DATTILAM

(KMS No. 2)

 Edited and translated by MUKUND LATH

1988, xvii+236pp., textual notes., com., appen., bibl., indexes, ISBN: 81-208-0586-0, Rs 300 (HB)

The Dattilam, ascribed to Dattila Muni, is a remarkable treatise from the earliest known period of organized systematic writing on music in India. The work can be placed in the same period as that of the available recension of the Nāṭyaśāstra of Bharata Muni (c. first century CE) and it presents a well-developed Śāstric tradition of analytical thinking on music.

The treatise is devoted to the description of gāndharva, a sacred corpus of music, derived from the still more ancient sāman, the sacred Vedic form. gāndharva was also the source of later musical forms from which the present forms have descended. As a text the Dattilam is not merely important in the historical context but also as a text of perennial significance for it articulates a framework and approach in musicology with which our understanding of musical forms is still impregnated. This edition presents the only available manuscript of the text, along with its translation and a commentary.