The Music of Hindostan c11.3

c11.3

¹ All the same, a *Rāg* is one thing, not several. It is, as will be seen, so sharply characterized that although in this or that respect one *Rāg* trenches on the domain of another, yet it never does so in all respects, and therefore a change of one of its constituent notes does not obscure its individuality; just as a man through all sorts of not easily definable varieties of vocabulary or pronunciation, or even grammar, may yet be speaking pure English. This is what an Indian believes, although he will tell you in the same breath that the *Rāgs* are to be found in their purity only in the school of music to which he belongs. The true *Rāg*, of which all those with which the traveller meets are manifestations, is stored up in the heavens—or in the bosom of the most educated musician, whoever he may be.