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

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22 Treatment of Svara
follows⁴ both (i.e., vocal and instrumental music); therefore,
all the three⁵ together depend on nāda. (1)
it fit to do so because human body provides the required circumstance
and instrumentation for the production of voice and vocal melody.
Just as some study of physiology is necessary for understanding the
process of voice production in the science of voice culture, so also, our
author finds it necessary to investigate the genesis of human embodi-
ment. This is indicated by him in the first few verses of this section.
However, Śārṅgadeva does not seem to be the only writer on music
of his times, who has considered it worthwhile to deal with the subject
of human embodiment. Śāradatanaya, who is almost a contemporary
of Śārṅgadeva (cf. Introduction to Bhāvaprakāśanam, G.O.S. No. XLV,
Baroda, p. 76, wherein he is placed between 1175-1250 A.D.), and whose
work mainly concerns poetics and deals with music as a subsidiary art
to dramatics, also mentions in the beginning of the seventh Chapter the
process of creation according to the Kashmir Śaivism and Tantra, the
process of human embodiment (albeit very briefly as compared to S.R.
and rather somewhat differently) and voice production in the body.
Attention would be drawn to some of his theories in Section 3 of this
Chapter, and a note pointing the salient features of his account of the
embodiment is given at the end of this topic (vide comments on 119).
It is, however, interesting to note that he designates the subject
matter significantly as geya-samutpatti (the creation of vocal music).
Geya is the technical word for melodic structure. Therefore, his treat-
ment of the subject is quite differently oriented. With him the
description of the phenomenal world or of the physical body is inciden-
tal to what he calls geya-samutpatti. And he describes it because geya
(in the sense of music) is a means of realising the four values of life, viz.
dharma, artha, kāma and mokṣa—i.e. social and moral good, economic
prosperity, enjoyment and spiritual emancipation (cf. p. 182 Bhāva-
prakāśanam).
4. In the ancient Indian aesthetic concept of rasa and beauty,
saṅgīta, comprises the three arts of vocal and instrumental
music and dance. The statement is, therefore, to be under-
stood in that context. ‘S’ quotes, aṅgenālambayed gītam, i. e.,
‘song should be supported by the gesture’, to support and to
elucidate the statement, which becomes intelligible if saṅgīta
is considered to be a composite art of singing, playing on
instruments and dancing.
5. The word trayam of the text brings out the composite nature of
saṅgīta.

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Section 2 : The Genesis of the Human Embodiment 23
Nāda⁶ manifests the letters (of alphabet), letters consti-
tute the word,⁷ and words make a sentence; so, the entire
business of life is carried on, through language⁸; and there-
fore, the whole phenomenon (i. e., the world) is based on
nāda.⁹ (2)
Nāda is the basis, not only for music and dance, though specially
related to it, but of the entire business of life; since it constitutes the
very substance of speech which is the only means of communication. The
implication, as derived by ‘K’ is that, the fact that nāda is the very
basis of all manifest life, makes it more important and relevant for the
author to deal with the subject of the genesis of the human embodiment.
(ii) द्विविधो नादः, पिण्डोत्पत्तिप्रतिपादनौचित्यम्
आहतोऽनाहतश्चेति द्विधा नादो निगद्यते ।
सोऽयं प्रकाशते पिण्डे तस्मात्पिण्डोऽभिधीयते ॥ ३ ॥
(ii) Twofold nāda : 3
Nāda is said to be twofold, viz., produced¹ and unpro-
duced. Since it manifests itself in the human body, the
(process of) embodiment is being described. (3)
6. Nāda, here, means sound, i. e., articulation of consonant
letters in conjunction with vowels; ‘S’ interprets nāda, in this
context, as ‘dhvani’ and explains it as the sound which is not
distinguished in terms of varṇa-s, i. e., the particular articula-
tions of sound symbolised by the letters of alphabet, but which
is heard from afar and is responsible for the perception of
high and low pitch associated with letters.
7. Pada in Sanskrit is a meaningful word, i. e., a word with a
relational value.
8. Lit. sentence which is accepted to be the unit of language.
9. Cf. Br. D. verses 16-20, quoted by ‘S’, for similar import.

1. Āhata of the text literally means ‘struck’ and anāhata literally
   means ‘unstruck.’ The idea is that nāda has two forms, viz.,
   the created and the uncreated, the former being an object of
   sense perception and the latter a matter of mystic experience
   of Yoga in which sound and light are fused together and there
   is direct perception.