________________
166
Jain Thought and Culture
in a similar context, has a good word to say about women of the śyāmā typebt Abhinava, by way of explanation, comments that only a śyāmā could stand up to the rigours of musical training62 Bharata, however, refrains from going into details about types of women' and their capabilities as musicians He makes a general statement that in dramatic performances songs are often sweeter if sung by women since women have a naturally melodious voice, recitative prose passages, he says, are more effectively spoken by men because of their vigorous voices53
VII
We have said that the Thānamga account of music is a kind of digest It contains material compiled from various sources As in Purānic compilations of this nature, sources are not mentioned
Tracing such material to its source can become mostly an exercize in futility because little from ancient times survives
But we have noted one remarkable parallel with the Nāradiya Śıkşā where there is an almost word to word correspondence This is no doubt a significant clue, but to presume a direct borrowing either way could be misleading Musical lore like other ancient lore seeins to have had a body of material traditionally handed down It formed a kind of common pool from which all writers on the subject could draw The passage which occurs both in the Nāradiya Śikṣā and the Thānamga may have been part of this common heritage Many early Śıkşā works likewise share certain passages in common and the question who borrowed from whom is quite misplaced in such cases
A fruitful conjecture might yet have been possible if one could be sure of the relative chronology of the Thanamga and the Náradiya Siksā But this, too, is uncertain ground and we are left with no threads to follow
In truth, analysis shows that there are more textual divergences than similarities between the Thānamga and the Nāradīya Siksā We can even go further and say that there are certain elements in the
viñeya
51 suvihlaganiah avıdhayinyo'k sobhyatalalyah salah a atodyarpitak ārānā gāyikah syamah Nafyaśāstra 33, 34 52 'syāmā iti tarunyah tadıarná eva hleśasahatrāt' Abhinava on above 53
prayena tu svabhāvar strinām gånam nonăm ca păthyanidhih, strinām svabhavamadhurah hantho nrnám balitvam ca Nályafatra 33, 5
