Review token : vol_I_p084::english_sharma::0

1: 1
2: Ė
3: 151
4: VIMARŚA
5: ì
6: 2. Gita (lit. song or the act of singing) stands for the melodic aspect of
7: music which is rendered through the voice or stringed and wind instruments.
8: BṛD does not mention vādya along with gīta here, nor in verse 14 where desī
9: music is defined as 'that which is sung.' Since voice sets the model followed by
10: stringed and wind instruments, gita is the word for the melodic aspect of music
11: and the content of the above instruments is included in it. This extension of the
12: meaning of gita gets established when the word vādya is juxtaposed with it,
13: because in that case vādya gets restricted to drums. But here, in absence of that
14: juxtaposition, gita would acquire a further extension by way of also including
15: vādya in its orbit. Hence gīta stands here for the totality of music. It is notable
16: that gita is followed by svara in this verse. This looks like a repetition because
17: svara is the main constituent of gita. This could be construed as an emphasis on
18: 'svara' through an independent reference to it.
19: 3. Nrtta generally stands for pure dance where the delineation of artha
20: (meaning) of kāvya (poetry, literature) is not intended (vide NŠ IV, 263).
21: Nṛtta is dependent on nāda, because it has to be accompanied on instruments,
22: specially drums.
23: 4. The statement that the world is made up of nāda seems to be somewhat
24: out of place here, because the context is that of nada being the essence of
25: music and dance. But if one recalls the exposition of the order of manifestation
26: or formation of gandharva beginning from bindu and moving forward through
27: nāda - mātṛkā - varṇa - pada - vākya - mahāvākya - to Veda ( alongwith its
28: auxiliary disciplines), it would become clear that 'gīta' (representing gāndharva)
29: incorporates all the stages upto gandharva and hence the fundamental nature
30: of nāda as established in gīta could be logically extended to the 'world' because
31: the world or phenomenon itself is a manifestation of nāda through the above
32: stages. SR expresses the same idea in the following manner -
33: "Nāda manifests the letters ( of alphabet ), letters constitute the word and
34: words make a sentence; so, the entire business of life is carried on through
35: language and therefore, the whole phenomenon (i.e. the world) is based on
36: nāda". (SR1, 2.2)
37: Just as SR has related the business of life with nāda through verbal
38: communication that is based on the same, BrD has used gita in an extended
39: meaning, including in it all the manifestations of nada and has expounded nada
40: to be the essence of the whole world.
41: It would be interesting to note here that S R also speaks of nāda being the
42: essence of gita, vādya and nṛtta but the 'world' is not connected with nāda in
43: that context.
44: "Nāda is the very essence of vocal music, instrumental music is enjoyable as
45: it manifests nāda. Nṛtta (dance) follows both (i.e. vocal and instrumental
46: music); therefore, all the three together depend on nāda". (SRI, 2.1)
47: 5,6,7,8. Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Maheśvara (Śiva) form one group as Trideva
48: (three gods), representing three aspects of the manifestation of the Ultimate
49: Reality into the phenomenon of the universe, viz. creation, preservation and
50: destruction. Although the three of them occur in Vedic literature, yet the idea

150
BRHADDESI
Vedas could be said to be mahāvākyas in themselves according to (2)-(4)
above.
23. The Vedāngas (auxiliary disciplines of Vedas) are six; viz. Šikṣā (phonetics),
Vyākaraṇa (grammar), Chandas (prosody), Nirukta (etymological and other
interpretation), Kalpa (ritual) and Jyotişa (astronomy, mathematics).
24. Gāndharva is the upaveda (sub-Veda) of Sāmaveda. (Caraṇavyūha 4, p.
47) Abhinavagupta commenting on NS XXVIII, 10 has dwelt upon the idea of
Gāndharva being born of Sāmaveda. Here Sāmaveda is not explicitly mentioned,
but it can certainly be taken to be implied.
25. Here dhvani is referred to as the ultimate origin of all creation; it could
be understood to be analogous to Sabdabrahman, Nādabrahman or Parā Vāk.
26. Here dhvani is said to be manifest because of the obtaining of varnas.
The idea of dhvani being desi (associated with space) as expressed in verses 1-4
is repeated here, the only addition being that the manifest state of dhvani is
equated with varnas. Apart from the perception of sound along with the
direction of its origin, this equation could also imply that the pronunciation of
Varnas acquires a regional character in its manifest state.
27. The so-called folk and the elite ( represented by kings ) have been
clubbed together here, on purpose, because the desi music that is the object of
description in our text is not 'folk' in the western sense, nor is it 'classical' in
the same sense.
28. Here the word marga is not technical, it is used in the sense of the
course, way or system of desi music, although in the next line it is used in a
technical sense.
29. Here the word marga is technical, it has been used for the type of desi
music which is structured and which has provision or scope for ālāpa ( melodic
elaboration), as distinct from the desi type of desi which is relatively unstructured
and does not consequently have scope for alapa. The positive relationship
between structure and free elaboration is notable here. The structure opens out
the possibilities of free elaboration, rather than binding or closing these
possibilities.
Thus Desi is divided into marga and desi and this division itself is known as
the marga of desi music.
30. The word dest has been used in this section in a very broad sense as well
as in a restricted sense. In the broad sense it stands for the spatial or regional
aspect of manifest sound and in the restricted sense it stands for music which is
again related to the desa or region of its makers. This desi music is again divided
into mārga and deśi. Thus deśi is both a main category and a sub-category.
Section II ( Nāda )
1. 'Nāda' has been used here in a general sense, covering both its manifest
and unmanifest states.