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THE RAGARASA RELATION IN INDIAN MUSIC Ml

It would not be quite appropriale to apply the theory of rasa as expounded by the rhetoricians to the fine art of musie. The main reason of this inapplicability is the absence of situation in musie wilhout the help of words. That is why Bharata while defining Gindharya (the term denoting the aneient Indian musie), has stated that it is based on three constituents namely, Svara (musical notes), TSla (limę measure) and words, because some of the embellishment of musie belongs to words. The melody types fJStis) are stated in relation to rasa e.g. love would be accentuated when the notes Madhyama and Pańcama are presenl in the particular melody. Bharata says that the melody having abundance of madhyama and pafleama should be employed in the Erotic and the Comie, one having $adja and Rsabha in ample measure in the Heroie, the Furious and the Marvellous, the one having Dhaivata in ample measure in the Odious and the Terrible and Gflndh&ra and Nisflda in the case 'of the Pathetic. His generał statement is — when that notę which is dominant in regard to the particular jSti should be employed in the song in the particular rasa. This means that the dominant notę is mainly responsible for the particular manifestation of the melody. Later scholars writing on musie understood that the notes mentioned by Bharata as dominant were responsible for the particular melodie exprcssion. They connectcd the rasas to the rSgas.

The JSti concept of aneient Indian musie later on took the form of RSga musie. In the case of JSti, the dominant notes would be morę than one though the ending notę was the same; for it was unehangeable. But due to different dominant notes the same jSti would have dilTerent manifestations based in the dominant notę. Hence, Mataiiga (7th-8th cen. A.D.), resorted to the concept of rSga. Each rSga would have one dominant notę and hence one specific manifestation.

RSga ⁸ is stated to be ‘rańjaka svara-sandarbha.' Svara is the sound which is charming, having resonance and continuity. It has fixed naturę due to the specific microtonal intervals i. e., Srutis. It delights the listeners. As it illumincs itsclf, it makes the listener attracted towards it. It also pcrvades the mental funclions of the artisl. The word rSga⁰ also which is derived from rańj to entertain or dclight serves the same purpose. But it has coherence of notes of specific types likc steadiness, consonance, assonance and dissonance. The notę which is dissonant is to be avoidcd in the rSga treatment. But sometimes it is seen that the dissonant notę used skilfully by the musician helps to crcate charm. When some listener says that a particular rSga is not liked by him, it indicales that the entertainment provided by that rSga is not extensive as per the definilion of rSga. That coherent arrangement of the notes does not please him. It suggests that the apprecialion of rSga is subjcclive to some extent.

The main constituents of musie are Svara and TSla-Laya. While presenting the rSgas, the AlSpas (combinalion of svara patterns) establish that rSga.