The Brhaddesi of Matanga, a ninth-century work, is among the earliest primary texts in Sanskrit dealing with the music of the Indian subcontinent. As its name suggests, the work takes cognizance of musical practices in various regions of the country. It is also the first treatise to mention the solfa syllables in the music of India. For these and other reasons, the Brhaddesi has engaged the attention of scholars in later periods, down to our own times. This volume contains the papers and discussions presented at the seminar on Matanga and the Brhaddesi organized by Sangeet Natak Akademi at Hampi, Karnataka, in 1995. the nineteen contributions by leading scholars cover various aspects of the study of the Brhaddesi: its historicity and mythological aspects; citations found in and from the work in earlier and later texts; the relationship between its prose and verse portions; elements of ayurveda, yoga, and tantra in the work; its treatment of marga and desi, sruti and swara, murchhana, tana, and alankara. Musical notations in Brhaddesi, raga-names found in the work, and the names of musical bhasas (in connection with ragas) mentioned here, are among the other topics dealt with in the papers. To researchers and scholars of India's musical traditions, this book would provide an update and review of the current discourse on Matanga's work not available elsewhere. Professor Prem Lata Sharma (1927-98) was a renowned, versatile scholars, and a musicologist and vaggeyakara. She had made important contributions to the study of Sanskrit sources on Indian music. She prepared critical editions of various works including the Rasavilasa (1952), the Sangitaraja (1963), the Sahasarasa (1972), the Ekalinga-mahatmya (1976), the Sangita-ratnakara (English translation with R. K. Shringy, Vol. I and II, 1978, 1989), and the Brhaddesi of Matanga (1992, 1994, with English translation and comments). Her lectures on Indian aesthetics, delivered in the Hirananda Shastri Memorial Lecture series, were published under the title Rasa Siddhanta: Mula, Sakha, Pallava, Patajhada (1988). She also translated several other notable works from Sanskrit and Bengali into Hindi. A student of Pandit Omkarnath Thakur, Professor Sharma headed the Department of Musicology in Banaras Hindu University for a number of years. She was later Vice-Chancellor of the Indira Kala Sangeet Vishwavidyalaya, Khairagarh (1985-88). She was Professor Emeritus at Banaras Hindu University after her retirement. From 1994 to 1998, Professor Sharma was Vice-Chairman of Sangeet Natak Akademi, Delhi. She had been elected Fellow of the Akademi in 1992.