A Comparative Study of Some of the Leading Music Systems of the 15th, 16th, 17th & 18th Centuries c6.1

c6.1

We shall now take up another group of Sanskrit treatises on Music. This group contains four works and the names of them are (1) Sadraga-Chandrodaya, (2) Raga Mala, (3) Raga Manjari and (4) Nartana-Nirnaya. We shall not discuss the last here, because the swara and raga chapters of that treatise, are the same as in the Raga Mala which we shall consider. The rest of the Nartana-Nirnaya deals with the art of dancing and falls beyond the scope of this paper. The author of the four treatises is Pundarika Vithala. He originally came from that part of India which is known as the Karnatik. It appears he came to the north and first settled in Khandesh. He describes his country and parentage in the concluding verse of the Sadraga Chandrodaya as follows:--