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Indian Musicological Texts
                                                                                                                                                         --- Acharya Dr Chintamani Rath Ph.D.


The table below shows some of the many musicological Texts written (mostly in Sanskrit) from ancient times until the early part of the 20th centure. Many are authentic but some are corrupt. A Text is corrupt if there is evidence that it has been tampered with by people other than its author in such a way as to materially alter its content or import.

In the early days, texts were written on a variety of material such as wood, leaf, cloth, leather and even stone. Needless to say, texts were often bulky, heavy and unwieldy. Once the writing of a text was complete, it would be copied by others. In particular, there was a class of people whose special job it was to copy texts: these poeple were known (in Orissa) as those of the "Karan" class. Unfortunately, many if not most of these professional copiers were not particularly educated, nor were they careful or conscientious enough in the discharge of their professional duties. As a result, many unfortunate copying errors abound in several ancient and medieval texts. This is one of the foremost challenges to the Indologist generally and the musicologist particularly.

Another cause for the corruption of texts, leading to the corrupt or incorrect interpretation of texts, is the damage caused by poor maintenance. For example, a hole bored by a termite so as to obliterate, substantially if not wholly, an Anusvar or the symbol for a nasal sound (which is represented as but a dot above a consonant) was responsible for the incorrect interpretation of the term Shruti and the perpetuation of such incorrect interpretation. The Text declared: "Tat Pramanam Shruti", meaning "That measure or quantity (musically, that interval) is a Shruti ("Pramanam" = "measure", "quantum"). However, our intrepid medieval termite had bored a hole right through the dot representing the "Anusvar" or "am" sound at the end of "Pramanam", so that the text now read: "Tat Pramana Shruti", effectively coining a new technical term "Pramana Shruti". A famous (now late) musicologist of 20th century northern India (based in Delhi and otherwise a sound scholar) unfortunately overlooked this fact and perpetuated this fictional term "Pramana Shruti" in his learned and respected work on Indian art music (in Hindi). As a result, musicians, music teachers, music students, all fell into the practice of using a hitherto unheard of term as a defined and ancient authentic term....

A third cause for the lack of authenticity in many texts is the presence of a good deal of interpolation. Texts have been known to have been manipulated for the personal end of the copier or his superior. This is especially true in religious and legal texts like the Smrti and other texts. Unfortunately, musicological texts have also suffered from this defect.

Finally, the depredation caused by insensitive and hostile conquerers and colonial rulers has had enormous impact upon the availability and authenticity of texts. Many texts are lost to us forever. Some texts could be partially recreated by the unending toil of scholars reconstructing them from quotations from them by later text writers and from reasoned conjecture. Not the least at fault is the callous attitude of the ordinary people and the political bosses in India: texts continue to rot in libraries, private collections and even private homes. Many texts have been doomed to internment in collections and libraries outside India: in England, France, Germany, Japan, and other countries of the first world.

In spite of these difficult factors, there are a good many texts that are, happily, available to us. In the case of musicological texts, their interpretation is not easy. There are several reasons for this. First, most practising musicians are not educated enough, nor are they respectful of matters scholastic. Second, many texts have been translated from Sanskrit into a variety of languages, including English, by people who know Sanskrit but know nothing of music. Indeed, most Sanskrit scholars who have done such translations have been persons of literature and language and have not been able to comprehend the arithmetic calculations relating to Shrutis or tones and microtones or the musical significance of many passages. Third, many texts, especially medieval texts, have been written by people with fanciful and not necessarily scientific accuracy and these texts have often been translated by doting and devoted translators who tended to, in a sense, deify the authors without regard to the real relevance of the content. In the minds of many non-musical translators, a text attained sanctity not so much by virtue of its content but because it was (a) old and (b) written in Sanskrit.

It is for these reasons that many people, especially (and sadly) musicians themselves (including "star" performers, who are performers only and nothing else...), do not understand how to interpret these wonderful musicological texts and therefore rubbish them, sometimes from genuine ignorance and sometimes from a sense of professional insecurity. The lay people, unfortunately, lap up anything and everything these "star" performers say. And there the matter rests today.

In the table below is set out, in chronological order, some of the important texts that are known to us today. Most of those in the list below are available with the author and compiler (Dr Chintamani Rath). No attempt has been made at this stage to attach any value to the texts: suffice it to mention that the majority of those below are "authentic" and fit into the broad picture of Indian Art Music. The author and key events in India's long and varied history have also been provided to make the table more meaningful.

In time, it is proposed to explain some of the key texts in greater detail in this website. Click Sangit Ratnakar (1235 - 1240 AC) in the table below to view a brief outline of that Text.


                                                              Table of Texts                                    (Back to top)

From	To	Author	Work	Selected Historical                 Events
BC 1418		Narada Gandharva	Gandharva Veda of 36,000 verses	Mahabharata War
BC 1500	BC 1000	Various Gandharvas named Parvata, Tumburu, Vashishtha, Vishvavasu etc.		Various Pouranic kings
BC 1500	BC 1000	Virinchi Bramha	Natyaveda of 60,000 verses
BC 9th century		Gandharvas like Matanga I, Kashyap, etc.		Parikshita and Janmejaya in Kuru, Barhadratha in Bihar, Ikshvaku in Ayodhya, etc.
BC 8th century		Druhina Bramha (= Bramhabharata), a Muni	concise version of Natyaveda -- 12,000 verses
BC 8th century		Bharata I, a Muni
BC 8th century		Narada Gandharva II	Gandharva Kalpa
BC 8th century		Sadashiva (Shaiva sect)
BC 8th century		Tandu (Shaiva sect)	originator of Tandava dance
BC 7th century				Ushastha Chakrayana (Delhi), Janaka (Bihar), etc. Gandharva University in western Punjab
BC 6th century		Bharata II, a Muni		Ratthapala (Delhi), Dantapura and Parthali kings in Kalinga
BC 599				Mahavira born
BC 580		Yajnavalkya Muni	Yajnavalkya Shiksha
BC 566				Gautama Buddha (Siddhartha) born
BC 543				Accession of Bimbisara (Magadha)
BC 528				Death of Mahavira
BC 491		Munis like Durgashakti and Shardula		Death of Bimbisara, ascension of Ajatashatru (Magadha)
BC 483				Death of Gautama Buddha
BC 459				Death of Ajatashatru, ascension of Udayi (Magadha)
BC 443		Panini Muni	Paniniya Shiksha	Death of Udayi, Aniruddha and Munda rule Magadha
BC 435				Naga Daksha rules Magadha
BC 327		Vishalikha Muni		Alexander's invasion of India
BC 324				Rise of Maurya dynasty
BC 313				Ascension of Chandragupta Maurya
BC 273				Ascension of Ashoka
BC 232		Yashtika Muni and Kohala Muni	jointly wrote Sarvagama Sanghita	Death of Ashoka
BC 232	AD 400	Anjaneya Muni (= Anila), a Daksha
BC 232	AD 400	Kashyapa Muni
BC 232	AD 400	Dandin Muni, a Yaksha
BC 232	AD 400	Dattila Muni	Dattilam
BC 232	AD 400	Bharata Muni	Natyashashtra of 6,000 verses
BC 232	AD 400	Arjuna Muni
BC 232	AD 400	Nandikeshvara, a Shaiva
BC 232	AD 400	Narada Muni (100 BC)	Naradiya Shiksha
BC 232	AD 400	Devaraja
BC 232	AD 400	Kohala II, a Muni
BC 232	AD 400			Various Buddhist and Tantrik Texts
1st - 2nd century AD				Kushans (Delhi, Punjab)
AD320				Gupta era begins
400	500	Matanga II (a Muni)	Brhaddeshi
400	500			Shilapadikaram inscriptions
AD 476				Birth of Aryabhatta (astronomer)
600		Rahulacharya	Bharatavartikam
606				Ascension of Harshavardhana (Delhi)
600	650			Gupta period starts
600	700	Harshavardhana (Thaneshwar)
600	700	Shashanka (Bengal)
627		Durlabhavardhana	Karakota kings (Kashmir)
700	900			Pala dynasty (Bengal) starts
700	800			Nagabhatta I (Pratihara ruler of Rajasthan)
712				Arab conquest of Sind
713				Chandrapida (Kashmir), Kuddumiamalai inscriptions
724				Muktapida Lalitaditya (Kashmir)
725	740			Yashovarman (Kannauj)
783				Vatsaraja (Pratihara ruler of Rajputana)
800		Shukracharya
800		Trilochana	Parthavijayi (a play)
805	833			Nagabhatta II (Pratihara ruler of Rajasthan)
836				Bhoja I (Pratihara)
855				Fall of Karakota dynasty (Kashmir)
885				Death of Bhoja I
885	910			Mahendrapala (Pratihara ruler of Rajasthan)
900	1000	Keertidhar	a work on flute (text unavailable)
900	1000			Sena dynasty (Bengal) starts
900	1000			Petty Rashtrakuta kings (Kannauj)
900	1000	Nanyadeva	Bharatabhashyam
900	1000	Nanyadeva	Sarasvatihrdayalankar
900	1000		Sangitkalpataru
980		Sagarnandin (Sagarnandi)	Natyalakshanaratnakosha
985		Dhananjaya	Dasharoopaka (text on drama)
998	1010			Mahmud Ghazni's 16 attacks
998	1062	Bhoja	Sarasvatikanthabharanam
998	1062	Bhoja	Srngaraprakasha
1000		Abhinavagupta (born 950)	Abhinavabharati
1000		Abhinavagupta (born 950)	Dhvanyalokalocha
1000		Abhinavagupta (born 950)	Tantraloka
1000		Abhinavagupta (born 950)	Natyalochani
1025		Jayasingha (grandfather of Someshvara)
1026				Mahmud Ghazni's 17th raid
1050		Tribhuvanmalla (= Vikramanka, father of Someshvara)
1070		Svayambhu	Prakrtachhandakara
1085				Chandradeva Gahadavala conquers Kannauj
1100	1200	Nandin (Nandikeshvara)	Bharatarnava
1115	1154			Govindachandra Gahadavala of kannauj
1127	1137	Someshvara (father of Pratapa Jagadekamalla)	Manasollasa (= Abhilashitarthachintamani)
1127	1137	Someshvara (father of Pratapa Jagadekamalla)	Vikramankabhyudaya
1133				Arnoraja of Delhi (Chauhan dynasty)
	11381150	Pratapa (Jagadekamalla)	Sangitachoodamani
1150		Sharadatanaya	Sharada
1150		Sharadatanaya	Bhavaprakashana
1153	1163			Vigraharaja of Delhi
	1160	Somaraja (= Somadeva, Somabhoopala)	Sangita Ratnavali
1163	1178			Prithviraja II and Someshvara of Delhi (brothers)
1168	1169			Vijaychandra Gahadavala of kannauj
1170	1193			Jayachandra Gahadavala of kannauj
1175		Haripala	Sangitasudhakara
1178				Birth of Sharangadeva
1178				Prithviraj Chauhan III of Delhi
1192				Muhammad Ghori defeats Prithviraj Chauhan
1192	1204			Muhammad Ghori of Ghazni
1210				Kutubuddin Aibak of Delhi (slave king)
1211	1236			Altamash (Delhi)
1215	1220	Bramha	Gandharvaratnasagara
1230	1240	author unknown	Ragarnava
1230	1240	author unknown	Talarnava
1230	1240	Ganesha Raya	Sangit Kalpavrksha
1235	1240	Sharangdeva	Sangitratnakara
1236	1240			Razia (Delhi)
1240	1242			Behram Shah (Delhi)
1240				Raja Ganapati (Warangal)
1240		Jayasenapati (=Jyayan, of the court of Raja Ganapati of Warangal)	Gitaratnavali
1240		Jayasenapati	Vadyaratnavali
1240		Jayasenapati	Nrtyaratnavali
1240		Jayasenapati	Sangitaratnavali
1240		Hemachandra (teacher of Ramachandra and Gunachandra)
1240	1250	Hanumana (follower of Somesvara)	Hanumanasanghita
1242	1246			Allauddin Masud Shah (Delhi)
1246	1265			Nasiruddin Masud Shah (Delhi)
1250		Ramachandra and Gunachandra	Natyadarpana
1250		Ranasingha	Sangitamahodadhi
1250	1260	Umapati (follower of Pratap)	Aumapatam
1251	1324			Amir Khusrau
1265	1287			Ghiyasuddin Balban (Delhi)
1270		Palkuriki Somanatha	Panditaradhyacharitam (in Telugu)
1280		Vidyachakravarti	Bharatasangraha
1287	1290			Kaikabad (Delhi)
1290		Parsvadeva	Sangitsamayasara
1292	1296			Allauddin Khilji (Delhi)
1300		Haripala of Bihar	Sangitsudhakara
1300		Allaraja	Rasasatvasammuchaya
1316	1320			Kutubuddin Mubarak Shah (Delhi)
1320		Hammir	Shrngarahara
1320		Vadimattagajankusha
1320		Mokshadeva (son of Bhimadeva)	Sangitasarakalika
1320	1325			Giasuddin Tuglak (Delhi)
1325	1351			Muhammad bin Tuglak (Delhi)
1330		Bhavesh of Mithila	Danashashana
1330		Allaraja	Rasaratnadipika (1336 AC)
1340		Vemabhoopala of Andhra	Sangita Chintamani
1340		Ganesha (of Chauhan dynasty)	Sangit Kalpadruma
1340	1350	Vidyaranya	Sangitasarakalika
1350		Shrngarashekhara	Abhinayabhooshana
1350		Shambhuraja	Shambhurajiya
1350		Madana and his assistant Vishveshvara	Karmavipaka
1350		Madana and his assistant Vishveshvara	Anandasanjivani
1350		Bhuvanananda	Vishvapradipa (containing Sangitaloka, its music section)
1350	1360	Sudhakalasha	Sangisaropanishatsara
1350	1360	Sudhakalasha	Sangitopanishadsarodhhara
1351	1388			Firuz Tuglak Khilji (end of Khiljis)
1398	1399			Timur's invasion of India
1400		Devana Bhatta	Muktavali
1400		Bhattamadhava of Benaras	Sangitachandrika
1400		Gunachandra	Natyadarpana
1400		Ganesha (=Bangabhoopa)	Sangitakalpavrksha
1420	1420	Bharata	Bharatasangit (= Bharatasanghita)
1420	1425	Kshemaraja	Ragamala
1421	1434			Mubarak Shah (founder of Sayyid dynasty in Delhi)
1429		Panditamandali (= a group of scholars)	Sangitashiromani
1430			Tumburunataka
1430	1435	Raja Mandana	Sangitamandana
1430	1443	Singhabhoopala	Sudhakara Teeka of Sangitaratnakara
1434	1445			Muhammad Shah (Sayyid dynasty)
1440		Narada	Panchamasarasanghita
1440		Madhava Bhatta of Benaras	Sangitadipika
1445	1450	Nayak Baiju (not to be confused with Baiju Bavra, a mendicant incorrectly though popularly said to Tansen's adversary in a musical contest)		Accession of Allauddin Alam Shah
1449		Kumbhakarna	Sangitaraja
1449		Kumbhakarna	Nrtyaratnakosha
1450		Devendra Bhatta	Muktavali
1450		Jagaddhara (= Sarasvatidasa)	Sangitasarvasva
1450		Gopatippa	Taladipika
1450	1460	Kallinatha	Kallinatha Tika of Sangitaratnakara
1450	1525	Vasudeva Sarvabhauma		founds Nyaya school in Nadia, Bengal
1451	1489			Bahlol Lodi (Delhi)
1458	1479			Husain Shah Sharki
1460		Amrtananda	Alankarasangraha
1469	1538			Guru Nanak
1476		Shubhankara	Sangitadamodara (text corrupt)
1478	1581			Soordasa
1480	1482	Harinayaka	Sangitasarakalika
1480		Jyotirishvara	Dhoortasamagama (a play)
1480		Jyotirishvara	Sangitabhaskara
1480	1500	Parameshvara	Talakalavilasa
1482	1518			Mahmud Shah Bahamani
1485	1516	Nayak Bakshu, Nayak Lohang, Nayak Pandavi from south India, Nayak Mahmud, etc. -- musicians in Mansingha Tomar's court		Mansingha Tomar of Gwalior
1486	1533			Chaitanya
1487	1517			Sikandar Lodi
1498				Vasco da Gama lands at Calicut (Kerala)
1498	1546			Mirabai
1500		Shrirangaraja	Natyabhashyam
1505	1506	Raja Manasingha	Manakutoohala (quoted by Fakirulla)
1510		Somabhatta (teacher of Somanarya)
1516	1589			Tansen
1517	1526			Ibrahim Lodi (Delhi)
1520		Lakshminarayana	Sangitasuryodaya (=Lakshanabharata)
1526				Accession of Babur
1530				Accession of Humayun
1530	1540	Krshnadeva	Gitaprakasha
1530	1540	Somanarya	Svaragasudharasa
1530	1540	Somanarya	Natyachoodamani
1532	1623	Tulsidas	Ramcharitmanas (religious text) written in 1574
1536	1537	Achyuta Rai	Talakalabodhi (= Talabdhi)
1538	1545			Sher Shah Suri (Delhi)
1550		Mammata	Sangitaratnamala	Portugese inquisitioin in their Indian settlements
1550		Ramamatya	Svaramelakalanidhi
1550		Pundarika Vitthala	Sadragachandrodaya
1550		Pundarika Vitthala	Ragamanjari
1550		Pundarika Vitthala	Ragamala
1555				Humaun regains empire
1556				Akbar ascends Delhi throne
1560				Formal accession of Akbar
1570	1580	Ashokamalla (son of Virasingha)
1580		Abul Fazal	Ain-i-akbari
1580		Abul Fazal	Badshahnama
1580		Abul Fazal	Akbarnama
1580		Badauni	Mantekhab-ut-tawarik
1580	1585	Ahobala	Sangitparijata
1600		Gaurisunoo	Sangisararnava	1st January: East India Company formed by Royal Charter
1600		Purushottamaputra	Sangitsarani
1605				Accession of Jahangir
1610		Vipradasa	Sangitchandra
1611		Somanatha	Ragavibodha
1613		Sundara Mishra	Natyapradipa
1615	1619			Thomas Rowe, British ambassador to India
1617	1618	Lochana Pandita I	Ragatarangini
1620		Raghunatha of Tanjore	Sangitasudha
1625		Jyotirmalla (= Jagajyotirmalla of Nepal)
1626		Damodara	Sangitadarpana
1627	1680			Shivaji
1628				Shah Jahan ascends throne
1630		Haladharamishra	Sangitakalpalakita
1633		Venkateshvara Dikshita (= Venkatmakhi)	Chaturdandiprakashika
1633		Venkateshvara Dikshita (= Venkatmakhi)	Ragalakshana
1656	1660	Hrdayanarayana	Hrdayakautaka
1656	1660	Hrdayanarayana	Hrdayaprakasha
1658				Aurangzeb crowned emperor
1669				Aurangzeb orders demolition of Hindu schools, desecrates and demolishes Kashi Visvanath temple
1670		Damodara Sena	Dangitadamodara
1670		Bhavabhatta	Anoopasangitaratnakara
1670		Bhavabhatta	Anoopasangitavilasa
1670		Bhavabhatta	Anoopasangitaratnakara
1670		Bhavabhatta	Lalitaprakasha
1670				Aurangzeb desecrates and demolishes Keshab Rai temple
1671				Aurangzeb dismisses all Hindu officials in his employ
1673		Akalanka	Sangitasarasangraha (in Telugu)
1676		Fakirulla	Ragadarpana
1676		Mirza Khan	Tufatulhind
1677		Narada	Sangitamakaranda
1679				Aurangzeb reimposes Jizya (previously abolished by Akbar), a tax on Hindus collected to crush Hinduism and spread Islam
1680		Veda	Sangitamakaranda
1690		Shrikantha	Rasakaumudi
1690		Lochana Pandita II (= Lochana Jha)	Ragatarangini
1695				Aurangzeb forbids Hindus from using palanquins, elephants, good horses and arms
1700		Govinda	Sangrahachoodamani
1700		Nagamalla	Nagendrasangita
1700	1750	Ranganatha	Sangitadugdhabhdhi
1700	1750	Ranganatha	Sangitasaroddhara
1704		Raghunatha Rath	Sangitarnavachandrika
1704		Raghunatha Rath	Natyamanorama
1707				Aurangzeb dies
1730		Gajapatinarayana	Sangitanarayana
1750		Tulaja	Sangitasaramrtam
1750		Tulaja	Sangitasaramrtoddhara
1750		Parameshvara	Vinalakshanam
1785		Shrinivasa	Ragatatvavibodha
1785		Shrinivasa	Ragalakshanam
1820		Narada	Chatvaringshata- raganiroopanam
1870		Kalyanaka	Sugamaragamala
1915	1916	Appa Tulasi	Ragakalpadrumankura
1915	1916	Appa Tulasi	Sangitasudhakara
1915	1916	Appa Tulasi	Ragachandrika
1915	1916	Appa Tulasi	Ragachandrikasara
1915	1916	Appa Tulasi	Abhinavatalamanjari
1915	1916	Vishnusharma (=Bhatkhande)	Abhinavaragamanjari
1915	1916	Vishnusharma (=Bhatkhande)	Shrimallakshasangitam
1915	1916	Vishnusharma (=Bhatkhande)	Sangitashashtra (in Hindi)
1915	1916	Vishnusharma (=Bhatkhande)	Kramikpustakmalika (in Hindi)

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