The Music and Musical Instruments of Southern India and the Deccan c6.9

c6.9

The Râga Vívodha, or “Doctrine of Musical Modes,” by Somanath, or Soma Raj, is one of the most valuable of the ancient treatises that have been handed down to us. This book was evidently written at a much later date than the Ratnâkera, which it quotes from several times; but it is doubtless a very ancient composition. The first, third, and fourth chapters explain the doctrine of musical sounds—their division and succession, the variation of scales by temperament, and the enumeration of modes. The second chapter contains a minute description of different vinas, with rules for playing upon them.³ The last chapter contains strains noted in letters. The whole work is singularly clear from mythological references.