  The objective of this study is to find the underlying pattern of how
perception of emotions has evolved in India. Here Hindustani Music has been
used as a reference frame for tracking the changing perception of emotions. It
has been found that different emotions perceived from Hindustani Music form a
particular sequential pattern when their corresponding pitch periods are
analyzed using the standard deviations and mean successive squared
differences.This sequential pattern of emotions coincides with their
corresponding sequential pattern of tempos or average number of steady states.
On the basis of this result we further found that the range of perception of
emotions has diminished significantly these days compared to what it was
before. The proportion of responses for the perceived emotions like Anger,
Serenity, Romantic and Sorrow has also decreased to a great extent than what it
was previously. The proportion of responses for the perceived emotion Anxiety
has increased phenomenally. Both standard deviation and mean successive squared
difference are two very good measures in tracking the changing perception of
emotions. The overall pattern of the change of perceived emotions has
corresponded to the psychological and sociological change of human life.
