Ragalaksanam of Sri Mudduvenkatamakhin

Ragalaksanam was composed by Mudduvenkatamakhin in Tanjore in the early 18th century A.D. It is an important text of Karnataka Music and appeared in an effervescent epoch in the development of this music system of which it deals with only råga. It collects, classifies, codifies and characterizes the entire music base of the Indian peninsula. The author was musician, musicologist and music composer of high order. His contribution to the world of music is twofold: systematisation of the theory of raga content of his times and creating music to crystallise the character and scope of each råga described.

The author derived his inspiration from his great- grandfather, Venkatamakhin who revolutionised the theory and practice of Indian music through his scheme of 72 melas. His Caturdandiprakāśikā illustrates the four fundamental components (dandi) of music - gīta, ālāpa, thaya and prabandha, which his paramaguru (teacher's teacher) Tänappa postulated and illustrated. His own guru was his father Govindadikşita who made the first efforts to stabilize the four dandīs in practice in his Sangītasudhā.

Thus a line of four important musicians- musicologists-composers of South India: Tänappa, Govindadīkşita, Veńkațamakhin and Mudduveńkațamakhin built up or reorganized a textual tradition which supported a living dynamic tradition of performed music in which hundreds of composers. thousands of performers and countless listeners endeavoured to continuously strengthen and nourish it Ragalaksanam marks an important phase of this great evolution.

About the Author:

PROF. R. SATHYANARAYANA is an internationally acclaimed authority on Indian music and dancing. He is broadbased in several physical sciences, humanistic and indological disciplines. He is widely acclaimed for his systematic contributions in the intra- disciplinal and inter-disciplinal bases of modern Indian musicology and danceology. He has published numerous books, including critical editions, translations, commentaries, annotations, monographs, original creative works, and research papers on Indian music, dancing and other cognate subjects. He has received numerous academic distinctions (including doctoral degrees, fellowships, and honorific titles) awards and honours. He is a guide and examiner for doctoral examinations.

Prof. Sathyanarayana's critical edition, translation, critical introduction and commentary etc. of Pandarīka Vitthala's Nartananirnaya, Caturdandiprakāśikā and Makhihṛdaya have been published in the Kalāmülaśāstra Series.