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 4 - A comparative study of the references to Musical Instruments
7 (of 39)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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The Porunar were further divided in to 3 sects:
Ērkālam Pāṭuvār: Those who entertained farmers and peasants
and were folk musicians.
Pōrkkālam PāṬuvār: Those who accompanied kings to the
battlefield. They played on instruments and music appropriate to the
time of battle and also during recess so as to infuse courage in the hearts
of the warriors and also to soothe the pairs of wounded men. They
played on Tanṭaripparai.
Paraṇi: They displayed their musical talents in festivals. They
probably sang the valorous deeds of the kings in the battlefields. Once
the festival was over in one place, they moved to another. Paraṇ� is also
said to be a type of Küttu or dance. Hence, these Porunar must have also
been adept in dancing and must have made their presentations in the
form of dance operas.
The Pāṇar had the following groups:
Icaippāṇar: Vocalists
Yālppāṇar: Instrumentalists who were mainly the Yal players.
There were two subsections in the Yālppāṇar. They were the Perum
pāṇar who played on the Peri Yāl and the Ciruppāṇar who played on
the Cīri Yāl.
Montaippāṇar: Those who sang with begging bowls.
