Ragas and Raginis: A Pictorial and Iconographic Study of Indian Musical Modes Based on Original Sources c7.6

c7.6

It should be noted that Nārada does not actually use the word rāgiṇī, but uses the term strī, or ‘yoṣit’ (wife) of a rāga. If Mammaṭa (8th century) is the author of Saṅgīta-ratnamālā, then the earliest reference to rāgiṇīs is to be found in this text; it has been freely utilized by the author of Saṅgīta-nārāyaṇa and various later authors. But this is somewhat problematic, as Nānyadeva, (12th century) an authority of the Northern School does not mention rāgiṇīs, so the term does not appear to have been used very much before the date of the Rāgārṇava (c. 14th century), though the recognition of a female rāga must be fairly old in the Northern system.