HINDU MUSIC. According to the aneient Hindu lielief all arts were bestowed upon man by various gods, and music was the gift of Brahma. The early history of musk. in India is so beset with fables and reaches back to such remote antiquity that it is impossible to trace its real origin. We have. however, unmistakable evidence that several of the hymns of the Riy Veda (about me. 1500) were intended to be sung to music. The hymns also mention flutes (rant:), cymbals ( korkoril. drums ( and abhi), and trumpets (hokum). Not only are the early accounts of the origin of music marked by tilt exuberance of the imagination. but the strictly scientific treatises on the subject of music are not free from this fault. The Hindi' works on music are of uncertain dale, but to be relatively late. Like mitelt of Sanskrit literature, even when dealing with teelinieal subjeets. they are written in verse. They exist for the most part as yet only in manuscript. The most important are the Sruitgitudarpana of Damodara, the Sadigita vareiyati by Narayana, the Sumgitaratm kara of Sarngadeva (edited by Telang, Poona, 1897). the Ragaribodha of Somanatha (edited by Gharpure, Poona, 1895), the R(Igaindta of Kshemakara and many others of less value.
The oldest scale of the Hindus, the Ve consists of only five tones, G, A, C', D, and is identical with that of the Chinese. In the course of time two tones were added, and A was taken as the starting-point. Thus a scale identical with our A major was obtained. A scale was known as Sraragrama or Saptaka, and the dif ferent tones were designated by the syllables Sa, Ili, Go, Ma, Pa, Dhai, Si. Each of these syllables denoted not only the fundamental tone, but was applied equally to all its chromatic alterations. Within any scale three tones were designated by special names. These were the first, third, and titth, known as _Luau, Graha, and Nyasa re spectively. Their function is stated in the Sarh gitamirdyana: "The note Graha stands at the be ginning and Nyasa at the end of a song. Ansa is the leading note; it gives to the melody its par ticular character and is used the most frequently, and the other notes are subordinated to it as to a ruler." The seven tones of the scale were repeated three times in succession, and thus a compass of three ,Astan or octaves was obtained. The different tones were classified as major tones, minor tones, and semitones. Each major tone consisted of four quarter tones, each minor of three quarters, and each semitone of two quar ters. These subdivisions were called .4rutis, of which each octave had 22. Major tones were the first, fourth, and fifth, minor tones the second and sixth, semitones the third and seventh. The Ragaribodha admits the possibility of no less than 960 modes. but enumerates only 36. Even
out of these only 23 are recognized as having practical value. These 36 modes were divided into 6 primary called Ragas, and 30 sec ondary modes called Ragiois. The number of Ragas was determined by the number of seasons, which in India is six. An attempt was made to have each Raga express, as closely as possible, the character of the season to which it corre sponded. It also was improper to play a Raga at any other season than the one of which it was the expression. Musical notation by means of a staff was unknown to the Hindus. The differ ent tones were represented by their initial con sonants with lines drawn above or below to indi cate to which Aston or octave the particular tone belonged. Embellishments and marks of expression were represented quite definitely by means of small circles, ellipses, chains, curves, horizontal and perpendicular lines. The end of a phrase was indicated by a lotus-flower.
Of the musical instruments the Viva (q.v.) was the principal one, and is still used to-day in India. The Magoudi was also a stringed instru ment with four strings. Among the varied in struments the principal ones were the Basoree, a flute with seven holes, and the 4ankha, a kind of trumpet made from a sea-shell. From the perfection of the Vina it can easily be inferred that India was far in advance in the art of music over all other Asiatic countries of antiquity. In spite of the complicated theoretical system. com posers employed chiefly the iiriraga, our modern A major. The minor mode occurs also, but very seldom. Li the religious cult of the Hindus music was of primary importance. Music, both vocal and instrumental, was strictly regulated by laws. The former was called Gaya, the latter l'adya. Pantomimes were known as •rtya; and a combination of all was designated by the term Sangita. Consult : Jones, "On the Musical Modes of the Hindus," in Asiatic* Researches, vol. iii. (Calcutta, 1792), reprinted in his Works, vol. iv. (London, 1807) ; Paterson. "On the Gramas or Musical Scales of the Hindus," ib., vol. ix. (ib., 1807) ; Bird, The Original Miscellany, Being a Collection of the Most Faro•ite Airs of Him dostan (Calcutta, 1789) ; Tagore, Hindu Music Dom Various Authors (ib., 1875) : SchriJder, Litteratur and Cultur (Leipzig, 1887) ; Day, The Music and Musical Instruments of Southern India and the Deccan (London, 1891).
What strikes a student of the original Hindu melodies is the great discrepancy between musi cal theory and actual practice. Evidently the composers disregarded theoretical speculations and wrote according to the dictates of their ear; for all the melodies are found to be written ex actly in our major or minor modes, and can be harmonized accordingly without the least dif ficulty.