S. Srikanta Sastri's Introduction to 'Varalakshmi Academy of Fine Arts' - Bulletin No. 1 (1954) on Vedic Octave and Sangita Sara

The Research Board of the Śrī Varalakşmī Academies of Fine Arts was constituted to meet a long felt need for conducting research in Indian Music. The contributions of eminent savants and scholars to Indian Musicology have, hither to, been the results of the efforts of individuals and some institutions in India and abroad. But a proper co-ordination of the various efforts has not been attempted; still less is there any attempt to delve systematically into original sources or to trace the evolution of Indian music on a sound chronological basis. Vague assertions, reliance on second hand sources, subjective valuations, biased opinions and generalisations can have no permanent value. Musical experience may have its emotional or purely subjective considerations. Musicology demands different but co-ordinated methods – artistic, critical, scientific, philosophical, historical, psychological, experimental, empirical, eclectical and systematic. As Seashore says the analytical approach to arts may not give the whole truth but nothing gives the whole truth – from all points of view.

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