________________
96
Literary and Performing Arts
(iv) In his Bharatakosa, M. Ramakrishna Kavi has cited definitions and explanation of Tenna from the musicological manuals of Haripala, Raghunatha and Someśvara.
(v) Subhankara has enumerated in his Sangitadamodara twenty varieties of Pure Song, each of which is said to have six Angas. One of the Angas is called tendaka, for which a variant reading tenna is recorded.
(vi) Koneśvara in his commentary on Kalidasa's Vikramorvāsiya explains Tena giti with the help of some earlier authorities.
3. The Bharatakośa explains Tenna as a Prabandhanga. From the definitions given from Haripala and others we gather that (i) It was a mode of singing Sanskrit and Prakrit songs.
(ii) In that mode a Raga was sung using only its characteristic Svaras and the word tenna or tena.
(iii) The use of the syllables tena was auspicious and conducive to welfare, because tat (as in the famous Mahāvākya tattvamasi) was equivalent to Brahman or alternatively, to Hara, Hari and Brahma. Consequently using the syllables tenna (tennakära) in singing and tatta (tattakāra) in the performance. of a Tāla were bestower of prosperity.
The Sangitaratnākara and its commentaries too connect tena with the tat of the Mahāvākyas like Om tat sat and tat tvam asi, and emphasize its auspicious character.
4. According to the Sahitya Akademi edition of Kalidasa's Vikramorvasiya (edited dy H. D. Velankar), the 12th verse (i. e. gaidhummaia etc.) of the fourth act is, as per the stage-direction, a Carcari song. At the end of the verse the stage direction reads: tena nartitva. The obvious meaning is that Pururavas performs here a dance expressive of the meaning and sentiment of the preceding Carcari song. But there is slight difficulty. Grammatically we expect here the form taya referring to Carcari (feminine) instead of tena (masculine/neuter). The commentator Konesvara has offered quite a novel interpretation of this stage-direction. He seems to rend tenona instead of tena, because he explains the stage-direction
