Sangita Ratnakara

The Sangita-Ratnakara of Sharngadeva (1210–1247) is one of the most important Sanskrit musicological texts from India, which both Hindustani music and Carnatic music regard as a definitive text.

The text is also known as Saptadhyayi as it is divided into seven chapters. The first six chapters, Svaragatadhyaya, Ragavivekadhyaya, Prakirnakadhyaya, Prabandhadhyaya, Taladhyaya and Vadyadhyaya deal with the various aspects of music and musical instruments while the last chapter Nartanadhyaya deals with dance. The medieval era text is one of the most complete historic Hindu treatises on the structure, technique and reasoning behind ragas (chapter 2) and talas (chapter 5) that has survived into the modern era.

The significant commentaries on the text include the Sangitasudhakara of Simhabhupala (c.1330) and the Kalanidhi of Kallinatha (c.1430).

This work was written by Śārńgadēva in the end of thirteenth century. The author was attached to the court of King Singhaņa of the Yādava dynasty whose capital was Devagiri, Maharashtra.

As the title indicates the work deals with the subject of Sańgīta. Sańgīta is defined as a composite art consisting of Gīta (melodic forms), Vādya (forms for drumming) and Nŗtta (dance literally movements of the limbs of the body). Sańgīta is of two kinds. Mārga-sańgīta and Deśī-sańgīta. Mārga-sańgīta is nothing but the Nāţya (Drama) performed by Bharata and his disciples. This performance of Bharata also consists of Gīta, Vādya and Nŗtta. Deśī-sańgīta represented a tradition different from Mārga and it varied from region to region.

Śārńgadēva's aim in this work is to describe primarily the Deśī-sańgīta. The aspects of Mārga-sańgīta are also described to some extent.

The work is divided into seven chapters covering the aspects Gīta, Vādya and Nŗtta. The seven chapters are:

The Svaragatādhyaya is further divided into eight prakaraņa-s or sections.

The author commences with an account of his genealogy i.e., about his family and the Kingdom where they lived. The author also declares that among the three constituents of Sańgīta, Gīta is primary and the most important. Hence the treatment of Gīta is taken up by him first. The author also gives a list of ancient writers on music and related arts from whose work he has drawn out the essence and presented in Sańgītaratnākara. Some of them are Bharata, Kaśyapa, Matańga, Kōhala, Viśākhila, Dattila, Abhinavagupta, Sōmēśvara. After some verses extolling the greatness of Gīta, the author gives a list of topics to be dealt with in each chapter.

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