Ragas and Raginis: A Pictorial and Iconographic Study of Indian Musical Modes Based on Original Sources c6.158

c6.158

Ratnākara”¹ we owe to a learned scholar and connoisseur of music named Joytiriśvara. He was a high official attached to the court of king Harisiṃha Deva of the Karṇāṭa dynasty, who ruled in Mithilā some time between 1300 and 1324 A.D., having his capital at Simraon. In the seventh section of this encyclopædia entitled *Bhaṭṭādi-varṇana* (folio 60b. ff.) there are references to poetry, music, and dancing. In this connection the qualification of a *Vidyāvanta* that is to say, a professional singer and music-master, a person now commonly known as *Kalāvanta* or *Kalāwāt* is described. This leads to an enumeration of the *śrutis* (semi-tones) and the *rāgas*. Unfortunately, the list is a mere string of names without any order and without any indication of the system of the *rāgas*, or principles of classification known at the time: