Dattilam (दत्तिलम्) is an ancient Indian musical text ascribed to the sage (muni) Dattila. It is believed to have been composed shortly after the

Natya Shastra The ''Nāṭya Śāstra'' (, ''Nāṭyaśāstra'') is a Sanskrit treatise on the performing arts. The text is attributed to sage Bharata Muni, and its first complete compilation is dated to between 200 BCE and 200 CE, but estimates vary ...

of Bharata, and is dated between the 1st and 4thThe Chronology : 300AD-600AD
/ref> century AD. But Bharathamuni had given reference of the treatise " Dattilam" in his celebrated work "Natyashastra"(1-26) so there is a belief that Dattilam may be a work composed before Bharata Muni. Written in 244 verses, Dattilam claims to be a synthesis of earlier works on music. The text marks the transition from the ''sama-gayan'' (ritual chants as in the

Samaveda The Samaveda (, from ' "song" and ' "knowledge"), is the Veda of melodies and chants. It is an ancient Vedic Sanskrit text, and part of the scriptures of Hinduism. One of the four Vedas, it is a liturgical text which consists of 1,875 verses. A ...

), to what is known as gandharva music, after the gandharvas, musically adept spirits who are first mentioned in the Mahabharata. Dattilam discusses scales ( swara), the base note (''sthana''), and defines a tonal framework called ''grama'' in terms of 22 micro-tonal intervals (''sruti'') comprising one octave. It also discusses various arrangements of the notes (''murchhana''), the permutations and combinations of note-sequences (''tanas''), and ''alankara'' or elaboration. The melodic structure is categorized into 18 groups called ''jati'', which are the fundamental melodic structures pre-dating the concept of the

raga A ''raga'' or ''raag'' (; also ''raaga'' or ''ragam''; ) is a melodic framework for improvisation in Indian classical music akin to a musical mode, melodic mode. The ''rāga'' is a unique and central feature of the classical Indian music tradit ...

. The names of the jatis reflect regional origins, e.g. ''andhri'' ( Andhra Pradesh), ''oudichya'' ( Orissa). (Note that many modern raga names are also after regions - e.g. Khamaj, Kanada, Gauda, Multani, Jaunpuri, etc.). Ten characteristics are mentioned for each jati, which resemble the structuring and elaboration of the contemporary raga in Hindustani music. Dattila (between the 4th century BCE and the 2nd century CE) is an early Indian musicologist, who refined the melodic structures, scales and other aspects of

Indian Classical Music Indian classical music is the classical music of the Indian subcontinent. It has two major traditions: the North Indian classical music known as '' Hindustani'' and the South Indian expression known as '' Carnatic''. These traditions were not ...

in his work Dattilam. Nothing is known of Dattila beyond the work Dattilam. In Bharata's Natya Shastra, Bharata gives a list of a hundred sons who will put the knowledge of performances (''Natyaveda'') to use. One of these sons is named Dattila, p. 8; "Dattila was either a predecessor or a contemporary (p.115)." which had led to some speculation that Dattila may be a little later or contemporary to Bharata. However, today it is mostly felt, given the lack of ''Natyashastra'' elements in Dattilam, that he may have been a little earlier or a contemporary. Of course, the date of Bharata is itself not known; usually he is dated somewhere between 400BC to 200AD.

References

Nijenhuis, Emmie te (1970). Dattilam: a compendium of ancient Indian music
Hindu texts Indian classical music Indian music history {{india-music-stub