Abstract
This paper investigates the relationship between textuality and mathematics in the Saṅgītaratnākara, a Sanskrit work on music composed in the thirteenth century by Śārṅgadeva. Within the traditional Sanskrit knowledge system on musicology, the Saṅgītaratnākara can be regarded as a seminal work, given the commentaries it has inspired and the innovative features it contains. I shall explore some textual aspects which, in Medieval India, have contributed to establish the authority of this text and whose significance can be traced in later works. Among these are types of verbalization and mathematical procedures whose role, I shall argue, is entirely theoretical. In the Saṅgītaratnākara, calculations and diagrams underline an innovative language of musical speculation, as well as the relationship between theory and practice and the shaping influence of other śāstric traditions. The set of conventions which are based on a vocabulary and methods shared with other technical literatures, particularly prosody and mathematics, attests the variety of literary practices introduced by Śārṅgadeva. I shall argue that this text builds up a code whose aim and function are not necessarily musicological in character. Although orality clearly retains its special status as the archetype of learning, Śārṅgadeva’s contribution manifests the autonomy of literature on saṅgīta as an “art” which constitutes an independent sphere of activity, defining its own rules, and adhering to its own criteria of value.
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Aufsätze – Articles – Articles
- Les manuscrits du sud de la vallée de l’Indus en écriture khojkī sindhī: état des lieux et perspectives
- Hell as “Eternal” Punishment? On the Depiction of Hell in Vīlhojī’s Kathā Gyāncarī
- Entwicklungen in der Darstellung Buddhistischer Erzählstoffe in Sri Lanka
- Mack the Knife and Knife-Black Dorothy Appositional Metaphoric Compounds: A Comparison and Contrast of the Varying Approaches in Sanskrit Treatises on Grammar and Poetics
- Music Theory, Mathematics, and Patterns of Innovation in the Saṅgītaratnākara
- Considerations About Traditions Influential in the Ahirbudhnyasaṃhitā
- Meanings Out of Rules. Definitions, Functions and Uses of Paribhāṣās in Śrautasūtras, Gṛhyasūtras, Vyākaraṇa, Mīmāṃsā and Vedānta
- A General Overview
- The paribhāṣās in the Śrautasūtras: Problems, Opportunities and Premises for an Investigation
- Towards a Methodology for Applying the paribhāṣās in the Kauśikasūtra (II)
- From Commentary to paribhāṣās: Kātyāyana and Patañjali vis-à-vis Vyāḍi
- The Role of paribhāṣās in Mīmāṃsā: Rational Rules of Textual Exegesis
- … And What about the Vedānta Paribhāṣā’s paribhāṣātva? Some hypotheses on the use of paribhāṣās in later Advaita Vedānta
- Meanings Out of Rules: The Editor’s Overview
- Rezensionen – Comptes rendus – Reviews
- Some More Notes on Siderits and Katsura’s Translation of Nāgārjuna’s Mūlamadhyamakakārikā
- Rezension – Compte rendu – Review
- Otter, Felix: Grundkurs Sanskrit: Eine Einführung in die Sprache der altindischen Erzählliteratur
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Aufsätze – Articles – Articles
- Les manuscrits du sud de la vallée de l’Indus en écriture khojkī sindhī: état des lieux et perspectives
- Hell as “Eternal” Punishment? On the Depiction of Hell in Vīlhojī’s Kathā Gyāncarī
- Entwicklungen in der Darstellung Buddhistischer Erzählstoffe in Sri Lanka
- Mack the Knife and Knife-Black Dorothy Appositional Metaphoric Compounds: A Comparison and Contrast of the Varying Approaches in Sanskrit Treatises on Grammar and Poetics
- Music Theory, Mathematics, and Patterns of Innovation in the Saṅgītaratnākara
- Considerations About Traditions Influential in the Ahirbudhnyasaṃhitā
- Meanings Out of Rules. Definitions, Functions and Uses of Paribhāṣās in Śrautasūtras, Gṛhyasūtras, Vyākaraṇa, Mīmāṃsā and Vedānta
- A General Overview
- The paribhāṣās in the Śrautasūtras: Problems, Opportunities and Premises for an Investigation
- Towards a Methodology for Applying the paribhāṣās in the Kauśikasūtra (II)
- From Commentary to paribhāṣās: Kātyāyana and Patañjali vis-à-vis Vyāḍi
- The Role of paribhāṣās in Mīmāṃsā: Rational Rules of Textual Exegesis
- … And What about the Vedānta Paribhāṣā’s paribhāṣātva? Some hypotheses on the use of paribhāṣās in later Advaita Vedānta
- Meanings Out of Rules: The Editor’s Overview
- Rezensionen – Comptes rendus – Reviews
- Some More Notes on Siderits and Katsura’s Translation of Nāgārjuna’s Mūlamadhyamakakārikā
- Rezension – Compte rendu – Review
- Otter, Felix: Grundkurs Sanskrit: Eine Einführung in die Sprache der altindischen Erzählliteratur