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Some sporadic notes on the Bṛhaddesi
1. Travaṇā
The fourth chapter of the Bṛhaddesi (") (=BD.) describes Bhāṣhās according to Yaṣṭika. There the first Bhāṣa of the Takkaräga is called Travaṇā (BD.2, 132, v. 16; p. 138, v. 39). Similarly the ninth Bhāṣā of the Pañcama-raga is called Trāvaņi (p.134, v.28; p. 164, 100-101) and it is called desa-sambhava (v-101). In the Notes (virmarśa) the editors have observed that trävaṇa or travana is not known as a geographical name.
In Rajasekhara's Kāvyamimāmsā (first half of the tenth century), Travaṇa occurs twice as the name of a country. In the list of the countries in the Western region of India is mentioned Travana along with Suraṣṭra, Daśeraka, Bhṛgukaccha, Kaccha, Anarta, Arbuda etc. (ch. 17, p. 233). Again in the seventh chapter while describing the regional charactersitics of poetry-recitation it is said that the poets of Surastra, Travana and allied regions recite even Sanskrit poetry with a touch of Apabhraṁśa. Accordingly Travana was the name of a country in the west in the vicinity of Surāṣṭra, Kaccha, etc. It was possibly in Rajasthan.
H. C. Bhayani
2. Harṣapūri
The third Bhāṣā of the Malavakaiśika Raga is called Harṣapūri (BD. 2, p. 150, v. 65). The editors say that Harṣapūra is not known as a geographical name (p. 311, note 25).
1.
Harṣapura was known as a city and an administrative province in Gujarat during the Calukya period. It is mentioned in a copperplate grant (dated 910-911 A.C.) of the period of the Rāṣṭrakūta king. Kṛṣṇa-II. There the province is called harṣapura-ardhāṣṭama-sata (i.e. Harṣapura-750). It is identified with Harsol in the Sabarkantha district of the present-day Gujarat. In the form harṣapura the vowel is lenghtened metri
snaggfaqvimi qf. Ed. PL. Shamu A B. Bader. Pat 1.
1992 put 2. 190.
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causa.
(See 'Gujarāt no Rajkiy ane Şarskrtik Itihās', part 1, ed. R. C. Parikh, H.G. Shastri, 1972, p. 374).
3. Satavāhanikā
The second Bhāṣā of the Kakubha Rāga is called Sātavāhanikā (BD.2, p. 134, v.23 ; the ms. reading is sālavāhānika) or Satavahini (p.154, v.74 ; to be emended as satavahani).
The name derives from the name of the royal poet Sātavāhana (Pk, sālaváhana, salāhana), the famous literary figure and author of the Prakrit anthology Gahakosa or Gahāsattasai, who ruled at Prattisthāna (modern Paithan in Maharashtra) during the first or second century of the Christian era.
In the Prakrit section of the Siddhahema-sabdanusāsana, Hemacandra, while connecting Pk. salavahaņa, sātāhaņa with Sk. sātavāhana, has given sälahaņi bhāsā as an illustration of the occurrence of the form sälahana. It is quite tempting to connect this with the Sātavāhanikā Bhásă of BD. In that case bhāsā in Hemacandra's illustration (which is most probably taken over from some earlier source) does not mean language', but a type of Grāmarägas.
4. Ambāheri
The twelfth Bhāsā of the Takka Rāga is called Ambāheri (BD.2, p. 132, v. 19; the ms. reading here is ambahiri ; p. 144, v.54). The editors have observed (p.310, note 20) that Ambāhera is not known to be a geographical name. They suggest the connection of that term with Ambara, modern Amer near Jaipur in Rajasthan.
Now it is obvious that some of the names of the Bhāṣās do not brave any connection with a geographical place-name, e.g. Lalitat, Kolähali. Madhuri. Vesari ete,
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The word ammahiraya occurs in the sense of 'lullaby' in Apabhramsa poems of 9th and 10th century A.C.. For example in the description of a cowherds settlement it is said:
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कत्थइ डिभर परियंदिज्जइह, अम्माहीरउ गेउ झुणिज्जउ । (Svayambhu's Paumacariya, 24, 13,8)
'In some places a lullaby song is being sung while rocking the child (in a craddle)'. In the same poet's Harivamsapurāṇa, Yasoda is described in the following lines as rocking the child Krsna in the craddle (hallaru, Guj, hālardū) and sing a lullaby:
मेहरि अम्माहीरएण, परियंदइ हल्लरु । (5,1,9)
In Puspadanta's Mahapurāṇa child Rṣabha is described in the following line as being rocked in a craddle while a sweet lullaby is being sung:
परियंदर अम्माहीरएण, सोवंतउ कु-वि सुइहारएण । ( 4, 4, 13)
There, some initial lines of the lullaby are also given. Accordingly, it is suggested that Ambahiri as the name of Bhāṣā (which as a class being related to the Gramarägas) may be the same as Ap. ammahiraya 'lullaby'. ambaheri is called desyakhya in BD. That qualifier can be also interpreted as 'the name of which is based on / derives from a regional dialect'.
?
Incidentally, Ap. ammāhiraya can be derived from ammā 'mummy' + hiraya 'diamond'. In the lullabies that were sung the child would have been addressed or referred to as 'O you mine your mummy's diamond'. Hence a lullaby came to be called ammahiraya.
See my paper in Gujarati, hūlardi, pārnic in Apabhramsa literature. published in 1970 and later included in my collection Sabdaparisilan (1973) pp 101-106.
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5. Vesara
BD. states that according to Durgasakti, Rāgas themselves are known as Vesara. (BD.2, p. 108). According to the editors Rāga is another name of Vesarā Giti.
Again BD, has cited Durgasakti to explain the term Vesara. According to the latter Vesara is an alternative form of Vegasara. Vegasara is so called because svaras move with speed (vegasara) (p. 108). But a little further on p. 116, it is said that Vesaras are so called because the speed of svaras is seen in them (i.e. it is an alternative form of vega-svara). Editors have noted that the usual meaning of Sk. vesara is 'mule', and that Monier Williams' Sanskrit-English dictionary has given vegasara also with the same meaning. Now vegasara is attested considerably later than vesara (from the Kathasaritsāgara and from Hemcandra's Abhidhāna-cintāmaņi (which gives vesara, vegasara and asvatara as synonyms). Most probably vegasara is a later creation to explain vesara etymologically. Sk. vegasara 'moving speedily' would become veasara in Prakrit and later vesara. So working backwardly vegasara was formed. This attempt to provide vesara with artificial etymology to match with its meaning is evident from the BD. passages referred to above which once equate vesara with vegasara and second time with vegasvara. vesara 'mule' is a hybrid animal. Whether it implies that Vesarā Giti was called so because of a mixture of two types in its structure is for the musicologists to tell.
6. desi
In BD. ), 2 the word desi qualifies dhvani (m.). In 1,16 it qualities märga (m.). In 5,346 it qualifies rāga (m.). Elsewhere it qualifies nștta (n.), sabda (m.), nüman (n.) etc.
Formally desi is feminine. At BD. 1,14 it is said:
गीयते याऽनुरागेण स्वदेशे देशिमच्यते । (llore desi is modified its slesi to suit the metre).
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________________ 104 The title brhaddesi means 'the great work on desi ragas'. How to account for the feminine form desi in all these usages ? It is of course derived from desa 'region'. Adjectives formed from desa are desya, desiya: The form desi functioning as an adjective is evidently a changed form of desya. In several Sanskrit words in later usage we find that their final -ya changes to -i, under the influence of Prakrit. Note the following instances (noted in MW.): औचिती < औचित्य, चातुरी < चातुर्य, माधुरी < माधुर्य, वैचित्री < वैचित्र्य, वैदग्धी < वैदग्ध्य, वैदुषी < वैदुष्य. (See H. C. Bhayani, 'Etymalogical Notes', Berlines Indologisehe Studies, 8, 1995, p.9) These forms are attested from comparatively late Sanskrit texts. So also the word desi. The explanation of the term vesara as vegasara or vegasvara, the place-name base of the bhasas travana and harsapuriya, the use of the form desi indicate linguistically rather a late date for BD. So also the term ambaheri in the section taken over from Yastika's work.