Ragas and Raginis: A Pictorial and Iconographic Study of Indian Musical Modes Based on Original Sources c5.4

c5.4

Some definitions are given of the nature of rāga by ancient authorities. The earliest is that of Matanga (circa 5th century)—a fairly ancient authority, later than Bharata, but much earlier than Śārṅgadeva. His definition is repeated by all later authors. According to Matanga, ‘A rāga is called by the learned, that kind of sound composition, which is adorned with musical notes, in some peculiarly stationary, or ascending, or descending, or moving values (varṇa), which have the effect of colouring the hearts of men’¹. In this definition a technical word varṇa (value) is used. Varṇas (values) are of four kinds: ‘values of duration’