Ragas and Raginis: A Pictorial and Iconographic Study of Indian Musical Modes Based on Original Sources c9.3

c9.3

According to the doctrine, it is believed that the presiding deity,—the spirit⁴, or ethos of a rāga or rāgiṇī can be induced to come down and incarnate (*avatīrṇa*—lit. 'made to descend') in its physical sound-form (*nāda-maya-rūpa*). If the presiding spirit cannot be induced 'to descend', the rendering, or interpreting of that particular melody cannot be pronounced to have been successfully achieved. A successful interpreter of a particular melody is complimented with the phrase that he has succeeded in persuading the deity of the rāga or rāgiṇī to descend (*avatīrṇa*) and to reveal its visual image or picture (*tasvīr*), and to live in his vocal song, or his instrument of performance. No amount of