The Music and Musical Instruments of Southern India and the Deccan c11.27

c11.27

The horn (s'ringa) is also said to be of Divine origin, and it is mentioned in the earliest writings. But the flute (murali) is still held to be peculiarly sacred, for this flute was the companion of the god Krishna in all his wanderings, and in Indian mythology this flute is looked upon with much the same veneration that the lyre was by the Greeks, and by Brahmins it is still used occasionally and blown by the nostrils. In all sculptures and pictures the god Krishna is represented as standing cross-legged playing the flute.