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The '''Chaturdandiprakashika''' ({{IAST3|Caturdaṇḍīprakāśikā}}; "The Illuminator of the Four Pillars of Music") is a [[Sanskrit]] treatise written by the musicologist [[Venkatamakhin]] in the mid-17th century. It introduced a theoretical [[melakarta]] system to classify and organise [[raga]]s in the [[Carnatic music]] tradition of India. In the 20th-century, this system would form the basis of the [[thaat]] system that is used in [[Hindustani classical music]] today. Some portions of the Chaturdandiprakashika are now lost.<br />
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==Description==<br />
In Carnatic music, a [[melakarta|mela]] is a [[scale (music)|scale]] of [[svara]]s in ascending order in a melodic unit forms the basis and gives birth to [[raga]]s. While the concept of melas is said to have been introduced by [[Vidyaranya]] in the 14th century, and a number of other musicologists before [[Venkatamakhin]] had expounded on the subject, there was a lack of a standard work that systematically classified the ragas of classical music. [[Vijayaraghava Nayak]] ({{reign|1633|1673}}) commissioned Venkatamakhin to prepare such a treatise which led to the creation of the ''Chaturdandiprakashika''.{{sfn|OEMVenkatamakhi}} The title translates to "the illuminator of the four pillars" (of music).{{sfn|Britannica}} It alludes to a system of four divisions of composition, namely [[alapana|{{IAST|ālāpa}}]] (rhythmically free exposition of a [[raga]]), {{IAST|ṭhāya}} (melodic inflection), [[geetam|{{IAST|gīta}}]] (vocal composition in a raga) and [[dhrupad|prabandha]] (a compositional structure).{{sfn|Katz}} The work led to the creation of the melakarta system of classification and the formulation of the 72 mela (or parent) ragas that are the foundation of the classical music of South India today.{{sfn|OEMMela}}{{sfn|Britannica}}<br />
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In the early 20th-century, [[Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande]], a musicologist from [[Bombay]], chanced upon the Chaturdandiprakashika and used its melakarta system as the basis for the [[thaat]] system that is currently used to organise and classify ragas in [[Hindustani classical music]].{{sfn|Powers}}<br />
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Some portions of the treatise are now lost.{{sfn|Katz}}<br />
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==Notes==<br />
{{reflist}}<br />
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==References==<br />
* {{cite web |title=South Asian arts - Music |url=https://www.britannica.com/art/South-Asian-arts/Music#ref532575 |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |accessdate=5 September 2018 |language=en | ref={{harvid|Britannica}}}}<br />
* {{cite journal |last1=Katz |first1=Jonathan |title=Veṅkaṭamakhin |journal=[[Grove Music Online]] | publisher=Oxford University Press | doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.48134 | ref={{harvid|Katz}} |language=en}}<br />
* {{cite journal |title=Mela System |journal=The Oxford Encyclopaedia of the Music of India |url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195650983.001.0001/acref-9780195650983-e-3193 |language=en | ref={{harvid|OEMMela}} |access-date=7 September 2018 |url-access=subscription}}<br />
* {{cite journal |title=Venkaṭamakhi |journal=The Oxford Encyclopaedia of the Music of India |url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195650983.001.0001/acref-9780195650983-e-5173 |access-date=7 September 2018 |ref={{harvid|OEMVenkatamakhi}} |language=en |url-access=subscription}}<br />
* {{cite journal |last1=Powers |first1=Harold S. |title=Bhatkhande, Vishnu Narayan |journal=[[Grove Music Online]] | publisher=Oxford University Press | doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.03008 | ref={{harvid|Powers}} |language=en}}<br />
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[[Category:Sanskrit texts]]<br />
[[Category:Carnatic music]]</div>>XLinkBot