Acoustical Observations in the Musical Treatises of the Saṃskṛta Tradition1

(N.Ramanathan)

Any modern book on Acoustics would deal with-

a production of sound in the human body, in musical instruments of the regular and electronic
varieties,
b modes of transmission, nature of medium and characteristics of sound,
c perception of sound by the human ear and the receiving, recording and preservation in
mechanical and electrical/electronic equipments, requirements in halls for clear perception of
speech or music.

This paper attempts to focus on the thinking on musical acoustics that is reflected in the musical
treatises of Saṃskṛta tradition.

Saṃskṛta literature on music :

Talking about music traditions, the earliest that is known is that of Sāma gāna. About the musical
details of saman there are many works and they come under the categories of Śikṣā and Prātiśākhya,
belonging to the body of Vaidika literature. Then comes the Gāndharva tradition for which the early
writings are Dattilam (of Dattila) and Nāṭyaśāstra (of Bharata). This musical tradition could be dated
roughly to the pre 4C-AD period. While samagana has come down in an almost unbroken tradition,
but without the certainty that its original form has been preserved intact, the same cannot be said for
Gāndharva. After Gāndharva, art music is seen emerging in another stream which may be referred to
as Dēśī-gāndharva. These later works, besides talking about this Dēśī-gāndharva, compile
information on the earlier Gāndharva also. Works of this kind are Bṛhaddēśī (of Mataṅga pre 7C-AD),
Bharatabhāṣya (of Nānyadēva 12C-AD), Saṅgitaratnakāra (of Śārṅgadēva 13C-AD), Saṅgītaraja (of
Kumbhakarṇa 15C-AD). This music tradition does not seem to have survived beyond the 10C-AD.

Later history tells us about two distinct musical traditions which are popularly referred to as
Karnataka (South Indian) and Hindustani (North Indian) systems of music which began to be
described on a common theoretical basis. The number of books describing these are many but here it
will suffice to mention just a few, Caturdaṇḍī-prakāśikā (of Vēṅkaṭamakhī, early 17C-AD),
Saṅgītapārijāta (of Ahōbala (late 17C-AD), Rāgatattvavibōdha (of Śrinivāsa, late 17C-AD) and
Hṛdayaprakāśa (of Hṛdayanārāyaṇadēva, late 17C-AD).

There was a distinct musical tradition prevalent in the Tamil region before 10C-AD about which
there is no reference in the Samskrta literature while a few Tamil works describing it are still available.

1
Paper presented at the National Seminar organised by the Madras-India Regional Chapter of the Acoustical Society of
America at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. 18-09-1995.
 In describing the details of music, the aspect of melody is necessarily there in all the works. It is
while describing the melodic details that discussion on tone, intervals and other aspects of acoustics
is undertaken. Production of sound, pitch and interval are some of the main topics dealt with, those
dealing with perception of sound by the organ of hearing, mainly the ear, are practically absent.

The Nature of Sound and its Production :

The words in Samskrta that denote sound are 'Śabda', 'Ddhvani', 'Nāda'.
In Nāṭyaśāstra (NS 34, 28-31) sabda is defined as being of the nature of air and is said to be of
two kinds- 'Svaravān' and 'Abhidhānavān'. 'Svaravān' refers to that sound which is tonal or existing in
music and Abhidhānavān is sound that has meaning, intended for communication. While
Abhidhānavān embraces the various languages, Svaravān embraces various musical instruments,
says Bharata. Anticipating the question "Is svaravan not possible in voice ?", he continues- "The
seven svara-s manifest first in the human body. Arising from the human body, they enter the wooden
instruments.
It is clear from the above account that sound is being talked about with reference to its application
in human activity, either in speech or in music. Sound per se is not being mentioned at all. In other
words no kind of distinction such as music and noise is being made as is met with in modern works on
Acoustics. Sound other than that of Speech and Music is not considered at all for study.
While Bharata talks about the nature of sound he does not deal with the actual mode of sound
production. The element of "vibration" of the sounding body is brought in only in the later works.

Sound production:
The process of production in the human body is discussed in three disciplines, namely, Grammar
(Vyākaraṇa), Phonetics (Śikṣā) and later in Musicology (Gīta-śāstra).
Bhartṛhari, the grammarian philosopher, in his Vākyapadīya (VP 1,107) mentions three souces for
sound- air, atom and consciousness or knowledge. In other words
a air, stirred by the speaker's desire to speak, strikes speech centres and produces speech;
b atoms (aṇu) transform themselves into speech;
c the consciousness taking the form of the mind and ripening in the fire (of the stomach) enters the
life-breath and it is then uttered.

Views of Indian thinkers are also divided with regard to the nature of the process, i.e., whether
sound is actually produced or manifested.
a According to one view (that of the Mīmāṃsaka-s), sound is dormant in the human body and the
vocal apparatus only helps to manifest this sound and not actually to produce it.
b The other view (that of the Naiyāyikā-s) is that sound is brought into existence or in other words
'produced'. (See pp.108-109, A Critical Study of Sanskrit Phonetics by Vidhata Mishra.)

The process of sound production is described as the physical air in the body striking the fire
(energy)in the navel region. From there it rises through different parts of the body, namely the heart,
throat, head and finally the mouth, from where it emerges as sound. Further, for all cognitions, the
contact of the mind (manas) with the soul (atma) is a necessary condition (pp.110-114, ibid.). Thus,
whether it be speech or music, at the root of sound production, there should be a desire on the part of
the soul to speak or sing. It is this desire that sets the entire process in motion. Here again we see
that the creation of sound is viewed as a human activity and the physical process has to be preceded
by the desire in the human being, the desire thus becoming a step in the process.
The school of Tantra, a branch of Yōga, speaks of the seat of fire as being situated in a region
below the navel. This school which speaks of energy centres or cakras in the body, mentions the first
Cakra, namely Mūlādhāra-cakra as being located in the abdominal region. Situated in the Mūlādhāra
is the Brahmagranthi, literally the knot of Brahman, the root of life source. Here resides the fire. Thus
according to this school, the air in the body strikes this fire and then rises through the regions of navel,
heart, throat, head and mouth to emerge as nada or sound. It is this school of tantra which brings in
the term nada.
This term nada and the whole process of sound production as conceived by Tantra, has been
adopted by the writers on music, as is evident in texts like Bṛhaddēśī (v.18-23), Saṅgītaratnākara
(1,3,3-6). Nāda also came to be established, in the later period, as the principal term to denote
musical sound, with words like Śabda and Dhvani falling into disuse.

Svara, sruti and sthana :

The grammarians and the phoneticians are concerned only with the question of how the sound
produced is to be converted into vowels and consonants. Musicologists take up the problem of pitch
variation and hence they take a different course.
When Nāda, from its undifferentiated state, is broken up into sounds of different pitches, different
terms come to be used. These are 'Svara' 'Śruti' and 'Sthāna'. Svara refers to pitches/tonal ranges
that take part in musical activity as melodic units. Śruti refers to the different discernible pitches
arranged in an ascending order. Sthana-s are the different registers or tonal spans into which the
sruti-s and svara-s fall.
Svara-s are seven and Śruti-s twenty-two in number, in one Sthāna. In all there are three Sthāna-
s that come within the musical compass. Since the production of sound is described with reference to
the human body, the phenomenon of different pitches is also explained with reference to it.

Sthāna :
'Sthāna' literally means place and here it refers to three regions in the human body, the heart,
throat and the head (the portion behind the nose). The sounds emerging from the heart region are
called Mandra (low), those from the throat, Madhya (middle), and those from the head, Tāra (high).
These three regions mentioned here and the sounds emanating from them are altogether different in
character from those mentioned in the course of sound production. In the case of sound production,
heart, throat and head are instrumental in transforming, in stages, the sound from a subtle to a gross
state. On the other hand, while talking of Sthāna-s, the heart, throat and head are respectively the
regions in which the sounds of low, middle and high registers are produced.
 The sounds of each successive register are said to be 'double' the corresponding ones in the
previous register. (Saṅgītaratnākara 1,3,7) The concept of 'doubling' is not clearly stated. What is it
that is being 'doubled'? Modern acoustics speaks of the 'doubling' of the frequency of the sound. That
is, the sounds in the middle register possess frequencies twice those of the corresponding sounds in
the lower register. And similarly the sounds in the high register have frequencies double those of the
middle one. Frequency refers to the number of vibrations that the sounding body makes in unit time.
The Saṃskṛta texts do not speak of pitch in terms of frequency, in which case, what could 'doubling'
mean?
The commentator on Saṅgītaratnākara, Kallinātha, explains doubling as referring to the effort
required in singing sounds of different Sthāna-s. Thus to sing the tones of the Madhya-sthāna one
would require twice the effort needed for singing the tones of Mandra-sthāna. However all the other
writers are silent on this issue.

Sruti:
Dattila (Dat. 8-9) talks of twenty-two distinct perceptible sounds in each sthana. In all there are
sixty-six sounds. These are called Śruti-s.
Abhinavagupta, the commentator on Nāṭyaśāstra, explains Śruti with reference to a stringed
instrument. By slightly tightening or loosening the string, when the sound emerging from it is
perceived as being different, then that finite interval is Śruti. (AB on NS, vol.IV,p.21,ll.25-28) The two
sounds distinguished by the interval sruti, are also Śruti-s. Thus the twenty-two śruti-s in a Sthāna
denote twenty-two sounds separated from one another by the interval Śruti. The interval Śruti is a
rough and not a precise measure. Its perception rests on the power of discrimination in a musician's
ear.
Abhinava (ibid. pp.21-22) raises the hypothetical argument that the raising and lowering could be
done on a very minute scale also (thus arriving at more than twenty-two sruti-s in one Sthāna). He
answers it by saying that such differences would be very difficult to perceive.
The sixty-six śruti-s arising in the human body are said to be generated by the air striking sixty-six
nāḍi-s (nerves) in the human body located horizontally one above the other, twenty-two in each of the
three regions, heart, throat and head. As pointed out by R.K. Shringy and Prem Lata Sharma (p.116,
Saṅgītaratnākara, vol.I, trans.) the nadi-s have not been identified in terms of modern physiology.
Perhaps this kind of an explanation attempted to impose the image of the Vīṇā on the human body.
The Vīṇā here refers to the harp-type of Vīṇā in which, for each svara, there was a separate string.
(See, A Study of Dattilam by Mukund Lath, p.199.)
While the relationship between the length of the string and pitch was known, since the Vīṇā-s
were constructed that way, the concept of frequency seems to have been unknown or not spelt out.

Svara:
While Śruti referred to the different pitches, the actual sounds or tones that functioned as building
blocks for a musical structure were called svara. Dattila (Dat.10ab-11a) states that out of the (twenty-
two) sruti-s, some are selected and employed in melodies and the svara-s are seven in number,
shadja, rshabha etc.
Śārṅgadēva (SR 1,3,23) echoes the same definition and later gives a definition of the term svara
(ibid 1,3,24cd-25ab). Svara, according to him, is that which comes immediately after the Śruti and
which is smooth and resonant and which dyes the listener's mind in its own colour.
We see in this definition two aspects of svara, one, the acoustical picture describing it as the
refined form of śruti and the other the aesthetic function as an element of music. In fact Śārṅgadēva's
definition has put together the two aspects dealt with separately in Abhinavagupta's commentary.
Abhinava (AB vol.IV,p.11,l.9) says "The sound which emerges on the striking of the śruti position with
resonance, smoothness and sweetness, that sound alone is svara." Śruti seems to denote the bare
sound devoid of musical quality. Smoothness and resonance are qualities that transform a purely
physical entity into the material for melody.
Thus Indian musical thought makes an aesthetic distinction between Śruti and Svara. Śruti, is a
pitch as well as an interval. As an interval it is used as a unit of measurement, that is as a unit for
measuring the large interval between one svara and another.
Western acoustics has normally two systems for defining a pitch and interval. The pitch of a
sound is defined in terms of its frequency and frequency is the number of vibrations per unit time. The
interval between two pitches is the difference between the frequencies in terms of the number of
vibrations.
The other way of defining a pitch is in terms of ratios. Based on the phenomenon that shorter
lengths of a vibrating string give rise to higher pitches, frequency has been computed in terms of
inverse length of a string in relation to the frequency of a standard length taken as one. Interval in this
case is the higher frequency value divided by the lower frequency value.
While in the above two systems frequency and intervals are precise measures, Śruti is a rough
unit. When one Svara is said to be of an interval of three śruti-s, and another Svara of two srutis, it
does not mean that the measure of a śruti in one svara is exactly equal to the śruti measure in the
other one. This is because Śruti is a unit used purely for analysis; never is a svara attempted to be
created through the synthesis of śruti-s.
For instance, in Caturdaṇḍīprakāśikā (2,28-29), the author, trying to demonstrate the twenty-two
śruti-s as distinct audible pitches with the help of a Vīṇā, states- "On the vīṇā (lute-type) divide the
region between the fundamental fret and that of the first fret pertaining to śuddha ṛṣabha, into three
equal spaces and implant two frets between them." The introduction of two frets would make the three
śruti-s perceptible.
We see here that the position of the Śuddha-ṛṣabha fret is already fixed, perhaps through hearing
and then the interval divided equally into three parts. Similarly the other svara-s are positioned first
and then their intervals divided equally. It is not as though the twenty-two śruti-s are first laid out at
equal distances and then the svara-s located on some.
In passing it must be mentioned that Śruti was a musician's measure for the purpose of
understanding the svara intervals. In the last two centuries scholars/musicians who became familiar
with the frequency ratios of modern physics attempted to interpret the ancient Svaras and the Śruti
interval in terms of these relative frequencies. This has brought in a lot of misunderstanding and
confusion into music theory. (Please see the chapter 'The Problem of Continuity in Music and Sruti,
Studies in Indian Musical Scales-2' in the book Music of India : A Scientific Study by B.C. Deva
discussing this problem.)
However fixing the position of a svara on the string not by hearing but in terms of lengths of string,
is seen to be mentioned in Saṃskṛta literature from the late 17C onwards. For instance, in an
undivided string of a Vīṇā, right at the midpoint tārasthāna-ṣaḍja is located. In the midpoint between
tāra-ṣaḍja and fundamental fret (Madhyasthāna-ṣaḍja), the svara madhyama is heard. This kind of
description occurs in three contemporaneous texts- Saṅgītapārijāta (pp.35-36), Rāgatattvavibōdha
(pp.5-6) and Hṛdayaprakāśa (pp.2-3), written around end of 17th century.

Cycle of Fifths :
Western acoustics speaks of two methods for generating musical tones. One is the method of
Cycle of fifth and the other out of the Overtones or Harmonics. Method of the Cycle of fifth consists of
proceeding from a fundamental tone to its consonant fifth, proceeding to next to the fifth of the second
tone and continuing the process further. Done in a musical way at the nth step one comes back to the
fundamental by which step all the tones used in music get generated, of course in the higher and
higher octaves.
This method of Cycle of fifth seems to have been in use in the Tamiz music tradition before 5C-
AD for generating scales. But it is not mentioned at all in the Saṃskṛta tradition till 17C-AD. In
Saṅgītapārijāta there is a single cryptic verse which is neither elaborated nor substantiated. The text
(SP 1,43) states that twenty-two śruti-s are spoken through the process of 'ṣaḍja-pañcama'. It is not
clear if the statement alludes to the method of Cycle of fifth.

Overtones and Harmonics :

These refer to the natural phenomenon by which the vibrating body vibrates in its full length and
in parts as well. Because of this, along with the fundamental tone, the higher frequencies
corresponding to the partial vibrations are also heard. This is referred to in Abhinavagupta's
commentary in the course of the discussion on Vādī, Saṃvādī, Vivādī and Anuvādī. Saṃvādī is a
musico-acoustical interval that binds two svara-s in which the svara which is Saṃvādī to the
fundamental Vādī enhances the melodic beauty of a melodic structure through profuse occurrence or
by peforming the function of a concluding section within it.
Consonance, which is the rough western equivalent for Saṃvādī, is defined in Western acoustics
as the relation between two notes that are separated by an interval of fifth, fourth and third. The
degree of consonance is determined by the maximum number of similar harmonics occurring in the
two tones.

Saṃvādī svara-s are defined by Bharata as those separated by intervals of thirteen and nine śruti-
s. Abhinavagupta points out that some had added an extra condition that the two svara-s should also
possess the caharacter of being "samāna-śrutika". The term samānaśrutika is explained by him as
referring to svara-s generated from the same sounding position. From his words (AB vol.IV p.17, l.10)
which are almost paraphrased and elaborated by Kumbhakarṇa (SRaj 2,1,1,230-231), it appears that
'samānaśrutika' refers to tones which are related as harmonics. Abhinava and Kumbhakarṇa both, of
course, reject the need for Samāna-śutika as the condition for samvadi.
In the 16C-CE the concept of Harmonics is again brought in while discussing the tuning of the
Vīṇā strings and the placement of frets. There are four main strings which are tuned to anumandra-sa,
anumandra-pa, mandra-sa and mandra-ma. These svara-s are referred to as 'Svayambhū', literally
self-originating. Sōmanātha, who wrote the work Ragavibodha and his own commentary to it, is the
only scholar who explains the concept of 'svayambhū'. These svara-s are 'Svayambhū' because even
without pressing the vibrating string to bring it into contact with the fret, that is, by merely touching it
gently with the fingers, subtle sounds, similar in pitch to the main sound are heard. (By gently touching
the vibrating string the Node for the harmonic is created and the formation of the Antinode of the
fundamental is curbed.) Hence this is termed 'Svayambhū'. At the conclusion of the description of the
placement of all the svara-s, he declares that all are svayambhū-s. Without questioning the validity of
such a claim it is sufficient here to notice the mention of 'Harmonics'.

We have thus made a brief survey of the contexts where acoustical observations have been
made in the Saṃskṛta writings on music. We find that in many of the contexts the theories do not
coincide with the explanations of the Western acoustics. In the traditional Indian academics, acoustics
is not an independent discipline but acoustical observations are made within the disciplines of music,
language etc. Thus dimensions of the subject change according to the sphere in which it is being
treated. Music being an art, sound is treated as musical sound first, only then as mere sound. Thus
when the prosess of sound production is described, the desire to create music is mentioned as the
first step. At the same time, we also find certain descriptions which are more symbolic than factual, as
for instance, the mention of sixty-six nāḍī-s in the body to generate the sixty-six śruti-s.

Again the conceiving of śruti-s as roughly equal intervals or rough steps rather than as precise
measures, points to its role as merely a tool for analysing svara rather than being a material for
synthesising svara. The definition of svara too pictures it as a part of the whole, namely, melody,
having all the endowments of the whole, thus taking the treatment beyond the physical parametres. It
is only when we come to the area of 'Cycle of fifth' and harmonics that we find ourselves on uncertain
grounds regarding the standpoint of Indian thinking.

Thus we could say that in the musical writings in Saṃskṛta sound is not treated merely as a
physical phenomenon but as tonal material for the creations of tonal forms.

Bṛhaddēśī of Mataṅgamuni
Caturdaṇḍī-prakāśikā of
Vēṅkaṭamakhī
Dattilam of Dattilamuni
Hṛdayaprakāśa of Hṛdayanārāyaṇa
Dēva
Nāṭyaśāstra of Bharatamuni
Rāgatattvavibōdha of Śrīnivāsa
Rāgavibōdha of Sōmanātha
Saṅgītapārijāta of Ahōbala
Saṅgītarāja of Mahārāṇa Kumbha
Saṅgītaratnākara of Śārṅgadēva
Saṅgītaratnākara of Śārṅgadēva,
Vol.I, Chapter I
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