according to very strict rules, and present day Samagahs — temple singers of the Saman — claim that the oral tradition which they have received goes back to those ancient times. A discussion upon the musical character of the Saman chant will be found in the next chapter. The Chhandogya and the Brihadaranyaka Upanishads (c. 600 B.C.) both mention the singing of the Sama Veda and the latter also refers to a number of musical instruments.
One of the earliest references to music is found in the grammarian Panini, who was probably alive when Alexander the Great was in Taxila (326 B.C.) In his comments upon the root Nrit — to dance — he mentions two persons named Silalin and Krisasvin as the authors of two sets of sutras on dancing.
A reference to a musical performance, which if it could be accepted as historical would go back further still is found in the Pali Pitaka (c. 300 B.C.) in which it is said that two disciples of Gautama Buddha (c. 480 B.C.) attended a dramatic performance, which of course would be musical.
The earliest reference to musical theory seems to be in the Rikpratisakhya (c. 400 B.C.) which mentions the three voice registers and the seven notes of the gamut. It is interesting to find that just before this time, Pythagoras in Greece (510 B.C.) worked out the musical system of the Greeks.
In the Ramayana (400 B.C. — A.D. 200) mention is frequently made of the singing of ballads, which argues very considerable development of the art of music. The poem composed by the sage Valmiki is said to have been sung before King Dasaratha by Rama and Lakshmana. The author of the Ramayana often makes use of musical similes. The humming of the bees reminded him of the music of stringed instruments, and the thunder of the clouds of the beating of the mridanga. He talks of the music of the battlefield, in which the twanging and creaking of the bows takes the place of stringed instruments and vocal music is supplied by the low moaning of the elephants. Ravana is made to say that * he will play upon the lute of his terrific bow with the sticks of his
