The Natyacudamani of Somanarya is an unpublished musicological work written in Sanskrit and is accompanied by a Telugu commentary. The author of this work is Astavadana Somanarya who is said to have lived during the reign of King Acyutar¡ya of the Vijayanagar Empire (1540 A.D.). The Telugu commentary seems to belong to a later period. The present edition is brought out with the help of fifteen manuscripts. Though the title reads Natyacudamani, the available text mainly consists of chapters on Gita and Vidya and only a few verses relate to Natya. Somanarya ‘s work presents some of the traditional musicological views in a tangential manner and it has made a strong influence on many later works of South India.

Dr. V Premalatha is an Assistant Professor of Music in the Department of Performing Arts, Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, India. A Post-graduate in Music from the Madurai Kamaraj University and Ph.D. from the University of Madras, under the guidance of Dr. N Ramanathan. Study of music manuscripts has been her area of study and she has compiled a comprehensive Catalogue of music manuscripts from all over the world. She has completed an UGC- Major Research Project on the music manuscript collection of the Oriental Research Institute, S V University, Tirupati. She is also a recipient of the National Culture Fellowship in Arts for Music (Junior) awarded by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi. She has presented Research Papers at National & International Seminars held all over India and has published research articles in the Journals of Music and research reference materials and music lessons inwww.musicresearch.in and www.musicacademymadras.in