The cause is, however, explicable; to sing is-as natural to
man as to speak, and uncivilized nations are not likely to speculate
whether singing has ever been invented.
"There is no need to recount here the well-known mythological traditions
of the ancient Greeks and Romans referring to the origin of their
favorite musical instruments. Suffice it to remind the reader that
Mercury and Apollo were believed to be the inventors of the lyre and
cithara (guitar); that the invention of the flute was attributed to
Minerva, and that Pan is said to have invented the syrinx. More worthy
of our attention are some similar records of the Hindoos, because they
have hitherto scarcely been noticed in any work on music.
"In the mythology of the Hindoos, the god Nareda is the inventor of the
_vina_, the principal musical instrument of Hindoostan. Saraswati, the
consort of Brahma, may be said to be considered as the Minerva of the
Hindoos. She is the goddess of music as well as of speech. To her is
attributed the invention of the systematic arrangement of the sounds
into a musical scale. She is represented seated on a peacock and playing
a stringed instrument of the guitar kind. Brahma, himself, we find
depicted as a vigorous man with four handsome heads, beating with his
hands upon a small drum. Arid Vishnu, in his incarnation as Krishna, is
represented as a beautiful youth playing upon a flute. The Hindoos still
possess a peculiar kind of flute which they consider as the favorite
instrument of Krishna.
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