Amarakoshodghatana of Kshirasvamin (study)
by A. Yamuna Devi | 2012 | 77,297 words | ISBN-13: 9788193658048
This page relates ‘Dhruva songs’ of the study on the Amarakoshodghatana of Kshirasvamin (in English) which represents a commentary on the Amarakosha of Amarasimha. These ancient texts belong the Kosha or “lexicography” category of Sanskrit literature which deals with the analysis and meaning of technical words from a variety of subjects, such as cosmology, anatomy, medicine, hygiene. The Amarakosa itself is one of the earliest of such text, dating from the 6th century A.D., while the Amarakoshodghatana is the earliest known commentary on that work.
Dhruvā songs
[Cf. III. 3. 211; p. 322]
Kṣīrasvāmin mentions that this word can also denote the music in drama and quotes from Bālarāmāyaṇa (I. 19) which emphasises that the dhruvā songs are the life line of the dramas–
kvacittu dhruvā gāne ca yadāha dhruvā hi nāṭyasya prathame prāṇāḥ |
Nāṭyaśāstra XXXII is fully dedicated to the various aspects of dhruvā songs. The songs and instrumental background music of drama proper is termed as dhruvā songs. Dhruvā songs are so called because the words, varṇa, alaṅkāra, yati, paṇi and laya are harmoniously fixed in them. As Abhinavagupta in the commentary on Nāṭyaśāstra suggests they are so called because they stabilise the production or their themes are of fixed significance. The importance of these Dhruva songs lies in its purpose to convey those ideas that could not be revealed by the dramatic text. It is well known that Sanskrit dramas have the barest minimum of stage directions and so these Dhruva songs have to supply them (Nāṭyaśāstra XXXII. 364).