Books written on the history of indian music are few. Stray article on the history of indian music have appeared off and on in some journals. As far as south indian songs is concerned, no book dealing with its history has so far been written. Work in music written in sanskrit and other indian languages deal merely with the lakshana of the music of the respective preiods. Breif biographical notes on some of the great composer and musician have apeared in some recent books. The study of the history of indian music intruments has a great cultural valye.

Classical Indian music is a genre of South Indian music, the other being film, various varieties of pop, regional folk, religious and devotional music. In Indian classical music, the raga and the tala are two foundational elements. The raga forms the fabric of a melodic structure, and the tala keeps the time cycle.