Ragas and Raginis: A Pictorial and Iconographic Study of Indian Musical Modes Based on Original Sources c6.284

c6.284

The first text bears the name Cattvāriṃśacchata-rāga-nirūpaṇam, attributed to Nārada.² Whoever may be this author, who wrote under the cover of a name revered in musical history, he must have belonged to the sixteenth century when the melodies could not be conveniently grouped under the two categories of male and female rāgas, and a third category was a severe necessity. And the device of classifying the new-comers as ‘sons’ (kumāra) of the known rāgas and rāgiṇīs was resorted to. More than one author adopted this device.³ But this author appears to be the ear-