The Music of Hindostan c15.s1.187

c15.s1.187

To return to the Hindus. The F, having inherited the prestige of the E, took on grace in its turn. But here a difficulty arose: should the grace-note have the same relation to the F as the F had to the E, and determine to a G♭ (F♯), or should it be consonant to the D below, and appear as a G? Both notes were taken in; and the scale had now two distinct sections: that from E downwards which was formed diatonically, and that from E upwards which was formed by grace, i. e. chromatically. These had distinct characters, and were distinguished as we saw by the names nīca and ucca (p. 271, and Exs. 362, 363). Moreover, the chromatic (ucca) style of singing is peculiar to the Sāmaveda, where it had, as we see, an efficient cause, and is not found in Rāga, where that cause is absent.