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Music in the Thanamga Sutra
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where music had a major role to play The material is presented in a much more organised form than in the Thānamga or the Náradiya Sıkşā The delineation is, moreover, wider in scope, the merits of singers, players on different instruments and also instructors of music have been distinguished and separately treated The treatment has many critical notions in common with the Thānmga and the Nāradīya Śıksā These must have part of the general milieu But textual resemblances are superficial The tenor of Bharata's text is quite different in mode and exposition
Apart from a list of gunas and doşas, the Thanamga also contains certain observations regarding the principles governing the forms and the aesthetics of ancient music, especially song These observations are not found elsewhere-at least not in the same form--and are worthy of consideration
Thc Thānamga speaks of three 'āgāras' of songs--a notion unique to Ţliānamga Songs it says, begin softly, they are sustained in the middle and end with a fury The description, inspite of being laconic, is quite suggestive It, apparently, outlines the general phases of melodic movements made in ancient renderings of song The suggested formal contours remind us of our own classical singing which usually beg ns at a slow-soft pace and gathering momentum as well as melodic wealth onds with a fast turbulent movement
After listing gunas and dosas, the Thānamga sums up the qualıties expected of a good song in a few pithy phrases Such aphoristic passages were, no doubt, intended to serve as memorisable guide lines for aspiring musicians as well as disceroing listners
Another such aphoristic passage occurs at the end of the Thanmaga account and states a maxim in a nutshell, namely, that synchronisation or harmony (samatva) must pervade a song in all its parts Especially interesting here is the notion of synchronised breathing The advice--stated earlier in the text--that the breath should be equal in measure to a single metric foot is, evindently, a related idea A metric foot usually marks a break or pause in the syntax of a poem, singers are, therefore, asked to regulate their breathing in such a manner that a pause in their singing should coincide with that in the sung text
Such a notion of pause recalls the concept of vidāri (musical pause) as defined by Bharata in relation to theatric songs (dhruvā) Bharata lays down the rule that in singing songs during dramatic
