The Musical Heritage of India attempts as an authentic presentation of Indian music in various aspects. In books on Indian music, especially Hindustani music with their forms, scale and raga, etc., have been chosen as a particular topics and those books delineated only on them either a little fancifully or a little too literally. But this book gives not only the musicological background but also the predominantly musical content involved in the forms, aesthetics, gharanas and their styles. This book is an epitome of the origin and evolution of Indian music from Vedic to modern film music with special reference to Hindustani music. There are separate chapters dealing with Karnataka music, a comparative study of the essential features of Hindustani and Karnatak music, the dhruvapada, the khayal, the thumari, and the tappa; western music and its influence on Indian film music. One specially significant feature is the chapter on khyal the current classical form wherein the author has delved elaborately on the various steps of development of the khyal gayaki with examples in notation. The enumeration of the different varieties of tanas with copious illustrations and also the actual way they ought to be articulated and accented would be very helpful to the practical student. Another noteworthy addition in this edition is a chapter on Bharat Ratna Srimati M.S. Subbulakshmi, the unsurpassed legend of Karnatak music.
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