सङ्गीतदर्पण (दामोदर पण्डित - तंजौर सरस्वती महल संस्करण, सङ्गीत एवं नाट्य लक्षण)

2
the lost tradition found themselves at a loss to understand
fully the standard texts of the pre-dark period. In the realm
of art, the practice that was still found to be living in the stray
corners of the country was patiently gathered together and
make-shift rules newly coined to preserve it. In Music,
Sangita Ratnakara, the standard text - book of Sarngadeva
written about 1200 A. D., had collected and presented in clear
terms, the practice and theory available from the best traditions
and all texts of ancient and later times. There were also
half a dozen commentaries on this standard text book. But
with all this help, Sarngadeva's book could not be followed
by many of the musicians of the 15th and 16th centuries.
We find to our surprise that such responsible authors like
‘Govinda Dikshita’ and ‘Raghunatha Bhoopati’ of Tanjore
have, after colossal efforts made to understand the theory of
Raga-formation in the ‘Ratnakara’, had not hesitated in
their despair, to characterise the classic of Sarnga Deva as
‘lakshya lakshana viruddha’, ‘the practice and theory
contradicting each other.
In this atmosphere of doubt and uncertainty, our author
has chalked out a clear path for himself. He has presented
whatever was useful or clearly intelligible in Sarngadeva,
his predecessors and successors, and presented the theory
and practice of Music in the clearest possible language.
The subject begins with Swaras or musical notes. This
chapter deals with the formation of ‘Swaras’ from ‘Srutis’ or
simple sounds, the natural swaras and their ‘modified forms,
and their organic groups called ‘Gramas’. The chapter closes
with closed curves or Murchhanas, which are the bases of the
chhaya of Ragas. The matter in this chapter is all taken
practically from ‘Sangita Ratnakara’, but in the hands of our
author the subject has gained in lucidity.
The second chapter deals with the Ragas, their formation,
their classification and their essential characteristics. Here
the scientific approach to the subject found in Sangita Ratna-
kara has not been fully followed. The formation of Ragas