1.

BHADD

This is a treatise written by Mataga Muni. The date of this work is not known for
certain and further it is also not known where Matanga lived. However from the
references in other texts we can roughly place this work between 6th and 9th century
A.D. The book Bhadd, as the title announces, deals with 'de'. The term 'd' seems
to refer to all forms created of songs and might comprehend the three arts of Gta (music)
Vdya (drumming) and Ntta (dancing). The available edition of Bhadd is incomplete
and consists of chapters dealing with music only. The book ends with an announcement
that the next chapter dealing with Musical Instruments will follow. However the chapter
on instruments and the subsequent chapters are not available. From the references in the
later works, we learn that Bhadd had described the instruments, Tla and also dance.

In the available chapters, the first portion starts with the definition of 'd' referring to
the subtle sound. Next the term 'Nda' is introduced which is described as the basis for
music, dance and all forms of activities.

Next the term ruti is described which has the function of measuring the intervals of
svaras. The author deals at great length on the relation between ruti and svara and then
with the svara intervals in the two Grma-s, ajagrma and Madhyamagrma.

Grma and Mrcchan:
A Grma was an arrangement of seven svaras sa, ri, ga, ma, pa, dha and ni. The
different intervallic arrangements that the two grma-s represent, form the basis for
classifying the 'Mrcchan-s' and 'Jti-s'.

Sa-grma 4-Sa-3-Ri-2-Ga-4-Ma-4-Pa-3-Dha-2-Ni-

Magrma 4-Ma-3-Pa-4-Dha-2-Ni-4-Sa-3-Ri-2-Ga-
(Note: Numbers between the svaras indicate the intervals in terms of srutis)

The Mrcchan-s are described next by Mataga. Mrcchan is a sequential
arrangement of the seven svaras that forms the basis for a musical composition. There are
seven Mrcchan-s in each grama and each Mrcchan in a grma would start on one of
the seven notes of the grma. If a Mrcchan is rendered with one or two svaras omitted
then it is referred to as 'Tna'. After Mrcchan, the Vara and Alaakra are described.

Vara is of four kinds (i) Sthy (ii) rh (iii) Avarh (iv) Sacr and they indicate
the different kinds of movements that a melodic line can take. Alakra is a recurring
patterns formed out of svaras and an Alakra was classified according to the Vara
underlying it. In other words Alakra is of 4 kinds.

(i) Sthyi-vara alakra
(ii) rh-vara alakra
(iii) Avarh-vara alakra
(iv) Sacr-vara alakra

Matanga describes Thirty-three Alakra-s.

Jti which comes next, is like a Mrcchan and formed the melodic basis for the
musical songs in the ancient period. While the murcchana gave information only about
the svara and intervals, a Jti incorporated many other characteristics like--
i) Graha: the svara commencing the melody.
ii) Ama: the predominant svara which formed the tonic and which also occured
profusely in the melody.
iii) Tra: the svara in the higher register upto which the melodic movement could
ascend.
iv) Mandra: the svara in the lower register upto which the melodic movement could
descend.
v) Nysa: the svara on which a song finally concludes.
vi) Apanysa: the svara on which the section of the song can conclude.
vii) Alpatva: the svara which should be sparingly used or rendered weak.
viii) Bahutva: svara which is strong and is frequently used.
ix) ava: the svara which could be omitted to render the jti in 6 notes.
x) Auuva: those two svara-s which could be dropped to render the jati in 5 svara-s.

In the treatise the Jti-s are then sought to be described. However the description
breaks off in the middle. The 18 jatis are:

1. j 2. rabh 3. Dhaivat 4. Naiad
5. ajakaiik 6. ajdcyav 7. ajamadhyam
8. Gndhr 9. Madhyam 10. Pacam 11 Gndhrdcyav
12 Gndhrapacam 13. Raktagndhri 14. Madhyamdcyav 15 ndhr
16 Nandayant 17 Krmrav 18. Kaiik

The description of Jti is followed by that of the Rga. Mataga asserts that the
description of raga not enunciated by Bharata (in Nyastra) will be expounded by him.
He classifies ragas on the basis of seven giti-s (variety in melodic formation). These are --

1. uddh 2. Bhinn 3. Gau 4. Rgagti 5. Sdhra
6. Bh 7. Vibh

The author describes the Rga-s under each category. In the description of Rga-s
especially under the first five categories, he quotes earlier authorities like Kyapa and
Durgaakti. In the case of Bha-s the text has portions from the work of an ancient
scholar Yika called Sarvgamasamhit.

The delineation of Prabandha follows the Rga section. Author lists 48 Prabandha-s
and describes their structure. Prabandha-s are different musical forms which come down
in the D tradition and do not figure in the earlier texts like Nyastra and Dattilam.
Some of the Prabandha-s mentioned in this text are: Kanda, Vtta, Gadya, Catupad,
Jayavardhana, l, hek. The prabandhas are not classified into groups like Sa, li,
etc, as found in later texts. Further the structure of a Prabandha too is not described in
terms of Dhtu-s and Aga-s as done in later texts.

At the conclusion of Prabandhas the text announces the next chapter on Vdya but the
text abruptly breaks off at this point and remains incomplete.

Bhadd is the first avilable text coming in the D tradition of which Khala and
Kyapa were the fore-runners. However Bhadd represents a mixture of the tradition
of Nyastra and Dattilam too. It is a pity that the available text is incomplete but it is a
very important text as evident from the fact that all the later writers quote Mataga
respectfully not only on the aspect of melody but also on the aspects of Tla, Vdya and
Ntta, topics which are missing in the available text.