and Dsi came into existence,whatconfused mess was madeof thera, and how Rmmtya de-fecatedthe whole situation by one stroke of his.single (the saidseventeenth) vere and gave us a wholesome lead in the matterof getting a correct conception of those hitherto-misleadingterms.

Into two natural divisions, music first falls, viz, Andhatha andltatha. * Anhatha' literally means that which is not beateuy asin a drum; while, * hatha ' means that which is beaten. The relpoint of difference between them is that, while the formerrepresents the sound produced without the intervention of man,the latter is the very result of man's work. Hence ' Anahatha

'

may be translated as naiure-made rnnsio and * hatha/ as man-mademusic*


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INTRODUCTION IxvThis classification, then, is rightly the first division thatcouldpossibly be made of music. So, indeed, did the text-book writers,uch as Nrada and Shrngadv, do in their respective works. În his SangithamakaraTtday Nrada defined * Anhatha ' as

* the sound that emanates (directly, that is, without the interven-tion of man) from the sky^ uch as the birds* warbling, andproceeded even to describe its use to man, thus : *^ Sages, high-minded souls, and even Dvas, having controlled their mind andconcentrated their attention on the ndhatha Music, get the restthey require and attain salvation''.^ In other words, nture is lovedas the city of God, although (rather, because) there is no citzen.No unwanted noise is here or none that hinders thought. Thelarks warble and the cuckoos join the chorus ; while the mightywaterfall furnishes a continuous drone, Again .

** Stillness, accompanied with sounds so sweet,Charms more than silence. Meditation hereMay think down hours to moments. Here the heartMay give a useful lesson to the head,And learning wiser grow without the books *'.*Shrngadv, too, harped on the sam point and came to thesam conclusion that * the sages worship Anhatha in the manner

in which they were taught by the gurus. ^ Even the music-proof-brained Dr. Johnson seems to appreciate Anhatfia^ when heobserved, in his Rasselasy * From the cataract, nothing more washeard than a gentle uniform murmur, uch as composes the mindto pensive meditation '.

Sangithamakaranda.(2) ^r?ctsTT5c?afi tor?rr^ i^T?m i

Sangitharatnkara** cf. Br^TO^^'t TraO ^: î^rgfreili: iSangithamakarmida.^Cf- aftH5irf^ rr^ ^n wâ âr: i

Sangithamakaranda.^ Cf. ^^\^ TT^qfafgJTTfq w^m g^qra^ iSangitharankara*

9


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Ixvi SVARAMLAKALNIDHIHowever mch the sages and the high-minded souls mighthve been charmed and helped on to meditation by the Anhatha

or nature-made music, a question arises as to whether that musicwas ever relished by mankind as a whole, whether it was everentitled to be called ' music ' from the modern point of view, andwhether, in short, it was pleasing to our ears.The answer is by no means simple. For, to an ordinaryman, the waves of the sea may produce nothing but unpleasantnoise; but a poet will find in them an agreeable harmony. Infact, all those that love to hold communion with nture, as indeedthe ancient sages did, will ever find the AnJtatha-xayx&xcpleasant; while the major portion of the work-a-day world willever find it unpleasant. Hence Shrngadev branded it asunpleasant;^ and Ksinath followed suit.*Further, the bent of man's mind has been, in all ages, toimitate the voice of nture ; and hence he did notcould notallow nture to hve all the monopoly of music to itself, contribut-ed his own share to its development and thus brought into exist-ence another kind of music, called hatha or man-made music,the development of which I shall now trace.The primitive man mut hve hummed like a bee and sung,at the outset, only on a single note. Witness, for instance, thecourtiers' Panegyric which remains in vogue, even to-day, inalmost all the Native States of India and which those courtiersinvariably sing, as they had all along been singing, on allceremonious occasions, uch as for instance, their Sovereign'sentry into the Durbar Hal. The whole * Fanegyric ' will, onanalysis, be found to be sung on one single note and rarelyon more.

It was in due course of time that the other notes were tackedon, as amply evidenced by our ancient text-books which trace themusic of India from rchika of single note to G&tkika of doublenote, Smika of triple note, Svarntkara of quadruple note,

'Cf. g\fq (i.e. aTlT^t^fq) %t%fr;r^TR^^ ?qT^-Sangitharain&kara.

'Ci. g; (i.e. ai^rrfT;) 5R^^:SangitkastdhcLkcira,


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INTRODUCTION IxviiOudava o quintuple note, Shdava of sextuple note, and finallySampurna of all the seven notes. ^

All these seven stages, music did pass through. But, in thefirst four stages, it pleased only the producers ; while, in the lastthree, it pleased the hearers as well. * Animal Music \ i I mayso call it, marked the earlier stages ; and uch animal music couldplease only the animals that produced it. The braying of an assis very harsh to man but very sweet to the ass itself ; for, is notuch braying an expression of its elation, frolic, and joy ? Thatwas why Shakespeare wrote :

* The crow doth sing as sweetly as the larkWhen neiiher is attended^'Man, when he wallowedso far at least as music wasconcernedin the animal condition of life, revelled only in theearlier stages of music and could not get beyond singng on fournotes. The ancient Hindus, like the ancient Greeks,^ had theirmusic confined only up to four notes. The Vedie Chant^ orinstance, was all along sung on three notes ; and special nameswere given to those three svaras, viz., Udtka^ Anudtha^ andSvaritha.^ Except, perhaps, the Smagnam which, at a laterstage, came to be sung in all the seven notes, all other kinds ofthe Vedie Chant remain, even to-day, mostly within three notes,

* cf. 3Trf^ irfq^^sr ^ftgi^ ^^^\i \

=gcf:^5iqVft| ^^TcfEcT ^FcR: Brihad Dsi.^ * The early Greek Lre had four strngs and was confined to four

iiotes.'Vide Herbert Spencer's Origin and Function o Music.NOla his Siksha, Pnni dilates on the point thus :

That is to say, Udtha incliades Ni and Ga / Anudtha includes Ri andDha ; and Svaritha includes, Sa, Ma, Pa. This view fits in with the theoryof V&di^Samvdi and explains how the primal Smika, viz., Ga-Ri-Sabecame expanded into all the seven notes.


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Ixviu SVARAMLAKALNIDHIwith a labouring struggle to touch occasionally a fourth. Thewhole of the Vedie Chant would, by this time, hve been^fromthe modern musical point of viewconsigned to oblivion, had nota sacredness, bordering pon holiness, been attached to theVdas, as containing Divine Wisdom.

It goes without saying that our ancients entertained, as weourselves do even to-day, an unshaken faith that the Vdasemanated out of Parabrahma ; that they were eagerly sought afterby gods like Brahma. and chanted by sages like Bharata ; that theyformed, as it were, a talisman to do away with the necessityof being born* and that they were deemed, on that account, to beworthy of the highest respect.

All these attributes of the Vdas got themselves, later onîmperceptibly transferred to the very music by which they werechanted. Hence, the Vedie Chant, to which the text-book writersgave the name of Mdrga^ ^ has been described in all the Sanskritbooks on music, uch as, for instance, Sangitharatnkara \* That kind (of music) is called Mdrga, which was sought afterby Brahma and other gods and practised by Bharata and othersages in the presence of Siv and which would yield everlastingprosperity.'^ In his Praandhdkyya, Shrngadv called Mrgaby a different name, viz., Gndharva^^ which latter name Rm-mtya adopted and made use of in his Svaramlakaldnidku

^ The word * Mrga ' is derived from W\ {Mrig) * to seek or searchafter.' That the search was in regard to the Vdas is clear from Kallinth'scommentary:TTflc^=^^'^2E5^tN5^f c55rT^l Hence the word Mrgarefers to the Vedie Chant and, I may add, refers^by way of cotirtesyevento the chanting of the Rmyana which, along with the Mahabh&rata^ wasregarded as hol as the Vdas themselves and which Kusa and Lva, there-fore, sang in the Mrga-style. For, Valmki said :

(a) See page Ixiii. cf. qrife^Tiq^ I

i^fm^: ^m^miî^^^: II Sanârainkara.In his commentary. Kallinth interprets ' Gndharva ' only as Mrga

Cf. Ttq^'qM: 1 TR .#?7^TFa5q^ I


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INTRODUCTION IxixGndharva or Mrgathe descriptive name given to it by

Shrngadv and copied by Rmmtya, viz., Andisampradaya^^clearly shows that the Vedie Chant or, for that matter, theMrga-ravic had been practised from time immemoral andshould therefore be regarded as hol and spiritul as the Vdasthemselves.

Hence, I venture to call * Mrga \ Vedie Music.Now, Mrga or Gndharva or Vedie Musiccall it what youmay, the one important point which I desire to rivet pon thereader's attention s that the so-called Mrga-rsxMz^ apart fromits having been sought after by Brahma and practised by Bhartaand apart from its having been used in connection with uch ahol purpose as the chanting of the divine Vdas, I submit thatthe Marga-rcMSic was almoat never sung beyond four notes;and that this limitation of the range of the scale from one to fournotes mut be deemed to be the peculiar and essential ckaracteristicof Marga-Sangitham.^ ^These imperfect scales of the Mdrga'Ti\Vi.c belonged, as saidabove, to the earlier stage of music which pleased only theproducers and not the hearers. Further, as Rmmtya suggests,^the rules of Siksha (Phonetics) and other time-honored Lakshanaswere scrupulously observed in chanting the Vdas ; and thesevery rules and lakshanas clogged, on account of their inflexiblenture, the further growth of music from its Mrga-stage. ThePrinciple of Lakshya^ by which alone the artistic charm of musiccould be preserved, was never applied to the Mrga-xmsKi but onlyto the Z?^5^-music, of which we shall speak presently. ^ 11 is no

* Cf Kallinath's commentary on Andisamprad&ya.

^That the Vdas were chanted almost on the systems of rchika,Gthika, and Smka, is evidenced by uch assertions in the i?z^- F/rf^ as* Archin Gyanthi ' ; * Gthin Gyanthi * ; ' Smn Gyanthi/ TheRig-Veda makes no reference to Ondava, Shdava, and Sampurna.

Svaramilakalnidhi.*cf. i:r55îqgRrr?T ^rrwr'îT^ w^ \lW^^f^ ^ tfEgr^ ^qiP5rr \ See Footnote 2, page xviii.Here, Kallinth interprets q;rn?Timr&I to be ^^ÊrqTct^; I


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Ixx SVARAMLAKALNIDHIwonder, therefore, that the Mrg-a-mnsic, the rules of which wereinfiexibly stiff and did not adjust themselves to the piactice invogue, became, in the course of time, less and less pleasant, lessand less popular, and finally extinct.'^

The latter three stages of music, viz., Ozeava, SAdava,Sampuma, hve been, however, preserved even to-day as beinghuman^ music which pleases, alike, the producers as well as thehearers. To the music of these ' latter three stages ', our ancientsgave the name of Dhu In the irst plae, the style of ' Dsi 'varied from province to province ; and it was therefore defined inSanskrit text-books, uch as for instance, SangithadarpanaThat kind of music is called Dsi^ which adjusts itself fromcountry to country (Dsa to Dsa), so as to please the fancy ofthe people there '.^ In the second plae, the fact that Shrngadvand Rmmtya employed Hridayaranjaka * and Janaranjana ^as their respective epithets to Z?^j2-musicshows that theyregarded it as a fascinating style of music, as opposed to the dry,monotonous, and sing-song style of the Mrga-mnc. If anyproof is wanted for the fact that the first four stages of music,covered by the generic name of Mrga, belongedpurely fronthe modern musical point of viewto the lower rung of the ladderand that the second three stages, covered by the generic name ofDsi, belonged to the higher rung ; a reference may be made towhat Hridayanarayana wrote ' Sampurnas are Brahmins ;

* cf. (1) qiFit TOrgtg[Sangithasudhkara.

(a) ^ 2 imTT^i^ria: - , , Rgatkarangini.2 As opposed to the animal music.' Cf. Rr5Rn7r t^rr q^fiTr^gR^-r^ i

Sangithadarpana.*Cf. ^?I^^ ST^rrt |?qT f^q;^^ I

Sangitharatn&kara

SvaramUdrkalnidM.

ramamaryassvaram014442mbp_2

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