Brihaddesi (Brihad Deshi or Brihad Desi) is a treatise on music in Sanskrit which is ascribed to Matanga of the 7th/8th century CE. Brihaddeshi was first published in the Trivandrum Sanskrit Series. It contains 154 pages dealing with the following topics:
- The origin of deshi.
- Definition of deshi – songs sung with emotion by women, children, cowherds and kings as per their liking in their own region. The marga, i.e., traditional music is not bound by specific rhythm patterns.
- Origin of sound.
- The shruti (microtones) – these are stated to be 22 in the seven-note scale. The sound production is four-fold – the high pitched one, the deep one, union of these two and sweet, delicate and continuous. As regards the relation between shruti and swara, different opinions are stated like that of the identity which belongs to the class and the individual, the relation between cause and effect etc.
- Definition of swara – swara is defined as the sound which illumines itself and gives rise to charm. The notes are of four kinds – sonant, consonant, assonant, and dissonant. The 22 shrutis in saptaka are distributed as follows – sa, re, ga, ma, pa, dha, ni. The 2 basic scales are – sa – scale and ma -scale. In the first, the consonance of sa and pa is prominent and in the second, the consonance of re and pa is prominent. The specific notes to be employed in the different rasas (sentiments) are stated as follows – ma and pa are to be employed to manifest the Cosmic and Erotic; sa and ni in Pathetic; and dha in Odious and Terrible. The colors, deities, family of notes etc., are given.
- Murchana – the orderly employment of seven notes in ascent and descent which are derived scales of the two gramas.
- The four varnas (tone patterns). These are sthain (steady), arohin (ascending), avarohin (descending) and saccharin (circulatory or mixed).
- Embellishments, numbering thirty-three.
- The four gitis mentioned by Bharata, namely Magadhi, Ardhamagadhi, Sambhavita, and Prithula. The tree jatis sama (even), srotogata (like stream) and gopuccha (like cows’ tail).
- Eighteen jatis are dealt with, among which seven are Shuddha and eleven are mixed or modified.
- Characteristics and varieties of raga: in the treatment of ragas, seven gitis are dealt with at the beginning as they give rise to different ragas. Forty-eight prabandhas based on regional peculiarities find a place. Also, the raga-rasa relation is described.
The book Brihaddesi is written in both prose and verse. There are some corrupt readings and missing portions, including the one on musical instruments.