xii The text-reconstruction carried out by me during 1980-85 has now been thoroughly revised and the work of English translation, textual notes and annotations was taken up by me in 1988. This work is being presented in three volumes, the first one covering the first chapter dealing with the following topics: 1. Deśī, 2. Nāda, 3. Śruti, 4. Svara, 5. Grāma-mūrchanā, 6. Varņa-alaṅkāra, and 7. Pada-giti. The second volume will include the chapters on Jāti, Rāga, Bhāṣā and Prabandha (text, translation and notes).⁶ The third volume will contain a comprehensive critique of the text and its contents, authorship, date, style, earlier authorities etc., exhaustive glossary, word-index, sloka- index, bibliography and textual appendices. The scheme of the presentation of textual material is as follows: Almost all available reading variants have been noticed alongwith the reconstructed text in small types below the word or syllable concerned. Unless otherwise indicated, the source of the variants is the Trivandrum edition; wherever the source is different, numbers have been incorporated in the text or in the variants as the case may be; corresponding notes have been included in Pāṭha-vimarśa (textual notes). Words or sentences added to the printed edition have been put in square brackets [ ].⁸ In verse-numbers the Trivandrum edition has been followed, but there have been some modifications because- (i) some 'arya' verses have been treated as prose in the edition and they have been restored to the sequence of verses, (ii) some verses have not been treated as citations in the edition, whereas they have now been identified as citations and hence they are not numbered as forming part of the text and (iii) sometimes regrouping of verses has been done according to the context.¹ The prose portions have been split context-wise and have been numbered as anucchedas, comparable to paragraphs. This will facilitate reference and retrieval.² The diagrams of samvādin, anuvādin and vivādin svaras were extremely confused in the edition, they have been reconstructed according to the description in the text.⁷ Interpretative and explanatory material has been presented under Vimarsa (annotations) according to numbers indicated in the translation. These are pointwise explanations.⁹ The totality of each concept will be reviewed in the glossary and the whole text in its totality will be reviewed in the Critique. Thus some overlappings will be inevitable, but they will facilitate an understanding of the subject-matter. Speaking of overlappings, it was not possible to maintain a water-tight compartmentalisation between textual notes and annotations, because the reconstruction of text cannot be dissociated from the content or meaning and the work of explanation or interpretation cannot be dissociated from the reconstructed text. Even so, the division is useful and logical.

A word about the translation. It has been my attempt to bring the original to the reader with its flavour and nuances; if in this attempt the idiom of the English language has been violated, I owe an apology. My only submission would be that this is not a transcreation of creative literature, this is a presentation of 'scientific' literature in a different language. Hence the criteria of judgement should be different from those applied to translation of creative literature. Technical terms have not been translated because that is virtually impossible; rough equivalents have generally been given in paranthesis and if an equivalent has been found adequate, the original word has been given in paranthesis in order to help the reader in indentifying the equivalence. The indebtedness to Dr. Anil Bihari Beohar, Lecturer in Musicology, Indira KalaSangitaVishwavidyalaya,Khairagarh(M.P.,) has been acknolwedged in the title page. Once again, I acknowledge with affection his labour and patience with the onerous task undertaken by him. To Dr. Kapila Vatsyayan, I owe a deep debt of gratitude for her constant inspiration and encouragement. My sincere apologies are due to her for the delay in completing this work, caused by both personal and professional reasons. To Dr. Bettina Bäumer, Hony. Co-ordinator, Kalākoša office of I.G.N.C.A. in Varanasi, goes my heartfelt gratitude for her constant support, both moral and material. My younger sister Dr. Urmila Sharma has provided valuable assistance in reading the proofs; I express my loving gratitude to her. My affectionate thanks go to Dr. N. Ramanathan, Reader, Department of Music, Madras University, my former student, for going through the first half of the press-copy (upto the section on grāma-mūrchanā) in 1988, while I was at Khairagarh. I thank Dr. C.B. Pandey, Editor, and Dr. (Smt.) Advaitavadini Kaul, Asstt. Editor, for seeing the book through the Press. Prem Lata Sharma. Vasanta Pañcami 'Āmnāya', Karaundi, Magha Sukla 5, V.S. 2048 Varanasi-221 005 Feburary 8, 1992 The second of the second of the second of the second of the second of the second of the second of the second of the second of the second of the second of the second of the second of the second of the second of the second o