History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c51.91.3

v3.c51.91.3

2) holds that the printed Nāradīya-śikṣā has wrongly transposed the places of *niṣāda* and *dhaivata*.²⁵⁹³ The notations employed in the North Indian and South Indian MSS. of the Sāmaveda vary considerably and the confusion is made worse by the fact that the several śākhās (such as the Kauthumas, the Rāṇāyanīyas and Jaiminīyas) have various readings and varying notations of their own. The Nāradīya-śikṣā further points out (VI. 2-6) that the sāmans can be sung to the notes of the ordinary vīṇā and also to the accompaniment of the movements of the thumb and fingers of the hand (and so it calls the latter gātravīṇā, 'body-lute'). The reciter sitting cross-legged is to place his hands on the two knees, to touch by the tip of the thumb the middle parva (joint) of the fingers for indicating the several notes of the song (and not the root of the fingers) and to hold the hand in front of his nose like a cow's ear. The seven svaras are indicated as follows:²⁵⁹⁴ the kruṣṭa is on the head (top) of the thumb, the prathama (i. e. madhyama of classical notes) is on the central part of the thumb; gāndhāra, ṛṣabha, ṣaḍja and dhaivata (i. e. 2nd, 3rd, 4th and mandra) are respectively indicated by (touching with the tip of the thumb the central joints of) the fore-finger, the middle finger, the ring finger and the small finger; and niṣāda is indicated at that part of the palm below the small finger which resembles a channel when the fingers are closed in a fist.