Kanada ke Prakar: Book Review

By MOHAN NADKARNI writing as GURUDEV SHARAN
Times Weekly, August 25, 1973

KANADA KE PRAKAR By Jaisukhal Tribhuvan Shah ( Published by the author, pp 332, Rs 16)

The article as it first appeared.

The colourful KANADA Group of ragas is a class in itself in the rich and varied repertory of north Indian music. Thanks to recent research in musicology, it is now conclusively proved that many of these ragas had their origin in the Middle Ages.

Pandit V. N. Bhatkhande, who pioneered the codification of traditional nort Indian music early in this century, discovered 14 varities of KANADA but he could put only eight of them on a sound footing in his monumental work, Hindustani Sangeet Paddhati. Raja Surendra Mohan Tagore, another eminent musician and musicologist, held that there were 18 varieties, but he was unable to give a detailed description of all of them.

Kanada Ke Prakar, in this context, make a significant breakthrough. The author has brought to light some 11 more varieties of Kanada and has also added one prakar composed by him.

The author first gives us a general survey of the evolution of the Kanada varieties. He then discusses the various etymological interpretations of the term Kanada and elaborates on certain features common to all the varieties. This is followed by detailed description of each of the 30 prakars,. Each variety is explained with its aroha-avaroha, vadi, samvadi, pakad and swara-vistara in alap and taan movements. The raga description is rounded off with 200 compositions with full notations. Of these, 150 compositions are composed by the author.

Kanada Ke Prakar is a welcome addition to the literature in music. Musicologists and teachers and students of music will find the book indispensable.