Stringing together stories of forgotten Sangam-era harp

It was while reading the ‘

Thirukkural

’ during his college days that S A V Elanchezian first heard about the yazh, a harp-like musical instrument that played a significant role in the ancient musical landscape of Tamil Nadu. Though Sangam-era literature has references to the instrument and its importance, when it came to music, Elanchezian could find it only in one museum.

Popular until the 14th century, the yazh lost its importance, while other stringed instruments like the veena gained prominence. Elanchezian has been studying in detail the ancient history of Tamil music and the role of yazh in the light of Sangam literature for a decade. “It is a vibrant musical instrument invented by the Tamils,” says Elanchezian, a lecturer at the department of architecture,

Thiagarajar College of Engineering

,

Madurai

. Titled ‘Sollum Muzhavum Vellum Yaazhum’, his new research paper delves into the history of the yazh and its cultural significance as a musical instrument.


One needs to use both hands to play the instrument which got its name from Yali, a mythical figure found on the pillars of many temples of Tamil Nadu. The top edge of the instrument has the figure of the animal carved on to it.

Ancient Tamil texts like ‘Tholkappiyam’, ‘Thirukkural’ and ‘Silapathikaram’ talk about yazh with great importance. It was after the popularity of the veena that the yazh got sidelined. It’s a tragedy,” said Elanchezian. “There was a seven-stringed yazh called seeriyazh, which means small yazh. We also had yazhs with 14, 19 and 21 strings — all of them 12 notes oriented and called peri yazh in common. But, they were known as sagoda yazh, magara yazh and peri yazh,” said Elanchezian, who is also a paintersculptor.

“In the erstwhile Chera, Chola and Pandya countries of the Tamilakam, there existed a tradition of playing chords to vocal songs with the yazh that was known as ‘allal’, says Elanchezian. “This has been mentioned in the ‘Silapathikaram’ but the word was not properly understood by any of the scholars, not even by Adiyaarkku Nallar. We had the tradition of playing lead and chords in seven-stringed yazh which is documented in the Great Stupa in

Sanchi

,

Madhya Pradesh

,” he said.

Three years ago, Elanchezian spent a week in Sanchi and it became a turning point in his research. “I did field work at the Great Stupa in Sanchi where I found the ‘toranas’ (sacred gateway) of Sanchi holding instruments like the yazh. One of them shows a concert wherein two women playing sevenstringed yazh. It shows that we had such a chord and lead playing tradition in the first century BC,” he said. “It’s time we brought back yazh. Otherwise, our music will remain incomplete,” he said.