The Music of Hindostan c15.s1.28

c15.s1.28

Drone D¹ (which does not matter here, the drone being a later invention), *aṃśa* E, omitted notes C and A. This is an old tradition, as may be seen from three passages: (1) in an early book of the *Mahābhārata* the notes of the secular scale are given as Sa, Ri, Ga, Ma, Dha, Pa, Ni; (2) in the *Nāradaśikṣā* (I. 2. 16) the order is Ma, Ga, Ri, Sa, Dha, Ni, Pa; and (3) in I. 7. 4 it is Ma, Ga, Ri, Sa, Dha, Ni (Pa omitted). In all three passages the first five notes are the same, and the last two are out of order; this looks as if the first five were substantive and the last two optional, thus: