Page:The Music of India.djvu/155

 There are also those who are repelled by the grotesque exhibitions, which so often accompany the rendering of Indian music even by some of the best artists, though this is not a trait which is altogether confined to Indian artists. I remember a story which will illustrate this point very well, and which incidentally shows that cultured Indians as well find them grotesque. A foolish shepherd became suddenly rich, and one day a musician came and sang before him, shaking his head, eyes and hands in time with the music as he did so, and making the most grotesque faces. The shepherd not having seen that kind of thing before thought that he had fits and took him inside and had him branded. The musician was glad to get away. Still he went on with his art, and one day, when singing before a king, the king was so pleased that he went away to get him a valuable present. The musician thinking of his former experience ran off. Then the king sent to his house and asked what was the matter, and was informed of the treatment he had formerly received. The king replied, 'A fool may acquire riches, but does not therefore become sensible.' Another story on the same theme tells of a musician singing before a shepherd, with similar strange gestures. The shepherd wept copiously all the time. The musician, being unable to understand the cause of his weeping, stopped and asked him why he was weeping. The shepherd said, 'Last night one of my sheep had the same disease and swelled up and died. When I think that you too will die in four watches, it makes me sad to think of one so young suffering from such a dire disease.' This story shows that it is not only the European who can look upon these things with a sense of humour. To allow this kind of thing to prevent our appreciation of the music is to lose the substance because of its covering. One may hope that it will not be long before in India itself these grotesque contortions will be condemned as bad form by the best people.

Then, as Captain Day says, there are many who condemn Indian music without having made any genuine attempt to understand or appreciate it. They take all their ideas of it from the indifferent barber's band, or the wandering troupe with its noisy instruments. They are encased