Ragas and Raginis: A Pictorial and Iconographic Study of Indian Musical Modes Based on Original Sources c6.37

c6.37

¹ Nāradīyā Śikṣā (Sāma-vedīya) edited by Satyavrata Sāmaśramī, Calcutta, 1890. Popley (The Music of India, page 14) suggests that it was “probably composed between the tenth and twelfth century”. Considering that its rāga system corresponds very nearly to that of the Kudumiyamalai inscription, the data, if not the text of the Narādīya Śikṣā, must be earlier than the 7th century and considering the fact that it only refers to seven melodies, while the Pañcatantra refers to thirty-six, the former must be earlier than the Pañcatantra.. Kielhorn suggests that some of the Śikṣās are not earlier than the date of Patañjali (2nd century B. C.) “That the Śikṣās in verse were in existence when Patañjali composed his great commentary on Kātyāyana’s “Vārtikas” seems to me very probable. The Indian Antiquary, May 1876, p. 143., foot-note. M. Rama Krishna Kavi (‘Literature on Music,’ Journal, Andhra Historical Research Society, Vol. III, 1928-29, pp. 20-29)) believes that the Nāradīyā Śikṣā, or, at least, the view of Nārada, the traditional author of the Śikṣā, is quoted by Bharata in Chapter 34. He is therefore inclined to place the musical data of the Nāradīyā Śikṣā earlier than Bharata.