rmmAtya's

ARAMLAKLANIDHI
{A

'.li

WORK ON

MUSJC)

EDITBD VTITH

INTRODUCTION AND TRANSLATIQN

BY

M.

S.

RAMASWAMI AIYAR,
Leciurer ./

B.A.. B.L., L.T.

S^ian

MusU

tke

Mysore 192S),

M^ras

1928),

Universttm. and Annamalai {1931)

/ "-

-^

WITS

'
.,

FOREWORD
BY

^V-;.

'
.

"
'

'

..

M
l'P

R.
..

vNKATARAMA
.

SASTRI, ESQ.,

C.I.E..

B.Am B.L.
Ex-Advocate^Gefierah Madras

Sonuivm.

Law Member,

Executive Cmncil, Madras.

riso
^^^0^
THE ANNAMALAl UNIVERSITY
1932


FOREWORD
awakening in our country has a mch wider significance than most people, with their preoccupation in the struggle for
freedom, recognise. The desire for self-government is only one phase and not the most important phase of this generl awakening. The awakening is like a rising flood that covers the whole space between the banks or, more appropriately, In arts like a flood of light that lights every nook and corner.
political

The

music and painting and sculpture, and in fact, in all the departments of life, the new consciousness is doing its work. In the sphere of music, this awakening has been a visible For years, Sangitha Sabhas hve, in different parts of process. the Madra^ City, had their annual celebrations and their weekly performances hve been increasing from year to year. There is now a vast and growingly larger number of men and women in the country taking an interest in music and themselves leaming to sing. Academies of music are springing up and broadcasts of There is evidence, music are being attended by vast crowds. 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 music Few, outside the small class of experts conversant is known. with the theory of music or music as a science, know even the
letters, in
;
;

and

a great service at this moment to open up the literatre of Indin music and make it available to the public. Mr. M. S. Ramaswami Aiyar, who is an eminent exponent of the present-day music, both in its theoretic and practical aspects, is eminently fitted to undertake this task. And the public owes a debt of gratitude to the Annamalai University for the help and encouragement which it has given to Mr. Ramaswami Aiyar in performing this very useful service. Rmmtya, the author of the book here published, recognised twenty Mlas; his successors went on increasing the number; and the present-day theory recognises seventy-two, though it is doubtf ul whether all of them are in actual use or can satisfy the ear of the people. It is a result of pure mathematics a question of how many combinations of the seven notes and their
of the writers.
It is, therefore,

names

iv

FOREWORD
Mr. Ramaswami Aiyar thinks that even

variations can be made.

the two and thirty were the resulting combination of the seven
notes, five of which had a sharp
itself indicates

and

flat

sonance and the word raga'

*

the

number

32,

according to the peculiar Indin

Notation of numbers by the letters of the alphabet.

A question
intro-

may here

arise as to

whether the word

'

raga

'

was a new

duction into music after the thirty-two Mlas had

recognsed.

come

to be

Mr. Ramaswami Aiyar refers to a criticism of the author by

a successor of his, that two of his twenty Mlas hve the sam
notes.
I

am

inclined to agree with Mr.

Ramaswami Aiyar

that

it

and the manuscripts may be responsible for it. Is it impossible to find out what combination it mut be for either the one or the other that has been written amiss and resulted in

mut be a

slip

the error criticised

Experts, like Mr.

the pst of

Ramaswami Aiyar, mut not only open up music but point the way to its future.
'

Mylapore,

T. R.

VENKATARAMA

SASTRI.

28k March, ig^2, J

PREFACE
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 by Mr. V. N. Bhtkhand, though under the pseudonym of Bhradvja Sarma. The latter edition contained, at least, a running commentary in Maharti. But both the printed editions happened to be, alike, deective and even misleading. I shall give only one nstance

The

and pass on.

In
the
ifth

chapter

of

the work,

the two

Rgas
in

of

Sudhavasantha
verses,' thus:

and Mdlavasri are

correctly

defined,

two

^
g

^ ^-!:
B.

I^f^f

r55^:

^;

^T??I55tq

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

Here, both of them consciously began with Sudhavasantha but unconsciously ended with Mdlavasri. In other words, they took the first Hne of A and the last Hne of B, mixed them
*

The vere
is

regrarding:

Sndhavasantha

is

marked A, wbUe

that regard-

ing Mlavasri

marked B,

1 -

vi

PREFACB
little

together with a

modification,

and produced a meaningless

jargon which explained neither of the two Rgas.

fresh
full

edition of Svaramlakaldnidki containing,

as

it

ought, a

and correct
critical

text,

a true and free translation, and a

is

historical

and

introduction
is

therefore

felt

as

desideratumto supply which mine

or, at best,
I

an humble contribution

a provoker of a better one.

feel

bound

to

record

here that the credit of having

prepared a correct version of the Sanskrit Text of Svaramelakaldnidhi and enabled

me

to bring

it

to the light of the

day

belongs to the joint-labour of the two vetern Sanskrit scholars

of

Tanjore Messrs.
Sstri,
I

P. S.

Sundaram Aiyar and

Pundit S.

Subrahmanya
Indin Music.

who

are also well-versed in the tkeory of

heartily

thank them therefor and also for the

the proof-sheets

kindness wherewith they went through

and

even otherwise gave

me

very valuable hints and suggestions.

Thanks

be, also, to the

Diocesan Press, Madras, for

its

prompt and neat execution

It

of the work.

only remains for

me

to say that,

on February

i,

1931,

delivered the subject-matter of SvaramUakcdanidhi as a Lecture

under the auspices of the Annamalai University which,

thankful to state, was

I feel

good enough

to give her

imprmatur

to its

publication in the present form.

'

Bai Bhavan Triplicane,

M.

s.

RAMASWAMI AIYAR

ist

Mank^

zpj2.

CONTENTS
PAGE
INTRODUCTION
1
.... ....

....

xi to Ixxiii

XT

t*

,,

1 to

37

TRANSLATION

....

....

....

....

41 to 66

P^MM^^rtita.*^

INTRODUCTION

'I

,i..i

"
I

'
'

SVARAMELAKALANIDHI
INTRODUCTION
Svaramilakaldnidki is one of the tandard works, in Sanskrit, on the Carnatic Music. Rmmtya, its author, was a native of ndhradsa and lived in or about Kndavit, ^ which was not f ar away from Bezwada, in the principality o which he had a fort of his own and in the vicinity of which he enjoyed the overlordship'* He belonged of a large estate of land washed by the eastem sea.

Tdarmal family his father was Thimmmtya^ and he himself was uch an eficient music ian-composer that he won the '.* title of Abhinava Bharatchrya He was associated with Rma Raja of Vijayanagar, perhaps His father too had as his minister, as the word amatya indicates. amatya appended to his name. But whether the sam title of the father and the son were ever rel ministers, who moulded the destinies of Vijayanagar, or were so called only by way of courtesy a 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. (i) He had studied All that he could record of himself was (2) He alone, of all others, knew both the the secret of music* theory and art of music* (3) The traditional lore of music, inherited from his grandfather, Kallapadsika evidently, Kallinth,
to the
;
; *

'

Svaramilakalnidhi.

* Ci.

This means

Modem

Bharatchrya.

Ci. 3It^t3Tldch^?'W'3[

Svaramilakalnidhi.

xii

SVARAMLAKALNIDHI

a Commentator of Sangitkaratnkara palpitated in his pulse.^ (4) Rma Raja requested him, in preference to others, to write a new treatise on music reconciling the conflicting views that were then in vogue.^ And (5) the sam Rma Raja gave him, in
recogniton of his (musical) services
This, surely,
is

many

a valuable present. ^

not the language of a veritable minister^ who wielded the mighty empire of Vijayanagar and who, in the intervals of his State-business, managed to write a musical work also, just as Mr. Gladstone wrofce his Homr or Vidyranya, his

Panchadasu
Further, a reference to Rbert

Sewels

Forgotten

Empire

shows that Achyutha succeeded Krishna Rya Deva in 1530, that Sadsiva succeeded Achyutha in 1542, and that the latter (Sadsiva) was virtually a prisoner in the hands of Rma Raja who was, at first, his minister but 'became afterwards indeBy independen, Sewell should hve meant that pendent.'^ Raja was de facto the ruler of Vijayanagar. So he might Rma hve been. But de jure the ruler was, undoubtedly, Sadsiva ; f or, a very^large number of inscriptions, ranging from 1542 to
*

1568, recognize Sadsiva as the rel sovereign.^

Why, Rm-

mtya himself admits that Rma Raja helped Sadsiva to regain Hence, it is submitted, Rma Raja should hve his throne.^

Svaramlakalnidhu

'

cf.

^fgfi^^iqfuH ^TT

mwM^

5R5rilHi

*
s

Vide

Sewels Forgotten Empire, page

109.

lidpage 179.

Svaramelakalnidhi.


been, at least

INTRODUCTION
when Rmmtya wrote

xiii

his work, only a minister,

though the king was a puppet in his hands. How, then, could Rmtntya aff ord to be a minister of a minister ? Further again, Rmmtya's description of Rma Raja' pedigree is more fanciful than rel and betrays the mentality of a
flattering court-poet rather than that of

to

The following Table shows Rma Rmmtya

:

a responsible State-oHcer, Raj a' s pedigree, according

Vishnu

Brahma
1

Athri

Moon
!

Budha
I

Pururava

Ayu
Nahusha
Yaythi
I

Bharata
I

Sri

Ranganath
Venkatadri.

Rama

Raja

Thimma Raja
(Fg. 1)

gives thus

But Sewels genealogy^, taken from epigraphical records, Rama Raja his proper plae in the royal Hne of Vijayanagar
:

Thimma
;

svara

Narasimha

By Ist

wiie

By 2nd wife
Krishna Rya Deva

By Srd
i

wife

Vra Narasimha

Rang a Achyutha
Sadsiva'

Daughter Married

Datighter

Married

Rma

Raja.
(Fg. 2)

Thimma (Tirumal) Raja.

C/.

Sewels

Forgotten Empire, page 180.

XIV
It is

SVARAMLAKALNIDHI

thus clear that Rma Raja belonged, i at all, to the Rmmtya only confirmed it royal family only by marriage. ** Krishna Rya gave his daughter in when he observed marriage to Rma Raja and thereby enhanced the dignity of the parenthood o daughters/'^ History gives us no pedigree of Rma Raja except that he was a son of one Ranga and that he had two brothers, namely, Thimma Raja and Venkatdri.^ This Thimma Raja is saidjto hve murdered Sadsiva in 1568 and usurped his throne.^ But Rma Raja ruled, f at all, only on behalf of his king, Sadsiva. True, he was a brave soldier ^ but he was over-ambitious and a little reckiess too, with the result that he precipitated the battle of Talikota in 1565 and brought about his own death. I digressed, so far, only to emphasise my doubt whether Rmmtya was a minister* in fact or only by courtesy, and also to warn the reader against blindly accepting unhistorical, and therefore untruthful, statements. Let us now proceed to study Rmmtya as a Vdggyakra^ pure and simple. His exact dte is not available. Being however a contemporary of Rma Raja, he should hve lived in the sixteenth centurv.^ He was well-versed in Sanskrit and Music ; and in Rma Rja'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 so
:

forth.

No

wonder, then, that

brother, Venkatdri

required

Rma

at the ins tance of his Rmmtya to write a new work

result.

Raja

on music.

Of

this requisition,

SvaramUakalnidhi was the

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

Vide

Sewels

Svaramilakalanidh t.

INTRODUCTION
The
colophon^, at
its

xv

end, clearly shows that Rmmtya finished his work in Saka 1472, Sdhrana Year, Srvana Month, and they tenth day of Nirmalathara (Sukla) Paksha all of which correspond to 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, as evidenced by Venkatdri, in his request to his brother, Rma The science of music has, both in theory and practice, Raja degenerated into conlicting views; let Rmamantri (Rmmtya), by your command, reconcile all (the confiicting views) and write a ^ and as conirmed by Rma Raja, in his requisi(new) science tion to Rmmtya n the science of music, conflicting views haveindeed arisen. Bring to afocus all their salient features and write an interesting treatise on music, embodying therein its
:

'

theory and practice.'^ Be it, again, noted that, about the sam time or within the space of about a decade after the publication of Svaramlakalanidhiy Pundarika Vittala finished his Sadrdgccckandrdaya. Even in that book, the sam note of complaint was sounded that the theory and practice of music did conflict with each
other and that,
concile them.^
therefore, Burhan Khan asked Vittala to reAgain, 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

II

Svaramilakalanidht

Ibid.

Sadragachanddaya^


XVI

SVARAMLAKALNIDHI
:

I write Rgavibdka was resounded when Smanth declared only to reconcile the conflict between the science and the art of
*

music ^ Even

the recently published Sangithasudha contains a

*

similar note of complaint.^ question, therefore, naturally arises, namely, /ie musical views conflict^ at all^ with one another ?

Whyskould

sam

question sarcastically

Why

To put the should the karnzonious music

'
'

produce 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 other the one anxious to get in and the other unwilling to get out. But why should the old order changp ? In addition to Tennyson*s philosophical answer, there is here an important truth Into two broad divisions, Sciens falls exact to be grasped. and non-exaci. The rules of an exact science are inflexible and HgO, for instance, was, is, and never change with the times. shall ever be water and never anything else. But as regards a * non-exact science, uch as for example Music, t is always progressive 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 music like dream changes from day to day surely, like dream, it will be labelled as mere phantasy and treated as uch. Being, however, too momentous for his own welfare, man learnt to so mould and fashion music as to make it grow only very slowly and even imperceptibly, as well as to imprint every one of the stages of its growth with its peculiar technique. This position Mr. P* C. Buck explains in his History of Music in a felicitous language, which I shall re-state with a little modification
;

'

'

'

'

thus

The various

stages of musical progress are not the inventions

of the learted

few impsed on^ and adopted by^ the unlearned nta^ty ; but rather^ a suntming-up and organisation by the former of t/tose practices and usages at which the latter had arrived by instinct.

Ragavibddha.

^Sfq

OT^fTTqt

^Wffl

Sangiikasudka.

INTRODUCTION
Hence, the technique
of

xvii

music o a particular age means and includes the Bummary of the music of the preceding age plus the conventions engrafted, from time to time, pon the originl stock, by the masses, as enabling them to attain an idel dimly seen in the ditance. A rel musician cannot therefore
afford to ignore the aspirations of the people at large, fly at a

tangent and pooh-pooh the technique of his age which

natural growth of years and sometimes of centuries and to

is

the

which

he

is tied

and bound, whether he

however, true that,
oft

wills

it

or not.

It is,

arises

and gves his of the pst but also a programme for the misic of the future. In that ^jae, he may be said to hve interfered with, and even changed or modified, the musical t technique of his age. uch a rare exception is due to the fact that the particular gnius ^ has had the intuition to see and realise that all the possibilities of the code of convention, prevailing in his time, had been exhausted that the perid, in which that the orange had been sucked dry he happened to live, had come to a natural end and that he had been impelled to inaugurate a fresh perid, in which the new formulci music arose, as it were, from the ashes of the old. To sum up The musicians of a particular age stick, under
*

and on, a gnius like Thigarja countrymen not only a summary of the music

'

ordinary circumstances, to the technique of that age.

Extraordiage sets in new circumstances occasionally arise when a nary with a new technique of music. Both the techniques old and new struggle, for a while, after which the old dies and the new flourishes, till a still newer age brings with it its own newer In all these cases of succession, the technique* to supplant it. struggle between the old and the new techniques lasts only during

the transition-periods.
the struggle that goes by the name of which, in the nture of things, does conflict of musical views
It is this inevitable
*
'

arise

from time to time. The sam truth Mr. Bltkhand expressed at Lucknow in another way:^Our music has undergone changes, from time to
time, according to the tastes of the different ages.

We

find the

systm propounded in Sangitkarandkara of Shrngadv is a considerable advance on that described in Bharata's Ndty Sastra^ being more exhaustive, more scientific, and expressive of greater national culture. mere glance at Lchana, Pundarika, Hridaya

xvui

SVARAMLAKALNIDHI

Narayana, Ahbala, and Srinivasa will be enough to show us that the systems o music propounded by them mark a still further advance and that they considerably differ from the systems appearing in Ntya Sstra and Rankara. We ourselves are in the twentieth century and the systm of music, now in vogue, has let the other systems far behind.' ' We are, at this stage, tempted to inquire whether Rmmtya recognised the progressive nture of music and whether he enunciated, in his work, any principle of guidance, wherewith he could emphasise the importance of uch recognition. study of Svaramelakalnidhi enables us to answer both the questions in the affirmative. The principle of guidance, spoken of, has already been referred to, though in another connection, but can bear repetition and it runs as follows The various stages of musical progress are not the inventions of the learned few imposed on, and adopted by, the unlearned many but, rather, a summing-up and organisation by the former of those practices and usages at which the latter had arrived by instinct.' The idea, conveyed hereby, Shrngadv first put, in his own way, thus The learned men are of opinion that the Science follows the Art and mut respect the current practice. If any discrepancy arises between the two, the proper procedre is to interpret the science in uch a way as it can be reconciled with the practice.'* But, unfortunately, he relegated this principle almost to the end to the sixth chapter of his work and made it appear as a mere suggestion for any one to tak it

'

'

what it was worth. Rmmtya, however, brought it to the forefront of his book and laid uch an emphatic stress on it that it developed in his
f or
*

page 117.

Vide the Report of the ^ih AU-India Music Coniermce of Lzccknow,

One word of caution is here neoessary. The changes, referred to, are in connection with the superstructure of Indin Music, while its
or basic principle remains as constant as ever. It przncifile that distinguishes the Indin systm from
mttsic.
'

fotindation jn fact, this asic all other systems of

is,

cf. qirr 55^zn^iTrf^

?rrwFqiT%

w^^

SangUharatn&kara.


INTRODUCTION
'

xix

hands into a star-like maxim or all future writers to follow.^ Here The Gdndkarva-rnnsic is ever is what he wrote on the point employed in conformity with the (inflexible) rules o its theory. But if the violation o those theoretical rules, inflexible though, do not lead to any absurdity and if again, the contravention o any
:

of the rules o practice does not give pleasure,

but

jars,

to

the ear; then, the practice of music shall be preferred to its iheory. And it is in conformity with the practical rules of music theoretical ' ones) that the Gna-roMsc (as opposed to its
* ' '

prevails.

In his chapter on Instruments, Shrngadv, well-versed in music-lore, argued that the practice of music was more important than its theory.'^

Shrngadv originated this principle, which mayfor the Principle of Lakskya '; if, again, be called future guidance Rmmtya elaborated and developed it into a maxim Pundarika Vittala chose to condense it into an aphorismic form, namely
If

'

(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 work of music will show that he referred only to Shrngadv's systm that systm bring and and made it clear that he wanted to modify alone in Hne with the condition of his own times. The reason is not far to seek. Almost all the musical works that are now cominginto prominence, uch as for instance,61fl:^:^-achandrdaya,

Rgavibdha,

Sangithadarpana,

Sangithasudha,

Svaramilakal&nidhi,


XX

SVARAMLAKALNIDHI

Chatkurdandiprakasika^ Sangithaparijdtka^ Sangitkasdrmri/za^ /agmui-eS'Aspkiy Sangithakalpadruma^ and Lakskyasangitha all these works came successively one after another, but mark only after the time of Svaramelakalnidhi. And Rmmtya had no other work to criticise before him than Shrngadv's Sangiiharatnkaya. No doubt, Bharata's Ntya Sstra and Narada's Sangitha^nakaranda had been in existence long before Sangitkaratnkara. But, evidently, Rmmtya did not mind the former and could not mind the latter. For, the one lay involved in a debris at Gadwal, till Mrs. Ananthakrishna Sastri discovered it in 1919 and brought it to the light of the day while, the other was a treatise more on dramaturgy than on music. Could, then, Lchanakavi's Rgatarangini hve come to his

hve no definite answer to give, For, the dte of notice ? R^gatarangini is uncertain, inasmuch as its colophon points to the twelfth century, while its reference to Vidyapati points to the fourteenth century and even later. Even assuming that the book was before him, we can easily conjecture that he^ should hve brushed it aside ; for, it was an out-and-out North Indin book and dealt with the Hindustani music.
looked, for guidance, to none else than Shrngadv and even averred^ that he would, like his own chosen guide, make the Principle of Lakshya the chief thin^ in
his

We

Hence Rmmtya

book.

And

he did make his averment good.

Let s see

how.
point of conflict between Shrngadv and Rmmtya was with reference to the Sudka-Vikrith svaras, At any
first

The

rate,

both of them agreed with regard to the '^^^^-svaras and allocated them, alike, thus
:

SvaramlakeU&nidhi.

cf.

i?fn^8?q5isrr?rgf

^^

gsps^ "^wn^

Svaramilakalnidhi,

xzi

INTRODUCTION
B.

^m^^

5^r:^|W4iW5i q^T^T.-srfa:
1!

^=^tci-i?^ cI<l^lMIHW%aidtdd;
e

3TB^
^
NO^

|'tmqt TlsiWtSr "aT:??^:

>0
-so

NO

>0

-so

SangitharatTi&kara.

and B, quoted above, is the idea conveyed by both sam and may be stated thus * The svaras arise from the srutis in uch a way that Shadja takes ke 4ik sruti of the Vina, Rishabha the ythy Gndhra the
:

The

gtk,

Madhyama

the isth,

Panchama

the ijth^

Dhaivatha the 20th^

and Nishda

the 22nd.^

The

Sudha-svsxz.'&^

which were common between Shrngadv

:

and Rmmtya, may be tabulated thus

Number
Srutis

of

5?-Svaras.

1
2

45

Sa
Ri

6 78

910 11 12

Ga

1314 15 16 1718 19

Ma
Pa

2021

Dha
Ni
(Fg. 3)

22-


xxii

SVARAMLAKALNIDHI
As
regards
the
y^^ri^a-sv2Lra.s,

Shrngadv and Rmmtya differed f rom each othen While Shrngadv presented
both
to us so many as twelve Vikritka-%vzxz,s^ Rmmtya found, in He therefore recognised only those actual practice^ only seven. seven and left out the remaining five. Shrngadv worked up his twelve Vikrifha-sv^LXzs thus * The twelve Vikritha Svaras are explained. The four-srutied
:

Shadja becomes two-srutied Vikrithas, namely, Chyutha Sa and

Achyutha S. When Ni takes the Kaisiki sruti, it is Chyutha ; but when it takes the Kkali sruti, i t is Achyutha, That Rishabha which is four-srutis from Chyutha Pa is regarded as a Vikritha. Gndhra is declared by Shrngadv to fall into two divisions, Madhyama, three-srutied Sdhrana and four-srutied Anthara, like Shadja, falls into two divisions viz., Chyutha and Achyutha. Panchama o Madhyamagrma is three-srutxed and has one more variety, namely, four-srutied Kaisiki Pa. Dhaivatha, in Madhyamagrma, becomes a four-srutied Vikritha. The three-srutied Nishda and the four-srutied Nishda are treated of as Vikrithas ^ of Sa and named Kaisiki Ni and Kkali Ni respectively.'

qi.-^rmsfTfc

i#

-f^iifr

^^^

q?grRt

TpsqBim

l^iffr:

^%^

qr:T:

Sangitharatnkara.

INT RODUCTION

xxi

On the other hand, Rmmtya worked up his seven

svaras thus
*

Vikritka-

How

is

it

that only ^seven Vikritka-svzxzs are given here,

while Shrngadv mentixKied, in his Ratnkra^ so many as twelve ? It is true that, from the theoretical point of vew, the number twelve may be desirable. But, in actual practice^ that is, according to the principle of Lakshy^ there are only seven*
If seven Sudka-%V2XZB. the basic notes are left out, there does arise a difference in sound, as regards the remaining five Vikritha-svaras. But if they (the basic notes) are retained, the said dflFerence disappears in practice, though not in theory, by the process of taking the I shall tel you preceding but not the next preceding srutis. how. Achyutha-Shadja does not differ from SudhaSAdfa nor does Achyutka-Madhyama differ from Sudkd-Madhyama. Again, Vikritha-Rishabka does not differ from Sudha-Rishabka differ from Sudha-Dhaivatha. nor does Vikritha-Dhaivatha Further again, Vikrika-Panckam which is taken from Madk^ yama-Sruti does not surely differ from the other VikriikaPanckama. Hence under the category of the above-mentioned fourteen {Sudha^Vikrith) svaras, no separte mention was made of these five ^^svaras, inasmuch as they had effected a merger, shall enunciate the seven Vikritka-^v^xzs as indicated above. by mentioning their names (i) Chyutha Shadja

Vikritha'SVKtz.%

different

from

the

We

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

and

(7)

Kkali Nishda.
is

Chyutha Shadja

the

name given

to that

Shadja which gives

up

its

own

fourth sruti and takes the third one.

applies equally to Chyutha

The sam rule Madhyama and Chyutha Panchama.

Sudha- Madhyama takes the first Gdndhara-sxxx^ it is called Sddhdrana-Gndhra; but when the sam Sudha- Madhyama takes the second Gndhara-%x\x\A^ it goes by the name of Anthara Gndhra. When, again, SudhorShadja takes the first Nishda" sruti, it is called (by expert musicans) Kaisiki Nishda but when the sam Sudha-Shadja takes the second Nishdda-sMy it goes by
;

When

3^iv

SVARAMLAKALANIDHI
name
of

the

Kakali Nishda.
^

Thus, the seven Vikritka-^vzr^s

hve been described.'

'

a. ^^

mm- ^t^^^ ^^r;

st:

aTq"RSr^#fTnTSW^^T:

q4^rfa?tr5Tsq8fi^^^3:

^ q ^^

tfff

=^

5^q?t iJi^cqa

fi^

w:

^?[T^rmr%f'?27^

"eir:

q^sT^r

TTSEFI: q^FlTr

?TrW^K^FH(Rrs:xRlTT:=SIR|?Tfq


INTRODUCTION
XXV
both Shrngadv and

We

closely trod in the footsteps o

to correctly formulate

Rmmtya, only

the following table

:

and

rightly determine their respective Sud/ia- Vikritha Svaras 1


xxvi
.

SVARAMLAKALNIDHI
The
*
'

fourth column of Fg. 4, namely, Rmmtya's special Nomenclature 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

^^:

Having learnt the points of agreement and disagreement between Shrngadv and Rmmtya with regard to the SudhaVikritha svaras and having noted that, in all cases of disagreement, Rmmtya invariably invoked the help of the principle of
^ * In fulfilment o a usage, I shall now mention a few different nomenclatures to some of these 14 Svaras obtaining elsewhere. On account of its identity with Nishda, Chyutha Shadja is also called Chyuih Skadj Niskda.

account of its identity with Gndhra, Chyutha Madhyama is also called Ckyuiha Madhyama G&7zdhra. On account of its identity with Madhyama, Chyutha Panchama is also called Chyutha Panchama Madhyama* Inasmuch as Rishabha is, i7t practice, known to identif y itself with Sudha Gndhra, the latter is also called Panchasruti Rishabha. When however, Rishabha identifies itself with Sdhrana Gndhra, that(Sadharana Gandhara) is, inpraciice, also called Shatsruii Rishabha. Likewise, when Dhaivatha identifies itself with Suddha Nishda, that Sudha Nishda is called Pa7ichasruti Dhaivatha but when it identifies with Kaisiki Nishda, that Kaiski Nishda is called
;

On

Shatsruti Dhaivata.


INT RODUCTION
xxvii

Lakshya ; we shall now proceed to deal with the next question which happens to be five-fold (i) Why were the Sudha-Vikritha svaras so-called ?
:

(2) (3)

(4)

Wherein lay their importance ? Are they extant to-day ? If not, why not ? 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 from author to author, namely
NJ

-o

the Rule of the ancient SudhaSvzxz.^^' according to which the seven SudhaSv2LX2JS were Sa^ Ri^ Ga^ Ma^ Pa^ Dha^ Ni^ made up as they were of 4, 3, 2, 4, 4, 3, 2, srutis respectively. Or^ as Rmmtya would hve it, out of the 22 srutis, numbers and 4> 7j 9> J^3i 1 7 20, 22 were alone spoken of as Sudka-^v^LX^s^^ they 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, mentioned above, come to be called Sudha-svsLrzs ? One explanation is that those seven svaras which ormed, as they even now form, the scale of Smagnam were called Sudha'Sva.^Si because they were used in singing the pure nausic of Sma-Vda. There seems, here, to be a confusion of ideas. What did pure music of Sama- Veda indicate the purity of the the
*

sums up

'

music or o

the sentiment expressed thereby

If

the former,

what was the tandard ? But, if the latter, what connection was there 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 from stringed instruments with frets, which gave a serie of semitones
^

Vide Fig.

3,

page xxi.


xxvm

SVARAMLAKALNIDHI

up to a certain point and, then, a scale of tones and semitones. This latter scale (of tones and semitones) was, in the norml position of the frets, known as the SudhaSz'dX^ and the notes it
comprised were called Sudha'Svzx2,^.^
following tabular statement^ of Mr. Bulwant seems to strengthen the position of Mr. Clements
:

The

Trimbuck

Svaras

INTRODUCTION
yet, the first scale alone is held to

XXIX

be important and ever brought into the forefront for any kind of musical discussion ; so too, in Indin Music, rom amidst a variety of its scales, the SudhaSc2X^ alone was considered to be important and was, in fact, constituted to be the basis of the ancient Indin musical systm. Secondly, we shall determine the importance of the SdkaI may state it, as svaras and of the Sudka-scdil^ formed thereby. a new country, on entering a generl rule, that just as a tourist,

convenient, nay, necessary to study its language with a view to understand the rel nture of that country so too, a music-student, on opening any one of our ancient books on music, finds it convenient, nay, necessary to study the terms or phraseology employed therein, with a view to understand the rel nture
finds
it
;

of the

Rdga System

which

its

author finally

built.

mere

glance at those texts will show that one and all their authors spoke of their Rgas only in terms of Sudha-^v^xz,^ and also employed therein the Sudha-Vikritha phraseology. Tak, for The Mla of instance, Srirga^ of which Rmmtya wrote Sriraga consists of these seven svaras, namely, Sudha Sa, a, PanchaPanckasruti Ri^ Sdhrana Gdy Sudha Ma^ Sudha Surely, none could understand this syuti Dha and Kaisiki NL^ kind of description without a previous knowledge of the meaning Hence, the Sudha- Vikriiha therein. of the terms employed Svaras 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? If not, why not ? What, if any, are their modern prototypes ? What part, 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 alone form the end. Even the compositions and their various types are so many R&ga-maniesiaitofts, perhaps with the additional elements of rhythm and

poetry.

Hence the determination

if

of the

Rgas and

their

Lakshanas forms

the main,

not the sle, portion of our musical systm.

-o

Svaramilakalnidhi.

'

XXX

SVARAMLAKALNIDHI
These questions may be grouped together and discussed as

uch.

Now, the ancient Sdka- Vikritha Svaras are not extant

Because, according to Mr. Clements's opinion, they had been looked at only from the Vina-point of view, while their modern prototypes hve had an entirely different principle to stand pon; because the ancient Sudha-Vikriha, systm was
to-day.

based pon Bharata Matka which had Dha for keynote, while its modern prototype has been based on Hanumanta Matka which has Sa for keynote because, in Bharata Matha, the frets were so moved and adjusted as to give the exact scale required, while, in Hanumanta Matha, the increase of tension is one of the chief means of getting the right notes and lastly because the SudhaVikritka systm allowed itself to be difEerently interpreted, while its modern prototype has only one interpretation to view it with. The last reason requires explanation. Three different authors, Rmmtya, Ahbala, and Bhtkhand, chose the sam SudkarSvdcc?^^^ from Fig. 3, for their ^2r>-scales and, yet, arrived at three different Rdgas^ viz., Mukhri, Kphi, and Bilval which are said to respectively correspond to Kanakngi, Kharaharapriya and Sankarbharanam of the Carnatic Music. question, at once, arises as to why the self-same Sudhascale, formed out of Sa (4th sruti), Ri (7th), Ga (gth). Ma (isth), Pa (lyth), Dha (20th), and Ni (22nd) gave rise to three different Kdgas. Mr. D. K. Joshi made an attempt to answer it and observed Suppose a man in Bombay buys a seer of sugar and a man in Poona buys a seer of sugar; they will find that the quantities of sugar, though identical in having the name seer, in each ase
' '

'

'

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

fl^Wrrqq^ ^^frfqqsfTTi:

Lakshya Sangiiha,

INTRODUCTION
difiFered in their

xxxi

weighing 28 Tolas and Poona I the quantities o sugar differed in their value or weight, why should they be identical in having the sam name seer f The answer to this question is sre to satisfy the question suggested in our ase. And I thnk the answer, in both the cases, is one and the sam. It is Convenion \^ Apart from the vibrational values^ which Mn Josh gave each of the Sudha'Sv2^cz,% of each of the three authors he selected, the analogy, that he took, seems to be a little unhappy and does- not,
seer seer 76 Tolas.

weight

Bombay

strengthen his position. In the ase of seers, there is a clear difference, according to Mr. Joshi, of 48 Tolas between
I

fear,

Bombay and Poona.

Even

in

South India,

there

is

a wide

diference, in quantity, between the measures of Madras and Coimbatore. Whereas, in the seer or measure^ there is the sameness only in name but not in quantity; in the vS^^^^^-Scale, there was 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 gave Suy Riy Ga, Ma^ Pa^ Dka, Ni respectively srutis 4, 3, 2, 4, 4, 3, 2. Unless, therefore, the 4th sruti to tak one for example does not mean only the 4th sruti but also anything above or below, no

clue presents
to

itself to

explain

why

three different

Rgas were said

emanate from one and the sam Sudha-^cdX^.

all standpoints of view, the ancient theory of SdkaScale was given up, as being practically useless for the modern requirements.

From

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

Vde Report
44.

o the Second All-India

Music

Conerence,

Delhi {19I8\
*

page
2

Mr. E. Clements questions the correctness of Mr, tional values,' in his Ragas of Hindtcsian^ vol. II, page 37.

Joshs

vibra-

xxxn
free

SVARAMLAKALNIDHI
from
this defect.

Further, to adopt the Mymalavagowlascale as the Sud^a-Scale does no violence to the feelings o the Here came Mr. A. H. Fox Strangways, as it were, musicians.^ Mydmlava^owla only to help Mr. Clements and observed developed from Mukkari by way of modal shift o tonic, as in the ase of the modern Greek Scale.^ And here, again, Mr. H. A. Popley amplified that the modal shift of tonic was made by one semitone higher and, having illustrated bis point by the
: '

following diagram

Mymlavagowla

BCD"bEFGA~bBC
1
i

Mukhri (Kanakngi)
wrote,
is

by way

of explanation,
*.^

(Fg, 6) B to

'

B form Mukkari and C

to

Mdymdlavagowla

the three, I fear, overshot the mark, inasmuch as the Mukhri of the above Fig. 6 points only to Kharakarapriya wherein alone Ga (D) and Ni (A) are Kmal ox flat and surely not to Kanakdngiy wherein Ga and Ni are really conspicuous by their absence, though Ri Thivra and Dha Thivra are made to
falsely personate them. The trend of the modern SudhaScdl^ of North India,

AU

But, be it noted, that in the sense in which our ancient writers held, viz, that its seven svaras had their respective sruti numbers 4, 7, 9, 13, 17, 20 and 22, but that the elementary songs hve been traditionally taught uch traditional teaching began, to the children in those Rdgds, but, at first, as a matter of convenience or, better, inclination of habit. by force then, it took root Now, though the old seven Si^dkaS'^zxz.s and the SudhaScaleformed therebyhave, doubtless, become obsolete yet, we hve
India.
;
''^

view is that, while Bildvl is the Mdydmlavagowla is that of South neither of them is the SudhaSczS,^

Vide Mr. Clements' s Ragas of Tanjore, p. 15Vide 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 be^inners 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) but should be confined, at the outset, only to the non-controversial svaras (Ri^
1

and Ga^) (Dha^ and

Ni^

and also Sudha Ma.

INTRODUCTION
XXXlll

now Sa and Pa
Dhay

as

Sdka

(or better, Prakritkt) Svaras,

;

inasmuch

no varieties at all while Ri, Ga, Ma, inasmuch as each of them admits of two^ clear varieties, viz, Kmal and TMvra, that is, flat and sharp, These modem [Sudha- Vtkritha Svaras, twelve^ in number, may

as they are fixed or admit of

Ni are

Vikritha'Sv2X2L%^

be tabulated thus

Sa
1

jr

R2
3

Gaj.

Gaa
-

Ma^
\

Mag

Pa
I

Dha,

Dha,

Nit

Ni,

-\
(Fg. 7)

10

11

12

And,

again, these

modern Sudha-Vikritka Svaras enable us

(^sg^rgir)

to formulate, according to the Principle of Lakshya, the followihg

working schme which may be styled Lagkumelakarha

katamakhi
'^

as distinguished from the Brikanmlakartha (^^s^T) of Ven:

s d s


XXXIV

SVARAMLAKALNIDHI

In order to be able to compare the Mlas o Fig. 8 with those of Rmmtya, it is desirable that we should, first, know how Fig. 8 was worked up and, secondly, learn how the Mlas of Svaramlakaldnidki 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^ Similarly Dha and Ni may be combined in four and Gag. By tacking the four varieties of Dha and Ni to different ways. of Ri and Ga^ we hve sixteen varieties varieties four each of the These sixteen varieties, when further of Ri-i Ga^ Dha, and Ni. manipulated with the two varieties of Ma, yield thirty-two ^ working Mlas^ for which see Fig. 8, where it will be seen that Melas I to 16 are vS'z^^.^-Madhyama or Poorva Mlas^ while Melas 17 to 32 are Pr^/^^-Madhyama or Uthara Mlas. Rmmtya, on the other hand, merely specified the names of his Twenty Mlas and stopped with explaining their character* Here is what he wrote istics.
:

g^GT

FIH^^ ^^1^05 37Tf^;

11

NO

Even the Katapayadi-Sankhya seems to point to 32 as being originl number of the prime-^^ (or Mlas) inasmugh as Ra
^
;

the
(?;r)

represents

2,

and Ga

(rt)

represents

3,

and theefore Rga

(TTi)

represents,

according to the said formula, 32*

INTRODUCTION

XXXV

And

continued Rmmtya

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

Sranganta
qaST^H^: 5I?[s[^5Wq^q^Trr:
.

Kdragfowla

^5T^

g^rqr:

q^^^

^^^cvl

Jsff

the consistng of these seven svaras^ viz,, Sudha Sa, Panckasruii Ri^ Chyuiha Madhyama Ga^ Sudha Ma^ Sudha Pa^ Panckasruti Dha^ and Chyutha Shadja iW/

Rmmtya

characterises

Mda of S&rangania as

Kidaragowla conSudha J?z, Chyutha PanchasruH MadkyaSa^ ona Ga^ Sudha Ma^ Sudha Pa^ Panchasruii Dha and Chyutha Shadja
*

The Mil
of

of

Ssts

these svaras^ vi^.,

NV
sameness Inasmuch,

(Fg. 9)

The

veriest tyro will not fail to note the identical

in the characteristics o both the

therefore, as
^
*

Mlas in Fig. 9. Sdranganta and Kdragowla merged, in point o

specify the
all

names (of the Mlas) and then explain their the Mlas, Mukhari is the first- Other Mlas are as Mlavagowlay Srzrga^ Sranganata^ Hindla^ Sudharamakriya^ f oUows : Deskshiy Kannadagowla^ Sudha7i&ti^ Ahari, Ndar&makriya^ Sudhavarali^ Rithigowla^ Vasanthabhairavij Kd&ragowla^ Hjujji^ Svtavardli^ Rvaguf>* Thus there are twenty Milas.^ ihii Smantha^ and Kmbhju ^ ' And their characteristics are explained thus : the Mela of Mukkari^ or instance^ conists of seven Sudha-svara^^^
I shall

now

characteristics.

Of


xxxv
their

SVARAMLAKALNIDHI

characteristics,

into

one

how

could

Rmmtya count
:

twenty different Mlas f Quickly, therefore, did Venkatamakhi hasten to lash him on this vulnerable point and wrote

stop here. But he proceeded to attack Rmmtya, using even rough language, on nine more points. shall deal with them, one by one, and plae the views, thereon, of both Rmmtya and Venkatamakhi in juxtaposition

Nor did Venkata-makhi

We

(1)

As regards some

derivatives of

'SRIRGA MLA:
Rmam&iya. The Mil of Srirg-a coasists of these seven Svaras^ Sndha Sa^ Panchasruii Ri^ Sadh&rana Ga, Sdka Ma, Sudha Pa^ PanchasruH Dha, and Kaisiki NL Then do I enumerate some of the R&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 Gowli were derived from Srirga Mela. Inasmuch as Bhairavi has Sudha Dfia, Sankarbharanam has Anthara Ga, and Gowli has Kkli Ni, and inasmuch
vz.,
:
^

C.

'

Accordingf to yourself (addressing

and Kdragowla merged into one Mla.

How

Rmmtya) Sranganta
then could there be twenty

Melas

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

"g

II

q:^iTr?r^ 5R%f^^TiTr ^sst^^'^i:

Svaratnilakal&nidhi.


INTRODUCTION
as (the last mentioned) Gowli

xxxvii

may
!

(rightly)

how

can you (dare to)

say

that these

be derived from Mlavagowla^ Ragas were derived from the

!.

Mla of Sriragaf head)!!!'^

O! Rma

Rma

Rtna

How

confused

(is

your

(2)
'

As regards some

derivates of

SUDHARAMAKRIYA MLA:

Some of the Ragas derived from the Mil of SuSudkarmakriya, Pddi, Ardradsi^ and DipakaJ^ dharamakriya are Venkatamakhi. *Iaasmuch as you (wrongly) said that P&di and Ardradisi were derived from Sudharamakriya, and inasmuch as the truth is that they were derived from the Mil of Gowla^ O Rma, you hve committed a great sin, to remove which, you should contemplate the name of (that great) Rma.'^
R&mamaiya.
*
:

Tfem^ ^iqcir^q

1FW555Tr:

ii

fl^^g w

?n7

R T^

^spu:

Chatkurdandiprak&sika.

Svaratnilakalnidhi.
'

a-

q^ti

^^m 5T?[m^m5^:

qitmT55inf'wisRT ra^-^

Chathurdandiprak&sika.


xscxviii

SVARAMELAKALANIDHI
(3)
'

As regards

the

Mla

of

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

Rmmtya.

As
'

KANTADAGOWLA.'

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

(4)
*

As

regards

Some of the Ragas derived from this Mla (pi Kan^ Rmmiya. Tiadagowla) are : Kanndagowla^ Gha?itrava, Sudkabang&la^ Chynta^ Turushka T^di^ N&gadhvani^ and Dvakriya.^^ The statement that Ghantarava was derived from Venkatamakhi^ Kannadagowla has involved you in a heinous sin^ from which, O ! Rma,
'

GHANTRAVA RGA.'

(Rmsvaram).

you cannot escape even though you go (on a pilgrrimage) to Rmastu The fact is that Ghantarava is derived from Bhairavi.'^
*

CL ^?Tr^m^95q

55gGrf q^^fcTj;

Svaramlakalanidhu

Chathurdandipraksika,
'

a.

s^fer

^*5ridi'<i4ii*^ifa=gT

^
cr;

^H^^isrimr

=g =3^crr7T5T;

Svaramilaklnidhi.

INTRODUCTION
(5)

xxxix

As

regards

R&m&mtya, The Mil

*

ndarmakriya:

tz.,

of Ndar&makrya consists of these Svaras, Sudha Sa, Sdka Ri, Sadharana Ga^ Stidha Ma^ Sudha Pa^ Sudha

and Chyutha Shadja Ni.^'^ The statement that Ndar&makriya has S&dh&rana Venkatamakhu Ga discloses, O Rma, your strange (that is, tin-) fitness to hold the title of Bayakra {or Vggyakra), The truth is that Ndarmakriya has Anthara Ga.^^
J

Dha

'

(6)
'

As

regards

The Mil of Rithigowla consists of these seven svaras^ Sudha Sa, Sudha Ri, Sudha Ga, Sudha Ma, Sudha Pa, Panchasruti Dha, and Kaisiki Ni:^ Venkatamakhu While Rmmtya has spoken of Rithigowla as a Mil with Sudha Sa, Ri, Ga, Ma, Panchasruti Dha, and Kaisiki Ni, the truth is that Rithigowla is (not a Mela) but a Rga derived from the Mil of
*

Rmmiya.

rithigowla:

vz.,

"

"^

Bhairavu^

Chathurdandipraksika,

Svaramilakal&niihi.

Chathurdandiprak&sika,

Svaramilakal&nidM.

xi

SVARAMLAKALNIDHI
(7)
'

As regards

kdragowla:

R&mmtya.* The Mela of KSdaragotvla consists o these Svaras, viz., Ma, Sudha Pa, Sudha Sa, Panchasruti Ri, Chyutha Madhyama Ga, Sudha ^
Panchasruii Dka, and Chyutha Shadja Ni.' I feel sorry for your Venkaiamakhi
'

name

(of

Rma) ;

for,

you

Mil of Kid&ragowla. mistakenly placed Chyutha Shadja Ni in the ^ Ni.' Kaisiki right Svara of the Mla is
(8)
'

The

As regards HJUJJi:

Rm&matya.' The Mil of Hijujji consists of these Svaras, viz., Sudha Ma, Sudha Pa, Sudha Dha, and Kakali Sa Sudha Ri, Anthara Ga, Sudha

Ni'

stupid to plae K&kali Ni in the Svara of the Mil is Sudha Ni.' * Hijuiji: or the right

Venkatamakhi.*

It is

Mil of

Chathurdandiprakasika.
*

a.

5T?iT^

wm'- q^rat '^^w^rt

Svaramilakal&nidhi.

Chathurdandiprakasika,

Svaramilakal&nidhi.

R|chv'^|5*4l^^r5:^

OTfT
^

|%

T2T:

Chaihurdandiprak&sika.


INTRODUCTION
(9)
'

xli

As regards

KMBHJi:

Mil o I^md/t consists o these Svaras, vz., Sud/ia Sa, Pancha^ruti Ri, A^itkara Ga, Sudha Ma, Sdka Pa, Panchasruii Dha, and Kakali V ^ Venkaiamakhi, Does not even the maid-servant of a Vainika know ^ that Kmbhji has Kaisiki (and not Kakali) Nif

Rmm&tya.

*The
N
*

'

guard himself against entertaining any mistaken notion that Rmmtya was all wrong or that Veakatamakhi was all right. H e will further do well to remember that, between Svaramlakalnidhi and Chatkurdandiprakdsika, there elapsed a full century and a little more that the musical systems, worked out in both the books, mut on account of the progressive nture of the art be necessarily and that some o the views of both the diff erent f rom each other authors might therefore be right and wxogright in their own times, and wrong in other times, Living, as I do, three centuries after Venkatamakhi who insisted on having only Kaisiki Ni f or Kmbhji, I may repay the author of Chathurdandiprakasika in his own coin and retort Does not even the cook of a Vainika know that the Kmbhji of

The

reader

will,

at this

stage,

do well

to

'

the present day has not only Kaisiki Ni but also Kakali Ni, as in the ase of the phrase Sa-NiPa-Dha-Sa ? Again, in your chapter

on Ragas, you dared

to write

heinous sin, O Venkata, you cannot escape even though you go on a pilgrimage to Tirupati, the abode of Lord Venkateswara. For, whether your Kmbhji corresponds to our

From

this

Svaramilakalanidhu

Chaihurdandiprak&sika.

Cf K&mbkji Rga, though and Ni. 6

3
.

Sampuma,

leaves out in the ascent

Ma

xlii

SVARAMLAKALNIDHI

Kdmbhii or Harikambhji^

Ma is

never

left out,

though Kdmbkji

leaves out Ni in the ascent.' Surely, then, Venkatamakhi threw stones at Rmmtya, while himself was living in a glass-house ^ and his strictures on Svaramlakalnidhi zx^ unjust, uncalled-for, and even offensive to a degree, Still, a Venkata may persist in reminding us as to why
;

Rmmtya, having nierged,

into one,

Sranganata and Kdra-

gowla^ ventured to count twenty Mlas ? This, as I said, is no doubt a vulnerable point. But be it, at the sam time, noted that, during the long perid o a full century, after which Venkatamakhi criticised it, Heaven alone knows what changes or modifications the manuscripts of Svaramlakaldnidhi underwent in the hands of different indifferent copyists and what sort of a copy finally fell into our critic's hands. Even assuming that Rmmtya committed the blunder attributed to him, I am

disposed to think that it is a matter only of a slip of the pen and that he had no time to revise what he wrote. For, does not Fig. II show that the Graha^ Amsa^ and Nysa, as well as the time of singing, of both Sranganta and Kd&ragowla are quite different from each other ? I said that Rmmtya did not are to deduce his Mlas from any kind of principles but perhaps recorded uch of the Mlas as were in vogue during his time. My view seems to be confirmed, when we note, that, at the his fourth chapter on Mela^ Rmmtya felt that, in actual of end practice,^ Anthara Ga and Kkali Ni were not only of very small or occasional use but also were represented^ by Chyutha
Surely, Venkatamakhi did live in a glass-house; for, did he not solemnly record, in his book, without any attempt on his part to inquire, a mere kearsay-msXt^x, which turned out to be altogether false ? In
^

his Ragaprakarana,
*

he stated T^T5r^^fqH[ ^cTI^^^clT:

H >

that

is,

Bharata and others say that Rgas are of ten kinds.'

Sstra, there is
!

But

in Bharata's

N&iya

no mention of the word Raga

at all,

mch

less of its

ten kinds

That

xs,

according to the Principle of Lakshya.

Svaramlakalnidhi.


INTRODUCTION
madhyama
xliii

and Chyuthapanchama Ni respectively, and, therefore, chose to reduce, as an alternatve, his twenty into fifteen Mlas^ and also stated that the remaining five mut be deemed to be implied in the fifteen. To illustrate, Hejujji mut be deemed to be implied in Vasanthabhairavi Smavarli, in Sudhavarli Rvagupthi, in Bowli Smantha, in Kannadagowla and Kmbhji, in Sranganta.^

Ga

Further,
referred to, is

recognition of the theory of repi^esentationy tantamount to almost identifying Chyuthamadhyama

the

Ga and Chyuthashadja Ni respectively with Anthara Ga and Kkali Ni and also to driving, out of the field, one of the two
pairs of svaras, preferably the latter,

regards Rgas^ Rmmtya divided them into three kinds Superior^ Middling^ and Inferior. The superior Ragas are said to hve been free from any kind of mixture and also suitable for singing, composition, elaboration and for Tya; and they

As

'

middling Rgas were employed to sing 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 being

were twenty

in all.

The

'

unsuitable for compositions. These three divisions were once repeated by Smanth in but they disappeared from the tme of his Rgavibdha; Venkatamakhi, with the result that they are unknown to, and unrecognized by, the modern musicians- For, which musician of
to-day will reconcile himself to blackmark and taboo, for instance, Sankarharana unless it be that it does not tally with our

S3

NO

Jbid.

xliv

SVARAMLAKALNIDHI

own as an *infrior', and therefore disregardable, Rga Rmmtya had done ? Let us now tabulate the Mla and Rga systems Rmmtya and make a closer study of his work.
/.

as
of

Rmdmtya's

Genus-Species

'

System

Mlas (20)

Janya-Ragas

(64)

Mukhari
'

Mukhri and a few Grma Rgas

(1) (2)

Mlavagowla
Lalitha

(6)
(7) (y)
(9)

Mlavagowla
.

(3)

BowH
Sourshtra
Gurjari

(4)
(5)

(10)

Mchabowli Palaman jari Gundakriya Sindhurmakriya Chayagowla

Sudhabhairavi
Vlvali

(11) Kuranji (12) Kannadabangala (13) Mangalakowsika (14) Malhri, etc.

r (1)

Srraga

(2)

Srirga Bhairavi

(5)
(6)

(9)

(10)

ndoli Devagandhari

(3)

Gowli

t (4) Dhanysi
'

(7)

Mlavasri

(11)

Madhyamdi,
etc.

(8)

Sankarbharana
Natanryani Sudhavasanta Purvagowla

(1)

Sranganta
Savri Slagabbairavi

(4)

(7)
(8)

Kunthalavarli

Sranganta

(2)
(3)

(5)
(6)

Bhinnashadja
Nrayani, etc.

(9)

Hindl

(1)
(1)

Sudharmakriya

Hindl Suddharamakrya

(2)

Marga Hindl
Pdi

(3)
(3)

(2)

Bhpala, etc. Ardradsi

(4)

Dipaka

D&akshi
'

Dsksbi

(1)

Kannadagowla
Ghantrava Sudhabangala
etc.

Kannadagowla

(4)
(5) (6)

(2)
(3)

Chyanta Turushka-Tdi

(7)

Dvakriya,

etc*

Ngadbvani

9 Sudhanta
10 11 12 13 14 15

Sudhanata,
Ahiri, etc*

Ahiri

Ndarmakriya
Sudhavarli Rithigowla Vasanthabhairavi

Ndarmakriya,

etc.

Sudhavarli, etc. Rithigowla, etc. (1) Vasanthabhairavi

(1)

Kdragowla

(2)
(2)

Kdragowla

Smarga, etc. Nrayanagowla,

etc.

16 Hjujji
17 Smavarali 18 Rvagupthi 19 Smantha 20 Kmbfaji

Hjujji and a few

Grma Rgas
do,

Samavarli
Rvagtipthi

do.

Smantha, Kmbhji,

etc. etc.

(FiG. 10).

INTRODUCTION
///

"V

xlv

The

Charactertstics of a

few of Rmmntya's

Derivative Rgas


SVARAMLAKALNIDHI
/F.
JSf^B.

xlvi

Rmmtyds 20 Mlas^ interpreted in terms of the Modern Mlas

:

and Chyuthamadhyama Ga should be deemed to be practically (1) Anthara identical and so also, in the ase of Kkali Ni and Chynthashadja Ni. (2) Panchasruti i and Dha should be deemed to be the modem Chathusruti Ri and Dha. (3) Venkatamakhi's Sudha and Shatsruti Svaras should be deemed to be the sam as Rmmtya's.
t
;

In this Pigtire 13, three points shoiald be remembered

<


INTRODUCTION
xlv

Sankarbharana to be each a Sampurna and, yet, a derivative of Srirga, 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 Sankarbharana 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 in connection with Venkatamakhi's unwarranted onslaught on Rmmtya, namely, Heaven knows what chmiges or modificaiions the the kands of manuscHpts of Svaramelakalanidhi uitderwent different indifferent copyists and what sort of a copy finally fell into our-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 22 Srutis hve been from time to time changing, like chameleon's colour, Here are, for instance, two sets of names, given in two different periods of time, to one and the sam time-honored 22 Srutis, wherein all the names differ, except Ugra, even which figures itself in the /th Sruti in the one ase and in the 2ist Sruti
*
'

in the other
n


xiviii

SVARAMLAKALANIDHI
the

Hence, Rmmtya's Sankarbharana is not our own. Sankarbharana; nor is his Bhairavi or even Srir&ga circumThe only sensible inference, that we can draw under the to be [mis-] led by stances, is that we should not allow ourselves should delve deep and the mere ^lames of Rmmatya's Ragas but out its modern study the characteristics of each of them and find
prototype and its modern name as well. understand Will a study of Rmmatya's Vina help us to would ? Let us, then, his Rga-system, especially as he assures us it with, in his tak up the subject of Vhia^ which Rmmtya dealt emphasised the third chapter, at the very outset of which he fine importance of Vina, as creating a nice taste for, and a besides discrimination in, Srutis, Svaras, Melas, and Rgas Mksha. being a means of attaining Dharma, Artha, Kma, and Be it noted that Rmmtya fundamentally differed from
;

modern

Shrngadv in the matter of constructing his Vinaz.x\6. thereby cut a new path for his successors to follow. While Shrngadv presented to us a Vina of twenty-two strings Rmmtya simpliall his fied the process by requiring only four strings to produce Sudlia-Vikritha svaras in all the three registers. While, again, Shrngadv's Vina was only of two kinds, viz., Sruti Vina and Svara Vina; Rmmatya's Vina was of six kinds, which may conveniently be tabulated thus
;

Rudra Vina
Achyutharjndra Mla

Sudha Mla Vna (I)

I

Madhya Mla
Vna
1

(11)

Vna
I

(III)

Sarvarga
(1)

karga
(2)

Sarvarga
(3)

karga
(4)

Sarvarga
(5)

karga
(6)

(FiG. 15.)

All the six kinds of Rmmatya's Vina were provided with In the Sarvarga Mla Vna^ they were fixed and immovfrets. able, as in the ase of our modern Tanjore Vna ; while, in the karga Mla Vna^ they were not fixed and therefore movable, In fact, as in the ase of the modern Sitar of North India. the frets of the latter kind were moved or changed every time a

Rga was changed

while, those of the former kind

were fixed and


INTRODUCTION
yet

xHc

produce all the Rgas in all the regsters. Hence their respective names. As for the construction and characteristics of Rmmtya's Vina first, there was a Cross-Bar, called Danda, on the left-hand side o which there was a Gourd, called Tkumba, attached thereto by means of a round piece of metal, called Nbhu Over and along the cross-bar, four metallic wires were fastened between the left-hand bridge, called Meru^ and the right-hand piece of wood at the end of the cross-bar, called Kakubha ; and these (four) wires were also made to run over a metallic piece, on the right-hand side, called Pathrik. The jDraj^a-stngs intervened between Pathrik and Kakubha and held the four wires tightly from the basis o the latter while, bits of cotton (or woollen or even silken) threads, called /ztja, were used over the Pathrik and under the (four) wires, with a view to refine the sound. All over the cross-bar but underneath the (four) wires were placed metallic frets, called, Sdrikas^ by means of which alone proper sounds could be produced on the (four) wires. Below the cross-bar, but near the four wires and on the right-hand side, three additional wires were fastened for 6y^/-purposes. What Svaras did each of the four upper- wires and of the three lower-wires speak, when sounded ? The answer depends on whether the Vina was Sudha Mla, Madhya Mla, or Achyuthato
; ;

made

rjndra Mla.
the sam in
all

For, while the order of the three lower-wires

was

the three kinds of the Vina, namely, Madhya Sa^ Mandra Pa^ and Mandra Sa^ except an additional Madhya Pa was tacked on to the lower-wires of the third kind of the Vna ; the

order of the four upper-wires, in Sudha Mla Vhta^ was : Anumandra Sa^ Anumandra Pa^ Mandra Sa^ and Mandra ; Anumandra Pa^ Mandra Sa^ that, in Madhya Mla Vina^ was
:

Ma

Mandra Pa^ and Madhya Sa ; and that, in Achyuthardjndra Mla Vtna^ was : Anumandra Sa^ Anumandra Pa^ Mandra Sa^ and Mandra Pa. Conining, now, our attention to the Sudha Mla Vna, we
note that, over its cross-bar, six frets were placed in uch a manner as they produced, in order by tlte first (Anumandra Sa-) wire^ the following svaras
^
:

1.

2. 3.

Sudha Ri Sudha Ga
Sdhrana
7

4.
5.

Ga

6.

Chyuthamadhyama Ga Sudha Ma Chyuthapanchama Ma

SVARAMLAKALNIDHI
ike second
1.

by

2.

(Anumandra Pa-) Sudha Dka Sudha iW

KaiskiA7

wire^ the following svaras

45-

Chyuthashadja

Ni

3.

6.

Sudha Sudha i?z;

^'^
:

(Mandra Sa-) wire, the following svaras Chyuthamadhyama Ga 4. Sudha Ri 1. Sudha Ma Sudha Ga 52. Chyuthapanchama Ma 6. Sdhrana Ga 3. and by the fourth (Mandra Ma-) wire, the following svaras Sudha Ni Chyuthapanchama Ma 4. ! Kaisiki Ni Sudha Pa 2. 5. Chyuthashadja NL 6. Sudha Dha 3* and Anuthdra^ MadkyaMra uch as, Even for other registers,
by
the third
:

But, be it remembered, in those higher registers, the only wire that could possibly produce sweet or agreeable svaras was the fourth and not any of the other three upper-wires. Be it also remembered that Sudha Sa and Sudha Ri of the second-wire occurred again on the third and were therefore of no
the

sam method was pursued and

suitable frets

were

fixed.

and Chyuthause on the second and that, similarly, Sudha panchama Ma of the third wire occurred again on the fourth and were therefore of no use on the third.
reference to what were called Svaya/mbhus^ which were self-produced svaras or which, in the
Finally,

Ma

Rmmtya made

language of Rmmtya himself,

'

emanated
*

of their

own accord/ ^

be the sam as what, in Physics, is known as the Harmonics,' inasmuch as even the latter emanate of their own accord ? It is said that, while there are more ways than one to hear the Harm\onics on a string, only one of them is implied by the term Svayambhus. How fr this statement is true can be judged only by studying the Harmonics, at first, and by seeing whether and, if so, how far they tally with
*

Could Rmmtya' s

Svayambhus
*

the Svayambhus* What are the Harmonics ? If you strike a string of any intrument provided it is in a proper state of tension you will observe that it vibrates not only in its entire length but also in segments. All these motions are simultaneous and the sounds

Svarantlakalanidku

INTRODUCTION

proceeding therefrom are blended into one note. The fundamental Sa^ that is struck, is the loudest and is called the prime or the prime partial tone^ while others are called the upper partial tones or the overtones ; and the whole serie of the upper partial tones f orm the Harmonics. The first upper partial tone is the higher octave of the fundamental Sa and makes twice as many vibrations as the prime in the sam time ; and it is Sa. The second upper partial tone is the fif th of the octave Sa and makes thrice as many vibrations as the prime in the sam time; and it is P, The third upper partial tone is the second higher octave and makes four times as many vibrations as the prme in the sam time and it is Sa. The fourth upper partial tone is the major third of the second octave and makes five times as many vibrations as the prime in the sarae time and i t is G. The fth upper partial tone is the fifth of the second octave and makes six times as many vibrations And so on and on, as the prime in the sam time and it is P. Thus, the relative numbers of the vibrations which make the Harmnie Serie of sounds, are as 1:2:3:4:5:6 and so on. You can hear this serie in the wire of any intrument say, of the sonometre if you vibrate it after it has been successively shortened J, J, i, ^, ^, etc, of its whole length. But the point to be remembered is what we, in this connecIf a wire is struck, it vibrates not only in its tion, began with. whole length but also in its aliquot parts- In other words, if you, by striking a wire, produce the fundamental Sa; all the upper partial tones, mentioned above, namely. Sa P S& G P^ etc, etc. are simultaneously produced on the sam wire by a natural trained ear will surely detect the upper partial tones, process. sounding of their own accord and blending with the prime or fundamental Sa at least the first few partials which are loud enough to be heard, if not the other ones which become fainter and fainter as they rise higher and higher in pitch. We, thus, find that the striking of a wire, the production thereby of the fundamental Sa and the detection, with a trained ear, of the upper partial tones which sound of their own accord by a natural process on the sam wire all these jointly form the first or natural way to kear, and thereby recognize the existence of, the Harmonics.
;


lii

SVARAMLAKALNIDHI
It is

however, impossible to artificially produce and I, for instance, distinctly hear each of the upper partial tones. you strike a wire and touch the said wire at its middle with your you will distinctly hear finger (or better still with a feather) Other upper partial the higher octave of the fundamental Sa. tones may similarly be produced by touching the said wire at a
not,
;

third, a fourth, a fifth, a sixth and so on, of its length. There is, yet, a third way of hearing the Harmonics.

two wires A and B of a sonometre and tune them to exact unison. Plae, then, a moveable bridge underneath the wire B, so as to gently touch it at its middle point and to produce, if vibrated, the first upper partial tone, namely, the in vibration and make it octave Sa. Now, set the whole wire produce the fundamental Sa. You will note that even the neighbouring wire B, though untouched, vibrates of its own accord and produces the harmnie first higher octave Sa. This remarkable fact that a vibrating body may cause another elastic body, in tune
for instance, the

Stretch,

with

it,

We
string.

also to vibrate is called the Co-vibration. are, now, in a position to arrive at the

sions regarding the

Harmonics

foUowing conclu-

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

(2)

Those Harmonics may be heard

:

in

more ways^ than

one, uch as for instance {a) Hearing the fundamental Sa^ struck in the wire of any intrument provided it is in a proper state
of tension

along with

its

naturally-arising

upper

or

{b)

or

{c)

a happy blending Striking the wire and at the sam time touching i t at a half, a third, a fourth, a ifth, a sixth and so on, of its length and hearing the corresponding upper partials, in order, as well as separately Striking one of the two wires of a sonometre, both of them being tuned to exact unison, and touching the other wire at a half, a third, a fourth, a fifth, a sixth and so on, of its length and hearing the corresponding upper partials by virtue of the co-vibration.
partials, all in

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


INTRODUCTION
Before
*

Kii
'

we proceed to compare the Harmonics with the Svayambhus,' we will do well to study the connotation imported
Svayambku by Rmmtya*
:

into the term

shall let
*

And on

this point, I

Rmmtya himself speak The Mandra Sudha Pa^ produced on the fourth wire by the second fret is called Svayambhu. Hence all the svaras produced (on all the four wires) by the second fret are Svayambhus and cannot be otherwise. Inasmuch as the Anumandra Sudha Ni^ produced on the second wire by the second fret, is of the sam value as the Mandra Sudha iW, produced on the fourth wire by the
fourth fret
;

all

the svaras, produced (on

all

the four wires) by the

;

fourth fret are determined to be Svayambhus and they cannot be otherwise. Inasmuch, again, as the Anumandra Chyuthashadja iW, produced on the second wire by the fourth fret, is of the sam value as the Mandra Chyuthashadja Ni^ produced on the fourth

wire by the sixth fret all the svaras produced (on all the four wires) by the sixth fret are determined to be Svayambhus; and they cannot be otherwise. The Sa-Mct svaras, produced (on the irst three wires) by the if th fret are all Svayambhus. Inasmuch, again, as the Mandra Kaisiki AV, produced on the fourth wire by the fifth 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 on the fourth wire by the third fret is of the sam value as the Anumandra Sudha Dha, produced on the second wire by the all the svaras hve been shewn to be of definitely first fret determined values. In this manner Rmmtya determined the values of all the svaras produced on all the four wires by all the
;

six frets.'^

C\

.^

tSHli^Wi eTf:^Tt ^Rffftfl

c^irri:a\?wTq!

^q^

II

sirar:

^Wsfq a wx\

liv

SVARAMLAKALNIDHI
In so

many words, Rmmtya meant to drive horne to his reader's mind that, among the twenty-four svaras, compressed in all the six frets on all the four upper-wires of his Vna, very many
pairs would,

on

close scrutiny, be found to

be related to each

'^i^gTq!

4m^ w^^

^rfq a^tq^r

HRFITTr;

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

^^f^\

giR=hiiit

B^m

mm ^^t

gatqrat

^^ET Bmr^m

fr^wr
JRPJIi;
g^d)

^PW^

^^ ^^SJ^

WIFT

sii^iWJTf

^2^ p^m

^q

q ^f

tt

Svramlakalnidhi.

INTROCTION
;

Iv

other as the fundamental or prime tone wouid be to its upper partial tone uch as for instance, the Sudha Dka in the first fret on the second wire to the Sudha Dka in the third fret on the fourth wire.
Evidently, therefore, Rmmtya*s Svayambhus had a close affinity with the Harmonics^ inasmuch as the former belonged to the second, and perhaps even third, category of the latter,

mentioned above. Further, does not Rmmtya's method of merely tuning the four upper-wires, as well as the three lowerwires, of his Vna into Sa Pa Sa Ma, on the one hand, and into Sa Pa Sa, on the other, testify to the fact that he did recognise the harmnie relation between those svaras ? Smanth too, harped, in his Rgambdka, on the sam point and i t was Mr. K. B. Dval of Sangli that showed it to the music-world, in the face of his two opponents, Messrs. V. N. Bhtkhand and P. R.

Bhandarkar.

Having taken so mch pains to show that our ancient textbook writers, uch as Rmmtya and Smanth, knew, each in his own way, the (modern) Harmonics] we should like to know what part the Harmonics or, for that matter, the Svayambhus
played and even now play in music. In other words, what is the value of the discovery of the Harmonics or the Svayambhus in the actual or practical singing ? ProL Blaserna answers, in his Theory of Sound in relation to Music : note, not accompaned by its harmonics, may sometimes be sweet but it is always thin and poor and, therefore, but little musical. This is the ase with tuning forks (and even with the flutes). The richest in harmonics are the sounds of the human voice and of strings '. And Smanth adds, in his Rgavibdka : * The larger the number of the harmonics in a musical note, the more sonorous (and agreeable) itis\^ Having studied the subject of the Vtna in almost all the aspects pointed out in Svaramlakalnidki^ we shall now revert to the originl question as to how far that study helped us to understand Rmmtya's Rga-system.
*

Commeniayy

to /, 14^

of Rgavibdka.

\vi

SVARAMLAKALANIDHI
The

following Diagram,^ which represents Rmmtya's Vina-system, shows that, from among the fourteen svaras which Rmmtya had originally taken up to build his Svara-syst&m, Anthara Ga and Kkali Ni were eliminated, for the reason that

Names

of the four

'

INTRODUCTION
and
f

Iv

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

'

now remains for us rendered by Rmmtya to

-

It

to estimate the

nture of the services

the music world.

Rmmtya, Smanth, and Venkatamakhi, the respective authors of Svaramilakalnidki^ Rdgavibdka^ and Chathurdandiprakasika^ were all South Indin musicians and wrote for South India. They might, therefore, be grouped together and called by
a generic
alike,

name

the Carnatic Trio.

All these three authors were,

shrewd enough to realise the futility of wrting a v-o-l-u-m-in-o-u-s treatise, as Shrngadev had done, on the ever-progressive, and therefore ever-changing, art of music and they prudently chose to be agreeably brief in their works and confined their attention to the most fundamental portion of the Carnatic Music, viz,, Hence the Rgaprakarana of each of their the Rdga-system. works formed, as it were, a pivot round which all other prakaraRmmtya, no doubt, led the way, by nas or chapters revolved.
;
'

comprising his book intofive short chapters dealing with (i) Preface, (2) Svara, (3) Vina, (4) Mla, and (5) Rga, by not aliowing the number of his verses to rise over 328, and by making each
successive chapter lead ultimately to the last. Smanth went one step further and made the very name of his book indicate the
object of his writing.^

Again, Rmmtya was the

first

to break loose

rom Shrng-

dv's theory of twelve Vikritha-^vzxzs and reduce those twelve into seven, which Smanth chose to retain, but which, in the hands

Venkatamakhi, came further down to (the modern) five. In so breaking loose, he justified his position by invoking the help of a principle, learnt from Shrngadev himself, viz., the principle of
of

Lakshya.
^

cu

?r?i

ml^^iMs^^

w^ ^m

im ^^f i~
:

Ragambodha.

SVARAMELAKALANIDHI

Ivti

Calculating at least from Shrngadv's tme, this Principte of Lakskya ' is, to-day, about seven centuries old. But long, long ago, Klds had given us, in his Mlavikgmmitra, a popular version of the sam principle in the following inspiring vere :

This vere, like the Principle o Lakskya, sounds to us a note of warning that we cannot afford to live on our heritage, however great it may be, except at the peril of stagnation but mut ever progress and conquer fresh fields and pastures new. Thanks be, therefore, to Rmmtya for his having set, to the music-world, a wholesome example by mercilessly attacking the old theories, however time-honored they might be, if only they contravened the eternal Principle of Lakskya. For, did he not make, in his second chapter on Svara, the following statements Achyutha Shadja does not differ from Sudha Shadja nor does Achyutha Madhyama differ from Sudha Madhyama. Vikritha Rishabha does not differ from Sudha Rishabha; nor does Vikritha Vikritha Dhaivatha differ from Sudha Dhaivatha. Panchama, which is taken from Madhyamasruti, does not surely differ from the Hence, Vikritha Panchama. three-srutied under the category of the above-mentioned fourteen {SudhaVikrithc) svaras, no separte mention was made by me of these five svaras, inasmuch as they had efiected a merger ? Did he not, thus, eliminate from his systm, on the plea of
:

merger, the five (unnecessary) svaras, viz., Achyutha Sa, Achyutha Ma, Vikritha Ri, Vikritha Dka, and Vikritha Pa f Did not, again, Smanth and Venkatamakhi regard uch elimination as a good precedent and piously follow the example set by Rmmtya ?

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

All

is

mettt3*


INTRODUCTION

lix

Why, then, should any one demurif, to-day, we proceed, on the strength of the sam time-honored Principle of Lakshya, to break loose from Venkatamakhi's Melakartha-sysiem and advocate, on the plea o merger, the elimination therefrom of his four (unnecessary) svaras, viz., Shatsruti Ri, Sudha Ga,
Shatsruti Dha, and

the formation of a

Sudha Nif Hence it was that I suggested new working schme, called Laghumlakartha,

as distingaished from the Brihanmelakartha of Venkatamakhi. On this controversial point, however, I shall reserve a full discussion
to

the

Introduction to
it,

my

edition

of

Ckathurdandipraksika^

Suffice

now, for

me

to state, once again, that

we

feel highly

indebted to Rmmtya for his having developed the Principle of star-like maxim for all future musicians to follow. Now, the credit of having first presented to us a /?^r-stringed Vina, nstead of the old, antiquated twenty'tivo-%\x\n%^ one, surely belongs to Rmmtya;^ and the tuning, especially, of his Madhyamla Vna, almost corresponds with that of the modern

Lakshya into a

Vina.

say almost^ because the order of the three lower-wires Madhyamla Vna seems, as per the following diagram, to hve undergone, from time to time, a little change ; though the order of the four upper-wires thereof remains intact even to-day
I

of the

as for example

Ix

SVARAMLAKALNIDHI
,

Again, of the eighteen svaras which appear in the seventh column of Fig. 1 1 it will be seen that Panchasruti Ri and Sudha Ga overlap each other and so do Shatsruti Ri and Sdhrana ha and Sudha iW, and Shatsruti Dha and Ga^ Panchasruti Kaisiki Ni.^ Eliminating, then, the four overlapping svaras, we hve only ourteen svaras left. I again, as per Rmmtya's suggestion, the last five of his twenty mlas are omitted, even Anthara Ga and Kkali Ni may hve to be eliminated. In that ase, the fourteen svaras will hve to be further reduced into Hence, there seems to be a grain of truth in Mr. D. K. twelve. Joshi's remarks that almost all ancient authors invariably used only twelve svaras in their Rgaprakarana, irrespective of the number of svaras described by them in their Svaraprakarana.^ Indeed, in his Svaraprakarana, Rmmtya professed he would make use [at least] of fourteen svaras ^ in his Rga systm and hence, his final use of only twelve svaras, despite his profession to the contrary, shows that he anticipated, even in his own time, the modern tendency of reducing all the musical sounds
;

into twelve notes. // Rdmdmtya was the first to recognize the convenUnce ofusing only twelve svaras to build the Rdg-a systm
;

Ahbala was the first

to describe those twelve

svaras in terms of

the length of the speaking- wire.

Rmmtya rightly discarded the antic and antiquated method of deriving Ragas from the complicated systm of Grma-Moorchana-Jati, as well as the later puerie method of bringing 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
^

As

for the Mlas,

cam

under his notice; and he therefore felt that the old cataloguing method of enumerating the Ragas mut give way to the new classifying method of reducing them into what might be called the
f airness, be deemed to hve written Madhya Sa for the f ourth upper-wire and not Mandra Sa. Indeed, Venkatamakhi's criticism on this

point smacks of the old trick of a gladitor who would even ofiEensively pick a quarrel only with the (innocent) object of giving his muscles the wanted exercise. * For uch overlapping, see Fig. 4. < Vide Report of ihe Second All India Music

page

Conierence,

42.

DelM,

'

'Cf-

^^qi^n

T r

V!a?^v^

SvaramSlakl&nidhi,

INTRODUCTION
GenuS'Species systm. ^

Ixi

Indeed he was the

Mela,

first to
*

open, in his

book, a

separte

chapter on

called

Mlaprakarana/
in this respect,

Smanath and Venkatamakhi but followed him

though the latter formulated the Mlas into, and thereby raised them to the dignity of, a regular code. So far, however, as Rmmtya was concerned, he merely hinted the principle he had discovered did not are to work it out but recorded, in his book, only uch of the Mlas as were in vogue during his time.
;
;

We

are thankful
to

f or

the hint that he threw;

it

for,

it

enabled
into the

Venkatamakhi

work

out to

its

logical consequence.

As
labyrinth

for
of

the Rgas^
their

Rmmtya avoided getting

or
of

ancient classifcations

their

ancient

characteristics,

but straightaway went to mention the prevailing

Rgas as well as the time in which they were usually sung, Though, perhaps to err on the safe side, he recited the traditiong.! story of Mukhari being the Sudha-Scale his whole mind leaned on Mlavagowla which he described as the bestof all Rgas ^ Could this leaning of Rmmtya hve caused
characteristics of his
;
'

'-

'

'

Purandra Ds

to heighten the importance of [Mya-]

Mlavagowla

andenableit, later on, to brush aside Venkatamakhi's

Kmiakngu

Commit mistakes Rmmtya did.

into the out-of-the-way

His slippng, for instance,

Mukkri^ as his Suddha scale, is sad to hve created a lot of confusion and involved Pundarika Vittala, Smanath, and even Venkatamakhi into the sam mistake,

Ahbala alone escaping.

Shrngadv,

Again, in a vain attempt to follow

he labelled the two-srutied Sudha ^af Trisruti

therefore forced to call
of
*

Ri and wa instead Ri
'
'

Sudha

Ga

Panchasruti

Chathusruti

Ri

'^-and thereby misled Govinda

pitfall.

Dikshitar and his son Venkatamakhi into the sam

Venkatamakhi's ten charges against Rmmtya regarding ten Rgas hve been already shown to be unjust, uncalled-for, and even ofensive to a degree. Even his eleventh charg, which he
germ

Doubtiess, the

of the idea of the Genus-Species

f ound

But it to bave existed long bef ore Rmmtya. suchrubbish as \h& Raga-Ragini-Putra systm. Hence I state whawas allowed to be latent for a long time was made patent by Rmmtya and was, later on, codified by Venkatamakhi.
""

systm inay be was covered by some

cf.

?r555r4t55^

T^qnral^:

Svaramlakalnidhu

Ixii

SVARAMLAKALNIDHI

made in the first chapter of his ChahurdandipraJ^sikar^nzxx\s\yy * Rmmtya egregiously got down to Anumandra Sa and restricted his svaras only to two registers of voice, viz., Anumandra and Mandra; while the proper or usual way was to distribute them among three registers, viz., Mandra, Madhya, and Thra even this eleventh charg may be shown to be, again, futile if we regard the names of Anumandra, Mandra, Madhya, and Thra as only relative terms, whereby we can call the sam notes by dfferent
'

names from

dififerent

standpoints of view.

On

holding up, for future Lakskya^ of (2) the displacing of the old cafaloguing method of merely enumerating the Rgas, by his own novel classifying method of reducing the sam into a * GenusSpecies System which, as said above, developed in the hands of Venkatamakhi, into the modem Mlakarta Schme', (3) the opening of a special chapter on Mlas, called Melaprakarana, even
for instance, (i) the

might had given, uch as

the whole, be the demerits of Rmnitya what they as compared with the good he had done and tlje lead he

guidance, of the Principle

'

which Smanth and Venkatamakhi followed suit the final heightening of the importance of Rdgaprakarana (4) as the quintessence of the Carnatic Musc all his demerits pale into insignificance and are, in the language of Klids
in respect of

and

ffflsia1s=^:

fh<ui(ie|-eiT|;=:

'

drowned

in the

moon

is lost

ocen of good qualities, even as the spot in the midst of its splendrous light.'

ojE

the

predecessor, Shrngadv, could not do by his six verses (two in the first chapter and four in the fourth chapter of Sangitharatnakara) and what even the latter's Commentator. Kallinth, could not do in nis Kalnidhz, except in a vague manner.

.Before I finish this Introduction, I should like to draw reader's attention to the seventeenth vere of the fifth chapter of Rmmtya's SvaramlakalnidM. For, it throws a flood of light on a hitherto-vexed question and shows the way-out to many a wandering inquirer, tired of groping from blunder to blunder. In fact, Rmmtya did, by this one vere, what his

my

Does
almost
all

it

the

not, therefore, surpass our later Sanskrit writers

wonder to know that on music chose to


INTRODUCTION
Ixii

egregiously follow, in this respect, the Mirage o Shrngadv rather than the Polar-Star of Rmmatya ? Why, is it not carious or us that the very Rmmtya followed, in the beginning, the sam Mirage, although, at the end, he succeeded to give up following the illusion and constitute himself to be a Polar-Star ?
reader will, at this stage, be anxious to know what I am driving at, unless it be that he referred to the said seventeenth

The

vere 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 that the various Terms occurring in the Science of Music should, at

be lucidly explained. But I fear that this is not the plae Nevertheless, I shall for me to undertake uch an onerous task. try to inquire here into the connotation of a as.a Test ase pair of oft-quoted, but very-much-misunderstood, musical terms, vz., Mrga and Dsi^ especially because Rmmtya brought them into prominence in his seventeenth vere of the fifth chapter How far I succeed in my attempt I leave for my of his book.
first,

reader to judge. I shall begin from the very beginning of music and succinctly trace it to Rmmtya's time, with an occasional peep even into a later time, and show that the said seventeenth vere clarified, for the first time, the otherwise feculent matter under consideration. shall, at first, understand the nture of the feculence,

We

referred to,

and shall, for this purpose, study the Mrga and Dsi, as given by Shrngadv and

definitions of
realise

how

disappointed an eager inquirer will naturally feel at the muddle created thereby. Here are the definitions:

Chapter
1.

I.
*

two kinds Mrga and Dsi. That kind was called Mrga which was sought after by Brahma and other gods and practised by Bharata and other sages in the presence of Siv and which would yield everlasting prosperity.* That kind was called Z>I2 which consisted of the vocal2. instrumental-dance music and which pleased the people of diffe-

Music

is of

rent countries according to their different tastes.'

"*

Ckapter IV,

That was called Gita or vocal music which consisted of Gndharva and pleasing svaas and it fell into two divisxons
3.
*
;

'

txiv

SVARAMLAKALNIDHI
the other

Gna (which were

ively)/
4.
*

names
*

of

Marga and Dsi

'

respect-

wse men understood Gndharva to be that music whch was, from time immemorial, practised by the Gandharvas and which was the means of acquiring everlasting reputation.' That was called Gd7ta-r\M.o which was sung in Desi5. Rgas and which was ^cientifically improvised by Vaggyakaras.' Gndharva has been described now G7ta would be 6. described. This, again, was recognised by wise men to fall into two divisions, Nibadha and Anibadha.' Be it noted that this long, and even tiresome, description of Mrga and Dsi^ after all, fails to satisfy a crucial point. What were ihe essential characteristics of Mdrga and Desi ? In what way could 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 ; even Gandharvas practised it from time immemorial it forms the means of acquiring everlasting reputation. As f or Dsi or Gna it was improvised by Vaggeyakras and was differently pleasing to the people living in different countries.' Are these answers worth the name ? Hve they furnished us with akey whereby we could discern the essential characteristics of Mdrga and Dsi, by which alone they coild be unfailingly recognised ? An emphatic No is my reply* So, as I said, I shall trace our music from the very beginning and show how and when Mdrga and Dsi came into existence,

The

whatconfused mess was madeof thera, and how Rmmtya defecatedthe whole situation by one stroke of his.single (the said seventeenth) vere and gave us a wholesome lead in the matter
getting a correct conception of those hitherto-misleading terms. Into two natural divisions, music first falls, viz, Andhatha and * Anhatha' ltatha. literally means that which is not beateuy as in a drum; while, hatha means that which is beaten. The rel point of difference between them is that, while the former
of
*
'

represents 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-made music*
*

INTRODUCTION

Ixv

This classification, then, is rightly the first division thatcould possibly be made of music. So, indeed, did the text-book writers, uch as Nrada and Shrngadv, do in their respective works. ^
*

In his SangithamakaraTtday Nrada defined Anhatha as the sound that emanates (directly, that is, without the intervention of man) from the sky^ uch as the birds* warbling, and *^ proceeded even to describe its use to man, thus Sages, highminded souls, and even Dvas, having controlled their mind and concentrated their attention on the ndhatha Music, get the rest they require and attain salvation''.^ In other words, nture is loved as the city of God, although (rather, because) there is no citzen. No unwanted noise is here or none that hinders thought. The larks warble and the cuckoos join the chorus while the mighty
* '
:
;

waterfall furnishes a continuous drone,

**

Again

accompanied with sounds so sweet, Charms more than silence. Meditation here May think down hours to moments. Here the heart
Stillness,

give a useful lesson to the head, learning wiser grow without the books *'.* Shrngadv, too, harped on the sam point and came to the sam conclusion that the sages worship Anhatha in the manner Even the music-proofin which they were taught by the gurus."^ brained Dr. Johnson seems to appreciate Anhatfia^ when he observed, in his Rasselasy * From the cataract, nothing more was
*

May And

heard than a gentle uniform murmur, uch as composes the mind

to pensive meditation
'.

Sangithamakaranda.
(2) ^r?ctsTT5c?afi

tor?rr^ i^T?m
i

Sangitharatnkara*
*

cf. Br^TO^^'t

TraO"

^: ^i^rgfreili: Sangithamakarmida.

^Cf- aftH5irf^ rr^

^n w^a ^ar:

Sangithamakaranda.
^

Cf.

^^\^

TT^qfaf gJTTfq

w^m

g^qra^

Sangitharankara*


Ixvi

SVARAMLAKALNIDHI
However mch

the sages and the high-minded souls might hve been charmed and helped on to meditation by the Anhatha or nature-made music, a question arises as to whether that music was ever relished by mankind as a whole, whether it was ever entitled to be called music f rom the modern point of view, and whether, in short, it was pleasing to our ears.
'
'

The answer is by no means simple. For, to an ordinary man, the waves of the sea may produce nothing but unpleasant noise; but a poet will find in them an agreeable harmony. In fact, all those that love to hold communion with nture, as indeed
the ancient sages did, will ever find the AnJtatha-xayx&xc pleasant; while the major portion of the work-a-day world will ever find it unpleasant. Hence Shrngadev branded it as unpleasant;^ and Ksinath followed suit.* Further, the bent of man's mind has been, in all ages, to imitate the voice of nture and hence he did not could not allow nture to hve all the monopoly of music to itself, contributed 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, the courtiers' Panegyric which remains in vogue, even to-day, in almost all the Native States of India and which those courtiers invariably sing, as they had all along been singing, on all ceremonious occasions, uch as for instance, their Sovereign's entry into the Durbar Hal. The whole Fanegyric will, on analysis, be found to be sung on one single note and rarely
*
'

on more. It was in due course of time that the other notes were tacked on, as amply evidenced by our ancient text-books which trace the music of India from rchika of single note to G&tkika of double note, Smika of triple note, Svarntkara of quadruple note,
g\fq

'Cf.

(i.e.

aTlT^t^fq)

%t%fr;r^TR^^ ?qT^Sangitharain&kara.

'Ci. g;

(i.e.

ai^rrfT;)

5R^^:
SangitkastdhcLkcira,


INTRODUCTION

Ixvii

Oudava o quintuple note, Shdava of sextuple note, and Sampurna of all the seven notes. ^ All these seven stages, music did pass through. But,
first
it
;

finally

in the

four stages, pleased only the producers while, in the last * it pleased the hearers as well. Animal Music \ i I may so call it, marked the earlier stages and uch animal music could The braying of an ass please only the animals that produced it. for, is not is very harsh to man but very sweet to the ass itself of its elation, frolic, and expression joy ? That uch braying an
three,
;

was why Shakespeare wrote The crow doth sing

:

as sweetly as the lark

When
concerned

neiiher is attended^'

Man, when he wallowed

so

far

at
life,

least

as

music was

in the animal condition of

revelled only in the

music and could not get beyond singng on four The ancient Hindus, like the ancient Greeks,^ had their notes. music confined only up to four notes. The Vedie Chant^ or instance, was all along sung on three notes and special names were given to those three svaras, viz., Udtka^ Anudtha^ and
earlier stages of
;

Except, perhaps, the Smagnam which, at a later Svaritha.^ stage, came to be sung in all the seven notes, all other kinds of the Vedie Chant remain, even to-day, mostly within three notes,
*

cf.

3Trf^

irfq^^sr

^ftgi^ ^^^\i

=gcf:^5iqVft| ^^TcfEcT
^
*

^FcR:

Brihad Dsi.

iiotes.'

Vide Herbert Spencer's Origin and Function o Music.

NO
:

The

early Greek Lre

had four strngs and was confined to four

la his Siksha, Pnni dilates on the point thus

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


Ixviu

SVARAMLAKALNIDHI

with a labouring struggle to touch occasionally a fourth. The whole of the Vedie Chant would, by this time, hve been ^from consigned to oblivion, had not the modern musical point of view a sacredness, bordering pon holiness, been attached to the Vdas, as containing Divine Wisdom. It goes without saying that our ancients entertained, as we ourselves do even to-day, an unshaken faith that the Vdas emanated out of Parabrahma that they were eagerly sought after by gods like Brahma. and chanted by sages like Bharata that they formed, as it were, a talisman to do away with the necessity of being born* and that they were deemed, on that account, to be worthy of the highest respect. All these attributes of the Vdas got themselves, later on^ imperceptibly transferred to the very music by which they were Hence, the Vedie Chant, to which the text-book writers chanted. gave the name of Mdrga^ ^ has been described in all the Sanskrit books on music, uch as, for instance, Sangitharatnkara That kind (of music) is called Mdrga, which was sought after

by Brahma and other gods and practised by Bharata and other sages in the presence of Siv and which would yield everlasting In his Praandhdkyya, Shrngadv called Mrga prosperity.'^ name, viz., Gndharva^^ which latter name Rmdifferent by a mtya adopted and made use of in his Svaramlakaldnidku
^

The word
That the

after.'

Mrga is derived from W\ {Mrig) to seek or search search was in regard to the Vdas is clear from Kallinth's
* ' *

commentary:TTflc^=^^'^2E5^tN5^f!c55rT^l
ref ers to the

Vedie Chant and,

may

to the chanting of the

regarded as hol as fore, sang in the Mrga-style.

Rmyana the Vdas themselves and which Kusa and Lva,

For, Valmki said
:

add, refers ^by way of cotirtesy even which, along with the Mahabh&rata^ was
there-

Hence

the

word

Mrga

(a)

See page

Ixiii.

<^> cf.

qrife^Tiq^

i^fm^: ^m^mi^i^^^:
'

II

San^arainkara.

In his commentary. Kallinth interprets Gndharva ' only as

Cf.

Mrga

Ttq^'qM:

TR

.#?7^TFa5q^

INTRODUCTION

Ixix

Gndharva or Mrga the descriptive name given to it by Shrngadv and copied by Rmmtya, viz., Andisampradaya^^ clearly shows that the Vedie Chant or, for that matter, the Mrga-ravic had been practised from time immemoral and should therefore be regarded as hol and spiritul as the Vdas
themselves.

Hence,

what you may, the one important point which I desire to rivet pon the reader's attention s that the so-called Mrga-rsxMz^ apart from its having been sought after by Brahma and practised by Bharta and apart from its having been used in connection with uch a hol purpose as the chanting of the divine Vdas, I submit that the Marga-rcMSic was almoat never sung beyond four notes; and that this limitation of the range of the scale from one to four notes mut be deemed to be the peculiar and essential ckaracteristic of Marga-Sangitham.^ These imperfect scales of the Mdrga'Ti\Vi.c belonged, as said above, to the earlier stage of music which pleased only the producers and not the hearers. Further, as Rmmtya suggests,^ the rules of Siksha (Phonetics) and other time-honored Lakshanas were scrupulously observed in chanting the Vdas and these very rules and lakshanas clogged, on account of their inflexible The nture, the further growth of music from its Mrga-stage. Principle of Lakshya^ by which alone the artistic charm of music could be preserved, was never applied to the Mrga-xmsKi but only to the Z?^5^-music, of which we shall speak presently."^ 1 1 is no
it

Mrga \ Vedie Music. Now, Mrga or Gndharva or Vedie Music call

I

venture to call

Cf Kallinath's commentary on Andisamprad&ya.

^That the Vdas were chanted almost on the systems

Gthika, and Smka,
*
'

of rchika,

is evidenced by uch assertions in the i?z^- F/rf^ as * Gthin The Smn Gyanthi/ Gyanthi * ; Gyanthi Archin Sampurna. and Ondava, Shdava, to Rig-Veda makes no reference
;
'

Svaramilakalnidhi.

*cf.

i:r55^iqgRrr?T

^rrwr'^iT^

w^

lW^^f^"^

tfEgr^

^qiP5rr \

See Footnote

2,

page
I

xviii.

Here, Kallinth interprets q;rn?Timr&I to be

^^^ErqTct^;

Ixx

SVARAMLAKALNIDHI

wonder, therefore, that the Mrg-a-mnsic, the rules of which were infiexibly stiff and did not adjust themselves to the piactice in vogue, became, in the course of time, less and less pleasant, less and less popular, and finally extinct.'^ The latter three stages of music, viz., Ozeava, SAdava, Sampuma, hve been, however, preserved even to-day as being human^ music which pleases, alike, the producers as well as the hearers. To the music of these latter three stages ', our ancients gave the name of Dhu In the irst plae, the style of Dsi varied from province to province and it was therefore defined in Sanskrit text-books, uch as for instance, Sangithadarpana That kind of music is called Dsi^ which adjusts itself from country to country (Dsa to Dsa), so as to please the fancy of the people there '.^ In the second plae, the fact that Shrngadv and Rmmtya employed Hridayaranjaka * and Janaranjana ^
'
'

'

Z?^j2-music shows that they as a fascinating style of music, as opposed to the dry, monotonous, and sing-song style of the Mrga-mnc. If any proof is wanted for the fact that the first four stages of music,

as

their

respective

epithets

to

regarded

it

covered by the generic name of Mrga, belongedpurely fron the modern musical point of view to the lower rung of the ladder and that the second three stages, covered by the generic name of Dsi, belonged to the higher rung a reference may be made to what Hridayanarayana wrote Sampurnas are Brahmins
;

'

cf. (1) qiFit

TOrgtg[
Sangithasudhkara.

(a)
2
-

2 imTT^i^ria:
to the
,

, As opposed

Rgatkarangini.

animal music.

' Cf.

Rr5Rn7r

t^rr

q^fiTr^gR^-r^

Sangithadarpana.
*Cf. ^?I^^ ST^rrt |?qT

f^q;^^

Sangitharatn&kara

SvaramUdrkalnidM.


mkODUCIOIf
Shdavcts are
,

Ixxi

Kshatriyas

Oudavas are Vaisyas

and the scales

of lesser notes are

Sudras

*.^

arrive at the following tentative conclusion with regard to the essential characterstics of Mdrga and Dsi,

Summing
'

up,

we

while the scale of the Mrga-music ranged from one to four notes that of the Dsi-music ranged from ive to seven notes.' I called this conclusion tentative, because, on closer scrutiny, it seems to need a little reconsideration. Two facts (I was going to say two premises), viz. (i) Smagnam has been, al along,
vz.,
;

Mrga-music, and (2) Smagnam came, at a later stage, to be sung in all the seven notes (which were, then, called Krushta^

Prathama^

Athisvrd) these two facts or premises compel us to modify the above tentative conclusion to a final form thus : The scale of the Mrga-music ordinarily ranged from one to four notes but, during the later Sman-'^^xioAy rose to seven notes \^ while that of the Dsi-music completely eschewed the scale of one to four notes but confined itself only to the scale of five to seven notes.' The seventeenth vere of the fifth chapter of Rmmtya's Svaramelaklanidhit to which, I said at the outset, I desired to draw my reader's attention, amply bears out my conclusion and is, in fact, an authority for my position. It runs thus
*

Dvithiya,

Tkrithiya,

Chatkurtlia,

Mandra^

and

which means All the hve each its Graha,

'

Z?lyz-Rgas are those of

Amsa,

Nysa,

Further, they

fall

into three divisions

Shadjagrma and Mandra, and so forth. Oudava^ Shdava, and

Smanth followed Rmmtya in this respect. Sampurna.' Another Sanskrit text-writer who, like Rmmtya, ventured to cut this Gordian Knt was the author of a very recent publication, Sangithasudhdkara. Ksinth (for that was the author's name) wrote in his book
:

'

cf.

^^^ ^w^i

sStrfr:

^I^et:

Gri^r

ircrr:

2 But,

modem

be it remembered, fche S&man seven notes were, tmlike the seven noteSi in descending order of pitch.

Ixsii

SVARAMLAKALANIDHI

^croT:

W^- ^^'

^^'

^"^

^^^^'

"

which means Dsi-miisic is prevalent to-day, the three characnotes, SMdava teristical Rgas of which are Sampurna o seven of six notes, and Otcdava, of five notes.' Let us, in conclusion, compare and contrast the two kinds of music, we hve been considering, viz, Mrga and Dsi The Mrga-music was confined to the chanting of (i) the Vdas while, the Dsi-music had no uch limits. The Mrga-music identified itself with the Vdas, (2) got all their attrbutes transferred to itself, and was therefore regarded as having been sought after by the gods and practised by the sages while the Dsi-music had no uch reputation. The Marga-music was, on account of its strict and (3) while, inflexible rules, sung uniformly throughout the country the Dsi-music, untrammelled by uch rules, varied its style from
*

province to province.
(4)

The Mrga-music followed

less

the principle of

Lakskcma

and therefore became

;

and less pleasant, till at last it degenerated into a dry, monotonous, and sing-song style of singing while, the Dsi-music followed the principle of Lakshya and has therefore acquired a more and more fascinating style of
singing.
(5)

The Mrga-music

is

now

practically

extinct

while

the Dsi-music flourishes to-day.

(6)

The Mrga-music used all

;

the three

Grmas

Shadja,
ranged

Madhyama, and Gndhara while the Dsi-music is confined only to one Grma, viz. Shadja.
(7)

The
;

scale

of the

Mrga-music

ordinarily

from one to four notes but, during the later Sman'-peod, rose to seven notes while the scale of the Dsi-music completely eschewed the scale of one to four notes but confined itself only to the scale of five to seven notes.

say

'

practically

',

because the Mrga-music

is

ound, even to-day,

in the hands of Vaidika-Brahmins

who employ

it

vrhenever, on ceremonious

occasions, they chant the Vdas.


INTRODUCTION
(8)
Ixxiii

Thethree-foldclassificationofMusicinto Gita^ Vdya^

applies

and Nnthya
(9)

not to Mrgabut only to Dsi-'

*

Later on, fhe word

old and
is

Mrga

'

has
'

come
Dsi
'

whatever
to

is

cuofdae

while the word

mean has come

to

mean whatever
Music.

new and

up-to^date.^

Just as I called Mrga, Vedie

Music

so, I shall call

Dsi,
their

Modem

The

following Table, I trust, fixes

:

Mrga and Dhi in

proper places

Music

Anbatha
{Nature-mad)

hatha {Man-made)

Marga
{Vidic)

Des

{Modem)

Camatic

Hindustat

'

cf ()
.

^^ sHMT xs^ ^^^mm

Si

Sangitharatn&kara.

Sangithasudha.

Compare, for instance, Venkatamakhi's classification of Rgas into Mrga-Rgas and four kinds of Dsi-Rgas. So also is the ca$e with the Mrga-Thlas and Dsi-Thlas.
*

six kinds of

^Cf.

^rfr
-o

q^rqc ^RTpqT^:

N.B*~This vere 9a

is qtioted,

with approval, in Abhinavar&gamaniari.

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TRANSLATION

SVARAMLAKALANIDHI
Chapter
PREFACE
BenedUtion
i

whose unrvalled wealth consisted in Sr-rga, that is, in his love for Lakshmi whose form is sublime and beautiful who is surrounded by devoted experts in the matter of Svara, Sruti, Grraa, Style, and so
1.

May Nryana

protect us all

Nryana,

forth

who is rhythm who

; ;

a lover of the Theatre

is

himself

who delights in the eternal Ndabrahmam and whose body is full

; ;

of decorations.

Rma Rjds
2.

Pedigree

Formerly, the ancient Brahma, appeared from amidst the Lotus that emanated from the navel of Vishnu, just as the essence of music did from Sama Veda or the philosophy from Vdnta
Sstra.

Brahma, was born Athri from whose eyes was, again, born the Moon, who was a friend of the Dvas and by virtue of whose rays the waters o all the rivers are of help to the ocen (by flowing into it); and who forms one of the eyes of Vishnu in whose belly the earth exists, and also who showed it to
3-4.
this

To

the world that he (moon) invariably lenables the irreproachable ocen, which is full of shining corals, to more and more swell and
flow,

by
5.

dint of the law of causation.

Moon, then, was born a son named Budha ; to Budha was born Pururava and to Pururava was bom the virtuous yu. It was, again, to the dynasty of this yu that Yaythi's father, Nahusha, as well as Bharata and others, belonged. As an ornament to the family of those mentioned above, 6. was born Sri Rai^a Raja, who surpassed Kubera in point of wealth, who enjoyed the contented earth (that is, whose subjects led a contented life); and who, by dint of his good conduct,

To

this

attained the status of Rjarshi.

7.

Thimmmbik was

Sri

was the embodiment

of all the

Ranga Rja's wife; and she good qualities of the virtuous


42
'

SVARAMLAKALANIDHI
illustrious,

women chaste,
and happy.

modest, unjealous, clever, truthful,

Sri Ranga Raja and his 8. born, as a result of their penance,

To

^_ ^ ^ Queen Thimmambika was

,

.,

Rma

Raja,

the king of

all

kings.

Rdma

Raja' s Father-in-law and

Ms two

Brothers

Krishna Rya gave his daughter in marriage to this Rma parenthood of Raja and thereby enhanced the dignity of the
daughters*

had two royal brothers, the well-known Thimmarja and Sri Vnkatdri, just as Dharmaputra of unblem^ Arjuna ished conduct, had two of his noble brothers, Bhima and
9.

Rma

Raja

of dreadful arms.

10.

Rma Raja s Devotion and Prowess Inasmuch as Rma Rja's arms were powerful enough

to conquer even dissha, there was nothing marvellous in his But the rel wonder lay in the fact that his ruling the earth. mind, atomic though, was able to bear the foremost God of the

world, Lord Seshchala. With only a sword in hand, Rma Raja set out f rom 11. Vdypura, accompanied by his two brothers met at Guthigiri the helpless king, named Sadsiva defeated all the traitorous and inimical princes ; placed the said Sadsiva on the auspicious Camatic Throne, as Vishnu had done Dhruva ; and thereby became all the more famous. And, having got the sam energies as actuated Dadhchi, 12. Rdhya {Karnd)^ Sibi, Jimthavhana {Indrd)^ and others into noble action and having thereby acquired wide fme, he (the king) grew, in this world, more and more strong, With his two brothers never leaving his two sides, he^ 13. who was, as it were, an avaiar of Rma shone in the earth, dy and night, just as Mru shone with its (never-leaving) Sun aiid
;
;

Moon*
and throvs?^ forcibly into the air, the raiments of their rotten fme, he adornd the Girls of Directions with the silken garment of his (own solld)
14*

Having defeated

in battle all the Persians

axne^


Rma Rjds
15.

'

PREPACB
Palce

43

and

his

Enjoyment

therein

Having noted that the palce, called Ratnakta and under the guidance of the noble Rmmtya, beat, in point of beauty, even the palce of Indra; Rma Raja became lost in wonder and joy. 16. People declared this palce to be another Mru ; inasmuch as both of them had a variety of lustrous flamingos, were so strongly built as to last for ever, and were also provided wth many an Indra-Sabha-like Hal and many a Play-Ground* The splendour of the flags of the palce, which were 17. moved by gentle breezes, looked ^by coming in contact with the branches of the Mandra trees ^like a circular dance of the celestial nymphs wandering in the grove. 18. The unmarried girls, residing in that palce, proceeded
built

to celebrate the marriage of their several pairs of dolls

their (the dolls') feet
full

by placing

on the

fringe of the stone-like disc of the

moon*
19.
It

Raja, surrounded by experts and Ssha-like musicians, spent his time with joy* 20-21-22. And he (the king) gave Ear-omaments to Rmmtya, after having heard the Prabhandas coraposed by him and sung, in the assembly, by Vainikas accompanied by the accurate vocal music of his pupils Prabhandas, technically known as la, Rgakadamba, Mthrka, thirty-two Sudakas, the well-known Panchathlsvaras, Sriranga, Dvipada, Svarnka, Srivilsa, the thirty illuminating, elaborte, and very valuable Prabhandas^ the sixteen interesting Dhruvas, the forty-six Slagasudas wrtten in majestic style, Pancharatnas containing twenty Rgas, and other works, uch as Gita, Alankra, and lpana with letters sounded*
in this palce that

was

Rma

Venkatadrs Request
23*

enjoying the pleasure of (hearing, or making, or even helping to make) musical compositions Sri Vnkatdri, the Hon of kngs, availed himself of a favourable opportunity and addressed the king with all humiin the assembly,
;

When,

Rma Raja Rma Raja was

to

lity

thns
24.

Music has, both in theory and practice, ^generated into conflicting vews. Let Rmamantri (Rmmya) reconcile, by your word of command, all (the conflicting vewi) and wiite a (new) science/
*

The Science

of

44

SVARAMLAKALNIDHI
25.

the king and who had mtya, who was seated in the vicinity o studied the secret of the art of Music, thus o musc, * 26. In this world, some know only the theory person who knows while others know only its practice ; as for the than you. both o them, I hve not come across anybody else * Inasmuch as the learned Kallapadsika, who was as 27.
:

Rdma Rdjds Reqmsiion to Rmmdtya Then, Rma Raja, King o Srrangam, addressed Rm-

famous

music as Dathila, is your grand-father, that traditional lore of music palpitates in your pulse. * In the science o music, conflicting views hve mdeed 28. an Bring to a ocus all their salient features and write arisen. and theory treatise on music, embodying therein its
in

interesting practice.
29.

with his *Just as, in former times, Patanjali evolved, better had you knowledge o Pnini's works, the science o words ; in conorstandardise, and thereby facilitate, the study o Svaras,
niity

1.

i.-

with the views of Bharata and others.'

Encouragement to Rdmdmtya Saying let this please your heart,' Rma Raja gave 30. Rmmtya the camphor-smelling betels. While, Rmamantri received them and, having thereby agreed to comply with the king's command, contemplated (about the new book). The king (meanwhile) granted to me a chief fort in the 31. principality of Kndavita and also made me the Overlord of an estate washed by the eastem sea. '32. On the strength of this royal grant, Rmmtya caused many agrahdrds to be built and thereby gave shelter to many a Brahmin, by whose blessings he obtained boundless popularity. As though it were only a gemmed garland, he (the king) 33. gave me, again, the Overlordship of the non-western {i. e. eastern) ocen, along with the town of Jloorisimmsana and thereby made me equal in rank to the king himself

Rma Rajs
'

RdmmdtycCs Projecty in grafitude^ of Svaran^lakalnidki Inasmuch a s the king graciously gave me magnificent 34. presents f rom day to day, I now made equal in rank to the king
"

and able
ofiice

anxious to retum the good of the king and also be of some service to the world at large.
to please
little

am a him

SVARA
to

4S
it

Ere long, I shall write SvaramSlakalnidki, dedicate the king and discharge my debt of deep gratitude to him. Having thus resolved, I Rmamantr, an able leader Z^y35.

the accomplishment of Sangithashithya about it, that is, relate the contents thereof.

undertake

in

to

speak

Contents

37-38. In this Svaramlakalanidhiy written by Rmmtya, there are five chapters, namely, Preface, Smra, Vina, M$la, and

Rga.
After the chapter on Preface, the foUowing are in conformity with the theory and practice of music. In the second chapter on Svarax The value of music, the difference between Gndharva and Gna, Registers of voice, Srutis, Sudha-Vikritha svaras and their nomenclatures. 41-42-43, In the third chapter on Vina, a good exposition has been made of the value of Vina, the method of tuning it, the standardization of Sudha-Vikrtha svkras; and the three kinds of Vina, namely, Sdka Mla, Madkya Mla, and Achyutkarajndra MSla. In the fourth chapter on Mlas, twenty Mlas and 44-45. the Mla-derived Rgas are discussed. And their nomenclatures too are severally given. As an alternatve, only fifteen Mlas are recognized but, in the main, there are twenty Mlas. In the fifth chapter, which is the chief one in this 46-47. work, the three kinds of Rgas inio Superior, Mtddling2in Inferior are discussed ; as also their special characteristics. These are the contents of the book.
39-40-41.

expounded by Rmamantri,

Chapter

II

SVARA
1-6.

The Origin and Value of Music Brahma got this music from Sama Veda.
is

all-knowing Siv, Prvati's Lord, is the etemal Krshna, the Lord of the Gpis,

While the pleased with the Vocal Music

antnable to the is fond of the Sman

music of the Flute. While, again, Brahma Chant; Saraswathi is desirous of the Vina. be indeed, need there beany mention at

Why
all

should there
the music.al

of

46
tastes of the

SVRAMLAKALNIDHI

Yakshas, he Gandharvas, the Dvas, the Rkshasas aad the Human Beings ? Further, children who are ignorant of the sensual enjoyment and crying in a cradle, become ecstatic, on drinking the milk of music. And again, beasts and their young ones, roaming in the forest with grass for their food, yearn for the hunter's music; and when they hear i t, mark they give up Even the venomous serpent is rejoiced with their lives for it. hearing music, Who, then, can adequately describe the peculiar virtues of the art of music?
!

Music and

its

two kinds

A group of Svaras
*

capable of ravishing the ear constitutes

And it is said to be of two ^xlA%'--^Gdndkarva and Gdna. That kind of music is called Gandkarva^ which has been, from time immemorial, practised by the Gandharvas and which surely leads to Mksha. Again, that kind of music is called *Gna\ which is composed by Vggyakras (that is, by those who are capable of composing as well as singing) in Dsi Ragas and in conformity with the recognised rules and which is also pleasing to the people* The Gdndharva Music is ever employed in conformity with the (inflexible) rules of the theory,
The Principle
o

music* 7-8-9.

f Lakshya

IO-II-I2. But if the violation of those theoretical rules, inflexible though, do not lead to any absurdity; and if, again, the contravention of any of the rules of practice does not give pleasure, but jars, to the ear then, the practice of music shall be preferred to its theory. Hence, the Gdna Music prevails in this world in conformity with the rules of practice. Indeed, its chief thing has been all along the principle of Lakskya and never the inflexible
;

theoretical rules.

are of opinion that the chief thing of the whole (Dsi) music is the Lakskya or practcal side (rf it, that the practice of any science s more important than its theory and that, in cas'e of any difiference between the two, there seems to be no other way^ut fiian readjusting the science with the art Since Xh^ laws o

men

12 to 17. In his chapter on Instruments, Shrngasuri, who was well-versed in all the music-lore, aigued that the practice of music was more important than its theory, thus The learned
:


SVARA

4?

'

Graha, Amsa, Nysa, and so forth are wthin the scope o the musical science and since the arrangement of the other Svaras (uch as Apanysa), stands on the principle of Laksbya, without however dong any kind of njustice to the science ; Shmgadv Sri determined, in all the Dsi Ragas, the method of how to

remove the differences between the theory and practice of music/ Inasmuch as the sam Shrngadv clearly stated the broad principles of the

Principle
into the

to describe
fall

Gna Music, I shall also follow suit, make the of Lakshya the chief thing in my book and proceed its characteristics* Thus the whole music seems to
*

two divisions spoken

of.

Sund
18-19.
excites the

The
;

soul, desirous of speakng out its

vtal

intenton,

mind and the mind operates on the

(?),

heat of the

body by

setting the air in motion; and the ar, remaining in the

Brahmagranth

navel, the heart,

up and produces Sound/ through the the -neck, the head, and the face.
rises
*

Regisiers

20-21.

The soundj

thus defined,

falls

into five divisions

very subfle^ subtle^ developed^ undevlopd^ and ortifkiaL

all practical
^

But, for

purposeSjthere are only three knds of sound, called

Mamlra' in the chest, ^ Madkya^ in the neck, and Registers ^Thara^ in the head ; each succeedng register being doubly louder than its preceding one.
Sruth
22-24.

This sound

(of

each of the three registers) slands

all

divided into twenty-two Srutis,

wthin the limits of audibility^

And

the Ndis, connected in the chest with the higher Ndi, are

also twenty-two.

Tfaose Srutis, impinged by the air across those

Ndis, rise
of the

up

progressively hx pitch.

So

is

the

neck as well as with those thus twenty-two in number.

of the head.

ase with those The Srutis are

SvOTdS
24-25.

From

the Srutis rose the seven Svaras

Shadja,

Rish^ha,
Nishda.

Gndhra,

And

their

Madhyama, Panchama, Dhaivatha, and respective symbols are Sa^ Ri^ Ga^ Ma^

Pa, Dka,

Nu

; ;

48
26.

SVARAMLAKALNIDHI

That is called Svara^ which is by itself pleasing to the ear and the mind; which permeates the Srutis; and which is tender and harmnie.
27.

The

significance

of this statement is better explained

in terms of the Vina.

Allocaton of the seven Svaras

from the Srutis in uch a manner that Shadja takes the fourth Sruti of the Vina; Rishabha, the seventh; Gndhra, the ninth ; Madhyama, the thirteenth and Panchama, the seventeenth; Dhaivatha, the twentieth tak each Nishda and Gndhra Nishda, the twenty-second. Rishabha and Dhaivatha tak each three Srutis two Srutis while, Shadja, Madhyama, and Panchama tak each four Srutis.
27-30.

The Svaras

arise

Aft Objectian
30-31. Be the above allocation, namely, of giving Shadja four Sruthis and so forth, what it may how are the three Srutis preceding the fourth accounted for?
;

An Answer ta

tke Ojection

shall answer The fourth Sruti. anticipates as 31-32. a matter of fact all its preceding Srutis and means and includes them. Thus, it is settled that, as regards Srutis* every succeeding one anticipates all that precede it and means and includes them. Sdka- Vikritka Svaras
:

We

These seven Svaras,' beginning with Shadja, are Sdka Svaras. called While, the Vikritha Svaras are also seven. In all, there are fourteen Svaras Sudha and Vikritha.
32-33.

A Second Objection
How is it that you hve given only seven Vikritha 33-34Svaras, while Shmgadv mentioned, in his Ratnakara^ so many as twelve}

An Answer to tke Second Objection

34-38.
It is true that,

from the theoretical point of view, the

But, in actual practice, there

number

twelve

may be
*

desirable.

As

indicated in verses 27 to 30.


SVARA
49

are only seven Vikritha-Svaras, as beng different from the seven Sudha-Svaras. If the basic notes are left out there does arise a difference in sound, as regards the remaining five Vikritha^

Svaras. But if they (the basic notes) are retained, the said diffesence disappears in practice, though not in theory, by the

process of taking the preceding but not the next precedng

Srutis.
I

shall tel

you how,
the

12 Vikritka Svaras became y 38-42. Achyutha Shadja does not differ from Sudha Shadja nor does Achyutha Madhyama differ from Sudha ^Madhyama. Vikritha Rishabha does not differ from Sudha Rishabha; nor does Vikritha Dhaivatha differ from Sudha Dhaivatha. Vikritha Panchama, which is taken from Madhyamasruti, does not surely differ from the three-Srutied Vikritha Panchama. Hence, under the category of the above-mentoned fourteen (Sudha- Vikritha) Svaras, no separte mention was made by me of these five Svaras, inasmuch as they had effected a merger.
;

How

Seven Vikritha Svaras

42-44.

We

shall

enunciate the seven Vikritha-Svaras by

mentionng their names and also state their characteristics.

The

names

are
(i)
(2)
(3)

(4)
(5)

(6)

and

(7)

Chyutha Shadja Chyutha Madhyama Chyutha Panchama Sdhrana Gndhra Anthara Gndhra Kaisiki Nishda Kkali Nishda
Their Characteristics

Chyutha Shadja is the name given to that Shadja which gives up its own fourth Sruti and takes the third one, The sam rule equally applies to Chyutha Madhyama and Chyutha Panchama'. When Sudha Madhyama takes the first Gndhra Sruti, it is called * Sdhrana Gndhra^; but when the sam Sudha Madhyama takes the second Gndhra Sruti, it goes by the name of Anthara Gndhra.' When, again, Sudha
44-49.
'
'

'

16

so

SVARAML.AKALNIDHI
frst
*
'

Nishda Sruti, it is called by expert musicians Kaisiki Nishda but when it takes the second Nishda Sruti, it goes by the name of Kkali Nishda '. Thus, the seven (Vikritha Svaras) hve been described.
; *

Shadja takes the

Another Nofnenclature
49-57*
Iii

fulfilment of a usage, I shall

now mention a few

Svaras obtaining elsewhere. On account of its identity with Nishda, Chyutha Shadja is also called Chyutha Shadja Nishda. On account of its identity with jGndhra, Chyutha Madhyama is also called by me Chyutha Madhyama Gndh-ya. On account of its identity with Madhyama, Chyutha Panchama is also called by me Chyutha
of these fourteen

different nomenclatures to

some

Panchama Madhyama. Inasmuch as Rishabha is, in practice, known to identify itself with Sudha Gndhra the latter (Sudha Gndhra) is called by me Panchasruti Rishaha. When, however, Rishabha identifies itself with Sdhrana Gndhra; that Sdhrana Gndhra is, in practice, also called Shatsruti Rishabha. Likewise, when Dhaivatha identifies itself with Sudha Nishda, that Sudha Nishda is called Panchasruti Dhaivatha but when it identifies itself with Kaisiki Nishda, that Kaisiki Nishda is
;
;

called Shaisruti Dhaivatha.

Recafitulaiion

For the better understanding of the chapters on that are going to be related, the above-mentioned Svaras are herein duly recapitulated. The seven Sudha Svaras are to be known, in order, thus Sudha Shadja, Sudha Rishabha, Sudha Gndhra, Sudha Madhyama, Sudha Panchama, Sudha Dhaivatha, and Sudha Nishda. The seven Vikritha Svaras are declared to be Chyutha Shadja Nishda, Chyutha Madhyama Gndhra, Chyutha Panchama Madhyama, Sdhrana Gndhra, Anthara Gndhra, Kaisiki Nishda and Kkali Nishda. Sudha Gandhara is known as Panchasruti Rishabha, while Sdhrana Gndhra is known as Shatsruti Rishabha. In some places, andther view obtains in regard to the association of Rgas according to the Gna Music. Sudha Nishda is known as Panchasruti Dhaivatha, while Kaisiki Nishda is known as Shatsruti Dhaivatha. These fourteen Svaras occur in every Rga; while, now and then, the seven Svaras hve, in some places, more than
57-65.

Rga and Mela,

three registers.

VINA

fs: I :*/
j.f

^^^

f^iHUPAT/\

51

Chapter
VINA
1-2.

III

\^W

''^^^

^^^1^ * ^^^

explaned, an account of how the Mlas and Rgas are formed, is given. Since that account can be clearly expounded only with the help of the Vina, I shall now describe the Vina in conformity with the theory and practice of music.
Its Consrucion

The Svaras having been

and ImportaTice

Cross-Bar of the Vina) is Sambu; Thanikri (or the Wire) is Uma ; Kakubha (or the Piece of Wood at its end) is Kamalpati; Pathrika (or the Metallic piece for the wires to run over) is Lakshmi T/zuma (or the Gourd attached to the Cross-Bar) is Brahma and Nbhi (or the Round piece of metal which connects the gourd with the cross-bar) is Saraswathi. Draka (or the strings used for fastening the wires) is Vsuki Jiva (or Bits of cotton or woollen or even slken threads used for refining the sound) is the Moon ; and Srikas (or the Metallic frets placed over the cross-bar) form the Sun. Hence, Vina is the embodiment of all the gods and is therefore very auspicious. It is capable of purifyng the wicked persons that com4-6. mitted the sin of murdering the Brahmins and is also capable of giving, at mere touch or sight, Svarga and Apavarga (that is, temporary enjoyment and eternal bliss). Since, thus, the expert musicians and Munis, like Bharata and others, praised the Vina, I am also of opinion that the Vina is really praiseworthy. 6-1 1. This (Vina) is verily a means of procuring (the four Objects of Life, namely), Dharma, Artha, Kma and Mksha, It procures Dharma (or Righteousness), inasmuch as it is laid down in the Vdas that, in connection with the Horse-Sacrifice, * two Brahmins should play on the Vina (in concert with a third Brahmin singing) \ It procures Ara (or Wealth), inasmuch as the Vainikas obtain their expected money from the kings who are enamoured of the Vina. The Vdas declare that women love the musicians '; and hence the Vina procures Krna. Yagnavlkya * WhoeV^H^^'W^t*^'^^ of Vinapraised the Vina thus play, whoever is an adept in the mater^'of Suts-d Jthis, and whoever is well-versed in Thla eas^jdoes he ^et it^ the way
2~4*
(or

Danda

the

of Mksha^'


52
T^ie

VARAMLAKALNIDHI
Name of
the

Vina and

its

Kinds

VINA; or Rudra That Vina is called 11-17. to be of three kinds, found It is, in practice, (Siv) is fond of it. namely, (i) Sudha Mla Vina, (2) Madhya Mla Vina and Achyutharjndra Mla Vina. Each of these three kinds 'lalls
into

RUDRA

two varieties, namely, (i) Sarvarga Mla Vina and (ii) karga Mla Vina, That Vina is called Sarvarga Mela V7ia^ the frets of which are fixed and, yet, made to produce all the Rgas While, it is called karga Mela Vina, the in all the registers. frets of which are moved or changed, every time a Raga is changA third variety in Madhya Mla Vina is suggested thus ed. Leave the first three wires of the Madhya Mla Vina and tak up the fourth wire of Shadja and, on this fourth wire, make use
:

(3)

of all the frets in all the three registers/ variety is already comprised or implied in

Since this (suggested) Madhya Mla Vina, no

separte mention of

it

has been made.

of ihe various kinds of Rudra Vina (a) Sudha Mla Vina 18-20. The characteristics of these three kinds of the Vina, namely, Sudha Mla, Madhya Mla, and Achyutharjndra Mla, First, the are (now) described from the standpoint of practice. with. Vina dealt Let four are characteristics of Sudha Mla metallic wires be fastened on the upper part of the Vina, construcBelow, ted by a clever mechanic who knows his business welL wires) and right-hand on side, the let three but near (the four wires be fastened. 21-23. The arrangement of the Svaras (speaking) on these $even wires is (now) told. Of the four upper wires, the first on
The
Characteristics

the left-hand side

may be named AnumandraShadja

Anumandra Panchama; the third, Mandra fourth, Mandra Madhyama, 2426. The arrangement of the Svaras (speaking) on the three lower wires is (then) told. The first (of the three lower wires) is of the sam Sruti as Madhya Shadja (that is, produces Madhya Shadja) the second, Mandra Pancfiama and the third, Mandra Shadja. These three side- wires are called Srutis.'
;

the second, Shadja; and the

;

26-31. Then, the arrangement of the Frets is described in conformity with the views of the Vainikas. On the first Anumandra z-wire, should be placed frets Nos* i, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,

VINA

53

SO that they may produce respectively the following Svaras : Sudha Ri, Sudha Ga, Sdhrana Ga, Chyuthamadhyama Ga,

Sudha Ma^ and Chyuthapanchama Ma,

consider what Svaras these six frets produce on the other three (upper) wires. On the second wire, called Anumandra Panchama, the sam six frets produce respectively the following Svaras :Sudha Dha, Sudha Ni, Kaisilci Ni, Chyuthashadja Ni, Sudha Sa, and Sudha Ri. 35-36. The two Svaras, namely, Sudha Sa and Sudha Ri produced on the second wire, occur again on the third wire, in Mandra, and are therefore of no use on the second wire. The Anumandra Svaras hve been described; now, I shall deal with
shall

31-34.

We

the

Mandra Svaras.

The Svaras, which the sam six frets produce on 37-39' the third Mandra ^-wire, are, as in the ase of Anumandra Sa wire, as follows : Sudha Ri, Sudha Ga^ Sdhrana Ga, Chyuthamadhyama Ga, Sudha Ma, and Chyuthapanchama Ma. Since Sudha Ma and Chyuthapanchama Ma occur, 39-40. again, on the fourth wire, they are of no use on the third wire. 41-43, The Svaras, which the sam six frets produce on the fourth Mandra J/^-wire, are : Chyuthapanchama Ma, Sudha Pa, Sudha Dha, Sudha Ni, Kaisiki Ni, and Chyuthashadja Ni. These are considered to be Mandra-Svaras,
^

In this manner, all the Anumandra-and-Mandra43-44. Svaras are duly produced by the said six frets on the said four
wires.

Svaya?n6kus
following Svaras are Svayamkus^ that is, those of natural creation and not of man's making. The method of

44-62.

The

determining their values is now explained. It is agreed on all hands that the two Svaras between which there is an interval of twelve or eight Sruthis are Samvdis to each other. This point has been well explained in Ratnkara. Another method of determining the values of Svayambhus is as follows The Mandra Sudha Pa, produced on the fourth wire by the second fret, is called S vayambhu. Hence all the Svaras produced (on all the four wires) by the second fret are Svayambhus and cannot be otherwise. Inasmuch as the Anumandra Sudha Ni, produced on the second wire by the second fret, is of the sam value as the Mandra Sudha
:

;;

54

SVARAMLAKALNIDHI

iW, produced on the foutth wire by the fourth fret ; all the Svaras, produced (on all the four wires) by the fourth fret are determined to be Svayambhus; and they cannot be otherwise. Inasmuch, again, as the Anumandra Chyuthashadja iW, produced on the second wire by the fourth fret, is of the sam value as the Marsdra Chyuthashadja AV, produced on the fourth wire by the sxth fret all the Svaras produced (on all the four wires) by the sixth fret are determined to be Svayambhus and they cannot truly be otherThe Sa-Ma Svaras, produced (on the first three wires) wise. by the fifth fret, are all Svayambhus, Inasmuch, again, as the Mandra Kaisiki Ni^ produced on the fourth wire by the fifth 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 Sdha Dha^ produced on the fourth wire by the third fret, is of the sam value as the Anumandra Sudha Dha^ produced on the second wire by the first fret all the Svaras hve been shewn to be of definitely determined values. In this manner Rmmtya determined the values of all the Svaras produced on all the four wires by all the six frets, 62-64. In the sam manner, suitable frets were fixed by learned men in the other registers also, uch as, Madhyathra and Anuthra. The Svaras, produced on the frets of the Madhya Register and above are agreeable and therefore accepted in practice, only if they are produced on the fourth wire but not on the other three wires. 64-72. While all the hitherto-discussed Svaras hve been fourteen in number, the theory of twelve Svaras will now be e'xplained, without any confusion. First, the question as to why a couple of frets was not fixed to produce Kkali Ni and Anthara Ga may be taken up. If two frets were fixed to produce Kkali Ni and Anthara Ga^ the resulting sound is a disagreeable beat and hence the absence of the two frets to produce those two Svaras. then can they be otherwise produced ? The learned musicians are of opinion that Kkali Ni can be produced, in a way, even by the Chyutha Madhyama G^^z-fret. In fact, all the Rgas, in which Kkali Ni and Anthara Ga play any part, may likewise be sung. Some practical musicians consider Chyutha;

How

madhyama Ga and Chyuthashadja Ni

rspectively of Anthara Go^ and Kkali Ni,

as

the representativee on aqcount of the very

MLA

SS

small difference in sound between 'them. Thus has Shrngadv expressed himself agreeably that Kkali Nt and Anthara Ga are of occasional use. This is the view of the practical muscans regarding the characteristics of Sudha Mla Vina.
(^)

MadhyamUa Vina

73-76. The characteristics of Madhyamla Vina are herein clearly given. I the first wire of the Sudha Mla Vina produces

Anumandra Pa Mandra Pa\ and

;

the second wire,

Mandra Sa

the fourth wire,

Madhya Sa\

the third wire, then, Madhya-

Mla-Vina is the result. As for the three side-wires, their arrangement should be uch as to produce the sam sound as the
upper-wires,
(^)

Achyutkaraja Mla Viita

Then, the Achyutha Bhupla Mla Vina is descrb77-78If the fourth upper wire of the Sudha Mla Vina produces ed. Mandra Pa and the other three upper wifes produce the sam Svaras, as in the ase of Sudha Mela Vina ; then, Achyuthamah>raja Mla Vina is declared by me to be the result. As for the side-wires, an additional Madhya P^aj-wire should be tacked on.

Chapter IV MLA
1-2.

Having thus explained the

characteristics of the three

kinds of the Vhia^ I shall duly proceed to speak about the Mlasy which cause their respective Rgas to be formed and which are distinguished by Rga-naraes, coined after the fashion of the languages prevailing in various provinces.

The Name oftke

3.
I shall first specify

first

Mla
of the

the

names
all

Mlas and then

explain their characteristics. the first.

Of

the Mlas,

MUKHRI

is

Tke Names of other Mlas

4--9.

Other Mlas are as follows:

Mlavagowla,

Srirga,

Sranganta, Hindla, Sudharmakr3ra, Deskshi, Kannadagowla, Sudhanti, hari, Ndarraakriya, Sudhavarli, RithigowK Vasanthabhairavi, Kedaragowla, Hjujji, Smavarli, Rvagupthi, Smatha, and Kmbhoji. Thus, there are twenty Mlas.


56
'

SVARAMLAKALNIDHI
Te
Chardcteristics of the twenty

Mlas
:

9-10.

And

their characteristics are explaxned thus

(i)

Mukkdri
*

The Mla

of

Mukhri

According to the learned Shrngadv, Rgas are deemed to be Sudha.

consists of seven Sudfia svaras. Mukhri and a ew Grma-

(2) Mdlavagowla

1- 1 2, Rmmatya characterises, with the approval of those that are well-versed in^ Rga (-Lakshana), the Mla of * Mlavagowla * as consisting of these seven svaras, namely, Sudha Sa^ Sudha Ri^ Sudha Ma^ Sudha Pa^ Sudha Dha^ Chyuthamadhyama Ga^ and Chyuthashadja 1315. Then do I enumerate some of the Rgas derived from this Mla (of Mlavagowla) and they are Mlavagowla, Lalitha, Bowli, Sourashtra, Gurjari, Mechabowli, Palamanjari, Gudakri, Sinduramakri, Chygowla, Kuranji, Kannadabangla, Mangalakaisika, and Malhari.
1

Nu

(3)
*

Srirga

Srirga ' consists of these seven 16-17. The Mla of svaras, namely, Sudha Sa^ Panchasruti Ri^ Sdhrana Gay Sudha Ma^ Sudha Pa^ Panchasruti Dha^ and Kaisiki Ni \ 18-20. Then do I enumerate some of the Rgas derived from this Mla (of Srirga) and they are Srirga, Bhairavi, Gowli, Danysi, Sudhabhairavi, Vlvali, Mlavasri, Sankarbharana, ndli, Dvagndhri, and Madhyamdi. These and a few others also are derived from this Mla.
*

(4)

Sdrangandia
'

20-22. Rmmtya characterises the Mla of Sranganta' as consisting of these seven svaras, namely, Sudha Sa^ Panchasruti Ri^ Chyuthamadhyama Ga, Sudha Ma, Sudha Pa, Panchasruti Dha, and Chyuthashadja Ni. 22-24^ Then do I enumerate some of the Rgas derived

from

Mla (of Sranganta) and they are : Sranganta, Svri, Srangabhairavi, Natanryani, Sudhavasantha, Poorvathis
;

gowla, Kunthalavarli, Bhinnashadja, and Nryani. a few others also are derived from this Mla.

These and

MLA
(5)

'

57

Hindla

characteristcs of Srirga are equally applicable to Hindla' ; and the only exception is (that instead of Panchasruti Dha of the former) Sudha Dha is used (in the latter). 26-27. I now enumerate some of the Rgas derived from this Mla (of Hindla) ; and they are : Hindla, Mrgahindla, and Bhpla and also a few others.
this

25.

The

Mla

of

(6)

Stcdharmakriya
*
'

Sudharmakriya consists of these seven svaras, namely, Sudha Sa^ Sudha Ri^ Chyuthamadhyama Ga, Chyuthapanchama Ma, Sudha Pa, Sudha Dha apd Chyuthashadja Ni. 29-30. Then do I enumerate some of the Rgas derived from this Mla (of Sudharmakriya) and they are : Sudharmakriya, Pdi, rdradsi, and Dipaka, and also a few others.
of
;

27-28.

The Mla

(7) Disdkshi

30-32,
*

Dskshi

learned Rmmtya characterises the Mla of as consisting of these seven svaras, namely, Sudha

The

z, Shadsruthi /?/, Chyuthamadhyama Ga, Sudha Ma^ Sudha Pa, Panchasruti Dha, and Chyuthashadja N Dskshi and other Rgas are, here and there, the derivatives of this Mla (of Dskshi).
(8)

Kannadagowla

the characteristcs of Dskshi and Kannadagowla, there is one point of diJBference, namely, the latter (Kannadagowla) has Kaisiki as practised by the experts (instead of Chyuthashadja Ni of Dskshi).

33-34.

As between

from (of Kannadagowla) ; and they are Kannadagowla, Ghantrava, Sudhabangla, Chynta, Thurushkathdi, Nga* dhvani, and Dvakriy^ and a few others.
I

34-36.

now enumerate some

of the Rgas, derived

:

this

Mla

(9)

Sudhant

37-38. The Mla of * Sudhanti ' consists of these svaras, namely, Sudha Sa, Shadsruti Ri, Chyuthamadhyama Ga, Sudha Ma, Sudha Pa, Shadsruti Dha, and Chyuthashadja Ni. Sudhanti and other R^as are the derivatives 6f this Mla (of Sudhanti).
17

58

SVARAMLAKALNIDHI
(lo)

hari

*Ahari' consists of these svaras, namely, Sudha Sa^ Panchasruti Ri^ Sdhrana Ga^ Sudha Ma^ Sudha Pa, Sudha Dha, and Chyuthashadja^i\7/. hari and other
39-40.

The Mla

of

Rgas are the derivatives of

(11)

this

Mla

(of hari),

Ndardmakriya
'

consists of these 41-42. The Mla of * Ndarmakrya svaras, namely, Sudha Sa^ Sudha Ri^ Sdhrana Ga^ Sudha Ma^ Sudha Pa, Sudha DJia, and Chyuthashadja Ni. Ndarmakriya and other Rgas are the derivatives, here and there, of this Mla (of Ndarmakriya).
(12)
'

Sudhavarli
'

43-45. The Mla of Sudhavarli consists of these svaras, namely, Sudha Sa^ Sudha Ri, Sudha Ga^ Chyuthapanchama Ma^

Sudha Pa^ Sudha Dha^ and Chyuthashadja

NL

Sudhavarli
of

and other Rgas are, in different provinces, the derivatives this Mla (of Sudhavarli).
(13)

Rithigowla
'

45^47^ The Mla of * Rithigowla consists of these svaras, namely, Sudha Sa^ Sudha Ri^ Sudha Ga^ Sudha Ma^ Sudha Pa^ Rithigowla and other Panchasruti Dha^ and Kaisiki Ni. Rgas are, according to the views of the musicians, the derivatives of this Mla (of Rithigowla).
*

(14) Vasanthahhairavi

47-49* The Mla of Vasanthabhairavi ' consists of these svaras, namely, Sudha Sa^ Sudha Ri^ Chyuthamadhyama Ga^ Sudha May Sudha Pa^ Sudha Dka^ and Kaisiki Nu few Rgas, uch as Vasanthabhairavi and Sma, are deemed to be the derivatives of this Mla (of Vasanthabhairavi).
*

(15)

Kddragowla
*
'

49-51. The Mla of Kdragowla consists of these svaras, namely, Sudha Sa, Panchasruti Ri^ Chyuthamadhyama Ga^ Sudha Ma, Sudha Pa^ Panchasruti Dha, and Chyuthashadja

Kdragowla, Nryanagowla and a few other Rgas are the derivatives of this Mla (of Kdragowla).
Ni.

MLA
Nota Bene
52.

59

Having discussed

the (above-mentioned) fifteen Mlas,

wherefrom Anthara Ga and Kkali Ni were excluded ; we shall (now proceed to) deal with the (following) five Mlas wherein Anthara Ga and Kkali Ni will be included.
(16) Hjujji

'

Anthara Ga^ Sudha Ma^ Sudha Pa^ Sudha Dha, and Kkali Ni. Hijujji (Hjujji) and other Rgas and a few Grma-Rgas too are the derivatives of this Mla (of Hjujji). This Mla of the Gndharva (or Mrga) type, which comes under the category of the five (special) Mlas, has been approved of by Shrngadv,
Ri^t

53-55. The Mla of namely, Sudha Sa., Sudha

'

Hjujji

consists of these svaras,

(17)

S&mavarli

55-57. The Mla of * Smavarli ' consists of these svaras, namely, Sudha Sa, Sudha Ri, Sudha Ga, Sudha Ma^ Sudha /*, Sudha Dha, and Kkali Ni. Smavarli, Thndi, Purvavarli, and a few Grma-Ragas are, according to Shrngadv, who was well-versed in the Mrga-music, the derivatives of this Mla (of
Smavarli).
(18) Rvaguftki

3
'

58-59.

The Mla

of

Rvagupthi

consists of these seven

Sudha Sa, Sudha Ri, Anthara Ga^ Sudha Ma^ Sudha Pa, Sudha Dha, and Sudha Nu Rvagupthi and a few Sudha Rgas are mentioned by Shrngadv, in his Ratnakara, as derivatives of this Mla (of Rvagupthi).
svaras, namely,
(19) Saihantka

4
'

60-61.

The Mla

of

Sriiantha

consists of these svaras,

namely, Sudha Sa, Shadsruti Ri, Anthara Ga, Sudha Ma, Sudha Pa, Shadsruti Dha, and Kkali Ni. Siantha and other Rgas are the derivatives of this Mla (of Sriiantha).

Kmdhfi^-S 61-62. The Mla of 'Kambhji* consists of these Svaras, namely, Sudha Sa, Panchasruti Ri, Anthara Ga, Sudha Ma, Sudha Pa, Panchasruti Dka, and Kkali Ni, Kmbhji and other Rgas are the derivatives of Ijhis Mla (of Kmbhji).
(20)


60

SVARAMLAKALNIDHI

Controversy

63-70. The characteristics of these twenty Mlas hve been, (As or the controversy that has arisen, in the main, described. I now namely, whether there are twenty or fifteen Mlas) proceed to state both the sides of the question, with the help^f a Vina, If, on the one hand, Anthara Ga and Kkali Ni are taken But i, on the into account there surely arise twenty Mlas. other hand, Chyuthamadhyama Ga and Chyuthashadja Ni are deemed to represent Anthara Ga and Kkali Ni respectively there arise only fifteen Mlas. In the latter ase, the remaning five Mlas mut be deemed to be implied in the fifteen. For, implied in Vasanthabhairavi Smavarli, in SudhaHjujji is varli ; Rvagupthi, in Bowli Sriiantha, in Kannadagowla ; and Kmbhji, in Sranganta. If the (above-mentioned) theory of representation is accepted, there are only fifteen Mlas from

Mukhri

to Kdragowla, both inclusive.

Chapter

RGA
the Rgas, derived from these Mlas, fall into three divisions, namely, Superior^ Middling^ and Inferior. They will now be dealt with, in detail.
I.
(i)

AU

Superior
are

2-6.
*

The foUowing twenty Rgas

declared to be

Superior \ on account of their being free from any kind of mixture and also of their being suitable for use in singing, composition, elaboration, and for Tya and those Rgas are
; :

1. 2.

Mukhari.
Sudhanti.

11.

Srirga.

12*

Kaimadagfowla.
Stiantha.

3-

Malavagowla.
Sudhavarli.
Gtirjari.

4.
5.
6. 7. 8.
9.

13. 14. 15.

16. 17. 18.
19.

Lalitha.

DskshiDhanysi. Bowlihari. Malhari. Mlavasri.

SudharxaakriyaSudhavasantlia.
Bhairavi.

10.

HindIa.

mid

20.

Sranganta.


RAQA
(ii)

61

Midlmg^

and they are

following fifteen Rgas are called * Middling ' of ittle use or, if at all, used to sing fragmentary portions of songs. Those Rgas are : 1* Kdragowla* 9. Pdi. 2. Kmbhji. 10. Bhtipla3*

6-9.

The

Kannadabangrla.
Vlvali.

11.
12.
13.

Rvagfupthi.

45.

Madhyamdi*
Nryani* Rithigowla,
Ndar3tnakriya.
(iii)

6.
7. 8.

14.

and

15.

Gtmdakriya. HejuiJL Vasanthabhairavi. Smavarli.

Inferior
are called
18.
*

9-14^
1.

The following Rgas

Inferior

'

:-

Sourashtra.

2. 3.

Mchabowli. Chyagowla.
Kuranj.

19.
20.

Bhinnashadja. Ktmthalavarli. Srangabhairavi<

Stidhabaxigla.

4.
5.

Sindurmakrya.

21. 22.
23.

Nagadhvani.
GhantSrava. Margahindla. ChynSta. Dvakriya. Nryani. Gowlaragra. Thdi.
Varli.

6.

Gowdi.
Des.

7.

24. 25. 26.

27.
28.

8.
9.

Mangalakaiska. Purvagowla.

10.

Smaraga.
Andli. Palamaniari. Sankarbharatik. Dvagrndhari. Dpaka. Natanryani. Sudhabhairavi.

11. 12.
13.

29.
30.

14.
15.
16.

31.
32.

Thttnishkathdi. Svri.

and 33,

rdradSsi,

17.

15-16. These mixed Rgas which intervene between the superior and the middling ones that is to say, these inferior Rgas are plentiful but calculated only to dazzle (and not illumine) the masses. They are further unsuitable for composi-

Tya, lpa, and Prabandha. musicians do not countenance them.

tions like

Hence
Rgas

it

is

that the

The

Characteristics of the

All the Dsi Rgas are those of Shadjagrma and hve 17* each its Graha, Amsa, Nysa, Mandra, and so forth. Further, they 1^11 into three divisions Ondava, Shdava, and Sampuma^

62

SVARAMLAKALNIDHI
i8-20.

are used, as uch, in all the (three kinds of) rgas or not, I shall now in conformity with the theory and practice of music, state a few of the characteristics of the twenty superior Rgas which are free from any mixture, of the fifteen ndddling ones, as well as of the inferior ones.
(I )

Whether these Dsi Rgas

Superior-Sampurna

lo

20-2I.

has

Sa for

its

That Rga is called Ndtiy which is Sampurna, which Graha, Amsa, and Nysa, and which is sung in the

latter part of the day.

21-22, That Rga is called Varli, which is Sampurna, which has Sa for its Graha, Amsa, and Nysa, and which may be

sung

at all times.

That Rga, the wise men call Srangafiad, which is Sampurna, which has Sa for its Graha, Amsa and Nysa and which is declared, by the wise mn, to be sung in the latter part
22-23.
of the day.

23-24. That Rga is called Sudhardmakriya^ which is Sampurna, which has Sa for its Graha, Amsa, and Nysa, and which is sung after the noon. 24-25. That Rga is called Mukkdri which is Sampurna, which has Sa for its Graha, Amsa, and Nysa, and which may be

sung

at all times.

25-26.

That Rga

is

which has Sa

for its Graha,

which is Sampurna, Amsa, and Nysa, and which is sung

called Bhairavi,

in the latter part of the day.

of the day.

26-27. That Rga is called kari, which is Sampurna, which has Sa for its Graha, Amsa and Nysa, and which, according to the wise men, should be sung in the last watch of the day. 27-28. That Rga is called Sdmantha, which is Sampurna, which has Sa for its Graha, Amsa, and Nysa, and which is sung in the last watch of the day-time. 28-29. That Rga is called Kan-nadagowia, which is Sampurna, though, in ascent, it sometimes leaves Dha which has Ni for its Graha, Amsa and Nysa; which is specially liked by the people of Orissa and which is sung in the latter part of the day. That Rga is called Dsdkshi, which is Sampurna, 30. though, ascent, it leaves Ma and Ni\ which has Sa for its Graha, Amsa, and Nysa; and which is sung in the former ^ part
;

RAGA
(2)

63

Superior'Shdava-^

That Rga is called Bowli, Which is Shdava, for it leaves Pa\ which has Ma f or its Graha, Amsa, and Nysa; and which should be sung in the first half o the day. That Rga is called S-udkavasantha, which is Shdava, 3 2-3 3*
31.

for

it

leaves Pa, though, in descent,

Pa
is

is

Sa

for its

Graha and Amsa

and which

included ; which has sung in the fourth part

of the day.

33-34. That Rga is called MalavasH, which leaves Ri (and is therefore Shdava) which has Sa for its Graha and Amsa; which may be sung at all times ; and which is auspicious. 34-35. That Rga is called Gurfari^ which is Shdava, for it leaves Pa^ which is sometimes retaned in descent; which has Ri for its Graha, Amsa, and Nysa; and which is sung by the
;

musicians in the
36.

first

watch of the day.

That Rga is called Lalitka, which is Shdava, for it leaves Pa\ which has Sa for its Graha, Amsa, and Nysa; which auspicious. is sung in the first watch of the day; and which is
(3)

Supmor-Oudava

That Rga is called Hindkty which is Oudava, for it leaves Ri and Dka\ which has Sa for its Graha, Amsa, and Nysa; which may be sung at all times; and which is
37.

auspicious.

That Rga is called Malhdri, which is Oudava, for it leaves Ga and Ni; which has Dha for its Graha, Amsa, and Nysa ; and which is sung by the wise men at day-break. That Rga is called Dhanysi, which is Oudava, for it 39. its Graha, generally leaves Ri and Dha\ which has Sa for Amsa, and Nysa and which is sung by the wise men in the
38.
;

That Rga is called Mdlavagowla, which is Oudava, are retained which for it leaves Ri and Pa, though, at times they is sung in the has Ni for its Graha, Amsa, and Nysa ; which evening and which is the bes t of all rdgas, Oudava, for 41-42. That Rga is called Srirdga, which is which times, they are retained it leaves Ga and Dha, though, at is sung m the has Sa for its Graha, Amsa, and Nysa which evening and which is the giver of all prosperity.
;
;

morning. 40-41.

8 4

;; ;

64

SVARAMLAKALANIDHI
(i)

Middling'Sampurna
is

; ;

which is Sampurna is sung wtch has Ni for;its Graha, Amsa, and Nysa and which by the wise men, in the fourth watch o the day-time. That Rga is called Ndardmakriya, which is Sampuha 44. is sung which has Sa or its Graha, Amsa, and Nyasa; and which in the fourth watch of the day. That Rga is called Kmbhji, which is Sampurna, 45. which thoughj in certain places, it leaves, in ascent. Ma and Ni\ m the has Sa for its Graha, Amsa, and Nysa and which is sung
43.

That Rga

called Kdragowla,

evening46.

That Rga is called Sdmavarali, which is Sampurna may be which has Sa for its Graha, Amsa, and Nyasa; which Veda. sung at all times and which originated with the Sama Sampurna That Rga is called Ritkigowla^ which is 47. m which has Ni for its Graha, Amsa, and Nysa which is sung the evening and which is allied with Mukhri. That Rga is called Htjujji, which is Sampurna; which 48. has Ma for its Graha, Amsa, and Nysa which is sung '^\^^. and which sounds nicely with Kkali ltter part of the day-time Ni and Anthara Ga. That Rga is called Ndrdyani, which is Sampurna, 49. has Ga though, at certain places, it leaves, in descent, Ri\ which in the for its Graha, Amsa, and Nysa; and which is sung moming. That Rga is called Vldvali, which is Sampurna, 50. which though, at certain places, it leaves, in descent, Ri and Pa at has Dka for its Graha, Amsa, and Nysa and which is sung
;
;

day-break.

Middling-Shdava That Rga is called Kannadaiangdkcy which is Shdava, 51. Nysa for it leaves Ri which has Ga for its Graha, Amsa, and and which is sung in the morning. That Rga is called Pddi, which is Shdava, for it 52. leaves Ga which has Sa for its Graha, Amsa, and Nysa ; and which is sung at the fourth watch of the day, That Rga is called Vasantkal/miravi, which is Shdava, 53.
(ii)
;
;

for

it

leaves

Pa which
;

and which

is

has Sa for its Graha, Amsa, and Nysa sung in the morning.

23

RAGA
54.

65

is called Gundakriym^ which is Slidava#or t though, at certam places, it s retauedj wich has Srn f or its Graha, Amsa, and Nyltea ; and which is sun^jn thefenper ' part of the day,

That Rga

leaves

Dh,

**

'

(iii)

Middling'Oudwa

That Rga is called Madkyamdi^ which is Ouava, Dr, 55. leaves i?/ and Dha\ which has J/ for its Graha, Ama, and Nysa; and which is sung in the latter part of the
it

day-tme.

That Rga is called Bkupla^ which is Ondava, for it Ma and Ni; which has Sa for its C^jpha Amsa, ac^l Nysa nd which is sung in the moming* /^ 57. That Rga is called RSvagupki^ which is Ondava, for it leai^s Ma and iW which has Ri for its Graha and Nysa ami HMch is sung in the latter part of the day-time*
56.

leaves

(A) Inferior-Sampuma^^
58,

Now,

described.

That Rga

the characteristics of a few mferior R%as He is called Soursktra^ which is Sampum ;

;

which has Sa for its Graha, A^^asa, and Nysa and which is %vm% by the singers in the evening.' That Rga is called Ngizdhvanit .w&ich is Sampnrpm 59* which has Sa for its Graha, Amsa, and Nysa ; and which fe sue^ by the singers at all times. 6o* That Rga is called Smaraga^ which is Sampnma which has Sa for its Graha, Amsa, and Nysa which is sung at all times ; and which sounds nicely with Ma in Mandra* 61. That Rga is called SankarMharana^ which s Sampuma; which has Sa for its Graha, Amsa, and Nysa ; and which resembles, as it were, Smantha.
;
.

(B) Infertor-Shdava
62.

That Rga is called Ghantrava^ which is Shdava, for t leaves Ga which has Dka for its Graha, Amsa, and Nysa * and which is sung at all timesThat Raga is called Bhinnaskadja^ which is Shdavat 63. for it leaves Ma ; which has Sa for its Graha and Nysa ; and which is sung at all times^
;
^

18