31. The Date of the Sangita Chudamani

31. The Sangita Chudamani And Its Probable Date - Before A. D. 1200 + Aufrecht does not record any Mss of the work on music called the Samgitacudamani in his Catalogus Catalogorum. There are, however, to be found references to and quotations from this work in literature on music as also in allied literature as will be shown below. In a work called the Bharatasastragrantha, a Ms of which is available at the B. O. R. Institute, Poona, (No. 40 of 1916-18) the following quotations have been ascribed to the Samgitacudamani :Folio 3 - " taduktam samgitacudamani Folio 10 caturbhirdhatubhih sabhiscangeyamsmatprayujyate | tasmatprabandhah kathitah pratapah prthivibhujam || udvahyassa tu catvaro svaradini ca saptadha | vasanti yatra samjneyah grabandho vastusamjnaya || udraha prathamo bhagastato medha pratadrave | abhogasca prabandhasca catvaro dhatavo matah || padancennauca padau talasvarau tatha | anganyetani sat prahuh prabandhasya yathakramam || " - " taduktam samgitacudamani prabandhesu dhruvatvena dhruva ityabhidhiyate svayam ye'tra prabandhe syadyadanenaivapuranam || iti ' " I have shown elsewhere' that the Bharatasastragrantha which contains the above quotations from the Samgitacudamani was written in the 3 rd quarter of the 16 th century. I Annals (B. O. R. Institute ), Vol. XVI, pp. 149-151. 1. Annals, Vol. XV, pp. 240-242. S.I.L.H. 14 209

reference to the Samgitacudamani from a 15 th century work is furnished by Dr. Raghavan,' of the University of Madras, who states that a work called Cudamani is quoted and criticized in the Talapadika of Gopendra Tippa Bhupala, who was Governor under Devaraya II ( 1423-1446 A. D.) of the Vijayanagar Dynasty and that most likely it is King Pratapa's Sangitacudamani. If this assumption is correct we can take this as a 15 th century reference to the work. Dr. Raghavan also gives us a still earlier reference² viz. that made by Parsvadeva in his Samgitasamayasara.³ This reference is not made to the title of the work but to its author "Pratapabhubhuj" or King Pratapa in the following verse :- " pancatalesvaro yadva hrdyam gadyamathapiva | alikramoyamevoktah pratapaprthivibhuja || " That King Pratapa or "Pratapaprthivibhubhuj" mentioned by Parsvadeva in the above verse was the author of the work Samgitacudamani is proved by the first verse in the extract from the Bharatasastragrantha (folio 3 ) given above. The 2 nd line of this extract, explicitly stated by the author of the Bharatasastragrantha to be from the Samgitacudamani, contains the name of King Pratapa in the following line which reads- tasmatprabandhah kathitah pratapah prthivibhujam " " The reading pratapah prthivibhujam " makes no meaning and is obviously wrong, being a substitute made by the copyist for the original reading, which must have been " pratapaprthivibhuja ." Parsvadeva's verse quoted above, in which the expression " occurs, appears to have been modelled on the verse from the Samgitacudamani as quoted in the Bharatasastragrantha. The expression"" is identical in both the verses and Dr. Raghavan appears to be right in his inference that Par- svadeva is referring in his verse to King Pratapa, the author of 1. Later Samgita Literature ( published in the Journal of the Madras Music Academy), p. 11 of the offprint kindly supplied to me by the author. 2. Some Names in Early Samgita Literature ( paper read before the Madras Music Conference, December 1931) p. 31 of the off-print supplied to me by the author. 3. Samgitasamayasara (Triv. Sans. Series), p. 29.

the Sangita-chudamani. As Dr. Raghavan assigns Parsvadeva to a period between A. D. 1165 and A. D. 1330 we may take this reference to be, say a 13 th century reference to the Samgitacudamani. A still earlier reference to the Samgitacudamani is furnished by Prof. Handiqui' from the commentary on the Naisadha by Vidyadhara which is assigned by him to about 1250 A. D. This commentator quotes two works on music viz. (1) Samgita-chudamani and (2) Samgitasagara in his gloss on canto XXI, verses 126-128. This reference in a work of about 1250 A. D. proves that the work Sangitacudamani must have been composed before A. D. 1200. The popularity of the work is shown not only by the above references but also by the fact that it is referred to in a work on music published in 1842 A. D.² I am not aware if any Mss of the Samgitacudamani have been traced. Recently I inquired about this work of the Travancore Durbar but the Private Secretary to the Maharaja of Travancore informed me that the Palace Library contains a Ms of the Samgitacintamani only and not of the Samgitacudamani. 1. Naisadha (Translation), Punjab Oriental Series, 1934, Introduction, p. X. 2. The Samgitaragakalpadruma by Krishnananda Vyasadeva (published in 1842 and re-edited by the Bangi yasahityapa risad in 1916) refers to a work called Cudamani which I presume to be Samgita-cudamani. My reference is found on folio 28 of Ms No. 980 of 1887-91 in the Govt. Mss Library at the B. O. R. Institute and not to the printed edition.