Rāgabodha: A Śābdabodha-Based Framework for a Theory of Rāga

In Indian knowledge traditions, Vyākaraṇa describes the rules for the formation (prakṛti-pratyaya-vibhāga) and use of correct words (sādhuśabda). The Vākya (sentence) is postulated as the primary unit of communication. “śābdabodha” deals with the cognition of sentential meaning. Similarly, in Indian music, every rāga has a lexicon and grammar (rāga-lakṣaṇa): a rāga only allows some notes and not others, and it has rules for constructing phrases—notes to be highlighted, notes to end phrases on, ornamentation, etc. These phrases of the rāga are comparable to “vākya” which when presented with due regard to certain other considerations generate an apprehension of the rāga (rāgabodha). During presentation of a rāga, an artist aims to evoke the rāga-cchāyā or rāga-svarūpa and also an emotive state in the listener. There is a cognitive aspect to the informed listening of a rāga that is parallel to linguistic communication. We seek to understand how these parallels work between śābdabodha and rāgabodha. We postulate that the conditions of expectancy (ākāṅkśā), logical consistency (yogyatā) and proximity (sannidhi) in combination with the theory of sphoṭa provide a framework to explain how a rāga is expounded and cognised.

     

Odanta through a child’s eye: a study on Buchi Emecheta’s The Moonlight Bride

An interesting story session often takes its listeners on a journey to an imaginary land where ‘good’ always prevails over ‘evil’. Such stories, generally narrated by elders, reinforce the spiritual values of a particular community by consciously building up its moral strength through its own religious beliefs and practices. However, in Emecheta’s The Moonlight Bride, the story is told by the child protagonist Ngbeke and in her responsibility as a griot, the profound spiritual message that she conveys through her story is: ‘the most important beauty is the beauty of the heart' (77). The focus of this study will be specifically on Ngbeke and how she explains the cultural traditions of Odanta community to an outside world.

In the course of this study, the researcher has understood that the traditional practices of Odanta community is a mixed bag in which a few precious conventional ideals deserve appreciation and assimilation, while a few need to be critically looked at and rejected even, taking the interest of women and children into consideration. Positive values can be inculcated universally in today’s world, where community living and its positive effects on people are fast disappearing and losing its value.