Epigraphia Indica Vol 12

SR No.: 032566
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Sten Konow
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India
Publication Year: 1913
Total Pages: 464
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 25 MB

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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
[VOL. XIL
The notes employed in the music of this inscription are as follows:
8a ra gaa (antara) ma pa dha na ka (kikall)
The relative vibration-frequencies of these notes determined from the data in the Bharatiya-natya-śāstra are respectively
C D . Eb E,
F G À Bb B, In the Sangita-ratnakara these notes had the same value, but it seems that the values
and for ga and no respectively had probably come into use also, which differ from the other values only by a comma. We can, therefore, with certainty, accept these values for the various notes in this inscription. The alternative values of ga and i will not affect the character of the music.
In the notation of this music two points deserve special notice :-(1) Each note is expressed by a combination of the initial consonant in the name of the pote with the vowels a, i, u, or 2, e.g. we have sa, ni, su, nē; ra, ri, rw,r, eto. Following the same rule, for the note antara, which begins with the vowel a, we must have the modifications a, 6, 4, and & ; and for the kikali, ka, ki, ku, and kē. But in this inscription, we find a, , and ē, and ka, ku, and kë only. The i and ki are wanting. In old Hindu music the antara and the kakali received the same treatment and it is therefore to be expected that of i and ki, if one should be excluded, the other would be excluded on identical grounds.
I am not able to say what the different vowel endings are intended to indicate, but any one can see that it has no aflinity with the similar pomenclature invented by Govinda Dikshit at
later period. The musio in the inscription appears to be intended for the vina, since it has been given the title chatushpraharasvarāgamah or authoritative texts of noter produced by four strikings (of the string); and I think the vowel endings may indicate the particular ways of striking or pluoking the string, such as are mentioned in various old works on music, e.g. the four strands mentioned in the Sangita-ratnakara, p. 485.
(2) The second point in the notation deserving notice is the dots on the tops of some of the notes. I cannot suggest any explanation of this sign. I do not think, however, that it indicates the lowest of the three octaves as it does in the notation of the Sangita-ratnakara.
The seven rāgas in which the music is written did pot exist at the time of the Bharativa. natya-fästra, for none of them are mentioned in the chapters of that work specially devoted to music. That work, as has been alrendy remarked, has received numerous re-handlings, and what is still moro noteworthy, many quotations said to have been derived from it cannot be found in any of the manuscripts available to us. Thus Kallinåtha quotes the following verses ag from Bharata in his commentary on the Samgita-ratnakara':
tathā ch=āha Bharatah purvarange tu fuddha syād bhinna prastarandáraya vēsara mukhya(kha)yoh karyd garbhë gaudi vidhiyatë! sūdharit(ran-dramarshë syat sandhan nirtuhanan(ne) tatha ||
These verses are nowhere to be found in Bharata's work. Indeed Kallinktba onght to have seen that they go contrary to the teaching of that anthor, as he has himself noticed pre
1 Ind. Ant., Vol. XLI, pp. 254 ff.
The grounds for this statement will appear in a subsequent article in the Indian Antiquary. # The name rishabha begins with a vowel, but the consonant is used in the case of that bote. • Chinnu Swami Mudaliyar's Oriental Music, pp. 14 ff.
Sangitu-rat akars (Ādandaérama series), p. 165.