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Yazh
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 instrument ...
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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 ...
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Ancient Tamil Music
The ancient Tamil music is the historical predecessor of the Carnatic music during the Sangam period spanning from 500 BCE to 200 CE. Many poems of the classical Sangam literature were set to music. There are various references to this ancient musical tradition found in the ancient Sangam books such as ''Ettuthokai'' and ''Pattupattu''. The early narrative poem ''Cilappatikaram'', belonging to the post-Sangam period (5th or 6th century) also mentions various forms of music practiced by the Tamil people. Music was an integral part of the compositions of the Tamil Saiva saints such as Appar, Siva Prakasar, Thirugnana Sambanthar and Manikkavasagar during the Hindu revival period between the 6th and the 10th century. Sangam music The Sangam age grammatical work '' Tolkappiyam'' mentions the various music pertaining to the five landscapes (''thinai'') of the Sangam literature. The five landscapes are associated with a particular mood of the poem and to give colour to these ...
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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 ...
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Ancient Vina
The ancient veena is an early Indian arched harp, not to be confused with the modern Indian veena which is a type of lute or stick zither. Names of specific forms of the arched harp include the ''chitra vīṇā'' with seven strings, the ''vipanchi vīṇā'' with nine strings and the ''mattakokila vīṇā'' a harp or possibly board zither with 21 strings. The instrument is attested on a gold coin of the Gupta Empire from the mid-300s CE. The instrument was also illustrated in the oldest known Saraswati-like relief carvings, from Buddhist archaeological sites dated to 200 BCE, where she holds a harp-style veena. Generic meaning of veena The Sanskrit word ''veena'' (वीणा ''vīṇā'') which is attested already in the Rigveda has designated in the course of Indian history a variety of instruments of various types, as it is a generic term for all kinds of string instruments, just as the Tamil word ''yazh'' (யாழ் ''yaaḻ''). In the last centuries and today the in ...
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Ancient Veena
The ancient veena is an early Indian arched harp, not to be confused with the modern Indian veena which is a type of lute or stick zither. Names of specific forms of the arched harp include the ''chitra vīṇā'' with seven strings, the ''vipanchi vīṇā'' with nine strings and the ''mattakokila vīṇā'' a harp or possibly board zither with 21 strings. The instrument is attested on a gold coin of the Gupta Empire from the mid-300s CE. The instrument was also illustrated in the oldest known Saraswati-like relief carvings, from Buddhist archaeological sites dated to 200 BCE, where she holds a harp-style veena. Generic meaning of veena The Sanskrit word ''veena'' (वीणा ''vīṇā'') which is attested already in the Rigveda has designated in the course of Indian history a variety of instruments of various types, as it is a generic term for all kinds of string instruments, just as the Tamil word ''yazh'' (யாழ் ''yaaḻ''). In the last centuries and today the in ...
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Saung
The ''saung'' ( Burmese: စောင်း, MLCTS caung: ; also known as the ''saung-gauk'' ( စောင်းကောက်), Burmese harp, Burma harp, or Myanmar harp), is an arched harp used in traditional Burmese music. The saung is regarded as a national musical instrument of Burma. The saung is unique in that it is a very ancient harp tradition and is said to be the only surviving harp in Asia. Etymology and terminology ''Saung'' ( စောင်း) is the Burmese word for "harp," and is etymologically derived from the Persian word chang, which is the Persian arched harp. The Burmese arched harp is more precisely called ''saung gauk'' (, ; ), while another indigenous lute is called ' () or ''saungbya'' (; ). The Burmese word ''saung'' has been borrowed into several regional languages, including mnw, စံၚ် (), and Chinese (), likely from Burmese ''saunggaukgyi'' (). Description The Burmese harp is classified as an arched horizontal harp since the ...
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Harp
The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orchestras or concerts. Its most common form is triangular in shape and made of wood. Some have multiple rows of strings and pedal attachments. Ancient depictions of harps were recorded in Current-day Iraq (Mesopotamia), Iran (Persia), and Egypt, and later in India and China. By medieval times harps had spread across Europe. Harps were found across the Americas where it was a popular folk tradition in some areas. Distinct designs also emerged from the African continent. Harps have symbolic political traditions and are often used in logos, including in Ireland. History Harps have been known since antiquity in Asia, Africa, and Europe, dating back at least as early as 3000  BCE. The instrument had great popularity in Europe during ...
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Sangam Period
The Sangam period or age (, ), particularly referring to the third Sangam period, is the period of the history of ancient Tamil Nadu, Kerala and parts of Sri Lanka (then known as Tamilakam) spanning from c. 6th century BCE to c. 3rd century CE. It was named after the famous Sangam academies of poets and scholars centered in the city of Madurai. The First Sangam to be located in ''Then Madurai'' under the patronage of 89 Pandya kings, during this period. It is said to have lasted for 4,440 years, and this would put the First Sangam between 9600 BCE to 5200 BCE. In Old Tamil language, the term Tamilakam (''Tamiḻakam'', '' Purananuru'' 168. 18) referred to the whole of the ancient Tamil-speaking area, corresponding roughly to the area known as southern India today, consisting of the territories of the present-day Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, parts of Andhra Pradesh, parts of Karnataka and northern Sri Lanka also known as Eelam. History According to Tamil legends, ...
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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 ...
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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 Siddharth Varadarajan, 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 t ...
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Swami Vipulananda
Swami Vipulananda ( ta, சுவாமி விபுலாநந்தர்) (27 March 1892 – 20 July 1947), also known as Vipulananda Adigal, was a Sri Lankan Tamil Hinduism, Hindu social reformer, literary critic, author, poet, teacher and asceticism, 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 India, 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 ...
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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 ...
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