PRABANDHA:
Prabandha songs are believed to have evolved from ording to
Sarangdeva, in his book Sangeet Ratnakara, Prabandhas are
musical compositions that are structured by 4 dhatus, 6 angas, 5
jatis and 3 divisions:
DHATUS OF PRABANDHA:
Dhatus are the melodic components or elements of Prabandha.
They are similar to the elements that make up a human body.
There are four types of Dhatus of Prabandha namely
1) Udgraha 2) Melapaka. 3) Dhruva. 4) Abhoga
1) Udgraha : Udgraha means beginning or initiation. It is the
opening piece of Prabandha. It consists of pair of rhymed lines
followed by an ornamental (Alankaric) phrases and then musical
lyrics describing the subject of the song. In modern times it is
called as Sthayi.
2) Melapaka : Melapaka means to join. It is the second part of
the Prabandha joining the first part Udgraha and the third main
part Dhruva. In the present times it is called Antara.
3) Dhruva : It is the third part and an indispensable part of
Prabandha. It means to be fixed or constant. It is rendered several
times and the Prabandha composition terminates on this dhatu
even though this is not the last part.
4) Abhoga : It is the last part of Prabandha. It means
completion. This part mentions the name of the singer, poet,
composers, patron or diety,etc. Once the Abhoga is sung, the
Dhruva should be repeated.
Out of these four dhatus , Melapaka and Abhoga can be
dispensed but the Udgraha and the Dhruva are retained.
ANGAS OF PRABANDHA:
Angas are the attributes or phrasal elements that gives essense
to Prabandha. There are 6 angas of Prabandha namely :
1) Svara. 2) Viruda. 3) Tena. 4) Pada. 5) Pata. 6) Tala
The first five refers to the different varieties of text and the tala is
the rhythmic part.
1) Svara : They are the musical notes or solfa – syllables like
Sa, re , ga, ma, pa ,dha and ni.
2) Viruda : They are the musical text that expresses attributes
and eulogies of kings or divine figures.
3) Tena : Tena derives from the word Tad, which means Brahma
( creator of the world). Tena are musical text that invokes
auspiciousness and invocation to the Almighty for well being. This
part consists of using vocal syllables like Te na..
4) Pada : They are just the simple other musical text in
Prabandha.
5) Pata : The musical part is the vocal imitation of sounds
produced by accompanying musical instruments like dhigi dhigi
etc.
6) Tala : This is the last anga of Prabandha and is the rhythmic
pattern used in singing. Basically, it is indicative by the beat of
mridangam or percussion instrument.
JATI OF PRABANDHA:
Prabandhas are classified into 5 types:
On the basis of number of angas the prabandhas are of five
types
(a) Medini jati: This contains all the six angas.
(b) Anandini jati : the one with five angas (pada, tala and any
other 3 Angas)
(c) Dipani jati: Prabandha with four angas (pada, tala and any
other 2 Angas)
(d) Bhavani Jati : Prabandha containing three angas (pada, tala
and any one other anga)
(e) Taravali jati : This is the prabandha having only two angas
the pada and the tala.
DIVISION OF PRABANDHA :
On the basis of grouping or constellation, in which a number
of prabandhas used to be sung in a sequence, the prabandhas
have been classified into three types:
(a) Suda, b) Alikrina and c) Viprakirna.
(a) Suda Prabandha: The Suda Prabandha was again divided
into two parts – (a)Suddha Suda (pure) and (b) Salaga Suda
(mixed). The Suddha Suda Prabandha Was again divided in
eight parts- Ela, Karana, Dhenki, Vartani, Jhombada,
Lomba, Rasa and Ekatali. The Salaga-Suda Prabandha on
the other hand was divided into Seven parts-Dhruva,
Mantha, Pratimantha, Nissaruka, Adda, Rasa and Ekatali.
(b) Ali Prabandha: The Ali Prabandha was divided into twenty
four parts like Varna, Varnaswara, Gadya, Kaivada,
Angacharini etc.
(c) Viprakirna Prabandha: The Viprakirna Prabandha was
divided into thirty six parts Like, Shriranga, Tripadi,
Chatushpadi, Shatpadi, Vastu, Vijaya, etc.
Reference books:
Dhrupada: A Study of its Origin, Historical Development, Structure
and Present State by Srivastava, Indurama
