Ragas and Raginis: A Pictorial and Iconographic Study of Indian Musical Modes Based on Original Sources c6.248

c6.248

Before we proceed to consider the development of the rāgas during the sixteenth century in the North, it is necessary to notice the changes and development in the old Indian system as preserved in Southern practices and theories. After Śāranga-deva (c. 1210-1247), the great landmark in the South is provided by a short but an eminently scientific treatise entitled *Svara-mela-kalānidhi*,² the composition of which we owe to Rāmāmātya (1550), said to be a minister (amātya) of the Vijayanagara prince, Rāma-rāja, and a descendent of the famous commentator Kallinātha.