A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c15.s5.13

c15.s5.13

‘The different position of the two semitones in the scale of seven notes gives birth to seven primary modes; and, as the whole series consists of twelve semitones . . . there are in nature (though not universally in practice) seventy-seven other modes [12 × 7 = 84 - 7 = 77] . . . but the Hindu arrangement is elegantly formed on the variations of the Indian year, and the association of ideas, a powerful auxiliary to the ordinary effect of modulation.

The Modes in this system are deified; and as there are six Seasons in India, namely, two Springs, Summer, Autumn, and two Winters, an original *Rāg*, or God of the Mode, is conceived to preside over a particular season; each principal mode is attended by five *Rāginīs*, or Nymphs of Harmony; each has eight sons, or Genii of the same divine art; and each *Rāg*, with his family, is appropriated to a distinct season, in which alone his melody can be sung or played at prescribed hours of the day or night. . . .

By appropriating a different mode to each of the different seasons, the artists of India connected certain strains with certain ideas, and were able to recall the memory of autumnal merriment at the close of the harvest, or of separation and melancholy (very different from our idea at Calcutta) during the cold months; of reviving hilarity on the revival of blossoms, and complete vernal delight in the month of *Madhu*, or honey; of languor during the dry heats, and of refreshment by the first rains, which cause in this climate a second spring. . . .