The Music of Hindostan c9.27

c9.27

There is no accounting for this Tritone: it must be accepted as a fact.² It may have been arrived at by a series of Tones, as Nos. 9–12 would seem to suggest; or it may be the result of a shift of tonic—e. g. B–E becoming C–F, with a resultant interval B–F—in support of which view some arguments will be adduced later. But in any case it is a fundamental fact of Indian music. The Carnatic system classifies the *Rāgams* into those which employ the Fourth and those which employ the Tritone as basic interval (*Śuddhamadhyama* and *Pratimadhyama*), and it will be seen that the same principle underlies the *Rāgs* of Hindostan. It might be supposed that F♯ (in C–F♯ G) was felt as a leading note to G merely, were it not that it is used in many *Rāgs* with obvious pleasure in descent also; and we must conclude that Indians value the Tritone for its own sake.