Abhinavagupta’s concept of music Prof.C.Rajendran Paper presented at the National seminar on Abhinavagupta at Department of Sanskrit, Calicut University, Kerala Though contributions to the of Indian Abhinavagupta’s Śaiva systems philosophy, Sanskrit poetics and dramaturgy are well known, the same cannot be said about his contributions to music and musicology, which remain a relatively unexplored subject yet. The reason for this seems to be and aesthetics is so imposing that we that Abhinava’s stature in philosophy tend to underrate his achievements in other fields. However the fact remains that Abhinava has made significant contributions to the aesthetic, philosophical and technical aspects of music. Madhurāja Yogin portrays him in his meditative verse(dhyānaśloka) as playing on the and nādavīnā giving instructions in music to his disciples. He is one of the few musicologists mentioned as in his an authority by Śārngadeva Saṅgītaratnākara. treatment of music can be broadly Abhinava’s distinguished as falling into two categories, viz. his treatment of technical aspects of music, especially music related to dramaturgy as gleaned through works like and his philosophical explication of Abhinavabhāratī music as a part of his aesthetic philosophy found in works like Tantrāloka. Let us take up these aspects one by one. I In Abhinava has portrayed the contours of music as Dhvanyāloka, consisting of concepts like śruti, jāti, amśa, grāma, rāga, bhāṣā, vibhāṣā, which list fairly represents music of his and antarabhāṣā, deśi mārga, times.Many concepts in this listing, however are absent in music. Bharata’s Bharata maintains that music is indispensable for play production by asserting that production (prayoga) is the union of song, instrument and action. The treats music as an ancillary of theatre and not as Nāṭyaśāstra an independent art pursued for its own sake. Therefore we get only glimpses of attitude to theatrical music and not to pure Abhinavagupta’s music as such. represents the post Vedic phase of Indian Nāṭyaśāstra music wherein the pivotal concept of Indian music had not yet fully rāga, developed. Indian music had not yet branched off into Hindustani and Carnatic systems. A big problem confronting musical researchers is the fact
Abhinavagupta’s concept of music Prof.C.Rajendran Paper presented at the National seminar on Abhinavagupta at Department of Sanskrit, Calicut University, Kerala Though Abhinavagupta’s contributions to the Śaiva systems of Indian philosophy, Sanskrit poetics and dramaturgy are well known, the same cannot be said about his contributions to music and musicology, which remain a relatively unexplored subject yet. The reason for this seems to be that Abhinava’s stature in philosophy and aesthetics is so imposing that we tend to underrate his achievements in other fields. However the fact remains that Abhinava has made significant contributions to the aesthetic, philosophical and technical aspects of music. Madhurāja Yogin portrays him in his meditative verse(dhyānaśloka) as playing on the nādavīnā and giving instructions in music to his disciples. He is one of the few musicologists mentioned as an authority by Śārngadeva in his Saṅgītaratnākara. Abhinava’s treatment of music can be broadly distinguished as falling into two categories, viz. his treatment of technical aspects of music, especially music related to dramaturgy as gleaned through works like Abhinavabhāratī and his philosophical explication of music as a part of his aesthetic philosophy found in works like Tantrāloka. Let us take up these aspects one by one. I In Dhvanyāloka, Abhinava has portrayed the contours of music as consisting of concepts like śruti, jāti, amśa, grāma, rāga, bhāṣā, vibhāṣā, antarabhāṣā, deśi and mārga, which list fairly represents music of his times.Many concepts in this listing, however are absent in Bharata’s music. Bharata maintains that music is indispensable for play production by asserting that production (prayoga) is the union of song, instrument and action. The Nāṭyaśāstra treats music as an ancillary of theatre and not as an independent art pursued for its own sake. Therefore we get only glimpses of Abhinavagupta’s attitude to theatrical music and not to pure music as such. Nāṭyaśāstra represents the post Vedic phase of Indian music wherein rāga, the pivotal concept of Indian music had not yet fully developed. Indian music had not yet branched off into Hindustani and Carnatic systems. A big problem confronting musical researchers is the fact
abhinavaguptamusic.docx