Hindoo Division of the Octave, 



373 



in use among the Hindoos *. In particular it appears that the foundation 

 of their system is a division of the octave into 22 intervals, which are 

 called S'rutis. I propose to discuss this system in the light of the theory 

 formerly communicated to the Eoyal Society f ; and as it is one of what 

 I have called the higher systems, and the theory of such systems has not 

 been sufficiently developed, I take the opportunity of adding what is 

 necessary for the classification, discussion, and practical treatment of the 

 principal systems of this character. 



Some light may be thrown on the object of the paper by the following 

 quotation from the work of Fetis before referred to. After an exhaustive 

 treatment of the various accessible scales, tunes, &c, from the artistic 

 point of view, he sums up in the following words :— 



"D'ailleurs, pour etablir d'une maniere certaine l'etat veritable de la 

 musique indienne de nos jours, il faudrait qu'elle eut ete etudiee sur les 

 lieux par un musicien possedant une connaissance complete de Tart et de 

 la science, ce qui n'a pas eu lieu jusqu'aujourd'hui. Cette etude exigerait, 

 pour etre bien faite, non seulement le savoir technique, mais un esprit 

 observateur degage de tout systeme precongu. Dans ces conditions 

 seulement, on parviendrait k determiner avec exactitude la nature de la 

 tonalite des chants de l'lnde moderne, ce que n'ont fait ni Fowke, ni 

 W. Ouseley, ni Willard, ni meme W. Jones ; car leurs appreciations h 

 ce sujet n'ont pas la rigoureuse precision qui est indispensable dans les 

 recherches de ce genre." 



The point of the present paper, so far as it relates to Hindoo music, is 

 that until we have a general means of producing and controlling such 

 systems as are likely to be met with on instruments with fixed tones 

 (<?. g. the harmonium), and of thus comparing such systems with actual 

 facts, we can have no certainty as to the results, at least in the present 

 state of musical education. 



Fetis employs the principle of the comparison of intervals with equal 

 temperament semitones, which is the basis of the writer's methods ; but 

 he uses it only for the purpose of speculating on the connexion between 

 the Hindoo system of 22, and a division of the octave into 24, or of each 

 semitone into two equal parts, a comparison by which nothing appears to 

 be gained. The use of the method for instituting comparisons with perfect 

 consonances has escaped him. And yet it appears (Fetis, vol. ii. p. 278) 

 that the vina (the historic instrument of Indian music) is tuned by con- 

 cords, forming a complete major chord on the open strings. This is 

 enough of itself to suggest the necessity of an inquiry into the relations 

 between the system of 22 and perfect concords. 



The Hindoo scale has several forms ; that which is described by most 



* ' Hindu Music, from various Authors,' Part I., S. M. Tagore, Pres. Bengal Music 

 School, &c. Eetis, ' Histoire Grenerale de la Musique,' vol. ii. 



t Proc. Roy. Soc. 1875, vol. xxiii. p. 390 ; and ' An Elementary Treatise on Musical 

 Intervals and Temperament' (Macmillan, 1876). 



