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Kohala in the Sanskrit textual tradition (Study)

by Padma Sugavanam | 2011 | 95,782 words

This page relates ‘Kohala and Gita (1): The concept of Nada� of the thesis dealing with Kohala’s contribution to the Sanskrit textual tradition of ancient Indian performing arts. The study focuses specifically on music (Gita), dance (Nritya), and drama (Natya). Although Kohala’s original works have not been found, numerous references to him across Lakshana-Granthas (treatises) and works by modern scholars indicate his significance.

Go directly to: Footnotes.

Kohala and Gītā (1): The concept of Nāda

कोहलॶये
आहतोऽनाहतश्चेत� � नादो द्विविधो मत� �
यत्रोभयोश्� संयो� आहतः � प्रकीर्तितः � �.३२ �
आकाशसम्भवो नादस्तथानाहत उच्यते �
आहतं नादमाकृष्य तथानादतसंज्ञकात् �
तं नादं सप्तधाऽकर्षीत्तथ� षड्जादिभिः स्वरैः � �.३३ � इत� �

dz󲹱ī
āhato'n󲹳ٲśceti sa nādo dvividho mata� |
yatrobhayośca saṃyoga 󲹳ٲ� sa prakīrtita� ||
1.32 ||
ākāśasambhavo 岹stathān󲹳ٲ ucyate |
󲹳ٲ� 岹mākṛṣya tathā岹tasaṃjñakāt |
ta� 岹� saptadhā'karṣīttathā ṣaḍjādibhi� svarai� ||
1.33 || iti | 

�(ṅgīٲⲹṇa, Vol. I, p.16,18) 

A work by the name of dz󲹱īⲹ, which is attributed to Kohala, appears in works of the Orissa region such as ṅgīٲⲹṇa, ṅgīṇaԻ, ṅgīٲṇi etc. A point to note here is that most of the references to Kohala are repeated through all these works. This can be seen in the present case where the above cited verses from ṅgīٲⲹṇa (where only Kohala’s definition of 󲹳ٲ is available) are also found in ṅgīṇaԻ[1]. The only difference is that there is no mention of the name �dz󲹱īⲹ� inspite of this work having come after ṅgīٲⲹṇa

In the reading found in ṅgīṇaԻ, there is one additional śǰ첹:

अथानाहतनादस्� मुक्तिकारणतामाह�
योगिनाऽप� महात्मानस्तथाऽनाहत संज्ञक� �
मन� निक्षिप्� संयान्ति मुक्ति� प्रयतमानसा� � �.७६ �

athān󲹳ٲ岹sya muktikāraṇatāmāha
yoginā'pi mahātmānastathā'n󲹳ٲ saṃjñake |
mano nikṣipya saṃyānti mukti� prayatamānasā� ||
1.76 ||[2]

This excerpt speaks of the two varieties of , namely�

  1. 󲹳ٲ and
  2. an󲹳ٲ

Here, 󲹳ٲ 岹 has been defined as the combination of both varieties namely 󲹳ٲ and an󲹳ٲ 岹. And an󲹳ٲ 岹 is that which emanates from the sky (ether). The word 󲹳ٲ literally means ‘struck� and an󲹳ٲ�‘unstruck�. R. K. Shringy and Prem Lata Sharma say that 󲹳ٲ 岹 is an object of sense perception and an󲹳ٲ 岹 is a matter of mystic experience of yoga in which sound and light are fused together and there is direct perception[3]. The current definition of these terms is that 󲹳ٲ 岹 refers to man-made sounds and an󲹳ٲ 岹 refers to sounds of nature. Bharata has not explained the concept of in his ṭyśٰ.

Ѳٲṅg classifies into five types namely�

  1. ūṣm
  2. atiūṣm
  3. vyakta
  4. avyakta and
  5. ṛt

Even in the work ṛhśī this particular classification of into 󲹳ٲ and an󲹳ٲ is not to be seen. It appears that only the Orissa works have connected Kohala with the concept of .

Footnotes and references:

[back to top]

[1]:

ṅgīṇaԻ: 1995: V.1.75-77: p.12

[2]:

ibid.

[3]:

ṅgٲٲ첹 of Śṅg𱹲: 1991: Vol. I: p.23

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