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

INTRODUCTION

1. Prefatory Remarks
   If one were to name a single text of Saṅgīta-śāstra which
   embodies the earlier tradition (lakṣaṇa, body of terms and
   concepts) in remarkable detail and at the same time incor-
   porates contemporary developments, which has been cons-
   tantly referred to in musical and literary texts in the
   subsequent centuries, which has been commented upon
   profusely¹, which has not only been looked upon with awe
   and reverence, but has also occasionally been the target of
   reproach born of frustration, which wielded great influence
   over later tradition, one would undoubtedly name the
   Saṅgīta-ratnākara (hereafter referred to as S. R.) of Śārṅga-
   deva.
   S. R. has been known as saptādhyāyī³ on the model of
   Pāṇini's Aṣṭādhyāyī and has for at least six centuries symboli-
   sed the ancient tradition of lakṣaṇa. Earlier texts do not
   appear to have been directly studied by most of the auhtors
   of lakṣaṇa in the subsequent centuries. Keen interest in the
   direct studies of earlier works like Bharata's Nāṭyaśāstra,
   Dattila's Dattilam, Mataṅga's Bṛhaddeśī, Abhinavagupta's
   Abhinavabhāratī, Someśvara's Mānasollāsa and Nānyadeva's
   Bharatabhāṣya, has emerged only in the latter half of the 20th.
   century and S. R. has served as a constant frame of reference
   in this study. Hence S. R. has re-emerged as a landmark
   in Saṅgīta-śāstra, illuminating its ancient and medieval tradi-
   tion like a Dehalī-pradīpa³.
2. The latest commentary, 'Setu' of Gaṅgārāma was composed as
   recently as the 19th century.
3. cf. S. Sud, p. 152 sl. 407. Sahasras (a compilation, made in
   the 17th. century of dhrupad texts ascribed to Bakshoo of the
   15th. century), song-text no. 188, 400, 479, 958.
4. A lamp on the threshold of a room illuminating both inside
   and outside.
   ( xiii )
5. Date and Identity of the Author
   Śārṅgadeva introduces himself as belonging to a family
   which hailed from Kashmir. Kashmir is the glorious land
   of Sanskrit learning that dominated for centuries the various
   branches of study; the land that gave birth to a versatile
   genius like Abhinavagupta preceded by a host of commen-
   tators¹ on N.S. and Ānandavardhana, Mātṛgupta, Mammaṭa
   etc. Śārṅgadeva must have inherited from his father and
   grandfather the rich tradition of various disciplines. He
   must also have been acquainted with the lakṣya of Kashmir
   indirectly and with that of the Deccan, where the family
   settled, directly. In a way the entire śāstra (source of
   theoretical knowledge) and sampradāya (practical tradition)
   of the earlier periods must have been accessible to him.
   In Deccan, the family lived under the patronage of the
   Yādava dynasty at Devagiri (present Daulatabad).² This
   dynasty was formally established by King Bhillama in 1145
   A. D. It is during his reign that Śārṅgadeva's grandfather
   Bhāskara appears to have shifted from Kashmir to Devagiri.
   One wonders what could have prompted Bhāskara to leave
   his motherland and move to a distant foreign region. Was
   it the political persecution which forced him to flee and seek
   refuge in the other end of the land ? Or was it the special
   patronage extended by the prince of a distant land to him
   because of his fame that attracted him to the Yādava court ?
   P. V. Sharma feels that although there is no conclusive
   evidence, it may be that the King of Devagiri, impressed by
   Bhāskara's scholarship in Āyurveda, invited him to his court as
6. Their works are lost today.
7. Sources for the historical details are :-
   (a) Bhāratīya Vidyābhavan's The History and Culture of the
   Indian People, Vol. V.
   (b) Śārṅgadeva's own account regarding his genealogy and
   other details in the first prakaraṇa of the first chapter of
   S. R.
   (c) P. V. Sharma's paper in Hindi—"Yādava Kings, the
   Great Patrons of Āyurveda in the Medieval Times."