Talalaksanam of Acyutaraya with a Telugu Commentary

The Sanskrit textual tradition related to the works on Indian Music, Dance and Theatre presents a valuable treasure of ancient Indian knowledge. Works composed centuries ago are preserved in the palm leaves and paper manuscripts across the country and abroad. This treasure is being unearthed, decoded and interpreted into printed materials, since the end of twentieth century. Many scholars have contributed to the publication of manuscripts and research.

The manuscripts on Indian music and dance focus on Sangita, Raga, Natya, Vadya and Tala. In this background, a musicological work dealing exclusively with Tala is remarkable. Talalaksanam is a rare work written by King Achyutaraya of the Vijayanagar Empire during 16th Century A.D. This is a Sanskrit work with a Telugu commentary. We come to know about the importance of this work through the quotations of the great scholar Manavalli Ramkrishna Kavi in his Bharatakosa.

Talalaksanam is regarded as a significant work as it quotes from many rare works relating to Tala. This text speaks only about the Tala da‹a prana-s ñ the ten vital elements of Tala. Manuscript of this work was first discovered by Dr. V. Premalatha and published in the Journal of the Madras Music Academy, 2009. She has also brought out a critical edition and translation of another music related manuscript Natyacudamani which was published by the National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM) in 2014.

The present publication is a critical edition based on three manuscripts and comes with a Roman transliteration and English translation. Dr. Premalatha is a dedicated scholar, who has been in Music and Manuscript research for more than twenty five years. This publication shows her knowledge and dedication in undertaking the editions of unpublished music related manuscripts. And the Mission is always in forefront to bring out such rare works.