Ragalaksanam was composed by Mudduvenkatamakhin in Tanjore in the early 18th century A.D. It is an important text of Karnataka Music and appeared in an effervescent epoch in the development of this music system of which it deals with only raga. It collects, classifies, codifies and characterizes the entire music base of the Indian peninsula. The author was musician, musicologist and music composer of high order. His contribution to the world of music is twofold: systematisation of the theory of raga content of his times and creating music to crystallise the character and scope of each raga described.
The author derived his inspiration from his great grandfather, Venkatamakhin who revolutionised the theory and practice of Indian music through his scheme of 72 melas. His Caturdandiprakasika illustrates the four fundamental components (dandi) of music – gita, alapa, thaya and prabandha, which is paramaguru (teacher's teacher) Tanappa postulated and illustrated. His own guru was his father Govindadiksita who made the first efforts to stabilize the four dandis in practice in his Sangitasudha. Thus a line of four important musicians musicologists-composers of South India: Tanappa, Govindadiksita, Venkatamakhin and Mudduvenkatamakhin built up or reorganized a textual tradition which supported a living dynamic tradition of performed music in which hundreds of composers, thousands of performers and countless listeners endeavoured to continously strengthen and nourish it. Ragalaksanam marks an important phase of this great evolution.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR R Sathyanarayana
Mahamahopadhyaya Dr. R. Sathyanarayana is one of the foremost thinkers and writers in the field of Art (especially Indian music and Indian dancing) in modern India. He is broad-based in several physical sciences, humanistic and indological disciplines. He has published numerous books including critical editions, translations, commentaries, annotations etc. of original Sanskrit texts on music and dancing, monographs, original creative works, popularizations, research papers etc. on these cognate subjects. He has received numerous academic distinctions (including doctoral degrees, fellowships, honorific titles), awards and honours. He is associated with many learned bodies in India and abroad. He has presented papers at numerous national and international conclaves. Major areas of his interest and activity include systematic textual criticism, textual interpretation with contemporary relevance, interdisciplinal studies, performance-oriented reconstruction and revival of ancient and medieval compositions in music and dance. He is a guide and examiner for doctoral examinations. Prof. Sathyanarayana belongs to the third generation of the sisya-parampara of the saint-composer Sri Tyagaraja. He is a music composer, teacher, public speaker, broadcaster etc. He travels frequently to both the East and the West to interpret traditional Indian culture and traditional love on cultural missions. His life and work are documented in many professional directories and Who's Who-s. He is hailed for his systematic contributions to the intradisciplinal and interdisciplinal bases of modern Indian musicology and danceology. Sri Sathyanarayana is a noted guru in the srividya tantra of kadimata and anandabhairava sampradaya.
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