Ragas and Raginis: A Pictorial and Iconographic Study of Indian Musical Modes Based on Original Sources c6.8

c6.8

(3) The remarks of J. Grosset (*Contribution á l’étude La Musique Hindoue*, 1888, p. 88) are very pertinent in this connection: “We believe that the introduction of the theory of rāga is of relatively recent date, Bharata in his *Nāṭyaśāstra* no-where gives it a definition. He does not devote any *adhyāya* to the exposition of this musical element which had subsequently such an important development. Therefore in spite of the definition of rāga being attributed to our authority by W. Jones, Mohun Tagore etc., in spite of the quotations that they give as emanating from him (Bharata) and some commentators of dramas, we are of opinion that in the period of the composition of the *Nāṭyaśāstra*, the rāgas did not constitute one of the elements of the musical theory but that they were gradually substituted for the *jātis* which, however, they resembled, and, it seems, permitted a double use.”