The Ragas of Early Indian Music - Modes, Melodies, and Musical Notations from the Gupta Period to c. 1250 (Hardcover)

The concept of raga forms the basis of melodic composition and improvization in Indian classical music. This study traces the early history and development of the concept in the pre-Islamic period. It draws on early Indian theoretical sources, and focuses especially on the examples of notated melodies that they contain. This book should be of interest to musicologists and music students interested in ethnomusicology, historical musicology, music theory, mode and monody, and improvisation as well as sanskritists and other Indologists.