The Music of Hindostan c9.s1.18

c9.s1.18

In discussing the scale (*grāma*) the first difficulty which confronts us lies in the double meaning of *svara*, ‘note’ and ‘interval’.¹ Does the *Sa-grāma*, for instance, begin with the Sa-interval, or on the S-note? In the former case it will begin on what we should call C (the Indian N), in the latter on our D (the Indian S). Bharata gives some colour to the latter view in verse 25, where he says the arrangement of the *śrutis* in the *Sa-grāma* is 3, 2, 4, 4, 3, 2—i. e. that they begin with the *svara* Ri, which is of three *śrutis*, and therefore on the S-note (our D).