A sage (muni) in ancient Indian legend. He was the putative author of the Dattilam, a Sanskrit text on music theory composed probably in the early centuries ce. Dattila is mentioned in the Nātyaśāstra as one of the numerous offspring of Bharata, to whom that composite treatise is traditionally attributed. The Dattilam describes a system of music apparently akin to that of the Nātyaśāstra, but is more restricted in its coverage. If one assumes that it has survived in its entirety and was intended by its author to be self-sufficient (as is strongly argued by Lath in his edition and commentary, 1978), it appears to deal with gāndharva (music), defined as a discrete form or body of forms of music different in nature and function from the later sangīta. It seems that the repertory of music it describes was that of the ritual preliminaries (pūrvaranga) of the Sanskrit drama, while the Nātyaśāstra was concerned with the drama as a whole.
E. Wiersma-te Nijenhuis: Dattilam: a Compendium of Ancient Indian Music (Leiden, 1970)
M. Lath: A Study of Dattilam: a Treatise on the Sacred Music of Ancient India (New Delhi, 1978; 2/1988)
JONATHAN KATZ