सङ्गीतरत्नाकर: प्रथम भाग (शार्ङ्गदेव - स्वरगताध्याय सविस्तार व्याख्या व अनुवाद सहित)

188 Treatment of Svara Section 1 : Grāma, Mūrcchanā, ...
Although later in the classical period gāthā represents non-vedic
5. एकस्वरादि-कूटतानचतुष्टस्य नामानि religious verse, from the above context and also from the following verse
it seems, here it refers to the Yajur-veda. The fact that this tonal distri-
आर्चिको गाथिकश्चाथ सामिको ऽथ स्वरान्तरः । bution is related only to those hymns that are meant to be employed in
the sacrificial acts is also evidenced by the following verse of this work:
एकस्वरादितानानां चतुर्णामभिधा इमाः ॥३९॥ "Ṛk sāmayajuṣāṅgāni ye yajñeṣu prayuñjate, avijñānāddhi śāstrāṇām
teṣāṁ bhavati visvaraḥ." (1.1.4), i e, 'Those parts of the Ṛg. Yajur and the
twenty, the tetratonic permutational note-series are known Sāma-veda-s that are applied in sacrificial acts, due to the lack of scienti-
to be twentyfour, the tritone series are six, the bitone series fic understanding, are recited in the wrong tone (i. e. in an improper
are two and the monotone is one, of course. (37-38) and unprecise way)' Here, the word Yajur seems to have been used for
gāthā. However, in the Vedic literature the word gāthā is also used in
(5) The names of the first four permutational note-series : 39 the sense of gāna i. e., song Swami Prajñānānanda, after giving the
The names for the first four note-series such an mono- illustrations of its use in the Ṛigveda, concludes that "gāthā is, gīyate-iti
tone etc. respectively are ārcika, gāthika, sāmika and svarāntara. gāthā i. e., that which is sung, or is suitable for singing is gāthā". (cf.
(39) Historical Development of Indian Music, pp. 46, 47).
the sacrifices take resort to the monotone, and so being related to them,
the monotone is called ārcika. 6. षाडवकूटतान-सङ्ख्या
Similarly gāthika, is the one that is related to gāthā, i. e nonvedic उक्ताः शुद्धादिभेदेन निगयुक्ताश्चतुर्विधाः ।
religious verse. Likewise the tritone is associated with the Sāmaveda: तयोरेकैकहीनास्तु द्वेधा मूलक्रमा मताः ॥४०॥
the hymns of this particular veda were sung in three tones when employ- षड्जौ च मध्यमौ च चत्वारः स्युर्द्विधा द्विधा ।
ed for sacrificial purposes. However, the Sāmaveda otherwise bears ample
evidence that its music was based on seven notes, though we need not चतुर्धा ऽन्ये दशेत्यष्टाचत्वारिंशदमी क्रमाः ॥४१॥
go into this subject in this context. But it is worthwhile to quote सविंशतिः सप्तशतो प्रागुक्ता गुणिता क्रमैः ।
Swami Prajñānānanda who writes, "The sāmagāna was of various types चतुस्त्रिंशत्सहस्राणि षष्ट्या पञ्च शतानि च ॥४२॥
with different numbers of tone in different vedic recensions (śākhā-s), इति षाडवसङ्ख्या स्यात्,
and they had different methods of rendering. Usually three, four or
five notes were used in the sāmagāna-s, but in the kauthuma recension (6) The enumeration of the hexatonics : 40-43a
(śākhā) the sāmagāna was presented with seven vedic notes. The vedic The original series, inclusive of ga and ni have been
notes were in the downward movement (avarohaṇa-krameṇa), whereas the mentioned¹ to be fourfold viz. śuddhā (standard) etc., but if
modern classical notes are used in the upward movement (ārohaṇa- deprived of either² of them, they are considered to be two-
krameṇa)", (cf. Historical Development of Indian Music, pp. 46, 47). It
may also be observed that the bulk of the hymns of the Samaveda are The mūrcchanā-s such as 'sa ri ga ma pa dha ni : ni dha pa ma ga ri sa'
taken verbatim from the Ṛgveda with a view to their application in the etc. have been explained as fourfold vide verse 16 ante. The four
context of certain sacrifices. It is interesting to refer to the Nāradīya- types enumerated are the standard, the kākalī-inclusive, the antara-
śikṣā in this context which also gives the four names exactly as in the inclusive and the twin-inclusive (i.e. inclusive of both kākalī and antara).
text : "Ārcikaṁ gāthikaṁ caiva sāmikaṁ ca svarāntaram" (1.1.2), and then Corresponding mūrcchanā-series are derived from out of these, taking the
it goes on to explain as under : seven notes in their ascending order. However, as already explained
"Ekāntaraḥ svaro hyṛkṣu gāthāsu dvyantaraḥ svaraḥ : Samasu tryantaram 1. The fortysix mūrcchanā-series mentioned vide 16-17 ante.
vidyādetavat svarato-antaram" (1.1.3) i. e., 'The hymns of the Ṛigveda are 2. That is, if either ni or ga is dropped.
to be sung with a single-space tone, those of the gāthā with the double-
space-tone, while those of the Sāmaveda with the triple-space tone; such
is the scheme of tonal spacing.'