Critical evaluation of Saṅgīta-sāroddhāraḥ and Saṅgītopaniṣat-sāroddhāraḥ

Abstract

Saṅgīta-sāroddhāraḥ of Kīkarāja is a rare unpublished manuscript in Sanskrit on the subject of Indian Music, preserved in the Government Manuscript Library at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune. The Manuscript contains 16 folios (a and b) i.e. 32 pages in all. Saṅgītopaniṣat-sāroddhāraḥ of Vācanācārya Sudhākalaśa (a Jain monk) is a work on Indian Music and Dancing written in Sanskrit and edited by Umakant Shah and published in 1961 under the Gaekwad Oriental Series of the Oriental Institute of the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda. The main confusion regarding these two texts is created because Umakant Shah, refers to both these texts as the same. It is possible that he must have traced these texts which are unavailable to us now, for one or the other reason. After studying the contents of both these texts available to me, it is evident that both these texts are different and do not bear whatsoever resemblance to each other. This Paper will focus on the concepts of Indian Music and dancing elaborated upon in these Sanskrit texts on music, out of which one is published and other is yet to be published. It will also point out the relevance and difference for such a confusion of text names as to whether they are one or whether there are other such texts in Sanskrit written on music bearing the same name. It will critically evaluate their significance and contribution to both the fields of literature – Sanskrit as well as Indian Music.