Music (Nāṭya-varga)

An exclusive section called the Nāṭya varga (I.6) deals with aspects of art, especially dramaturgy. Music is an important constituent of dramaturgy and Amarakośa rightly begins this section describing all the important aspects of music.

(a) Svaras (I. 6. 1; p. 48)–

[The seven notes:]

Amarakośa gives the seven notes^[1] and Kṣīrasvāmin adds the general quote for the origin of these notes as given in texts on music and derives a few with special remarks.

“The cry of the peacock is ṣaḍja (sa); the mowing of the cow ṛṣabha(ri); the b leat of the goat, gandharva (ga); the call of the horn bull, madhyama (ma); the song of the cuckoo in spring, pañcama (pa); the neighing of a horse, daivata (da); and the trumpeting of elephant, niṣāda (ni):

yadāhuḥ—
ṣaḍjaṃ mayūrā bruvate gāvastvṛṣabhabhāṣiṇaḥ |
ājāvikaṃ tu gāndhāraṃ kroñcaḥ kvaṇati madhyamam |
puṣpasādhāraṇe kāle pikaḥ kūjati pañcamam |
dhaivataṃ heṣate vājī niṣādaṃ bṛṃhate gajaḥ |

The special observations of Kṣīrasvāmin on two of these notes are:

Niṣāda^[2] —“in which the rāga is in tune” Kṣīrasvāmin adds that it is also read as niṣada–

naṣīdatyasmin rāgo niṣādaḥ niṣado'pi |

Ṣaḍjaṃ–Kṣīrasvāmin remarks that ṣaḍja is denoted so since it comes in contact with six places of human body, viz., nose, throat, chest, the palate, tongue and teeth–

ṣaḍbhyo jātaḥ ṣaḍjaḥ yadāhuḥ—
nāsāṃ kaṇṭhamurastālu jihvāṃ dantāṃśca saṃspṛśan |
ṣaḍbhyaḥ saṃjāyate yasmāttasmāt ṣaḍja iti smṛtaḥ ||

Kṣīrasvāmin adds that the svarādhāra for all these svaras are the two kinds of lutes—Dāravī and Gātravīṇā.

He also highlights that the drums and others are only accompaniments and hence not mentioned as the base for the svaras–

dāravī gātravīṇā ca dve vīṇe svarādhārau vaṃśamurajādayo'nukaraṇamātreṇeti noktāḥ |

After listing the seven notes, Amarakośa defines the various tones (like kākalī) which are derived by Kṣīrasvāmin and no special information is added.

(b) Grāmaḥ (III. 3. 140; p. 303)–

[Basic scales:]

Amarakośa mentions that the homonym, grāmaḥ is used in the sense of multitude and Kṣīrasvāmin adds that this homonym also signifies octave in music.

He quotes from Pañcatantra according to which–there are seven notes (svaras), three basic scales (grāma) and 21 model scales (mūrchanas)–

āpi śabdādviṣayaikadeśe ṣaḍjagrāmādau ca yadāhuḥ—
sapta svarāstrayo grāmā mūrcchanāstvekaviṃśatiḥ |

The three grāmas are ṣaḍja, gāndhāra and madhyama.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

niṣādarṣabha gāndhāra ṣaḍja madhyama dhaivatā: |
pañcamaścetyamī sapta tantrī kaṇṭhotthitā svarāḥ ||

[2]:

It is interesting to note the comments of Bhānuji and Liṅgayasūri in this context where the former says it is the union of mind in (this) niṣāda—niṣīdati mano āsmin and the latter as the confluence of svaras in this note–niṣīdantyatra svarā iti niṣāda: | Vol. I, p. 71, ALRC.