84 On t h e Musical M o d e s 



mode in which it was anciently fung, I had hopes of procuring the orip-inal 

 mufick j but the Pandits of the fouth referred me to thofe of ' the 

 weft, and the Brabmens of the weft would have fent me thofe of 

 the north ; while they, I mean thofe of Nep'al and Cafhmir> declared 1 

 that they had no ancient mufick, but imagined, that the notes to- 

 the Gitagovindh muft exift, if any where, in one-of the fouthern provinces, 

 where the Poet was born : from ail this I'collect., that the art, which flourifh- 

 ed in India many centuries ago, has faded for want of due culture; 

 though lbme fcanty remnants of it may, perhaps, be preferved in the paf- 

 toral roundelays oi Mat'hurd on the loves and fports of the Indian ApoLLOi 

 We muft not, therefore, be furprifed, if modern performers on the Find 

 have little or no modulation, or change af mode, to which pafTionate muficlc 

 owes nearly all its enchantment ; but that the old muficians of India, having 

 fixed on a leading mode to exprefs the general character of the fong, which 

 they were tranjlaring into the mujical language, varied that mode, by certain 

 rules, according to the variation of fentiment or paflion in the poetical 

 phrafes, and always returned to it at the elbfe of the r air, many reafons in- 

 duce me to believe j though I cannot but admit, that their modulation muft 

 have been greatly confined by the reftridtion of certain modes to certain 

 feafons and hours, unlefs thofe reftrictions belonged merely to the-principal 

 mode. The fcale of the Vina, we find, comprized both our European 

 modes, and, if fame of the notes can be raifed a femitone by a ftronger 

 preffure on the frets, a delicate and experienced finger might produce 

 the effe 61 of minute enharmoriick interval's ': the conftruction of the ■ instru- 

 ment, therefore, feems to favour my conjecture ; and an excellent judge 

 of the fubject informs us, that " the open wires are from time to time 

 " ftruck in a manner, that prepares the ear for a change of modulation, to 

 ec which the uncommonly full and fine tones of thofe notes greatly contri- 



