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Svaraprastāra in North Indian classical music
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 December 2009
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In the Saṅgītaratnākara, a thirteenth-century musical text by Śārṅgadeva, listed under svaraprastāra (lit. extension of notes) is a complete enumeration of all the possible combinations of the 7 notes of the Indian musical scale. This enumeration begins with the single note (ārcika) and is followed by all the possible combinations of two notes (gāthika), three notes (sāmika), four notes (svarāntara), five notes (auḍuva), six notes (ṣāḍava), and seven notes (pūrṇa). Each of these series of kūṭatānas (series of notes in which the continuity of the sequence is broken) develop in the same logical order based on the precedence of the ascending line over the descending line. In Śārṅgadeva's arrangement the first of the 7 note series is the straight ascending line, sa ri ga ma pa dha ni, which, for easy comprehension will be rendered as l 2 3 4 5 6 7 in this paper; and the last of the 7 note series is the straight descending line, ni dha pa ma ga ri sa, rendered 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 here. The changes in the order of the notes take place from the beginning of the series, at first involving only the first two notes, then the first three notes, then the first four notes, and so on. In fact, the progression for the 7 note series includes the progressions for all the smaller series within it. Thus the 7th note of the 7 note series remains constant until the progressions of one, two, three, four, five, and six notes have been exhausted. Only then is the 7th note replaced by the 6th. The chart on p. 308 is an abbreviation showing the nature of the progression. The 2 and 3 note series involving the first 2 and 3 notes respectively are complete. Beginning from the 4 note series, the chart is abbreviated as follows. The 4 note series is divided into four groups determined by the terminal note, each involves change in the first 3 notes, and each of these groups corresponds to the previous 3 note series, which is in fact the first group of the 4 note series. Of the remaining groups only the first and last sequences are given with an indication as to the number of sequences comprising that group. Similar abbreviations are used in the longer series that follow. Commas have been placed to indicate that the preceding numbers now replace the original ascending sequence (mūlakrama) and that the progressions which follow in that group involve change in only these preceding numbers. For example, if one wishes to determine the complete series from 1 2 4,3 5 6 7 to the end of its particular group 4 2 1 3 5 6 7 the comma after 4 indicates that only the first three numbers change.
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- Information
- Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , Volume 24 , Issue 2 , February 1961 , pp. 307 - 325
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- Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies 1961
References
page 307 note 1 Śārṅgadeva, , Saṅgītaratnākara, I (Adyar Library Series, Vol. 30), 299–393Google Scholar.
page 307 note 2 Wherever possible the lower numbers appear before the higher numbers, unless that particular sequence has already been used. As the number in the series increases, the higher numbers occur more towards the beginning until finally the original sequence is inverted at the end of the series.
page 309 note 1 Śārṅgadeva, , Saṅgītaratnākara, ed. cit., ch. i, iv, śl. 58–9Google Scholar.
page 309 note 2 ibid., śl. 60–6.
page 309 note 3 ibid., śl. 67–8.
page 310 note 1 ibid., śl. 68–70.
page 311 note 1 In the uddiṣṭa and naṣṭa of smaller series a part of the khaṇḍameru is omitted. As each vertical column represents a note, the number of columns in use is determined by the length of the series, i.e. the first 4 columns from the left for a 4 note series, etc. As with the abbreviated svaraprastāra in this paper, Śārṅgadeva's khaṇḍameru too does not function for less than heptatonic sequences unless consecutive notes are used. In both cases, however, the defective sequence can be treated as though it were a continuous series, i.e. the series ri, ma, pa, ni (2 4 5 7) can be treated as 1 2 3 4 and its permutations treated accordingly.
page 312 note 1 Dr. A. A. Bake suggests that the satisfaction derived from such a series of sequences might be comparable to that from change-ringing of church bells.
page 312 note 2 It was a surbahār player in Karachi, Fateh Ali Khan, who first introduced the present writer to the merukhaṇḍa, a study which was continued from the theoretical standpoint at the School of Oriental and African Studies under Dr. A. A. Bake. Dr. J. F. Staal has also contributed towards the writer's understanding of the mathematical aspect of the svaraprastāra and khaṇḍameru.
page 312 note 3 Bhātkhaṇḍe, , Saṅgītaśāstra, Hindi translation, Saṅgīta kāryālaya, Hāthras, 1951, i, p. 46Google Scholar
. iske bād śanaiḥ śanaiḥ mandra sthān ke yah sadaiv smaraṇ rakhnā cāhiye ki punarukti uktāne vālī na ho hamāre, anek navodit gāykon meṅ yah doṣ d ṣṭigocar hotā hai pratyek bār navīn svarracan athvā tān utpann karnī cāhiye arthāt pratyek tān meṅ koī na koī navīn svar rakhkar athvā pahle prayukt kiye hue svaron ko ulaḍ-palaṭ kar gānā cāhiye kuch log aisī hī tānoṅ ko kuttān kahte hain ise samajh lenā adhik kaḍhin nahīṅ hai yadi ‘sā re ga ma’ ye cār svar hamāre pās hoṅ, to gaṇit ke d
ṣṭi se unheṅ ulaṭ palaṭ kar 24 prakār banāye jā sakte haiṅ udāharaṇārth — sā re ga ma, re sā ga ma, ga sd re ma ityādi yah āvaśyak nahīṅ hai ki ye sabhī prakār gāte samay āne hī cāhiye prastut rāg meṅ inmeṅ se jo ucit hoṅ keval unhīṅ ko lenā cāhiye
page 313 note 1 These recordings are in the possession of Mr. William Coates.
page 313 note 2 The term sam (lit. equal, level) is used to indicate the moment where the melodic line (vocal or instrumental) coincides with the rhythmic line. The ālāpa, however, is not bound by any rhythmic cycle and the drummer is silent throughout the whole of the improvisation but often gives a stroke on his drums to emphasize the end of the ālāpa figure as though this were the sam of a khayāl or some other form of song based on a rhythmic pattern.
page 314 note 1 These are the initial consonants of the Indian sargam (sol-fa). The vowels and even the aspirate of dha have been dropped merely because there is not enough space in the notation for these.
page 314 note 2 In the notations of Pūriyā Kalyāṇ it must be understand that the ri is always komal (flat) and the ma always tīvra (sharp). In the notations of Śyām Kalyāṇ, however, all the notes are śuddha (natural). In addition the tīvra ma is also used and is indicated thus: M. Notes underlined belong to the mandrasthāna (lower register). The slur sign above the notes in the staff but below the notes of the sargam (sol-fa)
indicates, in the sitār recording, that the notes covered are played with one stroke of the plectrum (mizrab); in the vocal recording, the duration of each syallable.
page 316 note 1 The writer is indebted to Mr. Howard Kirn for his help in the notation of Śyām Kalyāṇ.
page 324 note 1 Bharata, , Nāṭyaśāstra (Kashi Sanskrit Series, No. 60), ch. xxviii, śl 88–9Google Scholar :
sarvathā caiva vijñeyā vardhamānasvaras tathā
ekasvaro dvisvaraś ca trisvaro 'tha catuḥsvaraḥ
pañcasvaraḥ ṣaṭsvaraś ca tathá saptasvaro 'pi vā.
page 325 note 1 Bhātkhaṇḍe, , op. cit., I, 83Google Scholar . Bhātkhaṇḍe states that modern palṭās (sequences used as exercises) are a variety of alaṅkāra.
page 325 note 2 Later writers call this prastāra alaṅkāra, not prasvāra, which suggests that the text is corrupt at this point.
page 325 note 3 Nāṭyaśāstra, ed. cit., ch. xxix, śl. 54.
ekasvarādirūḍhaḥ kramaśaḥ prasvārasaṁjñito jñeyaḥ.
page 325 note 4 Mataṅga, , Bṛhaddeśi (Anantaśayanasanskṛtgranthāvaliḥ, No. 94), p. 37Google Scholar . Apparently the sequence S R G M (1 2 3 4), M G R S (4 3 2 1) is omitted by accident.
page 325 note 5 ibid., p. 31.
Mataṅga gives the following examples of the 4 note tānas:
![](https://static.cambridge.org/binary/version/id/urn:cambridge.org:id:binary:20160401094335300-0686:S0041977X0009145X_eqnU1.gif?pub-status=live)
Note the duplication of the first and the last, and of the sequence S M G R (1 4 3 2).
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