Sangitaratnakara of Sarngadeva: Sanskrit text and English Translation with Comments and Notes (Vol. II: Chapters II-IV)

The present volume of the annotated translation of Sangitratnakara contains the second, third and fourth chapters of the text dealing with raga, miscellaneous topics pertaining to vocal music and prabandha (vocal compositional forms) respectively. These chapters deal with topics that are directly related to current practice. The format of the first volume has been followed in this volume, except a small deviation in the word-index, where a glossary has not been attempted on account of the special nature of the terms contained in the chapters presented here. The vast expanse of terms which is mostly comprised of nomenclature of raga-s, varieties of melodic rendering, prabandha-s and tala-s prescribed therein has been thoroughly scanned and thus the index is a mirror of the totality of contents. While the first volume was preceded by an earlier attempt at translation (without annotation), the second volume presents the above-noted three chapters in English for the first time. This long awaited volume will be a welcome addition to the primary source-material for a study of the rich textual tradition of Indian music.