Musical trees and rivers?

Christian K. Wedemeyer wedemeyer at HUM.KU.DK
Fri Dec 8 13:51:22 UTC 2000


Dear Colleagues,

Can anyone help me with the following words?   I am struggling to interpret a
list of what ought to be various types of instrumental music (vaadya). The
begins with two items which do not fit in an obvious manner.  The phrase
runs: vanaspati-nady-ucchaTaa-taala-murajaadi-vaadya-zabda.h.  I take this to
mean (roughly) "sounds of instrumental music such as vanaspati, nadi(i),
snapping of fingers, clapping of hands, [and] drums."

The problem is how to render vanaspati and nadi(i).  The first could be read
as "wooden instruments" (though any other suggestions would be welcome).  I
am, however, completely at a loss as to how I might interpret the latter as a
type of instrumental music.  The Tibetan translation is of little help, as it
does not interpret these terms, reading "groves" (nags tshal) and "streams"
(chu bo).  Musical as the sounds of groves and streams may be, given that the
text specifies vaadya, I figure I need to find *instruments* that would
correspond to these terms.

Thank you in advance for any assistance.

Best,

Christian Wedemeyer
University of Copenhagen





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