सङ्गीतमकरन्द (देवर्षि नारद - प्राचीन भारतीय सङ्गीत, राग-रागिनी वर्गीकरण व नाद-ब्रह्म)

VIII INTRODUCTION
The verses 22-40 on pp. 23-25, describing the merits of the
different kinds of singers &c, in this work, are found in Sangîta
Ratnâkara almost word for word.¹ In our text here they are
corrupted by the copyists' mistakes. It is difficult to decide
whether the author of the Sangîta Ratnâkara inserted them in his
work from this book or some one extracted them from the Sangîta
Ratnâkara and interpolated them in the present work. Arguments
might be advanced to support either view. I therefore leave the
point for the decision of the experts.
At the commencement of the Nṛtyādhyāya² Nārada gives the
descriptions of the Nṛtya Sālā (Dancing Hall), Sabhā (audience),
Sabhāpati (Chief of the audience) &c., and all these are indepen-
dent of those given in the Sangīta Ratnākara.
Further he has mentioned 101 Tālas with their definitions³
but has not divided them into Mārga and Deśī as is done by
Śārṅgadeva in the 5th chapter of his Sangīta Ratnākara wherein
the number of Deśī Tālas described is 120.
As regards dancing he has given a very brief account of it.
He has enumerated and defined only 33 postures of a dancer within
a few verses.⁴ But the author of Sangīta Ratnākara has devoted
one whole chapter to the subject and has done full justice to it.
The style of the book is very simple like that of Bharata's
Nāṭya Sāstra. But the Sangīta Ratnākara is written in highly
polished Sanskrit. The arrangement of Sangīta Ratnākara is
scientific and it seems to have been written after the art of Music
had attained a very high stage of development in all its branches.
Date of Sangīta Makaranda—If we take all the above
circumstances into consideration, we are obliged to arrive at the
conclusion that Sangīta Makaranda is an older work than
Sangīta Ratnākara.
1 Vide Sangīta Ratnākara Vol. I, p. 243–246.
2 Vide pages 27 to 29.
3 Vide pages 47, verses 93–100.
4 Vide pages 49 to 51.