The Music of Hindostan c9.s2.84

c9.s2.84

Hence comes no doubt the statement that for southern India the quarter-tones (*śruti*) are ‘confined to grace’ (Day, p. 30). But that is not the usual acceptation of the word in the South. *Śruti* there means keynote. A singer has ‘lost his *śruti*’ when he sings out of tune; the drone strings of the *vīṇā* are called the *śruti*, and so on. This is clearly a transference of meaning from ‘a nice distinction of pitch’ to ‘that which determines the pitch’.