The Music of Hindostan c15.s1.34

c15.s1.34

*The musical hand.* The basis of numeration is in some countries five, in others a dozen (England) or a score (France); in India it is four. Rupees, for instance, are frequently counted by placing one finger on each and sweeping them into the hand. Bearing this in mind, it may be possible to introduce some method into these discrepant accounts of the musical hand. The root idea of this ‘cheironomy’ is that the thumb touches successively the tips of the four fingers. This is seen in the *svāra*, or cadence, where the hand is held ‘in the shape of a cow’s ear’ (see the second of the two illustrations opposite), and the thumb passes over the four fingers in succession. Line 17 may accordingly represent two systems of counting: