Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Seite 628

DISCORDANT MUSICAL SOUNDS
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honour of the gods. Sometimes the Brahmins and other
worshippers form the chorus, or sing separately sacred
poems of their own composition.
The nattuva, or conductor, is the most remarkable of all
the musicians. In beating time he taps with his ringers on
a narrow drum. As he beats, his head, shoulders, arms,
thighs, and in fact all the parts of his body perform succes-
sive movements
and simultaneously he utters inarticulate
cries, thus animating the musicians both by voice and
gesture.
At times one would think he was agitated by
;
violent convulsions.
The dancing-women, the chorus, and the orchestra take
turn and turn about during a religious ceremony, which
often terminates with a procession round the temple.
Morning and evening the courtesans before leaving never
fail to perform for the idol, singing the while, the ceremony
of the aratti, for the purpose of averting the fatal influence
caused by the looks of evil-minded persons, an influence
from which the gods themselves, as I have already said,
are not exempt.
The whole musical repertoire of the Hindus is reduced to
thirty-six airs, which are called ragas ; but most of the
musicians hardly know half of them.
Hindu music, whether vocal or instrumental, may be
pleasing to the natives, but I do not think it can give the
slightest pleasure to any one else, however little sensitive
be his ear. Hindu musicians learn to play and sing methodi-
cally
they keep excellent time and they have, as we
have, a variety of keys.
In spite of all this, however, their
songs have always appeared to me uninspiring and mono-
tonous, while from their instruments I have never heard
anything but harsh, high, and ear-splitting sounds.
However, I admit that the chief reason why a European
forms an unfavourable opinion of Hindu music is because
he judges it by comparison with his own. To appreciate it
rightly, we must go back two or three thousand years and
imagine ourselves in those ancient times when the Druids
and other priests used in their civil and religious ceremonies
no other music but dismal cries and noisy sounds, produced
by striking two metal plates together, by beating tightly-
stretched skins, or by blowing horns of different kinds.
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