Brhaddesi

The Brhaddesi of Matanga Muni, a musical text of rare merit, is being published by IGNCA. In her erudite foreword Kapila Vatsyayan presents a perspective in which the development of the melodic structures can be traced through textual corpus and practice of Indian music.

The eighth in the series of the Kalamulasastra, research and publication programme of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts is the Brhadessi. As the name suggests, it is extensive and comprehensive. This is rightly considered the most important text on music after the Natyasastra and Dattilam. In the Foreword to Matralaksanam and Dattilam I had drawn attention to the importance of Matralaksanam as embodying and manifesting the musical structures of the SamaVeda. Dattilam is the first autonomous text of music which enunciates a theory of sound, structure and composition quite distinct from the Natyasatra tradition. The Chapters of the Natyasastra dealing with music have posed many complex problem with editing and translation. it will take some time for the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts to publish this seminal text. Brhaddesi, without doubt, is the next most important text between the Natyasastra and Dattilam on the one hand and the fully evolved text, namely, the Sarigita Ratnakara on the other hand.

In the case of Dattilam the editor had to rely on one manuscript. In case of Brahaddesi the editing job is even more hazardous because the text has had to be reconstructed from excerpts by later writers. This task is challenging and requires mastery of the skills of collation and editing of a very high order. P.L. Sharma, the editor of this volume who has devoted a life-time in unravelling the mysteries of the textual corpus in relation to the unbroken traditions and the practice of Indian music has assiduously reconstructed this text on the basis of the citations, provides annotations, explanations and, naturally, translation. The work is being presented in three Volumes, notes and annotation. The third will be on the critique of the text in its totality with glossary, indices, appendices, etc.

There has been only one printed edition of the text so far, i.e. Trivandrum Sanskrit Series in 1928. The present editor has considered that edition and corrected the errors and many mutilations and confusions in that edition.

In the context of music one of the most common and fundamental questions are “Did the Natyasastra mention the Ragas?”. “When did Ragas emerge?”. In critical literature there has been a vast body of discussions on the subject and, naturally, scholars have taken pains to state that the Natyasastra makes scanty mention of the Ragas. The sources of musical structure and composition, both of Hindustani and Carnatic music, has to be traced back of Brhaddesi. It is the Brhaddesi which for the first time makes a distinction between Jatis, Murchanas and Raga. The author deals, at some length, with the forms and the characteristics of the seven pure Grama Ragas. Since this is the firm foundation of the system of Indian music, the text assumes great importance for any systematic study of the development of the melodic structures.

The Brhaddesi is an important text also because it anticipates the Sangita Ratnakara by many centuries, relating the understanding of body system, especially, physiology and articulation of sound. In this respect, Brhaddesi makes explicit mention of the principles of the Natyasastra which were only implicit. Also, stylistically, it moves away from the prescriptive nature of the Natyasastra, and even the Dattilam and adopts instead a Bhasya or a dialogue form. The erudite editor will throw light on all these aspects in her critique. I would like to think her for having devoted her valuable time for editing such a complex and incomplete text so as to enrich the Kalamulasastra Series Programme.

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