You all know that to keep the voice at the same level while singing is well-nigh impossible, and even if it is made possible, it is not pleasing to the ears. There ought to be high and low frequencies. Only highness will not suffice, there should be lowness also. Again, if high frequencies dominate a song, pushing the low frequencies to the back seat, then that kind of song, if sung for days together or for a long time daily, may result in constipation coupled with vocal disorder.

Hence, after singing songs which are predominantly high-pitched, the singer should sip a mixture of powdered black pepper and warm ghee.⁽¹⁾ The high frequency part of a song is called khańd́aparshu. While singing, one should hold before one’s eyes the bháva [ideation] of the rága or rágińii⁽²⁾ in which the song is being sung and should also sing meticulously and systematically within the notes prescribed for that particular rága or rágińii. For this, different rágas or rágińiis have specific ideations of their own. To reflect on these ideations, different hours of the day have been prescribed for different rágas and ráginiis. Examples include bhaeroṋ (bhaerava), áshoyárii (áshávarii), kedár, pilu, desh, bágeshrii [different rágas and rágińiis sung at different times of the day]. Deviation from this rule hastens the premature death of a song. The songs of the singer who flouts these rules sound lifeless as those songs ride roughshod over the prescribed norms. The mind has to be led to the mahábháva or cosmic ideation embodied in the different rágas and rágińiis through ańubháva or unit ideation. Of these, bháva, ańubháva and especially the mahábháva are called khańd́aparshu. In ancient times, the impetus that was given to the unit bháva or mahábháva for the sake of rudriikarańa [poignancy], stambhikarańa [stilling the mind] and spaśt́ikarańa [clarity] was called khámbáj.

Footnotes

(1) See also “The Practice of Songs – Sore Throat and Its Remedy”. –Trans.

(2) See the last footnote of “The Inner Science of Surasaptaka”. –Trans.