Essay name: Musical Instruments in Sanskrit Literature
Author:
S. Karthick Raj KMoundinya
Affiliation: University of Madras / Department of Sanskrit
The essay studies the Musical Instruments in Sanskrit Literature and its relationship with the South Indian musical tradition. The study emphasizes the universal appeal of music and documents how it pervades various aspects of life, art, literature, painting, and sculpture.
Chapter 2 - Origin and evolution of Music and Musical instruments
69 (of 99)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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Varieties of Yazh:
Peri y膩zh had 21 strings (Cilappatik膩ram- 1.10.26); Sako岣峚 y膩zh had
14 strings (Cilappatik膩ram-1.10-Ka峁弓urai-14); Senko峁弓i y膩zh had 7 strings
(Cilappatik膩ram-2.13.106) and S墨r墨 y膩zh (Cilappatik膩ram-3.28.31,32) and
various other varieties are mentioned in ancient Tamil Literature. In the
temple in Tirumaiyam (near Pudukko峁弓ai), Amar膩vathi, Khajur膩ho the
sculpture of the y膩zh can be seen.
The Makara V墨峁嚹�, N膩rada V墨峁嚹� and Mah膩 V墨峁嚹� as mentioned in
Sanskrit texts, correspond to 'Mah膩 y膩zh', 'N膩rada y膩zh' and '膧di
K膩lattu Periy膩zh' respectively in Tamil.
The y膩zh had many limitations. Only straight notes could be
played on this instrument. There were no facilities for playing the
Gamakas or Quartertones. Further, it took a long time to tune the
instrument.
Thus the fretted V墨峁嚹� emerged without the above limitations. By
deflecting the playing strings over the Dandi inwardly, the various types
of Gamakas are produced. The production of Gamakas and the
reckoning of the t膩la simultaneously make the instrument unique in all
respects and give it a superior status among the stringed instruments.
The left hand i.e., playing technique constituted the varieties of
gamakas or graces, which are the most essential angas of Indian Music
like Kampita, Lina, Titipa, Vali, Tribhinna, Kurula, Ahata, Ullasita,
Purva Dhal and Uttara Dhal. With this, the different kinds of plucking
also developed side by side.
