International Journal of Sanskrit Research 2019; 5(4): 362-363

ISSN: 2394-7519
IJSR 2019; 5(4): 362-363 Genesis of the human embodiment: An investigation
© 2019 IJSR
www.anantaajournal.com according to saṅgītaratnākara
Received: 24-05-2019
Accepted: 28-06-2019
Maneesha S
Maneesha S
Research Scholar at Sree
Sankaracharya University of Abstract
Sanskrit, Kalady, Kerala, India Music is an art concerned with combining vocal and instrumental sounds for beauty of form or
emotional expression, usually according to cultural standards of rhythm and melody. Human
internal organs play very important part in producing and developing the sound system. Hence
a proper understanding of human body is inevitable for the scientific study of musicology.
Indian theorititions on music clearly understood and recognized this fact and included the
study of human body based on Carakasamhita and Suśrutasamhita in their books dealing with
the fundamentals of musicology. Saṅgītaratnākara goes on describing about the details of
human anatomy through the scheme of Vedānta.

Key words: Emotional, human, musicology, carakasamhita, suśrutasamhita

Introduction
Saṅgītaratnākara is a basic text of Saṅgītaśāstra written by Śārṅgadeva. This text is also known
as Saptādhyāyi. It is a landmark in Saṅgītaśāstra, since it illuminates the ancient and medieval
tradition. The work is divided into seven chapters. Among them the second chapter named
pindotpattiprakaraṇa is fully dedicated to the analysis of human body. In this chapter the
author gives a detailed description of the human body with all its complexities. What is the
relevance of such a topic in a music treatise? Śārṅgadeva, the author of this work, could do so,
for he was himself a physician; and he knew the fact that without a thorough knowledge of
anatomy one cannot enter into the world of music at all. He thought that human body provides
the required circumstance and instrumentation for the production of voice and vocal melody.
The study of physiology is necessary for understanding the process of voice production in the
science of voice culture. So Śārṅgadeva finds it necessary to investigate the genesis of human
embodiment.
He begins the topic with the discussion of Nāda. Nāda manifests the letters, letters constitute
the word, and words make a sentence, so the entire business of life is carried on, through
language. The fact that nāda is in very basis of all manifest life, makes it more important and
relevant for the author to deal with the subject of the genesis of the human embodiment.

Jīvātmā and Paramātmā

The word Ᾱtman, by itself stands for reality behind all experience; and is in this sense
synonymous with the word Brahman. However, when the word Jīva is prefixed to it, it refers
to the individual being, and when the word 'Parama'is prefixed to it, it means the universal
being, God. The individual beings are not different from Ᾱtman, neither is the world different
from it, for, creating by its own power, it is non-different from its creation, just as gold is non
different from its products such as ear rings etc.
From Ᾱtman emanated, ākāśa, first of all, followed by air, fire, water and earth in their
Correspondence respective order. These are the great elements, and they constitute the body of Brahman, thus
Maneesha S called Virād. Brahman created Brahmā and having handed over the Vedas to him, it caused
Research Scholar at Sree him to create the physical world through the words of the Vedas.
Sankaracharya University of
Sanskrit, Kalady, Kerala, India
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International Journal of Sanskrit Research

By the command of Brahmā, created through his mind, the complications in her mind, but those complexes react on the
Prajāpatis and from them the seminal creation of bodies is consciousness of the embryo, so much so that the non
being expounded. gratifiation of any desire for a particular sensation during
gestation tends to adversely affect that particular sense organ
Classification of physical bodies of the child. The fulfilment of such desires is conducive to a
Śārṅgadeva classified the physical body into four types, as per healthy progeny.
the purāṇic tradition, depending on the nature of its cause, viz, In the fifth month, the thought body is revived and
sweat, sprout, womb and egg: such as louse etc, from sweat, intelligence begins to function through the mind. In other
creeper etc, from the sprout, human being etc, from the womb words, there is an awakening of consciousness in terms of self
and birds etc, from the egg. Among these, the human body, awareness.
being suitable for the manifestation of nāda. That is the In the sixth month the bones, sinews which are fibrous tissue
purpose of dealing with the human body. The next discussion uniting muscle to bone, nails, hair on the head and the limbs
is about the decent of self-aware intelligence (jīva) into the appear distinctly and there is an augmentation of energy and
womb. The self-aware intelligence, the resident of ether, complexion.
descends into air, and from air into smoke, from smoke into The foetus is complete in all the elements physical as well as
cloud-formation and from the cloud-formation into the cloud. psychological and the enceinte feels greatly fatigued. Suśruta
The sun, being satiated by the oblations and surrounded by speaks of mental awakening in the fifth month and the
vapours drawn by its rays in the summer, confines the waters development of the intellect in the sixth month, while in the
in the clouds. When the clouds release the waters, the self- seventh, all the organs and the suborgans of the body are fully
conscious intelligent being, descending with the showers, and distinctly developed. The embryo, with the cavities of
transfers itself imperceptibly to the terrestrial growth of trees ears covered by its hands held in-between the two thighs,
and herbs. This (Vegetation) becomes food, and when eaten being afflicted by its stay in the environment of the womb,
by men, is transformed into semen, which being sprinkled in recalls the experience of past lives along with the torments of
the temple of love in the body of a young woman in her various types, and contemplating the means of freedom
proper course, on entering the uterus, if pure, unites with remains self-absorbed.
ovum and then being impelled by the accumulated residual In the eighth month the skin becomes compact and thick and
action of the individual, it begins to develop into the foetus. memory brings in the element of choice, ie, the operation of
What is notable here is that the self aware intelligence or the will Śārṅgadeva interprets that the embryo is able to listen to
individual soul can never keep an identity without a physical outside sounds.
vehicle. So in fact the whole journey is a process of the Then the parturition or the delivery of the child takes place
movement from a purely ideal body to a physical one. Thus it after the ninth month commences. The placenta or parā-nādi
is also a process of evolution or manifestation from the subtle of the foetus is joined to the lymphatic vessels or Rasavāha
to the gross. Food also is a vehicle for the self-enclosed nādi of the mother by the umbilical cord, through which the
consciousness and so is semen into which it is transformed. essence of lymph-chyle produced from the assimilated food of
the mother enters into its organism.
The growth of the embryo The author is describing the position of the embryo in the
Now, the author goes on to describe the various stages parturient's womb and the process of parturition with hands
through which the embryo develops during the entire period folded over the forehead and the limbs flexed, the embryo
of pregnancy and connected matters. From a comparative stays by the mother's back. As it is believed, if it is in the right
study of the monumental works of Indian medicine and side of the womb, it is a male, if in the left side, a female and
surgery by Caraka and Susruta, it appears that Śāarṅgadeva, if in the centre, a hermaphrodite. As it is turned upside down
who is known to be a medical practitioner himself, has based by the strong force of the parturition-winds it is ejected
this section of his work mainly on these two authorities, through the vagina, its limbs being afflicted through the
though he also seems to have consulted subsequent literature passage.
on the subject. In the section named pindotpathiprakarana the
verses from 23 up to the end of 4I describes the growth of the Conclusion
embryo. Thus on an analysis in detail we find that Saṅgītaratnākara on
In the first month the sperm is united with the ovum forms a whole is an authoritative work in which facts and techniques
into a jelly-like substance in a liquid condition, the five on music, the growing process of a human being since its
elements of which, under the impact of cold, heat and wind conception arranged and presented in a scientific and
solidify in the second month into a mass. This mass according systematic manner. This work can be considered as a
to our authority forms in three shapes, viz. a ball like round guideline and model for many other lakṣaṇakāras, and for the
shape, a tandon like oblong, and an egg like oval shape, each students studying Music, Ᾱyurveda, and Linguistics.
of which indicates respectively the masculine, feminine and
the neuter gender. On this basis the embryo can be References
distinguished even in the second month. In the third month 1. Śārṅgadeva, Saṅgītaratnākara.
five protuberances appear in the solidified mass of flesh at the 2. Ragasagara, Krishnananda Vyasadeva, Saṅgītakal
five places where the five organs have to be, while the minor padruma.
limbs and their parts are formed in the shape of very minute 3. Dr. U. Govind Raju, Human Anatomy and Ᾱyurveda.
papillae. 4. Rajendra Menen, the Mirsacles of Music Therapy.
In the fourth month all the limbs and the organs and parts 5. Suvarna Nalapat, Rāgacikitsā.
thereof are fully developed. Since the viscus of the heart too is
developed. The cravings of the mother and the child are
related in identity and therefore the unfulfilled desires of the
pregnant woman are likely, not only to cause mental
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