Editing History of music (section)

===India===
{{main|Music in ancient India}}
The principal sources on the [[Music in ancient India|music of ancient India]] are textual and iconographical; specifically, some theoretical treatises in [[Sanskrit]] survive, there are brief mentions in general literature and many sculptures of Ancient Indian musicians and their instruments exist.{{sfn|Powers|Katz|2020|loc="1. Introduction"}} Ancient [[Sanskrit literature|Sanskrit]], [[Pali literature|Pali]], and [[Prakrit literature]] frequently contains musical references, from the [[Vedas]] to the works of [[Kalidasa]] and the [[Ilango Adigal]]'s epic ''[[Silappatikaram]]''.{{sfn|Powers|Katz|2020|loc="2. To the mid-16th century: (i) The ancient period, (c) References in general literature"}} Despite this, little is known on the actual musical practices of ancient India and the information available forces a somewhat homogeneous perspective on the music of the time, even though evidence indicates that in reality, it was far more diverse.{{sfn|Powers|Katz|2020|loc="1. Introduction"}}

The monumental arts treatise ''[[Natya Shastra]]'' is among the earliest and chief sources for Ancient Indian music; the music portions alone are likely from the [[Gupta Empire|Gupta period]] (4th century to 6th century CE).{{sfn|Powers|Katz|2020|loc="2. To the mid-16th century: (i) The ancient period, (a) Treatises"}}