This exhaustive work which is the result of nearly 15 years of the author’s life, while dealing directly with the musical system of South India, throws a flood of light also on the literature and history of South India in general and that of the Tamil country in particular, as its literature and Music are inseparable. The indisputable originality displayed throughout the Book by the author, the innumerable authorities quoted in support of statements, the wealth of illustration he has brought to bear on various subjects, the fund of knowledge he possesses in many departments of life, the sparkling humour that now and then relieves the seriousness of such a technical work and the fearlessness and thoroughness with which the author establishes his theory on Srutis - all these clearly show his remarkable genius. The reader may find repetitions in many places, but the author has been quite conscious of them, and they have been made with the definite purpose of striking the ideas home. The author, no doubt, richly deserves a very high place among the literary writers of the day.

The chief aim of the author is to show what the music of the ancient Tamil country was, and how modern Karnatic music is its counterpart. In this he has admirably succeeded. He proves by apt quotations from Tamil works, after careful study, how in the ancient Tamil music of S. India, the Octave was divisible into a number of equal tones. This is his fundamental position. This fact is supported by no less an authority than the great Sanskrit writer on Indian Music - Sarnga Dev of Kashmere who lived about the 13th Century A. D. According to Sarnga Dev the Swarams of an Octave should be a gradually ascending series arranged like the equal rungs of a ladder without the possibility of admitting any other sound between. According to the author, the Octave is so divisible into 12, 24, 48 and 96 equal intervals, the series in all cases rising gradually by G. P. The author not only supports this theory by minute mathematical calculation logarithams, decimals down to eight places as regards length of string, number of vibrations, cent etc., but it has also stood the rigid test of practice and demonstration vocally as well as on instruments. The practical side of it will be clear even to a close reader of the book, but to those who have actually witnessed the demonstration thereon the truth of this will be quite evident and they will certainly testify that there could be no other system of music possible. Any ordinary Indian musician will accept that the Octave is divisible into 12 equal intervals, that a number of Indian Ragas are sung in these 12 Swarams only and that when change of Graham is made many different Ragas result from the process. This one fact alone strikes at the root of any theory which advocates unequal and irregular intervals for Indian music.

In the course of the treatise the author / condemns the theory of 22 Srutis for the Octave and says that the advocates of it altogether misinterpret their leader Sarnga Dev and that their confusion is worse confounded by the fact that ganam in ancient India was made in the 22 Srutis of the series 24.

I should personally like to see an array of these advocates with their Srtutis and instruments in front of them. No two of them will agree as to the location of the different Swarasthanams. If they begin to argue they will be cutting each other’s throats in two minutes! A look into page 416 of the book will convince one of the truth of my statement. Except for the Swaram SA and its Octave there will be no unanimity!

Many readers may think there is not much difference between the 22 and the 24 Srutis. It is not so. The two series are entirely different. All ancient and modern Karnatic Ragas are sung in the 24 Srutis only. The series 22 is only in the imagination of the singer ! The professionals sing in the 24 Srutis only, but they are unconscious of the fact. If the advocates of the Dwavimsati Srutis would examine the Srutis they are using in singing, they will find that their theory is only thing and their practice another ! If they accept the Saptaswarams, the 12