to the past and are not easily intelligible to the present generation. A translation of a portion of this chapter appeared in Mr. Clement's Introduction to Indian Music, and there is a complete French translation by Jean Grosset. The latter however is not quite an accurate guide, as it has taken the word svara — used by Bharata for the interval and only secondarily for the note above the interval — to refer to the note below the interval. This involves the correction of all his translation of note names.
An inscription found at Kudumiyamalai in the Pudukottai State of the Madras Presidency, which seems to belong to the seventh century, has many references to music. It mentions seven jatis and a few of the srutis as well as the seven svaras. The words 'antara' and 'kakali' are found describing respectively the sharp srutis of Ga and Ni, which is one of the peculiarities of the Southern nomenclature to-day. It is suggested that the inscription is really a piece for the Samagah to sing and that the peculiar marks on many of the note signs may be intended to indicate points of Saman singing.1[1]
The seventh and eighth centuries of our era in South India witnessed a religious revival associated with the bhakti movement and connected with the theistic and popular sects of Vishnu and Siva. This revival was spread far and wide by means of songs composed by the leaders of the movement and so resulted in a great development of musical activity among the people generally and in the spread of musical education. The old melodies to which these songs were sung are now lost, though Travancore claims to have preserved some of them in the ancient Travancore ragas such as Indisa, Indalam, Padi, Puranira. The beautiful strip of land on the south-west coast of India between the Western Ghauts and the sea, of which Travancore is now a part, was famed in the centuries before Christ for its commercial activities and its tropical products. This was then the homeland of the Chera kingdom which for a considerable period exercised sovereignty over the whole of South India. It was also the
- ↑ 1 See Epigraphia Indioa, vol. xxi, pp. 226-37.
