e of the word, we are pantheists, and so our music is, so
to speak, pantheistic; but, at the same time, it is highly scientific.
Coming from the cradle of humanity, the Aryan races, who were the first
to attain manhood, listened to the voice of nature, and concluded that
melody as well as harmony are both contained in our great common mother.
Nature has no false and no artificial notes; and man, the crown of
creation, felt desirous of imitating her sounds. In their multiplicity,
all these sounds--according to the opinion of some of your Western
physicists--make only one tone, which we all can hear, if we know how
to listen, in the eternal rustle of the foliage of big forests, in the
murmur of water, in the roar of the storming ocean, and even in the
distant roll of a great city. This tone is the middle F, the fundamental
tone of nature. In our melodies it serves as the starting point, which
we embody in the key-note, and around which are grouped all the
other sounds. Having noticed that every musical note has its typical
representative in the animal kingdom, our ancestors found out that the
seven chief tones correspond to the cries of the goat, the peacock, the
ox, the parrot, the frog, the tiger, and the elephant. So the octave was
discovered and founded. As to its subdivisions and measure, they also
found their basis in the complicated sounds of the same animals."

"I am no judge of your ancient music," said the colonel, "nor do I know
whether your ancestors did, or did not, work out any musical theories,
so I cannot contradict you; but I must own that, listening to the songs
of the modern Hindus, I could not give them any credit for musical
knowledge."

"No doubt it is so, because you have never heard a professional singer.
When you have visited Poona, and have listened to the Gayan Samaj, we
shall resume our present conversation. The Gayan Samaj is a society
whose aim is to restore the ancient national music."

Gulab-Lal-Sing spoke in his usual calm voice, but the Babu was evidently
burning to break forth for his country's honor, and at the same time, he
was afraid of offending his seniors by interrupting their conversation.
At last he lost patience.

"You are unjust, colonel!" he exclaimed. "The music of the ancient
Aryans is an antediluvian plant, no doubt, but nevertheless it is well
worth studying, and deserves every consideration. This is perfectly
proved now by a compatriot of mine, the Raja Surendronath Ta