States, during his late visit to Calcutta, is one of the most handsomely furnished villas. in the neighbourhood of the metropolis, and contains a collection of paintings which is probably the finest in India.

SOURENDRA MOHUN TAGORE.

Huro Coomar Tagore's second son, Sourendra Mohun Tagore, now Raja Sourendra Mohun Tagore, C.I.E., whose learned investigations into the theory, and efforts for the advancement of the art, of Hindoo music have secured him a world-wide reputation and an unprecedented number of honorary distinctions from the governments and from learned societies of almost every civilised country, was born in the year 1840.

At the age of nine he entered the Hindoo College, where he remained nine years. While still a schoolboy, he displayed unusual literary talent, and at the age of fifteen wrote a concise outline of the history and geography of Europe, which was published in the year

1

1857, under the title of Bhugol o Itihas ghatita Brittanto,' while a year later he produced an original drama in the vernacular, entitled the 'Muktabali Natak,' and sometime afterwards a translation into Bengali of the 'Malabikagnimitra' of Kali Das.

At about the same age he commenced the study of the art to which the greater part of his subsequent leisure may be said to have been devoted, and, after mastering its elements, took lessons under the well-known teachers Latchmi Prasad Misr, and Professor Khettra Mohan Goswami.

Convinced that any advance on existing methods must be based on comparative investigation, he applied himself to the study of English music also, and engaged a German professor to teach him the pianoforte.

With a view to a thorough examination of the different theories of music, he further made an extensive collection of the principal works on the subject, ancient and modern, European and Oriental. The result was the composition of the 'Sangit-Sara,' a work on

the theory of music, compiled from ancient authorities, and a long series of musical treatises and original compositions.

Among these may be noticed :

Jatiya Sangita Bishayaka Prostava, or a Discourse on National Music, in Bengali.

Yantra-Khettra-Dipika, or a treatise on the Sitara, containing precepts and examples on the rudiments of Hindoo Music, intended as an introduction to the study of the above instrument. Illustrated with various exercises and ninety-four airs arranged according to the present system of Hindoo notation.

Mridanga Manjari, a treatise on the Mridanga (a percussion instrument).

Ækatana, or the Indian Concert, containing the elementary rules of the Hindoo musical notation, with a description of the signs most frequently used in airs intended for the Ækatana.

Harmonium-Sutra, or a Treatise on the Harmonium.

(Translation.)

Hindoo Music, from various authors. Part I. (Compilation.)

Hindoo Music, reprinted from the Hindoo Patriot, September 7, 1874.

Yantra-Kosha, or a Treasury of the Musical Instruments of ancient and modern India and of various other countries, in Bengali.

Victoria-Gitika, or Sanskrit Verses, celebrating the deeds and virtues of Her Most Gracious Majesty, Queen

Victoria, and her predecessors, composed and set to music by the Author (with a Translation).

Sangit-Sara-Sangraha, or Theory of Sanskrit Music, compiled from the ancient authorities, with various criticisms and remarks by the Author.

English Verses set to Hindoo Music, in honour of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales.

Prince Panchasat, or Fifty Stanzas in Sanskrit, in honour of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, composed and set to music by the Author (with a translation).

Six Principal Ragas, with a brief view of Hindoo Music and with their emblematical representations.

Victoria Samrajyan, or Sanskrit Stanzas (with a Translation) on the various dependencies of the British Crown, each composed and set to the appropriate national music, in commemoration of the assumption by Her Most Gracious Majesty, Queen Victoria, of the Imperial title.

Of these, the volume on the six principal Ragas, composed with a view of imparting an idea of Indian melodies to the Prince of Wales, and handsomely illustrated with lithographic pictures of the Ragas, is, perhaps, the most interesting to the general reader.

The following notice of this work from the Pall Mall Gazette gives a good idea of its contents :

Hindoo Music.1-In a quarto volume, handsomely illustrated with lithographic engravings by a native artist, Doctor Sourindro Mohun Tagore has taken in hand to give a lucid exposition of the origin and characteristics of Hindoo music. To begin with the beginning, the Sanskrit word sângita has the three-fold signification of song, percussion, and dancing. The works that describe the principles and laws of vocal and instrumental music and of all kinds of spectacular entertainments are called sângita sastras. From the scientific point of view, a sângita sastra may be considered as treating 'of the origin and propagation of nada, or sound; of the doctrine of srutis, or the theory of Sañskrita intervals; of the doctrine of swaras, or musical sounds; of the formation of the different species of scales; of the rules of murchchhanas and tanas; of the composition of ragas and their various modifications and variations; of the variety of talas, or times conformable to regular metre; and of the rules and directions with respect to the various styles of theatric representation, considered as an art. It lays down the necessary directions for the cultivation of the human voice, for the performance of instrumental music, and for the various motions and gestures in dancing.' There are two kinds of sângita, the one of divine origin, and therefore universally venerated; the other secular, and reflecting the peculiar habits, customs, and feelings of the tribe or people out of whose daily life it has sprung into existence. In these degenerate days, however, little regard is paid to the severe rules touching ragas and raginis laid down by Sanskrit authorities; while dancing has long since ceased to be a moving presentment of 'sacred love and affection' such as 'animated the heart of the ancient Hindoos.'

The mystery of Hindoo music consists largely in its

1 Six Principal Ragas, with a Brief View of Hindoo Music. By Sourindro Mohun Tagore, Mus. Doc., Calcutta, 1875.