Sangita Ratnakara

Saṃgītaratnākara Sanskrit manuscript, verses 1.1.1-1.1.4.

The Sangita-Ratnakara, संगीतरत्नाकर, (IAST: Saṃgītaratnākara), literally "Ocean of Music and Dance", is one of the most important musicological texts from India.[1][2] Composed by Śārṅgadeva (शार्ङ्गदेव) in Sanskrit during the 13th century, both Carnatic music and Hindustani music traditions of Indian classical music regard it as a definitive text.[3][4] The author was a part of the court of King Simhana (r. 1210–1247) of the Yādava dynasty whose capital was Devagiri, Maharashtra.[5]

The text is divided into seven chapters. The first six chapters, Svaragatadhyaya, Ragavivekadhyaya, Prakirnakadhyaya, Prabandhadhyaya, Taladhyaya and Vadyadhyaya deal with the various aspects of music and musical instruments, while the last chapter Nartanadhyaya deals with dance. The medieval era text is one of the most complete historical Indian treatises on the structure, technique, and reasoning on music theory that has survived into the modern era, and is a comprehensive voluminous text on ragas (chapter 2) and talas (chapter 5).[6][7][8]

The text is comprehensive synthesis of ancient and medieval musical knowledge of India.[9] The text has been frequently quoted by later Indian musicologists in their music and dance-related literature. Significant commentaries on the text include the Sangitasudhakara of Simhabhupala (c. 1330) and the Kalanidhi of Kallinatha (c. 1430).[10]

  1. ^ Rens Bod (2013). A New History of the Humanities: The Search for Principles and Patterns from Antiquity to the Present. Oxford University Press. p. 116. ISBN 978-0-19-164294-4.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Nijenhuis1977p12 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Reginald Massey; Jamila Massey (1996). The Music Of India. Abhinav Publications. pp. 42–43. ISBN 978-81-7017-332-8.
  4. ^ Rens Bod (2013). A New History of the Humanities: The Search for Principles and Patterns from Antiquity to the Present. Oxford University Press. p. 116. ISBN 978-0-19-164294-4.
  5. ^ S.S. Sastri (1943), Sangitaratnakara of Sarngadeva, Adyar Library Press, ISBN 0-8356-7330-8, pages v-x
  6. ^ Rowell, Lewis (2015). Music and Musical Thought in Early India. University of Chicago Press. pp. 11–13. ISBN 978-0-226-73034-9.
  7. ^ S.S. Sastri (1943), Sangitaratnakara of Sarngadeva, Adyar Library Press, ISBN 0-8356-7330-8
  8. ^ Emmie Te Nijenhuis (1974). Indian Music: History and Structure. BRILL Academic. pp. 6–7. ISBN 90-04-03978-3.
  9. ^ Ezra Gardner Rust (1996). The Music and Dance of the World's Religions. Greenwood. pp. 64 with note 525. ISBN 978-0-313-29561-4.
  10. ^ Emmie Te Nijenhuis (1974). Indian Music: History and Structure. BRILL Academic. pp. 6 with footnote 37, 54. ISBN 90-04-03978-3.