)hue in edmatiorrwhich we still preserve but which you too once had. Our music had
evidently travelled far in the past; the whole of South-East Asia took
its music, dance and drama from India; two of the notes of Chinese
music bear Indian note-names; your gamut is obviously our grama,
and it is an old bowed Indian string instrument that evolved into your
violin. To bring to you in the West a proper understanding of our art,
interpreters are necessary who know the music of both the West and
the East. No doubt, in the past, Western scholars had written books
on Indian music, but a mere technical and cold analysis with a pre-
conceived mind is not enough today. One has to enter into the spirit,
get the right orientation of the mind, and live through the milieu of
our music in its social, and more especially its devotional and philo-
sophical setting. Fortunately, there is amidst us today a French music
scholar, Mr. Alain Danielou, who by his equal devotion to musical and
spiritual culture has fitted himself to deliver the message of our music
to you in a more authentic and complete form than has hitherto been
possible. Let me quote from a paper of his read by him before our
academy’s conference in December last : ‘The world is preparing itself
to receive once more the message of Indian music. Most of the music
of the West and the Far East today is either mainly mental or sensual.
It does not change the heart, it does not uplift the soul. This is just
what Indian music can do and whenever musicians in faraway parts
of the world have had an opportunity of hearing some of the best music
in India, of learning something of its theory, it has opened for them
new horizons, new fields, which they are eager to explore.’ So once
more, let our music have its sway over you, and for our part we shall
never attach less importance to music than to other education; for,
is not our presiding deity of learning, Goddess Sarasvati, holding
impartially in her hands the lute and the book? And before I resume
my seat, may I express, if somewhat extravagantly, the hope that in
the near future you will hold one of your sessions in India and give
a fillip to our musical endeavours! Jai Hind!