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    Opens with a salutation to pItamaha (BrahmA) and also to Maheshvara (rare
    combination.  Then a number of munis approach Bharata, and ask him about
    nAtyaveda.  The answer to this is the rest of the book, which is
    attributed to BrahmA, tells bharata: You with your hundred sons will have
    to put nAtyaveda to use.  The hundred sons (+disciples) are now listed:
    kohala, dattila, taNDu, shalikarNa etc.  p.8

Summary

The first available sanskrit text, dealing entirely with stagecraft
(including dance and music) is NatyaShastra, the original portions of the
revered treatise were written by Bharata Muni (sage). It has also been called
the Fifth Veda, because of its importance. Though it has been dated between
200 BC and 200 A.D, the date of NatyaShastra is a big controversy. It is a
text that has grown over centuries but it is not possible to point out which
lines or portions are later additions. But it is believed to precede Valmiki
Ramayana by scholars, as it is evident from the oldest portions like the
Sunder and Yuddha Kandas that Valmiki was using Bharat Muni's terminology
with a musicological awareness. Mention of many aspects of Indian classical
music of today can be found in Natya Shastra.

The treatise deals with the varied aspects of drama, including sections on
dance and on music (particularly instrumental music), including tunings,
scales, modal patterns and functions, instrument types, performance
techniques, and accompaniment styles. Bharata describes a music system based
on modes (jati-s) that are scales (murcchana) based on the successive notes
of two heptatonic scales (sadjagrama and madhymagrama). Bharata speaks of
dhruva (fixed) Gana which were the kinds of song with which a play was
ornamented . . . . i.e. the music used in Dramas. Bharata also speaks of a
microtonal interval: the sruti (that which is heard). He describes 22 of
these microtonal intervals constituting an octave. Intervals of three sizes  -
4, 3, or 2 srutis - formed the basis for ancient scales. Although this
practice has not been in effect for well over a millennium, modern musicians
still use the word sruti to describe microtonal inflections in their
playing. The principal melodic concept of this period of ancient Indian music
was jati (family or mode). A jati was mode in a scale (murcchana) which was
drawn from either of two possible heptatonic parent scales: the sadja-grama
(a scale based on the note, sadja) and the madhyama-grama (a scale based on
the note, madhyama). The only difference between these two parent scales was
the placement of one sruti.

The term Raaga is first found in Natya Shastra, meaning not scale but tonal
color - as the colour that fills the heart and mind of man. Natyasastra makes
several references to the seven notes, saptasvaras, naming them by the same
names used even today (shadja, vrishabha etc). It also associates the svaras
with various rasas. He lists eight rasas (Shanta rasa was added at a later
date by Abhinava Gupta),

    * shringAra - love
    * veera - valour
    * karuna - sympathy
    * raudra - anger
    * bhayAnaka- fear
    * bhibatsa - disgust
    * hAsya - humour
    * adbhuta - wonder
    * shAnti - peace (added later on by Abhinava Gupta)

NatyaShastra also mentions several musical instruments and the way they
should be played. It classifies musical instruments in to four categories

    * (1) tata (lutes)
    * (2) sushira (flute)
    * (3) ghana (cymbals)
    * (4) avanAdha (drums)