The elements of music

Seven notes and three octaves, Scales one and twenty, Quavers fortynine, This is the circle of sound. Three are the pauses, the lasyas six, The rasas nine the ragas six and thirty, And the bhavas there are forty. Thus the elements of music Are one hundred and eighty five, As stated in the scriptures, And by Bharata in times of yore. From the Panchatantra Translated by A. N. D. Haksar

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Gauri, Farmer Shambhu's Favorite Cow

Raghu was a tailor in a small town in the Malenadu region of Karnataka. The farmers in the area around the town were his customers. Shambhu, a stout farmer who owned a few acres of fields and had a few cows, was one of them.  One day, Shambhu came to Raghu with a piece of fine cotton cloth. Shambhu said, "Raghu, next month I am going for a wedding. I want to look smart! I have brought cloth for a kurta (Indian - style jacket). Please stitch one for me. I will pick it up when I come to town again." Raghu took Shambhu's measurements and noted them in his book. He returned to stitching, and started work on the kurta after a few days. It was two weeks before Shambhu returned to collect his kurta. Raghu was astonished to see that the stout Shambhu had lost weight and become a little thin! When he tried the kurta, it was loose. Shambhu said, "The day I came to town, my favorite cow, my Gauri, got lost. Since then, neither I nor my wife have tasted milk, ghee or curd. I am ...
Read more

An Indian bus commuter's story

  Jeevan was a middle - class Bangalorean. He had spent his adolescence and young adulthood in Bangalore. That was the period in which the city saw a boom in real estate, and expanded rapidly in all directions. The city planners could hardly keep pace with the city's growth. For years, buses were the sole providers of public transport, and could hardly meet the needs of the residents. Most of the residents chose to buy a scooter, a motorbike or a car to be able to reach their workplace on time. Paradoxically, this resulted in a drastic increase in the number of vehicles on the roads, and made the daily commute slower than before. Unfortunately, Jeevan had not made himself accustomed to riding a scooter or a motorbike in the new scenario. He had had a bicycle during his college days, when the roads were relatively calm. After his studies, Jeevan got a job in a software company. The company provided buses to employees, and Jeevan was one of those who chose to make use of this. After ...
Read more