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Kohala in the Sanskrit textual tradition (Study)

by Padma Sugavanam | 2011 | 95,782 words

This page relates ‘Kohala and Gita (4): The concept of Murcchana� 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 (4): The concept of Mūrcchanā

1 Mūrcchanā (ṛhśī)

तथ� चा� कोहल� योजनीयो बुधैर्नित्यं क्रम� लक्ष्यानुसारतः �
संस्थप्य मूर्छनां जातिरागभाषादिसिद्धये �

tathā cāha dz󲹱� Ჹī budhairnitya� kramo lakṣyānuta� |
saṃsthapya mūrchanā� پ岵ṣādisiddhaye ||
 

�(ṛhśī, Chapter I, Grāmaū󲹲 prakaraṇam, Anuccheda 61, p.82) 

The above citation of Kohala deals with the subject of the 屹岹ś-svara-ū󲹲 and has been translated by Prem Lata Sharma as follows:

“Similarly has said Kohala—“The order (of svaras) should always be arranged by the wise according to ṣy (practice) for the sake of the accomplishment of پ, and the like, after having established the ܰ󲹲.�[1]

R. K. Shringy interprets Ѳٲṅg’s definition of a ū󲹲 saying that it fundamentally is a unit of seven notes in regular order of ascent and descent[2]. There are seven ū󲹲s each belonging to the ṣaḍj-峾 and the ⲹ-峾. More often than not, all the seven svaras of a ū󲹲 are not confined to a single octave. For instance in the ū󲹲 called Ჹī would have the form—�ni sa ri ga ma pa dha’Ĕw ni would be in the mandra ٳԲ (register) and the rest of the notes in the madhya ٳԲ. Some authorities like Kohala and Ի徱ś seem to have conceived of a form which will be inclusive of all the three ٳԲ at the same time. And according to them, this would aid in the practical presentations of پs, 岵s and ṣās. It is in this context that Ѳٲṅg quotes the above verse of Kohala. In effect, Kohala says that an additional two svaras in the mandra ٳԲ and and three in the ٳԲ are to be included in a ū󲹲 in order to fix the minimum or standard range of performance of a پ or [3]

The actual citation of Kohala, if considered out of context will appear meaningless. The verse does not even mention exactly what is to be included/ added (Ჹī). Kohala does not even mention the word �ٳԲ�.

It is Ѳٲṅg’s ṛtپ preceeding this verse that puts it in perspective and helps understand that Kohala is speaking on the subject of the 屹岹ś-svara-ū󲹲

तत्र मूर्च्छनानिर्देश� स्थनत्रितयप्राप्त्यर्थमिति वचनात्, मन्द्रतारसिद्ध्यर्थमित� वचनाच्� द्वादशस्वरसम्पन्ना मूर्च्छन� द्रष्टव्या� प्रयोगकाले

tatra ū󲹲nirdeśa� sthanatritayaprāptyarthamiti vacanāt, mandrasiddhyarthamiti vacanācca 屹岹śsvarasampannā ū󲹲 draṣṭavyā� prayogakāle

ṛhśī of Śrī Ѳٲṅgmuni: 1992: p.82

On the other hand, the other verse which Ѳٲṅg quotes in this context, i.e. the verse of Ի徱ś, is much clearer. Ի徱ś says�

द्वादशस्वरसम्पन्ना ज्ञातव्य� मूर्च्छन� बुधै� �
जातिभाषादिसिद्ध्यर्थ� तारमन्द्रादिसिद्धय� �

屹岹śsvarasampannā jñātavyā ū󲹲 budhai� |
پṣādiⲹٳ� mandrādisiddhaye ||

Ի徱ś says almost the same thing that Kohala does, but his expression seems a lot clearer. He mentions that this ū󲹲 must have twelve svaras and also that the and mandra are to be established. It appears from the verse of Ի徱ś that his purpose was to have access to all the three ٳԲ. Twelve notes in a ū󲹲 have been incorporated with a view to include all three ٳԲ in the scale. In the case of Kohala, it is possible that the preceeding verse(s) in his work contained the relevant information which would put this particular one in much clearer light. In any case, Ѳٲṅg does the needful by supplying the context and other information that are necessary to understand/ appreciate these words of Kohala. In Kohala’s verse there is no mention of �ٳԲ� while in Ի徱ś’s verse the purpose seems to have access to the tara and mandra ٳԲ. Bharata too has stated that the purpose of murchana is too have access to the ٳԲ[4]. It is interesting to note that Śṅg𱹲 completely ignores the concept of 屹岹śsvara-ū󲹲, whereas Kumbha, who is a later author mentions it.

The mention of the words پ, and ṣ� here, are significant. Concepts of 岵 ṣ� and such like are believed to belong strictly to the domain of the śī tradition (fundamentally since Bharata and Dattila have not spoken about them). That would raise a question as to whether this mention of and پ would be evidence enough to place Kohala as a śī authority. Bharata, in his ṭyśٰ does not touch upon the subject of 岵s

But as Mukund Lath[5] points out, Abhinavagupta, while commenting on the 29th chapter of the ṭyśٰ says that by using the term پ, Bharata has necessarily also included the 岵s, ṣās within that framework. 

तस्मादयमभिप्रायो मुने� � इह जात्यंशक� एव परमार्थत� समस्तगीतसर्वस्व� � तत्र हि रागभाषादयोप्यन्तर्भूता� �

tasmādayamabhiprāyo mune� | iha jātyṃśakā eva paramārthata� samastagītasarvasva� | tatra hi 岵ṣādayopyantarbhūtā� |

ṭyśٰ of Bharatamuni: 2006: Comm. on 29.8: GOS Vol IV: p. 70

Could it be possible that 岵s and ṣās were also very much prevalent during the time of Bharata and were perhaps even included in the presentation of ṭy? Bharata, as Abhinava points out might have felt that these are automatically included when he speaks of پ, and therefore might have not seen the need to elaborate more on them. Kohala’s thoughts on پ are not available. Maybe he did not differ from Bharata, or perhaps he did not write on this at all. 

In the time of Bharata, there was no fixation of the tonic note. For instance, the starting note of the ni-ū󲹲 and dha-ū󲹲 would be of the same pitch. In that case, what is the role played by the ٳԲ? Bharata says that when sa is the ṃśa, then the (top limit of the ٳԲ) would be five notes above sa. By the time of Abhinavagupta, the concept had undergone much change and he says that when ma is the ṃśa svara, the would be five svaras after the sa. But even by the time of Ѳٲṅg’s ṛhśī, it appears that the system with a fixed tonic had come into being. The 屹岹ś-svara-ū󲹲 was perhaps an outcome of the tonic getting fixed and arose in order to get access to the other ٳԲ also.

2 Dvādaśa-svara-ū󲹲

प्रयुक्तेष� � तारस्थ� षड्जाद्य� उपयोगिनः �
अत्र या मूर्च्छनाः प्रा� द्वादशस्वरसंभवाः � ३५� �
मतङ्गस्तन्मत� नै� सुन्दर� प्रतिभात� मे �
अत्रैव कोहलाचार्य� नन्दिकेश्व� एव � � ३५� �
मतङ्गमनुसृत्यैवोचतुस्तदि� वर्ण्यते �
द्वादशस्वरसंपन्न� ज्ञातव्य� मूर्च्छन� बुधै� � ३५� �
जातिभाषादि सिद्ध्यर्थ� तारमन्द्रादिसिद्धय� �
त्रिस्थनप्राप्तिसिद्ध्यर्थ� द्वादशस्वरमूर्च्छन� � ३५� �

prayukteṣu na stha� ṣaḍjādyā upayogina� |
atra yā ū󲹲� prāha 屹岹śsvarasaṃbhavā� ||
352 ||
mataṅgastanmata� naiva ܲԻ岹� pratibhāti me |
atraiva kohalācāryo nandikeśvara eva ca ||
353 ||
mataṅgamanusṛtyaivocatustadiha varṇyate |
屹岹śsvarasaṃpannā jñātavyā ū󲹲 budhai� ||
354 ||
پṣādi ⲹٳ� mandrādisiddhaye |
tristhanaprāptiⲹٳ� 屹岹śsvaraū󲹲 ||
355 || 

�(ṅgīٲᲹ, Gītaratnakośa, Svarollāsa�, Sthānaparīkṣaṇam, pp.124-125) 

The above mentioned verses occur in the context of the 屹岹ś-svara-ū󲹲. Ѳٲṅg is the first to speak of this variety of ū󲹲. In the previous paragraph, Ѳٲṅg-s explanation of the concept of the 屹岹ś-svara-ū󲹲Բ has been dealt with. In the work ṅgīٲᲹ, Ѳṇ� Kumbha brings up this topic and says that when looked at from the perspective of practical singing, the ṣaḍj and other svaras of the ٳԲ of a ū󲹲 are not very functional/ advantageous. He says that this concept of Ѳٲṅg does not appear very convincing to him. Here, Kumbha says that Kohalācārya and Ի徱ś have followed Ѳٲṅg and proceeds to explain their opinion on the 屹岹ś-svara-ū󲹲. This definition is very much on the lines of what is seen in ṛhś. (Refer previous paragraph) 

The interesting aspect here is that Kumbha states that Kohala and Ի徱ś have followed Ѳٲṅg, where in fact, it is quite the other way around. It is Ѳٲṅg who cites the authority of Kohala and Nandi in order to explain the concept of the 屹岹ś-svara-ū󲹲. This would put the authenticity of either one of these authors (on this subject) in question. Or, it is possible that the version of ṛhśī which Kumbha had in his possession had some errors.

3 Mūrcchanā (Abhinavabharataṅg)

हरिपालीये स्वराणामपि सप्तानां मन्द्रादिक्रमयोगतः � १४� �
भवेदारोहवरोहक्रम� यः � तु मूर्च्छन� �
सप्त सप्त भवन्त्येता� मूर्च्छनास्त्वेकविंशति� � १५� �
श्रुतेर्मार्दवमेकस्य� मूर्च्छनेत्य� कोहल� �
तुम्बुरु� गायतां शृण्वतां चापि भवेद्रागामृत� हृदे � १५� �
मनसो मज्जनं याति मूर्च्छनेत्य� कोहल� � १५२अब् �

haripālīye svarāṇāmapi saptānā� mandrādikramayogata� || 149 ||
bhavedārohavarohakramo ya� sa tu ū󲹲 |
sapta sapta bhavantyetā� ū󲹲stvekaviṃśati� ||
150 ||
śrutermārdavamekasyā mūrcchanetyaha dz󲹱� |
tumburu� gāyatā� śṛṇvatā� cāpi bhavedrāgāmṛta� hṛde ||
151 ||
manaso majjana� yāti mūrcchanetyaha dz󲹱� ||
152ab || 

�(Abhinava-bharata--ṅg, p.140) 

Mummaḍi Cikkabhūpāla cites thes verses from Haripāla’s work (ṅgīٲܻ첹) explaining the views of Kohala on the subject of ū󲹲. He has quoted these verses from the works of Haripāla and Tumburu

The first verse in the above extract, is preceeded by a complete delineation of Bharata’s explanation on the seven ū󲹲s of each . According to Haripāla, Kohala says that the seven svaras exployed in order from the mandra ٳԲ in ascent and descent is called a ū󲹲. Each has seven ū󲹲s which makes it a total of twenty one. This would mean that Kohala has accepted the Ի 峾 and also attributes seven ū󲹲s to it. It is interesting to note that Bharata has dealt only with the ṣaḍj 峾 and the madhyama 峾. Ѳٲṅg mentions the Ի but, according to the above verse of Haripāla, Kohala also seems to have accepted the Ի 峾.  Regarding the line—�śrutermārdavamekasyā mūrcchanetyāha dz󲹱�’—the editor of Abhinavabharataṅg, R. Sathyanarayana has mentioned an alternate reading in a footnote. 

Based on the original manuscript of the work of Haripāla, he presents the following reading�

श्रुतेर्मदनमेवस्यान्मूर्च्छनेत्य� कोहल�

śrutermadanamevasyānmūrcchanetyaha dz󲹱�

Even if either of the two readings (śܳٱ-岹 or śܳٱ-岹Բ), the meaning seems only to be that—‘the reduction of a śܳپ is a ū󲹲�. It is not clear how the reduction of one śܳپ is related to ū󲹲. The next citation is from Tumburu. Tumburu seems to give quite a non-technical definition of the term ū󲹲. He says that ū󲹲 is that which brings great delight to the singer and the listener and it gets immersed in their minds. The two accounts are very different. But it has been seen that the term ū󲹲 has had different meanings in different works at different times.

4 ū󲹲 of Ṣaḍja Grāma 

कोहलोऽपि
सप्तैव मूर्च्छनाश्चात्र प्रतिग्राम� प्रकीर्तिता� �
आदिद्वित्रिचतुःपञ्चषट्सप्तस्वापि ता मताः � �.८० �
षड्जान्निषादान्त� नेस्तु धान्तं धात्पान्तमिष्यते �
पान्मान्तं मध्यमाद्गान्तं गान्धाराद् ऋषभान्तकम् �
ऋषभात्सान्तमित्यहु� षड्जग्रामस्य मूर्च्छनाः � �.८१ �

kohalo'pi
saptaiva ū󲹲ścātra prati峾� prakīrtitā� |
ādidvitricatuḥpañcaṣaṭsaptasvāpi tā matā� ||
1.80 ||
ṣaḍjānniṣādānta� nestu dhānta� dhātpāntamiṣyate |
pānmānta� madhyamādgānta� gāndhārād ṛṣabhāntakam |
ṛṣabhātsāntamityahu� ṣaḍj峾sya ū󲹲� ||
1.81 ||

�(ṅgīٲⲹṇa, Vol. I, p.38) 

This is a quotation from the work of Kohala which describes the seven ū󲹲s of the ṣaḍj 峾. The meaning of V. 1.80 cd is not clear, but perhaps it could mean that the ū󲹲s start on each of the seven svaras. Kohala says that each has seven ū󲹲s

He goes to explain the formation of each of these.

i. Ṣaḍjāt niṣādāntam -s r g m p d n;
ii. Ne� dhāntam -n s r g m p d;
iii. Dhāt pāntam -d n s r g m p;
iv. Pāt māntam -p d n s r g m;
v. Madhyamāt gāntam -m p d n s r g;
vi. Gāndhārāt ṛṣabhāntam -g m p d n s r;
vii. Ṛṣabhāt sāntam -r g m p d n s;

Bharata mentions names such as ܳٳٲԻ, Ჹī, ܳٳٲⲹ, śuddha ṣaḍjā, ٲīṛt, śԳٲ and 󾱰ܻ岵 for the ū󲹲s of the ṣaḍj峾. These names are not found in ṅgīٲⲹṇa. The same quotation is seen in ṅgīṇaԻ첹[6] of ī첹ṇṭ. But this author does not make a direct reference to Kohala. He uses the term �ʲṣānٲ� instead.

Footnotes and references:

[back to top]

[1]:

ṛhśī of Śrī Ѳٲṅgmuni: 1992: p.83

[2]:

ṅgīٲٲ첹 of Śṅg𱹲: 1991: p.168

[3]:

ṛhśī of Śrī Ѳٲṅgmuni: 1992: p.182

[4]:

ū󲹲Բprayojanamapi sthanaprāptyartham |’—Bharata has stated that the object of musrcchanā and Բ are to get access to the ٳԲ. (ṭyśٰ of Bharatamuni: 2006: GOS Vol IV: p. 27)

[5]:

A Study of Dattilam: 1978: p.125

[6]:

ṅgīṇaԻ: 1995: V.1.226-227: p 36

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