Ragas and Raginis: A Pictorial and Iconographic Study of Indian Musical Modes Based on Original Sources c6.210

c6.210

To about the middle of the fifteenth century belongs an important musical text by a royal author, recently brought to light. It is the *Saṅgīta-rāja*¹ composed by Rāṇā Kumbha-karṇa of Mewar (c. 1419-1460 A.D.). It is an important contribution to Indian music. The author extends a graceful invitation to those interested in music to listen to him, i.e. to study his work. ‘If you have curiosity in songs, if you have skill in music, then listen, oh! connoisseurs and learned men! to Kumbha-karṇa’ (“Yadi kautikino gāne saṅgīte cāturī yadi rasika Kumbha-karṇasya śṛṇvantu budha-sattamaḥ” quoted in *Rasika-priyā*). In the preliminary sections, he gives the mythical history of music and then proceeds to provide definitions of the various technical terms. The author does not cite any other ancient authorities save and except Yāṣṭika, ‘according to whom the bhāṣā gītis are thirty in number.’² His definition of rāga is a revised paraphrase of those of older authorities: ‘A pleasant composition of notes, (initiative notes and others), distinguished by descents, ascents, and movements, and also by decorative graces, is called a rāga.’³ A distinction between ‘gīta’ and ‘rāga’ appears to be indicated. All gītas (songs) are not rāgas, but only those which have the ten characteristics