Ragas and Raginis: A Pictorial and Iconographic Study of Indian Musical Modes Based on Original Sources c9.27

c9.27

There is no doubt that the two phases of a melody, the sound-form, and its corresponding image-form, were recognised from early times, though we have not yet come across any reference to this dual aspect in the texts earlier than the Rāga-vivodha. The devatā, the presiding genius of each rāga is, indeed, referred to in many of the old legends, and also indicated in earlier texts, though the images, or pictures of the melodies are not described in any of the earlier texts.