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

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 '' सामन्'', "song" and ''वेद'', "knowledge"), is the Veda of melodies and chants. It is an ancient Vedic Sanskrit text, and is one of the sacred scriptures in Hinduism. One of the four Vedas, it is a l ...

), to what is known as gandharva music, after the

gandharva A ''gandharva'' () is a member of a class of celestial beings in Indian religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, whose males are divine performers such as musicians and singers, and the females are divine dancers. In Hinduism, they ...

s, musically adept spirits who are first mentioned in the

Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; , , ) is one of the two major Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epics of ancient India revered as Smriti texts in Hinduism, the other being the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the events and aftermath of the Kuru ...

. Dattilam discusses scales (

swara Swara () or svara is an Indian classical music term that connotes simultaneously a breath, a vowel, a note, the sound of a musical note corresponding to its name, and the successive steps of the octave, or ''saptanka''. More comprehensively ...

), 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 ( ; , ; ) is a melodic framework for improvisation in Indian classical music akin to a musical mode, melodic mode. It is central to classical Indian music. Each raga consists of an array of melodic structures with musical motifs; and, fro ...

. The names of the jatis reflect regional origins, e.g. ''andhri'' (

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

), ''oudichya'' (

Orissa Odisha (), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is a state located in Eastern India. It is the eighth-largest state by area, and the eleventh-largest by population, with over 41 million inhabitants. The state also has the thir ...

). (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

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

n musicologist, who refined the melodic structures, scales and other aspects of

Indian Classical Music Indian classical music is the art music, classical music of the Indian subcontinent. It is generally described using terms like ''Shastriya Sangeet'' and ''Marg Sangeet''. It has two major traditions: the North Indian classical music known as ...

. Nothing is known of him beyond his 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