Brihaddeshi

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Brihaddeshi of Matanga Muni is a 6th to 8th century Indian text on music. It is the first text that speaks directly of the raga as well as makes a distinction between the classical (marga) and the folk (deshi). It also introduced the sargam, or notation in the names of notes. In Matanga's discussion of musical scales and micro-tonal intervals he clarifies what Bharata Muni had said in the Natya Shastra.

The author has based his work on the Natya Shastra of Bharata Muni. It clarifies many issues related to shruti that were presented tersely by Bharata. So it is possible that music had become a separate entity and was sung for its own sake by the time of Matanga. There was no need to combine music with Nritya (dance). This was definitely an important evolution in the history of music. These ideas have been discussed in detail by modern thinkers like Jaidev Singh, Acharya Brahaspati and Dr. Lalmani Misra

The text of Brihaddeshi was edited by the musicologist Prem Lata Sharma for the Indira Kalakendra series of original texts on the Indian arts.