Jinamanjari 1999 09 No 20

Author(s): Jinamanjari
Publisher: Canada Bramhi Jain Society Publication

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esteem with which music and dance was held in the royal court of Orissa.
Krishnadeva (1559-1568 C.E.) wrote the Gitāprakasa, a manuscript of which is preserved in Orissa State Museum Library at Bhuvanesvar. In it there are seven chapters, and the third and the seventh chapters mention Emperor Khāravela, and the latter chapter is wholly devoted to dancing. Another author Haldhar Mishra (c.1623 C.E.) quotes Emperor Khāravela in the Sangeet Kalplata, which is also preserved in the same Museum at Bhuvanesvar.
The oldest instruments that were said to have been used to accompany songs were called varana hastaka and ravana hastaka. Even the oldest Orissan Jain temple depicts musical instruments with a single string. The veeņa was not a popular instrument, as it has been noted by the author of the Sangeet Narayan, and it is clearly stated that the playing of the instrument should be confined to musicians who had mastered their performance in the South. Interestingly it was the bakhawaj and mradang that were used as the primary instruments for accompanying the performance of dance and music.
REFERENCES
1. Canadian Studies in Jainism, p. 15, Jain Humanities Press, Canada 1996. 2. Ibid. 3. Epigraphia Indica, p.71, Jan. 1930; Journal of the Bihar and Orissa Research Society, p.364, (4)1928; and ibid, p.221 (13) 1927, ibid., p.150,(14) 1928. 4. The Häthigumphā Inscription of Khāravela, p.3, Prints India, Delhi India 1971, 5. Ibid., p.6. 6. Ibid., p.99. 7. R. L. Benarjee and K.P. Jaiswal's translation "dami adhivadimiti" is not doubtful comparing eighth line inscription. 8. K.K. Patnaik, Position of Music in Orissa, p.65. 9. Madras Music Academy Journal, Part IV, 1958.
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