Scholars from India and abroad on Friday held a wide ranging discussion on the “Codification and Oral Practices” of the monumental work ‘Sangitaratnakara’ of renowned scholar Sarangadeva at a seminar under the aegis of Bharatiya Vidya Bhawan here.
Speaking on the contribution of Sarangadeva, a scholar from Kashmir, who settled in the Deccan region in Southern India, Prof Krishna Bisht, noted Khayal vocalist of Delhi Gharana, focussed on the application of anibaddha gana of Sarangadeva in Hindustani Khayal genre while Prof Ritwik Sanyal, veteran Dhrupad exponent from Varanasi, through an exhilarating performance established the links with the oral tradition of Dhrupad.
In a presentation with a difference, well known kathak exponents Padmashree Shovana Narayan and Paravati Dutta from Aurangabad through dance demonstrations brought clarity to various concepts given in the nartana adhyaya of Sarangadeva which are still in vogue
today.
Dr Indrani Chakravarti, from Prashanti Nilayam, Andhra Pradesh, through her association with the tribe, the ‘Kinnara Jogis’ in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh gave an interesting account of its current existing practise while explaining the swara scales from vedic period to Sarangadeva. Prof Najma Perveen Ahmad, whose research has been on Persian texts on Indian music, focussed mainly on the two important texts ‘lahjat-e-Sikandar Shahi’ and ‘Ghunyat-ul-Munya’ that have elaborately dealt with Sarangadeva.