Paper: 1 Detail Study Of Natyashastra, Specially Dance Related Chapters And Sangita Ratnakar Module 25 Music, Vocal, Instrumental, Tala Of Natyashastra Bharata devotes seven chapters to music in his magnum opus Natyashastra. He explains the three major aspects of music i.e. Svara / स्वर (the note), Aatodya / आतो饍य (instruments) and Gaana / गान (the song). Svara is the base for both instrumental and vocal music. The vocal and instrumental music enhances the histrionic expressions in a drama and adds charm and value to the production. The term Gaandharva / गान्धवव is a comprehensive term in the text that incorporates the study of the note, instrument, tala (time measure) and the song. Based on this the music field is divided into three categories as: Svaraatmaka Gaandharva / वरा配मक गान्धवव —pertaining to notes and pure music Taalatmaka Gaandharva / ताऱा配मक गान्धवव ----pertaining to tala (time measure) and instrumental music Paadatmaka Gaandharva /ऩदा配मक गान्धवव —the composition of the song and vocal music Svaraatmaka Gaandharva is pure music. Svara is the note produced from the human throat and vina (stringed instrument). There are twelve aspects of pure music— 1. Svaras / स्वर or notes 1 2. Shruti / श्रतु त or quarter tones 3. Muchanas / मर्ू वना or scales 4. Gramas / ग्राम or groups 5. Taanas / तान or pattern of notes 6. Sthanas / स्थान or origin of notes 7. Saadharanas / साधारण or intermediaries 8. Varnas / वणव or combination of notes 9. Alankaras / अऱंकार or permutations of varnas 10. Jaathi / जाती or melodies 11. Dhatu / धातु or techniques of production of notes 12. Vritti / वत्ृ तत or method of employing the technique Except vrittis and dhatus, all the above aspects are common to both vocal and stringed instruments. Svara / स्वर —There are seven svaras. They are sadja / स蕍ज, rishabha / ररषभ, gandhara / गांधार, madhyama / मध्यम, panchama / ऩंचम, dhaivata / धैवत and nishada / तनषाद. While singing it is sung as sa,ri,ga,ma,pa,da,ni respectively which correspond to C,D,E,F,G,A and B in the diatonic scale of the western music. The combination of these seven notes with the quarter tones result in a process. They are: Vaadi / वादी ----life note in a raga or melody Samvaadi / संवादी —the concordant note with the life note 2 Vivaadi / वववादी ---the discordant note to the vaadi svara (note) Anuvaadi / अनवु ादी ---the note that is subordinate to the vaadi svara. Sruti / श्रतु त ----Sruti or the quarter tones. There are 22 Srutis. As the scales vary the srutis in each svara also vary. e.g. in the sadja grama / स蕍ज ग्राम or the first group of scales, the srutis in rishaba are three, two in gandhara, four in madhyama, four in panchama, three in dhaivata, two in nishada and four in shadja. This will vary in the madhyama grama / मध्यम ग्राम. Murchana / मर्ू वना —There are 14 murchanas or scales of music. Each grama or group has seven scales. The seven scales in the sadja grama starts with the note sa / सा, ni / तन, da / ध, pa / ऩ, ma / म, ga / ग, ri / रर respectively. Similarly in the madhyama grama scale it starts with the first note ma,ga,ri,sa,ni,da,pa respectively. All these fourteen scales are divided into four classes as Puurna / ऩणू व or heptatonic, Shaadavita / ष蕍ववत or hexatonic, Audavita / औ蕍ववत or pentatonic and Sadaranakrita / सदारणकृ त or constituted with intermediaries. Gramas / ग्राम : There are two group of scales known as Shadja grama and Madhyama grama. Tanas / तान : The variations in the scales of music depending on hexatones and pentatones are called tanas or the patterns of notes. The tanas help to develop the Murchanas. There are 28 tanas in the shadja grama murchanas and 21 tanas in the madhyamagrama murchanas in the hexatonic scales and 21 tanas in sadjagrama murchanas and 14 in the madhyamagrama murchanas in the pentatonic scales totaling to 84. In stringed instruments there are two more variation of tanas which depend upon the stress and intonation imposed on the svaras. 3 Sthanas / स्थान –Sthanas are the points from where the notes originate. The chest, throat and head are the points from where the notes emanate. Sadaranas / सदारण----They are the intermediary notes. There are two types of intermediaries known as svara sadarana / स्वर सदारण and jaati sadarana / जातत सदारण. In the first one the intermediary note lies between two specified notes. In jaati sadarana the raga (melody) rendered is intermediary between two specific raga. ` Varnas / वणव — Varna means production of svaras in particular order or pitch. They are the combination of notes. There are four classes of varnas. They are aarohanam / आरोहणम or the ascending notes, avarohanam / अवरोहणम or the descending, sthayi / स्थायी, the static note, and sanchari / संचारी the transitory note. Alankaras / अऱंकार---The alankaras depend on the varnas. Without alankara the song becomes a mere chanting. According to Bharata there are 34 alankaras. Jaatis / जातत or melodies---There are 18 Jathis and they correspond to the modern ragas. Those which depend on the sadja grama are seven and on madhyamagrama are eleven. Besides these, each melody has two variations called suddha / शद्धु and vikrita / ववकृ त. Jaatis have ten characteristic features. Bharata has also mentioned the appropriate raga to be employed for particular rasa. Dhaatus / धात ु ---They are the technique of production of notes. In vina, the dhaatu has four variations. Depending on the variations of the dhaatus, four classes of melodies are obtained. They are udhaata / उद्धत,, lalita / ऱलऱत, roobita / 셂बित and Ghana / घन. 4 Vritis / वत्ृ तत -vritis are the methods of employing musical techniques. This mainly pertains to instrumental music. The nature of vriti is determined by the type of the instrument, tala, laya, gati ,yati and marga. There are three types of vritis – citra / चचत्र, vaartika / वततवक and dakshina / दक्षऺण. Tala / ताऱ ---Tala is the time measure based on the basic unit of time or kaala / काऱ. Scholars opine that kaala can vary from a split second to a few seconds in the Indian music. There are two standard talas known as catusra / चतुश्र and tisra / ततश्र . There is also a misra / लमश्र tala which includes qualities of both the talas. Chaacaputa tala / चाचऩटु ताऱ, chachatputa tala / चाच्ततऩतु ताऱ and shatpitaputraka tala / शतवऩतऩत्रु क ताऱ belong respectively to the categories of catusra, tisra and misra talas. Apart from these there are two more talas derived from tisra tala. They are samparkeeshtaaka / स륍ऩकीशातक and udgatta / उधातत. There are yet other derived time measures governed by 5,7,9 10 or 11 kaalas. The execution of tala if produce sound it is called sasabda/ सश녍द kriya / क्रिया and if it does not produce sound it is known as nishabda kriya / तनश녍द क्रिया. Laya is made in accordance with the time of the kaalas into which maatras have been divided. Laya is of three kinds viz. Druta / द्रतू (fast), madhyama / मध्यम (medium) and vilambita / ववऱंबित (slow).It is the madhya laya which determines the pramana kaala / प्रमाण काऱ (normal speed). Song—A literary composition with meaning, svara and tala is called a pada or song. A song is also called dhruva if it consists of decorative verses, varnas / वणव alankaras / अऱंकार, laya / ऱय, jaati / जातत and paanis / ऩाणी. Bharata has devoted an entire chapter for dhruva 5 gaana. While composing a dhruva the following aspects are to be incorporated: The nature of the theme, play and character The rasa and bhava The time The place The occasion Age and state of mind of the character The content of the dhruva is very special and cannot be inserted in the regular dialogue of the play. Dhruvas are derived from various metres and primarily they are 64. Each dhruva is further classified. There are five situations in which dhruva gaana is employed in a play. They are: During the entry of characters or pravesha / प्रवेश. It is called praveshika dhruva. At the time of exit or nishkraama / तनष्क्िाम. It is called naishkramik dhruva. At intervals during pure dance or aaksheepa / आक्षऺऩ. The song is called aaksheepiki dhruva. During the change of rasas or prasaadana / प्रसादन. It is called prasadiki dhruva. Characters subject to high emotions or antara / अंतरा. It is called antara dhruva. Bharata has explained the prosody, meter and its divisions, the unison of the rasas and bhavas, the similes to be incorporated, the content, language, talas and the usage of the dhruvas in various types of dhruva gana. Bharata has also defined the various songs to be sung in the rituals before the play begins . 6 Musical Instruments: Bharata narrates the origin of various instruments through a story. A sage named Swathi went to a lake on a rainy day to fetch water. It was very windy and the sprinkles of rain on the lotus leaves made the birds very happy and they made inexplicable sweet sounds. The fall of the water made a melodious sound and the birds produced sounds in different notes and pitches. This made the sage ponder over the possibility of making musical instruments and incorporate these sounds. He consulted Viswakarma, the celestial architect and made different drums, mridanga, paanava and dardura. He covered these instruments with animal membranes and tied them with strings to create tension. He also constructed jallari / ज쥍ऱरी, pataha / ऩताह, muraja / मजु रव ा, aalingya / आलऱं嵍य and ankika / अत्न्कक in the format of dundhubi / दन्ु दभु ी, the celestial drum.