My indebtedness to Dr Laurence Picken will, I hope, be apparent to any reader
familiar with his inspiring studies of the musical history of Asia, and I thank
him for the support he has extended over many years. To Dr Owen Wright and
Dr Jonathan Katz I am most grateful for their thorough critical reading of the
first draft of this book. I thank Dr Giotto Canevascini for his translations of the
akṣiptikā song-texts, and Dr John D. Smith for his advice on translations and
other matters. Other scholars to whom I am grateful for their views, on various
matters and at various stages of the research, include Dr Premlata Sharma, the
late Dr R. K. Shringy, Prof. N. Ramanathan, Prof. H. C. Bhayani, Dr Lewis
Rowell, Dr F. R. Allchin and the late Dr P. G. le Huray. I thank Dr Martin
Clayton for assistance with typesetting the music examples, and Mr K. R.
Norman both for his diacritics font and for his views on the āryā metre. I alone
am responsible for such errors, omissions, or misjudgements as may remain in
the book. For institutional support at various times I am most grateful to
Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge; Christ's College, Cambridge; and the
School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.

I would like to thank Mr Antony Mulgan, Mr Bruce Phillips, Mr David
Blackwell, and the editorial staff of Oxford University Press for the opportunity
to write this book, their encouragement and patience over the many years it has
taken to complete, and their care in producing a volume of such complexity.
Lastly but most of all, I thank my family for their tolerant understanding and
support.

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