srı guruguhaya namah

Sangıta Sampradaya Pradarsiniof

Brahmasrı Subbarama Dıks.ita

English Edition— VOLUME I

Vaggeyakara Caritram,Sangıta Laks. an. a Pracına Paddhati, Laks. ana Sangraha,

Sangıta Sampradaya Pradarsini— Ragas of Mel.as 1 to 6.

Edited, Typeset, Printed & Published by

Dr. P. P. Narayanaswami and Vidya Jayaraman

Translation & Critical Commentary :Prof. S. R. Janakiraman, Musician–Musicologist, Chennai

c© 2010 All rights reserved

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Subbarama Dıks. ita (1839 A.D — 1906 A.D)

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A. M. Cinnasvami Mudaliyar

DEDICATION TO THIS ENGLISH EDITION

This work is dedicated to A.M.Cinnasvami Mudaliyar, forhis pioneering efforts towards the cause of Indian Music inEnglish, when the printing technology was at its infancy.

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ABOUT THIS VERSION

The Sangıta Sampradaya Pradarsini of Subbarama Dıks. ita (whose autobiography can be seen in SectionI.72 of this book), first published in 1904 at Et.t.ayapuram, is a valuable treasure in Telugu, on Indian Musicand Musicology. To mark one hundred years of its publication, an English Web Edition of this notable workwas initiated as a community-effort, by a group of dedicated volunteers in 2004, was completed in 2008,and made available to the public through the website http://ibiblio.org/guruguha/ssp.htm.

However, the preliminary theoretical materials such as the Sangıta Laks. an. a Pracına Paddhati and theLaks. an. a Sangraha sections dealing with various topics on musicology, were not translated. Based on thefeedback we received, it was decided to complete these sections too, and that a printed edition would behelpful to students of music. This is the first volume of the English Edition, and includes the following:

• Vaggeyakara Caritram — the Biography of Composers.

• Sangıta Laks. an. a Pracına Paddhati — Details of the ancient tradition of Music.

• Laks. an. a Sangraha — A compendium of various topics in musicology.

• “Sangıta Sampradaya Pradarsini”— Ragas of Mel.as 1—6.

The entire work was typeset (and the PDF file generated) using the programs, TEX/LATEX 2ε/pdfLATEX, anda host of allied packages. Macro definitions were written for all the symbols used in the original SangıtaSampradaya Pradarsini , including all the gamaka symbols that Subbarama Dıks. ita has employed in hisTelugu work.

The slokas provided in the main body are as given in the Sangıta Sampradaya Pradarsini . The devanagariversions provided in the commentary represent the annotated version as found in the corresponding sourcetext. A translation is also given for each verse, as part of the commentary.

While we have taken care to present the main body of the Sangıta Sampradaya Pradarsini (1904) withoutchanges, any additional information for the purposes of highlighting, or information that is missing in theSangıta Sampradaya Pradarsini (1904) owing to printing errors, have been corrected and enclosed withinbrackets as applicable.

On behalf of everyone involved in the SSP Project,

P. P. NARAYANASWAMIVIDYA JAYARAMAN

(August 2010)

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We would like to thank the three great stalwarts in Karn. at.ik Music, whose generous help andsupport, enabled us to venture in this project.

Our profound thanks and gratitude to:

• Professor S. R. Janakiraman, Musician-Musicologist, Chennai,for helping us navigate the Sangıta Laks. an. a Pracına Paddhati and Laks. an. a Sangraha.

• Dr. N. Ramanathan, Musicologist, Chennai, and

• Dr. R. S. Jayalakshmi, Vın. a Vidus. i, Chennai,

for providing scholarly and technical inputs at various stages in the project. We thank themfor their translation and interpretation of the section on Instructions for easily identifying the(printed) mistakes, for providing editorial guidance for the Sangıta Laks. an. a Pracına Paddhatiand Laks. an. a Sangraha. Some footnotes clearly marked by the symbol “ED:” that appear in thiswork are results of their concrete suggestions. They carefully read the entire work criticallychecking with the Telugu edition of 1904. We record our sincere and heartfelt thanks to all threeof them for their continued support and constant encouragement.

Special thanks to:

Ms. Sandhya Vinjamuri, who translated and edited the “Vaggeyakara Caritram” section.

Mr. Viswaram Janakiraman, for his help in reading the Telugu text and for a final proof-reading.

Dr. R. Abhiramasundari (Department of Music, Queen Mary’s College, Chennai), for proof-reading the entire section on Mayamal.avagaul.a, and the 30 janyas, carefully checking the accuracywith the original Telugu SSP (1904).

Dr. S. Sivaramakrishnan, our chief proof-reader, whose scholarly and mathematically preciseproof-reading was very valuable to us.

We sincerely acknowledge the “hosting space” generously provided by ibiblio.org, the con-servancy and archival initiative of University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC for uploadingthe web version of the work at: URL: www.ibiblio.org/guruguha/ssp.htm).

From time to time, several individuals came forward and offered us their valuable help in proof-reading various parts of the material. Their dedicated contributions and concrete suggestionsfor the improvement of the presentation were very valuable to us. We record our heartfelt thanksto the following individuals: Mr. Variath Madhavan Kutty, Ms. Rajani Arjun, Dr. Varagur S.V. Rajan, Dr. Sandeep Varma, Ms. Kiranavali Vidyasankar, Dr. Vidyasankar Sundaresan, Ms.Vidya Sudhakar, Dr. K. N. Raghavan, Mr. T. V. Lakshminarayanan, Mr.Prasad Kalyanasun-daram, Mr. Shailesh Ramamurthy, Dr. L. Ramakrishnan, Mr. N. Narayanan, Mr. PrasannaVenkatesh.

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Acknowledgements viii

The following volunteers worked on the English Translation of the vaggeyakara caritram andour sincere thanks go to them all for their enthusiastic efforts. Ms. Jyothsna, Mr. K. A. Chan-drasekhara, Mr. Govindarajan Kothandaraman, Ms. Swapna Eleswarapu, Mr. Surya Kiran, Mr.Kowshika Ramaprasad, Mr. Dhananjay Dendukuri, Dr. G. S. Murthy.

Finally, this PDF file was generated using the free software programs that belong to the TEXand friends (LATEX2ε, AMSLATEX, pdfLATEX, hyperref, etc). It is a pleasure to acknowledge ourgratitude to the authors of these versatile and useful open source packages.

P. P. Narayanaswami

Vidya Jayaraman

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Introduction

The Sangıta Sampradaya Pradarsini (SSP) has engaged my attention for the past sixdecades and the contents of the work, both the theoretical and practical aspects havenever ceased to amaze me. The first part of the English translation of the SangıtaLaks. an. a Pracına Paddhati was done by my great master, Brahmasrı P. K. RajagopalaIyer, and published in the Journal of The Music Academy, Madras in 1989. This En-glish translation by my guru was based on the Tamil version of the work done bythe late Sangıta Kala Acarya, T. S. Parthasarathy. I was honored that this work wassubsequently entrusted to me in 1990, and continued the work along the same lines,adding observations and comments to highlight the work. This work did not progressfurther owing to various reasons.

Today, I feel privileged to have an opportunity to translate this work and to write thisintroduction to Volume I of the English edition of the Sangıta Sampradaya Pradarsini.Subbarama Dıks. ita’s Sangıta Sampradaya Pradarsini is a monumental work and arepository of invaluable information on the laks. an. a, and laks. ya aspects of music.The contribution of the text to the practical side of the art form is immense. Froma Laks. an. a perspective, Subbarama Dıks. ita’s work is more a digest than a text. Sub-barama Dıks. ita divides the theme under two broad chapters: Sangıta Pracına Pad-dhati, and the Sangıta Laks. an. a Sangraha. In Sangıta Pracına Paddhati, SubbaramaDıks. ita provides a consolidated view of the history of Sangıta sastra, emphasizing allthe important aspects. He has taken care not to press forth his own thoughts and ideas,which perhaps would have supplemented the theme well. In the laks. an. a sangraha,he gives a brief elucidation of all the topics quoting the musical preceptors and ances-tors profusely. In the treatment of the suddha vikrta svaras, Subbarama Dıks. ita, likeVenkat.amakhin , deserves all praise. Venkat.amakhin proclaims that the vikrta svarasare only five — sadharan. a gandhara, antara gandhara, varal.i madhyama, kaisikinis. ada, and kakali nis. ada. While accepting Venkat.amakhin’s principles, SubbaramaDıks. ita went one step further. He not only recognized sadharan. a gandhara as a defacto vikrta svara, he also had the insight to include s. at.sruti rs. abha as a vikrta svara.Even though they occupy the same svarasthana, they are two distinct notes from thestandpoint of their occurrence in different ragas. This was Subbarama Dıks. ita’s rea-soning behind mentioning the nine vikrta svaras.

All the treatise writers on music uniformly profess that their works are written withthe sole and avowed purpose of setting to rest and bringing about a compromise be-tween the conflicting views on the laks. an. a, and laks. ya aspects of music. It may bepointed out that in general their objectives are not met in full. Subbarama Dıks. ita toowas no exception to such a phenomenon. In a lot of instances, he gives useful point-ers but does not elaborate further citing exigencies of space. He could have supportedhis statements with illustrations of contemporaneous value. For example, the treat-ment of kırtana, pada, ragamalika, javal.i, tillana and the pallavi krama could havebeen more elaborate with substantial punctuations to contribute to the overall value.Occasionally, there is some ambiguous treatment of the theme and we are not able tofully comprehend what is implied. This can very well be attributed to the passageof time. It must also be noted that the years leading up to the publication of SangıtaSampradaya Pradarsini marked a time when the knowledge of the original treatiseswas slowly disappearing. Wherever such ambiguities were encountered in the text,a true translation of the text has been provided along with annotations as deemed

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Introduction x

appropriate. Thus, in addition to being a faithful translation of the original text, sup-plemental information by way of critical commentary has been included to enhancethe understanding of the various topics in the work. In effect, it is a compilation of re-flections on this ground breaking text contemplated over the span of several decadesand brought to fruition in the year 2010.

Chennai, May 01, 2010 PROFESSOR. S. R. JANAKIRAMAN

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FOREWORD

Having learnt the arts of Sanskrit, Telugu, and music, due to the benevolence of the elderMaharaja (whose history occurs as the 67th in the history of Composers or Sangıta SahityaVidvans) and having qualified for the court of the Maharaja (whose history occurs as the 68th)due to his kindness, and having learnt the intricacies of Telugu grammar under Tanjavur Ram-ayyar, and attained the name of a musician, and having learnt the staff notation under thegrace of the Maharaja (whose history occurs as the 69th) and having translated the TeluguMahabharata Padya Kavya in Tamil with the permission of the Maharaja (whose biographyoccurs as the 70th) and under the orders of the Younger Maharaja, the brother of the aforemen-tioned Maharaja, I set to tune, and added cit.t.a svaras to the padas in the Tamil Play val.l.ibharatam.

As per the request of Cinnasvami Mudaliyar, and the orders of the present Maharaja (whosebiography is the 71st in my history of composers), the printing of this Sangıta SampradayaPradarsini at the Vidya Vilasini Press, was accomplished with financial grant of the Maharajaand the efforts of his minister Srı Rao Bahadur K. Jegannatha Cet.t.iyar, who is an expert at lan-guages including Telugu and a connoisseur and adept at the arts of music and lyrics. I am grate-ful to the Maharaja who taught me the arts and patronized me and granted me fame throughthis Sangıta Sampradaya Pradarsini.

The krtis of Tyagaraja — who was praised as an amsa of Sage Narada, the krtis of SyamaSastri, and the padas of Ks. etrayya, would be published shortly with tal.a and gamaka symbolsthrough munificence of the Maharaja.

I shall remember with gratitude Srı S. Radhakrs. n. a Ayyar, B.A., F.M.U, the Principal of thePudukkot.t.ai Maharaja College, who helped me in researching the laks. an. a texts like the Ratnakara,with reference to the publication of the Sangita Sampradaya Pradarsini.

Subbarama Dıks.ita

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K7777777777K

5555555555DEDICATION

THIS BOOK

IS MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED

To

His Highness

The Maharajah of Ettayapuram

As a token

of the Esteem and Regards

BY

B. SUBBARAMA DIKSHITAR

5555555555

K7777777777K

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srı

VIS. AYA SUCIKA

(AUTHOR’S BRIEF TABLE OF CONTENTS)

1. Index of kırtanas — alphabetical list

2. Vaggeyakara Caritra — Biography of Composers

3. Sangıta Laks. an. a Pracına Paddhati (The theory of Ancient Music)

4. Sangıta Laks. an. a Sangraha (Summary of the theory of Music)

5. Detailed Table of Ragangopanga bhas. anga murccana

6. Gamaka samjna niyamavidhana vivaran. a — Rules of gamaka symbols

7. Tal.a kala praman. a samjna niyamavidhana vivaran. a —Rules of the signs of time-measures of tal.a

8. Instructions for easily identifying the (printed) mistakes

9. Sangıta Sampradaya Pradarsini

10. Ragangopanga bhas. anga raga laks. an. a, laks. ya. Gıta, Kırtana, Sancara, etc

11. Sangıta Sampradaya Pradarsini — Anubandham A – Ragamalikas

12. Anubandham B – Compositions of Various Composers

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PREFACES

PREFACE (in English)

I have been asked by Rao Bahadur K. Jaggannadhum Chetti Garu of Ettayapuram towrite a few words of introduction to this great work, and I do so with great pleasure,as it gives me an opportunity to express on behalf of the public, the deep debt of grati-tude which it owes to the persons to whose exertions and munificence, the publicationof this valuable work is due. They are — the late lamented Mr. A. M. Chinnasami Mu-daliar, M. A., whose labours and sacrifices for preserving in a permanent form whatis still left of our national Music are so well known to the public and with whom theidea of bringing out a work like the present one originated, the Rajah of Ettayapu-ram, who ungrudgingly placed the services of his Court Sangita Vidvan Brahma SriSubbarama Dikshitar at the disposal of Mr. Chinnasami Mudaliar and who, withenlightened liberality, has borne the entire cost of the establishment employed forthe purpose of preparing this work for the press and of getting it printed, and lastlyBrahma Sri Subbarama Dikshitar who, though unwilling at first to part with what henaturally regarded as a precious heirloom to be jealously guarded and retained in hisfamily, yielded in the end to the wishes of his master and patron, the Rajah and hasgiven the world what was hitherto his exclusive possession, having laboured hard formore than four years to bring this work to a successful conclusion.

To what extent we are indebted to the gentlemen named above could be realized ifit be remembered that Brahma Sri Subbarama Dikshitar is now an old gentlemanand that his great learning and knowledge and the stores of Music literature in hispossession would, in the course of nature, have been lost to the world in a few yearsif this work had not been published now.

To me and other friends of the late Mr. Chinnasamy Mudaliar it is a matter of deepregret that he did not live to see his heart’s wish accomplished.

It would be presumption on my part to express an opinion on a work written by one ofthe greatest living authorities on South Indian Music. That a treatise like this writtenby such an accomplished scholar, composer and Vainika as Brahma Sri SubbaramaDikshitar is likely to be of great help to students of Music requires no testimony froma person like me.

There is only one thing more I wish to say, and that is that it seems not unreasonableto hope that the Rajah of Ettayapuram who, by getting this work published, has ever

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References 15

[SSP (1904) ] Sangıta Sampradaya Pradarsini Part I and II, of Subbarama Dıks. ita, Vidya Vilasini Press,Ettayapuram Samasthanam, Ettayapuram, (1904)

[Subbarama Dıks. ita (1904) ] Sangıta Sampradaya Pradarsini Part I and II, of Subbarama Dıks. ita, VidyaVilasini Press, Ettayapuram Samasthanam, Ettayapuram, (1904)

[Subbarama Dıks. ita (1905) ] Prathamabhyasa pustakamu of Subbarama Dıks. ita, Vidya Vilasini Press, Et-tayapuram Samasthanam, Ettayapuram, (1905)

[Janakiraman (1977) ] Prof. S. R. Janakiraman, The Significance of the Division of Pallavi, Anupallavi, andCaran. a in Musical Composition, pp.128-138 Journal of the Music Academy Madras XLVIII (1977)

[Janakiraman (1979) ] Prof. S. R. Janakiraman, The Desi Sul.adi of Annamacarya, pp 126–133, Journal ofthe Music Academy Madras (1979)

[Raghavan (1941a) ] Dr. V. Raghavan, Venkat.amakhin and the 72 Mel.as, pp 67–79, Journal of the MusicAcademy Madras, XII (1941)

[Raghavan (1941b) ] Dr. V. Raghavan, The So-called Akalanka, or the Sangıta Sara Sangrahamu, pp 38–42,Journal of the Music Academy Madras, XII (1941)

[Ramanathan (1983) ] Dr. N. Ramanathan, Vadi, samvadi , vivadi, and anuvadi svaras, Journal of theMusic Academy, Madras, Vol. LIV, pp 60-82 (1983)

[Ramanathan (2003) ] Dr. N. Ramanathan, Musical forms in the Sangıtaratnakara, Sampradaya, Madras(2003)

[AMSarma Pers. Comm. ] Akella Mallikarjuna Sarma, Personal Communication 2010

[Seetha (1981) ] Dr. S. Seetha, Tanjore as a seat of Music, University of Madras, Madras (1981)

II. Bibliography

P. K. Rajagopala Iyer, Sangıta Laks. an. a Pracına Paddhati, pp 103–124, Journal of the Music AcademyMadras, LX (1989)

Prof. P. Sambamoorthy, South Indian Music, Vols 1–5

Prof. S. R. Janakiraman, Laks. an. a Sangraha, pp 237–254, Journal of the Music Academy Madras, LXI (1990)

Prof. S. R. Janakiraman, Essentials of Musicology in South Indian Music, The Indian Music PublishingHouse (2008)

Dr. N. Ramanathan, Tal.a dasa pran. as, (www.musicresearch.in)

Hema Ramanathan, Abhinavabharati of Abhinavagupta, Transl. (www.musicresearch.in)

Girija Easwaran, Tal.a dasa pran. as in Texts (www.musicresearch.in)

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IISANGITA LAKS. AN. A PRACINA PADDHATI

brahmagranthijamarutanugatina cittenahrtpankajesurın. amanuranjakah srutipadam yo’yam svayam rajate |yasmadgramavibhagavarn. aracanalankarajatikramovande nadatanum tamuddhurajagadgıtam mude sankaram ‖

sadasiva siva brahma bharatah kasyapo munih |matango yas. t.iko durga saktih sardulakohalau ‖visakhilo dattilasca kambalo’svatarastatha |vayurvisvavasu rambharjunanaradatumbarah ‖anjaneyo matrgupto ravan. o nandikesvarah |svatirgun. o bindurajah ks. etrarajasca rahalah ‖rudrat.o nanyabhupalo bhojabhuvallabhastatha |paramardı ca someso jagadekamahıpatih ‖vyakhyataro bharatıye lollat.odbhat.asankukah |bhadrabhinavaguptasca srımatkırtidharo parah ‖anye ca bahavah purve ye sangıtavisaradah |

The names mentioned in this sloka, beginning with Lord Sadasiva, and listing the other great creators ofthe science of music and the teachers of the past is stated in the Sangıtaratnakara . There are several otherauthorities, who have not been mentioned here.

nadopasanaya deva brahma vis. n. u mahesvarah |bhavantyupasita nunam yasmadete tadatmakah ‖

(Sangıtaratnakara)

Through the worship of nada are worshipped, the deities Brahma, Vis. n. u, and Siva, since they are verily theembodiment of nada.

nadena vyajyate varn. ah padam varn. at padadvacah |vacaso vyavaharo’yam nadadhınamato jagat ‖

Sarngadeva , and other luminaries opine that, from nada (absolute sound) emanates aks. ara (letters of thealphabet), and from aks. ara emanates sabda (sound or word). From sabda emanates vyavahara (thought);

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Sangıta Laks. an. a Pracına Paddhati 51

hence the entire world is pervaded by nada. Before talking about the science of music in vogue, we explainand consolidate here, based on our understanding of the musical traditions of the past, those contentswhich have not been mentioned in the Section, Laks.an. a Sangraha.

The nada that arises in the human body from the hrdaya (the region of the heart), goes up to the kan. t.ha(the throat), and then to the siras (the head), taking shape through the three sthayis (octaves), namely thetara, mandra, and madhya, and thus manifests itself. This nada gets divided into twenty two srutis (micro-tones) in each sthayi. From the various groups of srutis are formed the seven suddha svaras, i.e., s. ad. ja,rs. abha, gandhara, madhyama, pancama, dhaivata, and nis. ada. Their svara mnemonics or symbols are: sa,ri, ga, ma, pa dha, ni, and they respectively contain 4, 3, 2, 4, 4, 3, 2 srutis. These are known as suddha orprakrti svaras.

COMMENTARY:

b}�g}E�TjmAztAn� gEtnA Ec��n ã(p¬j�s� rFZAmn� rÒk, �� Etpd\ yo_y\ -vy\ rAjt� ।y-mAd g}AmEvBAgvZ rcnA_l\kArjAEt�mov�d� nAdtn�\ tm� �� rjgdgFt\ m� d� f¬rm ॥

TRANSLATION: For delight, do I worship that Lord Siva, the embodiment of nada, pre-eminently adoredby the entire world, the source of order inherent in the division of domains, the organisation of castes andthe distinction of species, who being manifest in the heart-lotus of yogins as omkara in the contemplationof mind united to the movement of life-force originating out of the Brahmagranthi, shines in its own lustre.

Interpretation with reference to music:

I delight in paying homage to gıta, the embodiment of nada, the cause of comfort in the restless world, thesource of the system comprising the division of gramas, the composition of varn. as, the alankaras and thejatis, the self-manifest locus of srutis that delights the masters of music in the lower register, aided by themind attuned to the movement of pran. a originating from the root of the navel.

[SR 1.1.1–1.1.2] [Sarngadeva / Transl. Shringy (1978)]

This is the opening verse of the Sangıtaratnakara.

Brahmagranthi is the nerve center at the conjunction of the id. a, and pingal.a, in the human body below thenavel.

sdAEfv, EfvA b}�A Brt, k[ypo m� En, ।

mt½o yAE£ko d� gA fEÄ, fAd� lkohlO ॥

EvfAEKlo dE�l� kMblo_�tr-tTA ।

vAy� Ev �Avs� rMBA_j� no nArdt� Mb� ! ॥

aAÒn�yo mAt� g� Øo rAvZo nE�dk��r, ।

-vAEtg Zo Eb�d� rAj, "�/rAj� rAhl, ॥

zdý Vo nA�yB� pAlo BojB� v¥B-tTA ।

prmdF c som�fo jgd�kmhFpEt, ॥

&yAHyAtAro BArtFy� lo¥Vo�V f¬� kA, ।

BÓAEBnvg� Ø� �Fm(kFEt Dr, pr, ॥a�y� c bhv, p� v� y� s½FtEvfArdA, ।

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Sangıta Laks. an. a Pracına Paddhati 52

TRANSLATION: Sadasiva, Brahma, sages Bharata and Kasyapa, Matanga, Yas. t.ika, Durga, Sakti sardula,Kohala, Visakhila, Dattila, Kambal.a, Asvatara, Vayu, Visvavasu, Rambha, Arjuna, Narada, and Tumburu,Anjaneya, Matrgupta, Ravan. a, Nandikesvara, Svatigan. a, Binduraja, Ks. etraraja, Rahala, Rudrat.a,King Bhoja,Somesathe vanquisher of foes, King Jagadeka and the interpreters of Bharata such as Lollat.a, Udbhat.a, Sankuka,Abhinavagupta, the auspicious Kırtidhara, and others were the ancient authorities of music.

[SR 1.1.15–20b]

nAdopAsnyA d�vA b}�AEvZ� mh��rA, ।Bv�(y� pAEstA n� n\ y-mAd�t� tdA(mkA, ॥

TRANSLATION: Indeed through the worship of nada are worshipped gods (like) Brahma, Vis. n. u and Siva,since essentially they are one with it.

[SR 1.3.2]

nAd�n &y>yt� vZ , pd\ vZA t pdAd vc, ।vcso &yvhAroy\ nAdADFnmto jgt ॥

TRANSLATION: Nada manifests the letters (of alphabet), letters constitute the word, and words make asentence. So the entire business of life is carried on through language, and therefore the whole world isbased on nada.

[SR 1.2.2]

These suddha svaras, also known as prakrti svaras, with the self-ordained srutis — 4, 3, 2, 4, 4, 3, 2, werefound in the S. ad. ja grama, the primordial scale-type of Indian music.

2. Vikrti Svaras

Sarngadeva’s school:

The self-ordained sruti, from out of which a svara emanates, is known as the niyata sruti for that svara.

1. A suddha svara is called a vikrta svara, when it is in its niyata sruti and its sruti is reduced or increased.

Example:

1. When suddha s. ad. ja from out its four srutis gives two srutis, to kakali nis. ada located on its second srutiposition, yet remaining in its niyata sruti, because of the reduction in the number of srutis, it becomes thevikrta svara, named acyuta s. ad. ja.

2. When the suddha s. ad. ja slips down from its niyata sruti sthana by a sruti, thus becoming the third srutisthana cyuta s. ad. ja, the suddha rs. abha now also acquires the fourth sruti of s. ad. ja, and becomes a vikrtisvara, with the name catusruti rs. abha.

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Sangıta Laks. an. a Pracına Paddhati 53

2. When a suddha svara moves from its niyata sruti to another sruti, then that too becomes a vikrta svara.

Example:

When suddha s. ad. ja leaves its niyata sruti, and moves to the third sruti sthana, it takes on the name s. ad. ja,and becomes the vikrta svara, cyuta s. ad. ja.

The vikrta svaras formed by this process are twelve in number. They are:

1. kaisiki nis. ada2. kakal.i nis. ada3. cyuta s. ad. ja4. acyuta s. ad. ja5. catusruti rs. abha6. sadharan. a gandhara

7. antara gandhara8. cyuta madhyama9. acyuta madhyama

10. trisruti pancama11. kaisiki pancama12. catusruti dhaivata

Thus the seven suddha svaras and twelve vikrta svaras are formed from the twenty two srutis on fourteensrutisthanas.

COMMENTARY:

Example:

1.1. When suddha s. ad. ja gives two srutis to nis. ada, the latter becomes kakali nis. ada, and the intervalbetween kakali nis. ada, and suddha s. ad. ja becomes two. Thus, s. ad. ja becomes a vikrta svara, and is namedacyuta s. ad. ja. Since it has not moved from its original position, it is acyuta s. ad. ja.

1.2. When the s. ad. ja slips down from its fourth sruti to the third sruti sthana (cyuta = fallen), the intervalbetween the cyuta s. ad. ja, and suddha rs. abha gets enlarged by one sruti, and hence it is called catusrutirs. abha. This is the only vikrta of rs. abha. Thus, we get the first clue for the existence of the note, catusrutirs. abha here.

Example

2. When the suddha nis. ada goes up and becomes kaisiki nis. ada, the s. ad. ja slips down from its originalposition, and becomes cyuta s. ad. ja.

On the same lines, the suddha madhyama (niyata madhyama) also gets its two vikrta counterparts whenthe suddha gandhara goes up to sadharan. a gandhara, and antara gandhara (the first two srutis of mad-hyama).

3. Somanatha’s school:

The suddha svaras are seven, and the vikrta svaras are seven in number. These fourteen svaras are obtainedfrom fourteen svarasthanas.

In Somanatha’s school, five vikrta svaras in Sarngadeva’s school are omitted. These are: acyuta s. ad. ja,catusruti rs. abha, acyuta madhyama, kaisiki pancama, catusruti dhaivata.

The remaining vikrta svaras are renamed as follows:

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Sangıta Laks. an. a Pracına Paddhati 54

cyuta s. ad. ja −→ mrdu s. ad. jacyuta madhyama −→ mrdu madhyamatrisruti pancama −→ mrdu pancama

The details of the suddha/prakrti, and vikrti svaras in these two schools, the srutis they occur, and theirnames are given in the following table.

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TABLE OF SUDDHA—VIKRTA SVARAS

Somanatha’s school Sarngadeva’s school

vikrtasvarasan

dsru

tis

sud

dh

asvarasan

dsru

tis

sud

dh

asvarasan

dsru

tis

vikrtasvarasan

dsru

tis

1kaisiki nis. ada (3) kaisiki nis. ada (3)

2kakal.i nis. ada (4) kakal.i nis. ada (4)

3mrdu s. ad. ja (2) cyuta s. ad. ja (4)

sa 4 4 sa 4acyuta s. ad. ja (2)

5

6

ri 3 7 ri 3catusruti rs. abha (4)

8

ga 2 9 ga 2

10sadharan. a gandhara (3) sadharan. a gandhara (3)

11antara gandhara (4) antara gandhara (4)

12mrdu madhyama (2) cyuta madhyama (2)

ma 4 13 ma 4acyuta madhyama (2)

14

15

16mrdu pancama (3)

{trisruti pancamakaisiki pancama

(3)(4)

pa 4 17 pa 41819

dha 3 20 dha 3catusruti dhaivata (4)

21ni 2 22 ni 2

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Sangıta Laks. an. a Pracına Paddhati 56

COMMENTARY:

In addition, Somanatha mentions eight more vikrta svaras:

tıvratama dhaivata, tıvratama gandhara, tıvratama madhyama, tıvra dhaivata, tıvratara dhaivata, tıvrars. abha, tıvratara rs. abha, tıvratama rs. abha.

[3]. The details of the suddha and vikrti svaras in current practice

[4]. The details concerning the three gramas

[5]. The vadi samvadi laks. an. as

Refer (the description of the) above in the section: Laks.ana Sangraha.

[6]. Tana

Tana is the process of prastara or expansion of svara group patterns. This is classified under two heads,suddha tana, and kut.a tana.

[1]. Suddha Tana

Suddha tana uses the svaras in regular (natural) order. These are of aud. ava, s. ad. ava and sampurn. a patterns.

[2]. Kut.a Tana

In Kut.a tana, svaras are combined in non-consecutive, or irregular ways, and deviate from their regular or-der of ascent and descent. These are of arcika, gathika, samika, svarantara, aud. ava, s. ad. ava, and sampurn. apatterns and their combinations. Their names, numbers, and the benefits accrued by singing them are notmentioned, due to exigencies of space. These are explained in detail in texts like the Sangıtaratnakara.

COMMENTARY:

S. ad. ava and aud. ava varieties of suddha tanas are 49 + 35 = 84 in number, and are worked out in detail inthe Sangıtaratnakara of Sarngadeva. This number of eighty four tanas is also referred to in literature suchas the puran. as, and even in the Pancatantra.

Kut.a tanas :— to be derived as one from one, two from two, six from three svaras, etc., are worked out indetail in the appendix of the svaragatadhyaya of [Sarngadeva / Ed. Subrahmanya Sastri (1943)]

[7]. Varn. a

Please refer to the Laks.an. a Sangraha, for details regarding varn. a, which is ganakriya.

Adhering to the system of varn. a, Sarngadeva has mentioned sixty three alankaras, with names beginningwith prasanna. Bharata says that without alankaras (beautific musical ornamentation), singing will notshine.

sasina rahiteva nisa vijaleva nadı lata vipus. pen. a |avibhus. iteva kanta gıtiralankarahınasyat ‖

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