Mirror: http://tinyurl.com/zx74efb
A mŗdangam is an ancient percussion musical intrument which gets its expressive name from the use of mŗda'iron' (ferric oxide powder) in its anga 'body part'. The word mŗda 'iron' is represented by hieroglyphs on Indus Script Corpora which are catalogus catalogorum of metalwork.
Bharata's नाट्य शास्त्र, Nāṭyaśāstra with 6000 sutras, in 36 chapters, is dated to ca. 6th century BCE The Natya(I.44) reads, "... I have seen the Kaisiki style during the dance of the blue-throated lord (Shiva). It consists of elaborate gestures (Mridu Angaharas, movements of limbs), sentiments (Rasas), emotional states (Bhavas). Actions (Kriyas) are its soul. The costume should be charmingly beautiful and love (Sringara) is its foundation. It cannot be adequately portrayed by men. Except for women, none can practise it properly". मृदङ्गं = mŗdanga 'double-drum' is part of the Natya ensemble.
Bharata Muni uses shruti to mean the interval between two notes such that the difference between them is perceptible. In certain ragas, due to inflexions or gamakas on some of 12 shrutis, listeners perceive a sharpened or flattened version of an existing shruti.
A mŗdangam yields the unique feature of generating a musical timbre of inflexion or gamaka primarily because of the ferrite oxide powder used in the glue on the two goatskin apertures on two sides of the double-drum.
Gamakam are connectors between the notes or swarams. Listen to the demonstration:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4w30izPVDA
See and listen to the glide on veena to sound gamakams:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02EmrXowyYc
[quote]Bharata formulates jatis, which are classes of melodic structures. These can be further grouped into two gramas—shadja-grama and madhyama-grama. The notes (svaras) are separated by intervals, as measured in shrutis. The shadja-grama is given by the following division: Sa of four shrutis, Ri of three shrutis, Ga of two shrutis, Ma of four shrutis, Pa of four shrutis, Da of three shrutis and Ni of two shrutis. Bharata also describes an experiment to obtain the correct physical configuration of shruti in shadja grama, Sarana Chatushtai. The madhyama-grama is the same, but the panchama (Pa) has to be diminished by one shruti. That is, the panchama of madhyama-grama is lower than that of shadja-grama by one shruti, according to Bharata. Shruti is only mentioned as a perceptual measure in the music of Bharata's time. In both the gramas, Ri is three shrutis away from Sa – there are three perceptible intervals between Sa and Ri. The third of these is called trishruti rishabha (Ri). Likewise, the second interval is called dvishruti rishabha, and the first ekashruti rishabha. Notes nine and 13 shrutis from each other are mutually samvādi (consonant). The notes that are at the distance of two and 20 shrutis are mutually vivādi (dissonant). The remaining ones, at the distance between 2 and 20 shrutis, are called anuvādi (assonant).The shruti table below shows the mathematical ratios considered to correspond to the system described by Bharata and Dattila, along with the comparable notes in common Western 12-TET tuning and comparable notes in 53-TET tuning. The names of the 22 shrutis were provided by Śārñgadeva. [unquote]
The names of the Shrutis as measures of intervas are:
मृदु mṛdu '
A mŗdangam is an ancient percussion musical intrument which gets its expressive name from the use of mŗda'iron' (ferric oxide powder) in its anga 'body part'. The word mŗda 'iron' is represented by hieroglyphs on Indus Script Corpora which are catalogus catalogorum of metalwork.
Bharata's नाट्य शास्त्र, Nāṭyaśāstra with 6000 sutras, in 36 chapters, is dated to ca. 6th century BCE The Natya(I.44) reads, "... I have seen the Kaisiki style during the dance of the blue-throated lord (Shiva). It consists of elaborate gestures (Mridu Angaharas, movements of limbs), sentiments (Rasas), emotional states (Bhavas). Actions (Kriyas) are its soul. The costume should be charmingly beautiful and love (Sringara) is its foundation. It cannot be adequately portrayed by men. Except for women, none can practise it properly". मृदङ्गं = mŗdanga 'double-drum' is part of the Natya ensemble.
Bharata Muni uses shruti to mean the interval between two notes such that the difference between them is perceptible. In certain ragas, due to inflexions or gamakas on some of 12 shrutis, listeners perceive a sharpened or flattened version of an existing shruti.
A mŗdangam yields the unique feature of generating a musical timbre of inflexion or gamaka primarily because of the ferrite oxide powder used in the glue on the two goatskin apertures on two sides of the double-drum.
Gamakam are connectors between the notes or swarams. Listen to the demonstration:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4w30izPVDA
See and listen to the glide on veena to sound gamakams:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02EmrXowyYc
[quote]Bharata formulates jatis, which are classes of melodic structures. These can be further grouped into two gramas—shadja-grama and madhyama-grama. The notes (svaras) are separated by intervals, as measured in shrutis. The shadja-grama is given by the following division: Sa of four shrutis, Ri of three shrutis, Ga of two shrutis, Ma of four shrutis, Pa of four shrutis, Da of three shrutis and Ni of two shrutis. Bharata also describes an experiment to obtain the correct physical configuration of shruti in shadja grama, Sarana Chatushtai. The madhyama-grama is the same, but the panchama (Pa) has to be diminished by one shruti. That is, the panchama of madhyama-grama is lower than that of shadja-grama by one shruti, according to Bharata. Shruti is only mentioned as a perceptual measure in the music of Bharata's time. In both the gramas, Ri is three shrutis away from Sa – there are three perceptible intervals between Sa and Ri. The third of these is called trishruti rishabha (Ri). Likewise, the second interval is called dvishruti rishabha, and the first ekashruti rishabha. Notes nine and 13 shrutis from each other are mutually samvādi (consonant). The notes that are at the distance of two and 20 shrutis are mutually vivādi (dissonant). The remaining ones, at the distance between 2 and 20 shrutis, are called anuvādi (assonant).The shruti table below shows the mathematical ratios considered to correspond to the system described by Bharata and Dattila, along with the comparable notes in common Western 12-TET tuning and comparable notes in 53-TET tuning. The names of the 22 shrutis were provided by Śārñgadeva. [unquote]
The names of the Shrutis as measures of intervas are:
Kṣobhinī |
Tīvrā |
Kumudvatī |
Mandā |
Chandovatī |
Dayāvatī |
Ranjanī |
Raktikā |
Raudrī |
Krodhā |
Vajrikā |
Prasāriṇī |
Prīti |
Mārjanī |
Kṣiti |
Raktā |
Sandīpanī |
Ālāpinī |
Madantī |
Rohiṇī |
Ramyā |
Ugrā |
Kṣobhinī |
मृदु mṛdu '
soft metal of iron'मृदा--कर [p= 830,2] vajra, m. a thunderbolt W.http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2015/12/mrdu-iron-samskritam-pola-magnetite.html The glue which is covered on the goatskin apertures of the percussion instrument called mŗdangam is an adamantine glue, vajra composed of मृदु mṛdu, 'ferrite oxide powder'. This glue is what yields the metallic timbre from this ancient instrument of Indian musical tradition.. The name मृदु mṛdangam is thus a reinforcement of the semantics of मृदु mṛdu '
soft metal of iron' which is signified by a number of hieroglyphs on Indus Script Corpora."The mŗdangam is a double-sided drum whose body is usually made using a hollowed piece of jackfruit wood about an inch thick. The two mouths or apertures of the drum are covered with a goatskin and laced to each other with leather straps around the circumference of drum. These straps are put into a state of high tension to stretch out the circular membranes on either side of the hull, allowing them to resonate when struck. These two membranes are dissimilar in width to allow for the production of both bass and treble sounds from the same drum.
The bass aperture is known as the thoppi or eda bhaaga and the smaller aperture is known as the valanthalai or bala bhaaga. The smaller membrane, when struck, produces higher pitched sounds with a metallic timbre. The wider aperture produces lower pitched sounds. The goat skin covering the smaller aperture is anointed in the center with a black disk made of rice flour, ferric oxide powder and starch. This black tuning paste is known as the sathamor karanai and gives the mridangam its distinct metallic timbre. The combination of two inhomogeneous circular membranes allows for the production of unique and distinct harmonics. Pioneering work on the mathematics of these harmonics was done by Nobel Prize–winning physicist C. V. Raman." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mridangam
A double drum of this type is shown on Indus Script Corpora.
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m1406
m1406
Hieroglyphs: thread of three stands + drummer + tumblersdhollu ‘drummer’ (Western Pahari) dolutsu 'tumble' Rebus: dul ‘cast metal’
karaḍa -- m. ʻsafflowerʼ, °ḍā -- f. ʻ a tree like the karañja ʼ (Prakrit); M. karḍī, °ḍaī f. ʻ safflower, carthamus tinctorius and its seed ʼ. (CDIAL 2788). Rebus: करडा [karaḍā] Hard from alloy--iron, silver &c. (Marathi) kharādī ' turner, a person who fashions or shapes objects on a lathe' (Gujarati)
मेढा [ mēḍhā ] m A stake, esp. as forked. 2 A dense arrangement of stakes, a palisade, a paling. 3 A twist or tangle arising in thread or cord, a curl or snarl.(Marathi) Rebus: meḍ 'iron, copper' (Munda. Slavic)
dhollu ‘drummer’ (Western Pahari) Rebus: dul ‘cast metal’
dhAtu 'strands of rope' Rebus: dhAtu 'mineral, metal, ore'
Face of the lapis lazuli seal. http://tinyurl.com/q3xookp
miṇḍāl ‘markhor’ (Tōrwālī) meḍho a ram, a sheep (Gujarati)(CDIAL 10120) Rebus: mẽṛhẽt, meḍ ‘iron’ (Mu.Ho.)
poLa 'zebu' rebus: poLa 'magnetite ore'. Alternative: aḍar ḍangra ‘zebu’ (Santali) Rebus: aduru ‘unsmelted, native metal’; ḍhangar ‘blacksmith’. khũṭ ‘zebu’ Rebus: khũṭ ‘guild’
dhollu ‘drummer’ (Western Pahari) Rebus: dul ‘cast metal’ [Semantics reinforced by double-drum hieroglyph: karaḍi ‘double-drum’ Rebus:karaḍa ‘hard alloy’]
karaḍā ‘embossed knob’ Rebus: karaḍā ‘hard alloy’
Twelve notches: baroṭi ‘twelve’ bhārata ‘a factitious alloy of copper, pewter, tin’ (Marathi) dula ‘pair’ Rebus: dul ‘cast metal’. Thus, dulbaroṭi ‘a pair of twelve numeral count’ Rebus: dul baroṭi ‘cast alloy of copper, pewter, tin’
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h182A, h182B![]()
h182A, h182B
The drummer hieroglyph is associated with svastika glyph on this tablet (har609) and also on h182A tablet of Harappa with an identical text.
dhollu ‘drummer’ (Western Pahari) Rebus: dul ‘cast metal’. The 'drummer' hieroglyph thus announces a cast metal. The technical specifications of the cast metal are further described by other hieroglyphs on side B and on the text of inscription (the text is repeated on both sides of Harappa tablet 182).
kola 'tiger' Rebus: kol 'alloy of five metals, pancaloha' (Tamil). ḍhol ‘drum’ (Gujarati.Marathi)(CDIAL 5608) Rebus: large stone; dul ‘to cast in a mould’. Kanac ‘corner’ Rebus: kancu ‘bronze’. dula 'pair' Rebus: dul 'cast metal'. kanka ‘Rim of jar’ (Santali); karṇaka rim of jar’(Skt.) Rebus:karṇaka ‘scribe’ (Telugu); gaṇaka id. (Skt.) (Santali) Thus, the tablets denote blacksmith's alloy cast metal accounting including the use of alloying mineral zinc -- satthiya 'svastika' glyph.
The Meluhha gloss for 'five' is: taṭṭal Homonym is: ṭhaṭṭha brass (i.e. alloy of copper + zinc). Glosses for zinc are: sattu (Tamil), satta, sattva (Kannada) jasth जसथ् ।रपु m. (sg. dat. jastas ज्तस), zinc, spelter; pewter; zasath ् ज़स््थ् ्or zasuth ज़सुथ ्। रप m. (sg. dat. zastas ु ज़्तस),् zinc, spelter, pewter (cf. Hindī jast). jastuvu; । रपू्भवः adj. (f. jastüvü), made of zinc or pewter.(Kashmiri). Hence the hieroglyph: svastika repeated five times. Five svastika are thus read: taṭṭal sattva Rebus: zinc (for) brass (or pewter).
*ṭhaṭṭha1 ʻbrassʼ. [Onom. from noise of hammering brass?]N. ṭhaṭṭar ʻ an alloy of copper and bell metal ʼ. *ṭhaṭṭhakāra ʻ brass worker ʼ. 1.Pk. ṭhaṭṭhāra -- m., K. ṭhö̃ṭhur m., S. ṭhã̄ṭhāro m., P. ṭhaṭhiār, °rā m.2. P. ludh. ṭhaṭherā m., Ku. ṭhaṭhero m., N. ṭhaṭero, Bi. ṭhaṭherā, Mth. ṭhaṭheri, H.ṭhaṭherā m.(CDIAL 5491, 5493).
http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2015/08/ancient-near-east-indus-script.html
S. Kalyanaraman
Sarasvati Research Center
December 23, 2015
S. Kalyanaraman
Sarasvati Research Center
December 23, 2015