Sangitasamayasara is a treatise on desi (local of folk) music and dance prevalent in 13th century. This work is ascribed to Sri Parsvadeva, a Jain Acharya who was widely acclaimed for his musical knowledge. This work is exclusively devoted to the topics, terms and technique of the prevalent desi music (vocal and instrumental) and dance. The author favours the artists of desi music and dance more than the artists with the knowledge of only margi music. We find a number of unusual names of thayas and their description in chapter 3. the names are meaningful and expressive. Numerous compositional forms known as prabandhas of local music, dance and instruments are included in the chapter dealing with the compositional form which is a unique feature of this work. The playing techniques of percussion instruments are described with the help of the hand postures of dance gestures of Bharata. The syllabic sound produced by the replacements of the hands are also given to help the students learn the techniques easily. Similarly, there are various novel concepts related to generally known topics are presented with an original yet in an unusual way.

The margi and desi music are clearly specified and the difference between these are well established in this work according to their topics. (Jacket)