Page:The Music of India.djvu/28

 transilient or hexatonic and pentatonic, which were called respectively Pan and Tiram; it gives the twenty-two srutis, which it calls matra; the Tamil names of the seven svaras with the equivalent Sanskrit sol-fa initials, (Sa Ri Ga etc.); the seven Dravidian modes called Palai; four kinds of Yal and the names of 29 Pans, some of which are still found among the primary ragas of southern India. All this as well as frequent references to the science of music and to musical performances, both vocal and instrumental, in the Tamil books of this and succeeding periods makes it clear that musical culture had reached a high level among the Dravidian peoples of South India in the early centuries of our era.

The later centuries of the Buddhist period (a.D. 300-500) were more fertile in architecture, sculpture and painting than in music. The dramas of Kalidasa (c. A.D. 400) make frequent references to music and evidently the rajahs of that time had regular musicians attached to their courts. In the Malavikagnimitra a song in four-time is mentioned as a great feat performed at a contest between two musicians. The development of the drama after Kalidasa meant the development of music as well, as all Indian drama is operatic. 'The temple and the stage were the great schools of Indian music'

This was the time when in Europe Pope Sylvester (A.D. 330) and St. Ambrose (A.D. 374-397) began to elaborate musical theory.

The oldest detailed exposition of Indian musical theory which has survived the ravages of ants and the fury of men is found in a treatise called Natya Sastra or the science of dancing, said to have been composed by the sage Bharata. The date of this book is usually accepted as the early part of the sixth century. It is stated elsewhere that previous to this Bharata had composed the Natya Sutra or Aphorisms on Dancing, but these have not survived. There is only one chapter of the Natya Sastra (ch. 25) which deals with music proper. This contains a detailed exposition of the svaras, srutis, gramas, mflrchhanas, jatis. While the principles of his theory are still active in Indian music, the details of his system belong