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Yāḻ
The yazh ( ta, யாழ், also transliterated yāḻ, ) is an harp used in ancient Tamil music. It was strung with gut strings that ran from an curved ebony neck to a boat or trough-shaped resonator, the opening of which was a covered with skin for a soundboard. At the resonator the strings were attached to a string-bar or tuning bar with holes for strings that laid beneath of the soundboard and protruded through. The neck may also have been covered in hide. The arched harp was used in India since at least the 2nd century B.C.E., when a woman was sculpted with the instrument in a Buddhist artwork at Bhārut. Both the Indian harp-style ''veena'' and the Tamil ''yazh'' declined starting in about the 7th century C.E., as stick-zither style veenas rose to prominence. While use of the instrument died out in centuries past, artworks have preserved some knowledge of what the instruments looked like. Luthiers have begun to recreate the instrument. Characteristics The instrumen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jaffna
Jaffna (, ) is the capital city of the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jaffna District located on a peninsula of the same name. With a population of 88,138 in 2012, Jaffna is Sri Lanka's 12th most populous city. Jaffna is approximately from Kandarodai which served as an emporium in the Jaffna peninsula from classical antiquity. Jaffna's suburb Nallur served as the capital of the four-century-long medieval Jaffna Kingdom. Prior to the Sri Lankan Civil War, it was Sri Lanka's second most populous city after Colombo. The 1980s insurgent uprising led to extensive damage, expulsion of part of the population, and military occupation. Since the end of civil war in 2009, refugees and internally displaced people began returning to homes, while government and private sector reconstruction started taking place. Historically, Jaffna has been a contested city. It was made into a colonial port town during the Portuguese occupation of the J ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ilango Adigal
Ilango Adigal ()() was a Jainism, Jain monk and a poet, sometimes identified as a Chera dynasty, Chera prince. He is traditionally credited as the author of ''Cilappatikaram'', one of the Five Great Epics of Ancient Tamil literature. He is one of the greatest poets from Chera dynasty, Cheranadu (now Kerala). In a ''patikam'' (prologue) to the epic poem, he identifies himself as the brother of a famous Chera dynasty, Chera king Ceṅkuṭṭuvan (Senguttuvan). This Chera king, as stated by Elizabeth Rosen, ruled over his kingdom in late 2nd or early 3rd century CE. However, this is doubtful because a Sangam poem in ''Patiṟṟuppattu'' – the fifth ten – provides a biography of Ceṅkuṭṭuvan, his family and rule, but never mentions that he had a brother who became an ascetic or wrote one of the most cherished epics. This has led scholars to conclude that the legendary author Ilango Adikal myth was likely inserted later into the epic. In a 1968 note, Kamil Zvelebil suggeste ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Golden Ratio
In mathematics, two quantities are in the golden ratio if their ratio is the same as the ratio of their sum to the larger of the two quantities. Expressed algebraically, for quantities a and b with a > b > 0, where the Greek letter phi ( or \phi) denotes the golden ratio. The constant \varphi satisfies the quadratic equation \varphi^2 = \varphi + 1 and is an irrational number with a value of The golden ratio was called the extreme and mean ratio by Euclid, and the divine proportion by Luca Pacioli, and also goes by several other names. Mathematicians have studied the golden ratio's properties since antiquity. It is the ratio of a regular pentagon's diagonal to its side and thus appears in the construction of the dodecahedron and icosahedron. A golden rectangle—that is, a rectangle with an aspect ratio of \varphi—may be cut into a square and a smaller rectangle with the same aspect ratio. The golden ratio has been used to analyze the proportions of natural object ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saraswati Veena
The Sarasvatī vīṇa (also spelled Saraswati vina) (Devanagari: सरस्वती वीणा (vīṇā), te, సరస్వతి వీణ, kan, ಸರಸ್ವತಿ ವೀಣೆ, ta, சரஸ்வதி வீணை, Malayalam: സരസ്വതി വീണ) is an ancient Indian plucked veena. It is named after the Hindu goddess Saraswati, who is usually depicted holding or playing the instrument. Also known as ''raghunatha veena,'' it is used mostly in Carnatic music, Carnatic Indian classical music. There are several variations of the veena, which in its South Indian form is a member of the lute family. One who plays the veena is referred to as a ''vainika''. The Saraswati veena is one of major types of veena today. The others include chitra veena, vichitra veena and rudra veena. Out of these the rudra and vichitra veenas are used more often in Hindustani music, while the Saraswati veena and the chitra veena are used more frequently in the Carnatic music of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eka-tantri Vina
The ''eka-tantrī vīṇā'' was a medieval tube-zither veena in India, with a single string and one or more gourd resonators. The instrument became prominent in Indian music in about the 10th century C.E. as instruments of court music. Alongside the alapini vina and kinnari vina it replaced the harp-style veenas and lute-style veenas in sculpture. It was possibly a forerunner of the rudra vina. It shares its name with the modern single-string drone lute, the ektara. The instrument is very closely related to the one-stringed alapini vina, an instrument which started out a stick zither but became a tube zither like the eka-tantri vina. Although the tube zithers and stick zithers are very similar, it is possible that they have different origins. Early paintings of stick zithers in India date back at least to the 5th century C.E. The earliest currently known stick zither is in the Caves of Ajanta at the end of the 5th century. After a period of assuming that tube zithers spread f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sangita Ratnakara
The ''Sangita-Ratnakara'', सङ्गीतरत्नाकर, (IAST: Saṅgīta ratnākara), literally "Ocean of Music and Dance", is one of the most important musicological texts from India. Composed by Śārṅgadeva (शार्ङ्गदेव) in Sanskrit during the 13th century, both Carnatic music and Hindustani music traditions of Indian classical music regard it as a definitive text. The author was a part of the court of King Singhana II (1210–1247) of the Yādava dynasty whose capital was Devagiri, Maharashtra. The text is divided into seven chapters. The first six chapters, ''Svaragatadhyaya'', ''Ragavivekadhyaya'', ''Prakirnakadhyaya'', ''Prabandhadhyaya'', ''Taladhyaya'' and ''Vadyadhyaya'' deal with the various aspects of music and musical instruments, while the last chapter ''Nartanadhyaya'' deals with dance. The medieval era text is one of the most complete historical Indian treatises on the structure, technique, and reasoning on music theory that ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Śārṅgadeva
__NOTOC__ Śārṅgadeva (1175–1247) ( hi, शार्ङ्गदेव), also spelled Sharngadeva or Sarnga Deva, was the 13th-century Indian musicologist who authored ''Sangita Ratnakara'' – the classical Sanskrit text on music and drama. It is considered to be the authoritative treatise in Indian classical music by both the Hindustani music and the Carnatic music traditions. Śārṅgadeva was born in a Brahmin family of Kashmir. In an era of Islamic invasion of the northwest regions of the Indian subcontinent and the start of Delhi Sultanate, his family migrated south and settled in the Hindu kingdom in the Deccan region ruled by the Yadava dynasty near Ellora Caves (Maharashtra). Sarangadeva worked as an accountant with freedom to pursue his music interests in the court of King Seuna Yadavas of Devagiri#Singhana II, Singhana II (1210–1247). Ideas Śārṅgadeva presented his ideas on music and dance in seven chapters of ''Sangita Ratnakara'', but integrated it with p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yali (mythology)
Yali ( ta, யாளி, IAST: Yāḷi), also called Vyala, is a Hindu mythological creature, portrayed with the head and the body of a lion, the trunk and the tusks of an elephant, and sometimes bearing equine features. The creature is represented in many South Indian temples, often sculpted onto the pillars. There also exist variations of the creature, with it possessing the appendages of other beasts. It has sometimes been described as a ''leogryph'' (part-lion and part-griffin), with some bird-like features, with the trunk referred to as a proboscis. Iconography Descriptions of, and references to, yalis are ancient, but they became prominent in South Indian sculptures in the 16th century. Yalis were described to be more powerful than the lion, the tiger, or the elephant. In its iconography, the yali has a cat-like graceful body, but the head of a lion with the tusks of an elephant (gaja), and the tail of a serpent. Sometimes, they have been shown standing on the back of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yazh Nool
''Yazh Nool'' or ''Yal Nool'' (; ; ''lit.'' ''The Book of Yazh'') is a musical research book on yazh, one of the ancient musical instruments of the Tamils. The book was written by Swami Vipulananda and first published in June 1947 at Tirukkollampudur Vilvaranyeswarar Temple with the support of ''The Karanthai Tamil Sangam'' and financial support of Nachandupatti, P.RM.RM.ST Sitambaram Chettiar. The book is considered one of Vipulananda's significant works as well as an important treatise on the musical heritage of yazh. Background The ancient poetic work ''Silappatikaram'' provides some details about ancient Tamil music and yazh. However, it does not accurately define Tamil music and yazh. Its poetic old Tamil is hard to understand in the modern Tamil language, and some Tamil scholars find it difficult to translate its teachings into a modern context. For these reasons, Swami Vipulananda undertook his research on Tamil music and yazh. Description The book presents in-depth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Swami Vipulananda
Swami Vipulananda ( ta, சுவாமி விபுலாநந்தர்) (27 March 1892 – 20 July 1947), also known as Vipulananda Adigal, was a Sri Lankan Tamil Hindu social reformer, literary critic, author, poet, teacher and ascetic from the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka. Vipulananda was an early pioneer associated with the Indian-based Ramakrishna Mission in Sri Lanka. Along with other reformers, Vipulananda was instrumental in the revival of the Hindu religion and native traditions in Sri Lanka after a long period of dormancy and decline during the previous 500 years of colonial rule by various European powers. Biography Vipulananda was born in the village of Karativu, in the south of Batticaloa in Sri Lanka in 1892. His father's name was Samiththamby and mother's name was Kannamma. His birth name was Mylvaganam. Vipulananda had his early education in St. Michael's College National School in Batticaloa city. After completing his high school education at th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Hindu
''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the second most circulated English-language newspaper in India, after '' The Times of India''. , ''The Hindu'' is published from 21 locations across 11 states of India. ''The Hindu'' has been a family-owned newspaper since 1905, when it was purchased by S. Kasturi Ranga Iyengar from the original founders. It is now jointly owned by Iyengar's descendants, referred to as the "Kasturi family", who serve as the directors of the holding company. The current chairperson of the group is Malini Parthasarathy, a great-granddaughter of Iyengar. Except for a period of about two years, when S. Varadarajan held the editorship of the newspaper, the editorial positions of the paper were always held by members of the family or held under their direction. Histo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Periya Puranam
The ''Periya purāṇam'' (Tamil: பெரிய புராணம்), that is, the ''great purana'' or epic, sometimes called ''Tiruttontarpuranam'' ("Tiru-Thondar-Puranam", the Purana of the Holy Devotees), is a Tamil poetic account depicting the lives of the sixty-three Nayanars, the canonical poets of Tamil Shaivism. It was compiled during the 12th century by Sekkizhar. It provides evidence of trade with West Asia The ''Periya Puranam'' is part of the corpus of Shaiva canonical works. Sekkizhar compiled and wrote the ''Periya Puranam'' or the ''Great Purana'' in Tamil about the life stories of the sixty-three Shaiva Nayanars, poets of the God Shiva who composed the liturgical poems of the Tirumurai, and was later himself canonised and the work became part of the sacred canon.A Dictionary of Indian Literature By Sujit Mukherjee. Among all the hagiographic ''Puranas'' in Tamil, Sekkizhar's ''Tiruttondar Puranam'' or ''Periyapuranam'', composed during the rule ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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