Brihaddeshi: Difference between revisions

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{{Infobox religious text

BRIHADDESI : A 9th century work on music. This is the first major treatise giving importance to music. But unfortunately, it is incomplete, may be portions of it are lost. The author has based his work on the Natyasastra of Baratha. This is the first book to deal with ragas in music. The purpose of this book was to highlight many aspects of music which were omitted by Baratha

| name = Brihaddeshi

| image = <!-- Optional: Add an image if available -->

| caption = <!-- Optional: Caption for the image -->

| author = Mataṅga Muni

| language = [[Sanskrit|Classical Sanskrit]]

| date = ca. 6th to 8th century CE

| subject = Indian classical music

| attributed_to = Mataṅga Muni

| notable_ideas = Introduction of raga, distinction between marga and desi music, sargam solfège

| based_on = Bharata Muni's Natya Shastra

| scales_intervals = Explanation of musical scales and micro-tonal intervals

| matrix_explanation = Two-dimensional prastāra explaining how 7 notes map into 22 śrutis

| microtones = 66 śrutis in finer subdivision

| octave_division = Division of the octave into 12 svaras

| first_known_mention = First known text to speak of 12 notes

| editions =

* Prem Lata Sharma's edition (1992)

* Dwaram Bhavanarayana Rao's Telugu translation (2002)

| notes = <!-- Optional: Additional notes about the text -->

| references = <!-- Optional: References supporting the information -->

| categories = Hindu texts, Music publication stubs

}}

'''Brihaddeshi''' is a [[Classical Sanskrit]] text, dated ca. 6th to 8th century CE, on [[Indian classical music]], attributed to '''Mataṅga Muni'''. It is the first text to speak directly of the [[raga]] and to distinguish ''marga'' ("classical") from ''desi'' ("folk") music. It also introduced [[sargam (music)|sargam]] ''[[solfège]]'' (or ''solfa''), the singing of the first syllable of the names of the musical notes, as an aid to learning and performance. (The full names of the notes existed previously, for example as found in Natya Shastra.)

The author based his work on [[Bharata Muni]]'s [[Natya Shastra]]. His discussion of [[scale (music)|musical scale]]s and micro-tonal [[interval (music)|interval]]s clarifies Bharata's work, and also clarifies Bharata's terse presentation of many issues related to [[shruti (music)|śruti]].

{{stub}}

The text uses a two-dimensional ''prastāra'' (matrix) to explain how the 7 notes of the octave map into 22 śrutis, with varying distances between notes. It also says that a finer subdivision in [[microtone]]s has 66 śrutis; and that, in principle, the number of śrutis is infinite.

The text also speaks of the division of the octave into 12 [[swara|svara]]s. According to [[Prem Lata Sharma]], this is the first known text to speak of 12 notes.<ref name="Sharma">{{cite book |last1=Sharma |first1=Prem Lata |title=Brhaddesi of Sri Matanaga Muni |date=1992 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |___location=Delhi}}</ref>

==Editions==

The text of Brihaddeshi was edited by [[Prem Lata Sharma]] for the [[Indira Kalakendra]] series of original texts on the Indian arts and was published as a book "Matanga and His Work Brihaddesi" in 1992. [[Dwaram Bhavanarayana Rao]] published a [[Telugu language|Telugu]] translation and paraphrase in 2002.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/br/2002/08/20/stories/2002082000060302.htm |title=Treatise on music in The Hindu. |access-date=2010-09-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071128094333/http://hinduonnet.com/thehindu/br/2002/08/20/stories/2002082000060302.htm |archive-date=2007-11-28 |url-status=usurped }}</ref>

==Notes==

{{reflist}}

==References==

* {{Cite Grove |last=Katz |first=Jonathan |title=Mataṅga}}

{{Indian mathematics}}

[[Category:Hindu texts]]

{{Music-publication-stub}}