Gāndhāra (Svara)
Gāndhāra, “a svara of music”
Grammar: masculine noun.
Meaning: a svara, a note of music.
In the scriptures: Sumantu tells Śatānīka how Viśvakarmā, at Brahmā‘s command, pared the tejas of Bhagavān Sūrya. As the Saptarshis and the Vālakhilyas praised Sūrya, the gandharvas Hāhā and Hūhū, Tumburu and Nārada began to sing. Skilled in shifting the graha, they took the svaras Shaḍja, Gāndhāra and Madhyama as śrutis. In the mandra, madhya and tāra sthāyīs they rendered with gamakas the kinds of rāga formed by three śrutis in the three svaras Shaḍja, Gāndhāra and Madhyama, and sang with rāga, tāla and instruments, while the apsarās danced (Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapter 121).
Related terms: Svara · Shaḍja · Madhyama · Rāga
Sources
- Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapter 121