Śārṅgadeva

Indian music theorist

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July 13, 2026

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Śārangadeva was a 13th-century Indian music theorist. His most significant work is the Sangitaratnakara ("Ocean of Music and Dance"), which is considered a landmark in Indian music history. This comprehensive text details Indian music before the full impact of Muslim influence.1

Śārangadeva's treatise covers various aspects of music, including the ancient system of marga (traditional music) which encompasses jatis and grama-ragas. He documented a total of 264 ragas, which are melodic frameworks in Indian classical music. While the Sangitaratnakara uses a notation system similar to Western solfège to illustrate ragas, modern scholars still face challenges in reconstructing them with certainty. A primary difficulty lies in determining the precise intervals used in each raga, as the ancient system differed from modern practices regarding the ground note.1

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South Asian arts
Further development of the grama-ragas
…Dance”), composed by the theorist Sharngadeva, is often said to be one of the most important landmarks in Indian music history. It was composed in the Deccan (south-central India) shortly before the conquest of this region by the Muslim invaders and thus gives an account of Indian music before the…
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…Dance”), composed by the theorist Sharngadeva, is often said to be one of the most important landmarks in Indian music history. It was composed in the Deccan (south-central India) shortly before the conquest of this region by the Muslim invaders and thus gives an account of Indian music before the…
Read More