A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c19.s1.43

c19.s1.43

This sketch may be concluded with a brief notice of the more important Sanskrit treatises on music and dance. The musical inscription of Kuḍumiyāmalai (Pudukkoṭṭai), which consists of exercises to be practised on stringed instruments, has been without good reason assigned to Pallava Mahendravarman I; we read at the end of the inscription that it was the work of a Śaiva monarch who was the pupil of Rudrācārya, evidently a famous music master of the seventh or eighth century. Cālukya Jagadekamalla (1138-50) of Kalyāni wrote the *Sangitacūḍāmaṇi*, a work in five chapters. In the reign of the Yādava Singhana (1210-47) of Devagiri Śārngadeva wrote a work of outstanding merit, *Sangita-ratnākara*. The book in its seven chapters covers the whole range of music and dance. Jayasenāpati, a general of Kākatīya Ganapati, composed the *Nṛttaratnāvalī* (1254), in eight chapters on Dancing. Harapāla-deva, an unidentified Cālukya prince, was the author of *Sangita-sudhākara* on dance and music. The fine arts received great encouragement from the rulers of Vijayanagar and their feudatories, and the theory and practice of music and dancing made notable advances. The great Vidyāranya wrote the *Sangita-sāra*. Kallinātha, a writer on music, flourished under Mallikārjuna, and his grandson Rāma Amātya who wrote the *Svara-mela-kalānidhi* was patronized by Rāma Rāya. The *Sangīta-sūryodaya* was the work of Lakshminārāyana, the court-musician of Krishnadeva Rāya. The *Sangīta-sudhā*, composed by Govinda Dikshita in the name of Raghunātha Nāyaka, and the *Caturdaṇḍiprakāśikā* of Venkateśvara Makhi, the son of Govinda Dikshita, are works of outstanding merit produced in the Nāyak Court of Tanjore.