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MUKUND LATH* MUSIC IN THE THĀNAMGA SUTRA
Anga is the primary canon of the Jains Svetāmbara Jains have preserved eleven of the originally twelve angas in a redaction made by Devarddhigani in the Fifth century AD Thānamga is the third anga This anga is a storehouse of varied lore Together with matter relating to Jain doctrine and conduct, it also contains much information on many secular arts, skills and sciences
The arrangement of contents in the Thānamga follows a plan based on numbers The work is divided into ten sthānas (țhānas), and music is placed in the seventh sthāna because the basis of music is the seven-note octave
The Thānamga account of music is short and cursory It is unsatisfactory as a systematic and comprehensive delineation of ancient Indian music, and is similar in this respect to the description of the subject as found in Purānas such as the Mārkandeya and the Vişnudharmottara It has, nevertheless, many points of interest Early texts on music are rare and the Thanamga description is valuable on this cjunt also, for it belongs to a period from which few texts survive!
The text on music as found in the Thānamga also occurs almost verbatim in the Anuðgaddāru, another canonical work of the Jains Anuðgaddāra is part of the secondary Jain canon 2 The
*Research Associate, Department of History and Indian Culture, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur 1 The angas contain material much antedatiog Devarddbigani who was primarily a compiler However, certain minor changes, deletions and additions in the angas did occur as the discrepancies between the contents of the texts as available and as noted in the later portions of the canon or reported by early tīkākāras show Muni Nathamal in his editor's preface, pp 5-6 to the Jain Svetāmbara Terapanthi Mahasabba, Calcutta, edition of the Āvära text gives some examples of such changes in the case of Aura See also A History of Indian Literature, Wioternitz Vol II, fool note 3 on p 47 2 Anuogaddára is classed by some as a müla sutta and as cūlıkā by others (see Introduction to Dasainy alıya, edited by Amolak Chandra Surpuria, published by Raibahadur Motilal Mutha, Bhavani Peth, Satara) Wintcrnitz classifies Anwoga with
