Aiśvarya means supremacy, power, sway, and sovereignty; in music context refers to the power of śrutis dominating as cognizable points on a continuum
"Aiśvarya lit. means supremacy, power, sway, sovereignty etc. The power or
supremacy of śrutis could be that in Indian music the 'tones' are not used as
notes on definite pitch-points; there is a continuum of tones, rather than fixed
points."
VIMARŚA
157
upavāda and daņļa and due to utkarşa (augmentation) or apakarşa
(diminution ) of tone in the string (vide Abhi Bhā). Under indriya
Abhinavagupta includes vāgindriya ( the human organ of speech ) in the
primary sense, but says that secondarily the fingers as well as frets ( on the
viņā) could also be said to be the seat of vaigunya or discrepancy.
It is notable that while NS speaks of the 'excess' or 'loss' occurring in
svaras, our text speaks of the threefold division of sruti (object of hearing) on
account of indriya-vaigunya, which itself is threefold viz. inborn, born of some
imbalance in the three humours and born of accident. This seems to apply to
the human voice alone.
Kallinātha (SRI, p. 71) says that indriya in this passage of BrD means
manas (mind), the sahaja mind being composed of sattvaguna, the dosaja
being full of rajas and tamas and the abhighātaja being attacked by the rasas
(tastes) known as amla (sour) etc. He seems to imply that the state of mind
affects the voice and thus sruti (the object of hearing) could be threefold
according to the three states of mind.
Thus while NS speaks of the vaigunya (discrepancy) both in the stringed
instrument and voice and Kallinatha places the discrepancy in the mind leading
by implication, to discrepancy in the voice, our text does not throw any light on
the meaning of indriya. It appears, however, that Matanga is referring to the
vāgindriya (organ of speech).
9. Here again the author is referring to the fourfold śruti (object of
hearing) on the basis of the fourfold division of voice according to the
predominance of vata (lit. air), pitta (lit. bile) and kapha (lit. phlegm), the
three humours of the human body according to Ayurveda and sannipāta
( admixture of the three ). This division of voice has been expanded in great
detail in SR (III, 39-67) under the heading sabdabheda. It is interesting to note
that our text has mentioned this classification of voices under the types of śruti.
10, 11, 12. Vāta, pitta and kapha are known in Ayurveda as the three dhātus
(humours) that 'hold' the body, the three 'doşas' that represent an imbalance
or disorder in the three and the three males or dirt arising out of them. The
gross manifestation of these three is wind or gas, bile and phlegm, but they are
also subtle like the bhūtas. Vāta represents all movement or dynamism, pitta
represents all heat and energy and phlegm represents the static aspect; the
three could also be equated with sattva, rajas and tamas guņas respectively.
The classification of human voice according to these three is based on the
predominance of each of these. The voice being a part of the human body, is
affected by the constitution of the body dependant on the predominance of
one or the other of the three dhātus in different bodies.
(cf. Car Sam Sūtrasthāna and Cikitsāsthāna)
13. Snigdha is very difficult to translate; it is the antonym of rūkṣa which in
English could be translated only as 'dry', but dryness could be related to water
when it is called śuṣkatā and it could also be related to oil or butter or any other
similar substance, the common name for which is 'sneha' i.e. the absence of
'sneha' is also a form of dryness called rūksatā. Incidentally, sneha also means