Digital Rare Book:
SANGITARATNAKARA (Ocean of Music)
By SARNGADEVA
With Kalanidhi of Kallinatha and Sudhakara of Simhabhupala
Edited By Pandit S. Subrahmanya Sastri
Published by The Adyar Library, Madras -1943
Vol. I - Adhyaya I

Read Book Online:

http://bit.ly/13jjtMt

Download pdf Book:

http://bit.ly/11hLNNO

The Sangita-Ratnakara of Sharngadeva (the 13th century) is one of the most important musicological texts from India, which both Hindustani music and Carnatic music regard as a definitive text.

The text is also known as Saptadhyayi as it is divided into seven chapters. The first six chapters, Svaragatadhyaya, Ragavivekadhyaya, Prakirnakadhyaya, Prabandhadhyaya, Taladhyaya and Vadyadhyaya deal with the various aspects of music and musical instruments while the last chapter Nartanadhyaya deals with dance.

The significant commentaries on the text include the Sangitasudhakara of Simhabhupala (c.1330) and the Kalanidhi of Kallinatha (c.1430).

This work was written by Śārńgadēva in the end of thirteenth century. The author was attached to the court of Yādava King Singhaņa, whose capital was Devagiri ( the present Daulatabad, in the South Maharashtra).

Sańgītaratnākara is a very important text and this is evident from the fact that many commentaries were written on it. The famous ones are Sańgītasudhākara of Simbabhūpāla and Kalānidhi of Kallinātha. Sańgītaratnākara is to a great extent a compilation of the information found in earlier works like Nāţyaśāstra, Dattilam, Bŗhaddēśī, Sarasvatī-hŗdayālańkāra-hāra and is greatly influenced by the commentary of Abhinavagupta on Nāţyaśāstra. On the other hand the work made a great impact on almost all the writers in the subsequent period. Thus it forms a useful bridge between the ancient and the medieval periods. Śārńgadēva called himself Nih,śańka i.e., `doubtless'. He also names a stringed instrument as Nih,śańka-Vīņā and Dēśī-tala as Nih,śańka-tāla. This book is a great landmark in the history of Indian Music.

- Wiki

Image:
Goddess Sarasvati
ca.1820
Company School

Gouache painting on paper from a portfolio of sixty-three paintings of deities and daily life. The goddess Sarasvatī on a throne. In her upper right hand she carries a mala (prayer beads), with her upper left and lower right hand she holds the vina, and in her lower left hand is a book. To her right, resting the vina on his shoulder, is the divine musician Narada, clad in a tiger skin. Opposite Narada, to the left of Sarasvatī, is the other divine musician, the horse-headed Tumburu who rests the tambura on his shoulder.

Image and text credit:
© Trustees of the British Museum