The Sangitaratnakara (The Ocean of Music) written by Sarngadeva in the 13th century is the most
important theoretical work on Indian classical music. Its prologue the Pindotpatti-prakarana
(The Section of the Arising of the Human Body) deals with the Indian science of the human body
i.e. embryology anatomy and the Hathayogic heory of Cakras. The sources of this work are
found in the classical medical texts (Ayurveda) such as Caraka Susruta and Vagbhata the
Hathayogic texts as well as in the encyclopaedic texts (Purana). After philologically analyzing
the mutual relation and background of these texts the author demonstrates the reasons why the
human body is described in this musicological work. His investigation reveals the Indian mystic
thought of body and sound. This study although an Indological one is an attempt to answer the
universal question what music is i.e. how music is created in the human body what the effect
of music on the human body is and what music aims at. The second half of the book consists of
a translation of the original text of the Pindotpatti-prakarana including commentaries with
plenty of annotations.
