The Music of Hindostan c11.11

c11.11

The twenty-four hours are divided into eight watches, beginning at 6 a.m. The Hindus attach much importance to, and are wonderfully unanimous as to, the ascription of a *Rāg* to a particular hour of the day or season of the year,² although ‘advanced’ musicians may be found among them who say it has no meaning. A musical distinction, however, may be extracted from the *Rāgs* themselves, independently of the melodies sung in them or of the words to which these are set. Taking column 4, an analysis shows that if we may divide the *Rāgs* into ‘sad’ and ‘merry’, the ‘sad’ have an average of three flats to an average of two flats in those which are ‘merry’. Again, if we divide them into morning and evening *Rāgs*, the morning have an *amśa* ranging about G, the evening about E. And the same thing, though in a less marked degree, may be deduced independently from the second column.