The Music of Hindostan c18.8

c18.8

Secondly, the modes (*Rāgs*) all have an *aṃśa*, and this *aṃśa* is seldom the drone note. In the many *Rāgs* in which the *aṃśa* is at *e*, or *a*, the melody would have to close on a minor chord; when it is at *e♭* the final note, which the *aṃśa* as a rule is, could only bear a second inversion; when at *b* (as in Behāg) it could have no chord at all. It would not be possible to end the melody (in this last case) on *b* with an *e* minor chord below it, for that would make the *e* really final instead of the *b*, and so falsify the *Rāg*.