Ragas and Raginis: A Pictorial and Iconographic Study of Indian Musical Modes Based on Original Sources c6.122

c6.122

(2) The work survives in a unique Ms. of 221 folios in the Collection of the Bhandarkar Oriental Institute, Poona, No. 111, 1869-70, catalogued under the title Bharatabhāṣya. It is an incomplete Ms. with the 16th and 17th chapters missing. Each chapter ends with a Colophon. The terminating Colophon runs as follows: “Iti mahā sāmantādhipati dharmāvalauka Śrī-man-Nānyapati-viracite Sarasvati-Hṛdayālaṃkāra Bharata-vārtike vācikāṃśo sastho kadhyāya samāptah.” We are indebted to Ramchandra Kavi who discovered the work and drew our attention to it. By the courtesy of the treatise as he has introduced much new matters not touched by earlier authorities, the grāma and jāti rāgas being very fully treated. The treatise stands between the Bṛhad-deśī and Sangīta-ratnākara, the date of which are anticipated in this work. Nānyadeva derives most of his materials from Nārada, Yāṣṭika, Kaśyapa,¹ and Matanga, the last two of whom are profusely quoted as important authorities. He remarks: "How could people of lesser intelligence succeed in swimming across the ocean of melodies which such early exponents of rāgas as Matanga and others failed to cross,"² meaning thereby that it is impossible to describe the melodies exhaustively. Yet he devotes two long chapters (sixth and seventh) in describing the lakṣaṇa (structure), the ālāpaka (improvisation), and the rūpaka (notation) of numerous melodies current during his time. In each case, the definitions of Kaśyapa and Matanga are given followed by the notation for each melody. Following Matanga, he gives the various classifications of melodies (Appendix 6). He divides gītis under five instead of under the seven groups given by Matanga (Appendix 3). He uses the word root-rāgas (mūla-rāga) for the major melodies (mukhyā) which are so called "because of their extremely soothing qualities."³ He uses a new term called 'Svarākhya rāgas', i.e., melodies which take their names according to the notes (svara) e.g. the grāma rāgas such as Ṣaḍji, Ārṣabhī, Dhaivatī, etc. A similar term used in Deśākhya rāgas, i.e., melodies which borrow their names from the country, province, or region of their origins.⁴ They are five in number, and, are classed as Upa-rāgas: Dākṣiṇātyā, Saurāṣṭrī, Gūrj-