Melakarta Ragas in Carnatic Music

Many musical genres or styles—including folk music, cinema music, Indian pop, and Indian classical music—come to mind when we discuss Indian music. But the majority of these are renditions of Music of India, a genre unique to India. Indian classical music, which has been around for millions of years, is also separated into Hindustani and Carnatic Music, two styles that have developed independently throughout time.

The classical music of southern India is also referred to as Carnatic music. It is known as Carnatic music because it is believed to have originated in Karnataka. It exhibits the utilisation of religious themes, which is attributed to the 15th–16th century pan–Indian Bhakti movement's impact. Vocal music, which is intended to be performed only in gayaki(singing style), is highlighted.

List of Ragas in Carnatic Music

Ragas are a key component of Carnatic music and serve as the foundation for the melody, rhythm, and lyrics of a song. Ragas, on the other hand, are musical frameworks for keynotes; they are indicated by a group of notes or swaras combined in a singing pattern. These ragas form an aroh pattern when placed either in ascending order of their notes or swaras. The notes are in an avaroh pattern when they are placed similarly in descending order.

Ragas are classified in different ways in Carnatic music:

1. Sampurna Ragas (Janaka Ragas)
2. Melakarta Ragas
3. Janya Ragas
4. Audava Ragas
5. Shadava Ragas
6. Vakra Ragas

In this article, we will provide you all the necessary details about Melakarta Ragas that you must be aware of.

Melakarta Ragas 

The Melakarta System, which serves as the foundation of the classical Carnatic music system, is the most rigorous system for the construction and classification of ragas. It outlines the guidelines for employing a mixture of the 12 keys in an octave to construct the base ragas, which have 7 notes per note.

The Melakarta system generates the core 72 ragas of the Carnatic music system using a potent scientific algorithm. These 72 ragas are the source of all other ragas in the Carnatic music system. Janya ragas are derived ragas.

Melakarta ragas, often referred to as Parent Ragas in Carnatic music, are the focal point of the melodic notes, or swaras.  Various note combinations are created from this collection of ragas.  While all Sampoorna Ragas fall within the category of Melakarta Ragas, the reverse is not the case.  This is due to the fact that these ragas contain all seven swaras (musical notes) in a systematic, ascending (aroh) or descending (avaroh) sequential order ('Sa'- 'Ri' - 'Ga' - 'Ma' - 'Pa' - 'Da' - 'Ni').

Now, you might wonder why these ragas are referred to as parent rags.

Smaller divisions, known as Janya or Child Ragas, are adapted and sung as a result of these sequences, which is why they are referred to as Parent Ragas.

There are a total of 72 Melakarta Ragas, each made up of a unique mix of scales. One such Melakarta or Parent Raga is Kharaharapriya, which has the seven musical notes or swaras "Sa"-"Ri"-"Ga"-"Ma"-"Pa"-"Da"-"Ni" in an ascending order or sequence.

Introduction to 7 Swaras or Notes in Carnatic Music

In the Melakarta system we divide the 12 keys of an octave (in the keyboard) into 7 swaras as follows:

1. Shadjama

S = Shadjama = First key of the octave

2. Rishaba

R1 = Shudhdha Rishabha = Second key of the octave

R2 = Chathushruthi Rishabha = Third key of the octave

R3 = Sathshruthi Rishabha = Fourth key of the octave

3. Gandhara

G1 = Shudhdha Gandhara = Third key of the octave

G2 = Sadharana Gandhara = Fourth key of the octave

G3 = Anthara Gandhara= Fifth key of the octave

4. Madhyama

M1 = Shudhdha Madhyama = Sixth key of the octave

M2 = Prathi Madhyama = Seventh key of the octave

5. Panchama

P = Panchama = Eighth key of the octave

6. Daivatha

D1 = Shudhdha Daivatha = Ninth key of the octave

D2 = Chathushruthi Daivatha = Tenth key of the octave

D3 = Sathshruthi Daivatha = Eleventh key of the octave

7. Nishadha

N1 = Shudhdha Nishadha = Tenth key of the octave

N2 = Kaishika Nishadha = Eleventh key of the octave

N3 = Kaakali Nishadha = Twelfth key of the octave

You can see above that R2=G1, R3=G2, D2=N1 and D3=N2. The reason for this lies in the Melakartha algorithm.

Melakarta Algorithm – maps 12 keys of octave to 7 swaras of a raga

The Melakartha algorithm is as follows:

• A Melakarta Raga has all the 7 swaras in it.
• A Melakarta Raga cannot have multiple entries for the same swara. For instance you cannot have both N1 and N2 in the same raga as they both are Nishadas.
• The same frequency cannot occupy more than one swara, for instance, if R2 is the Rishabha in a raga then G1 cannot be used as Gandhara in that raga as G1=R2.
• The swara order (increase in frequency called ArOhaNa) is Sa (Shadjama), Ri (Rishabha), Ga (Gandhara), Ma (Madhyama), Pa (Panchama), Dha (Daivatha), Ni (Nishadfha).

Based on the above algorithm we can form the Melakartha ragas as follows-

• Sa and Pa are the same in all ragas as they have only one entry.
• Ma has two entries so we can form two ragas for every given combination of all other swaras i.e. if we are given a sa,ri,ga,pa,da and ni combination we can form two melakartha ragas for that combination by using M1 as ma in one raga as M2 as ma in another raga.
• For instance, given S,R1,G2,P,D1,N1 we can form two Melakarthas as follows:
  S,R1,G2,M1,P,D1,N1 and S,R1,G2,M2,P,D1,N1
• R1 has 3 entries and Ga has 3 entries where two entries are common to both (i.e. R2=G1 and R3=G2). Hence, considering the fact that frequency of Ga has to be always greater than Ri (i.e. the key for Ri cannot come after the key for Ga) ,we can have totally 6 combinations for Ri,Ga as follows:
  R1G1, R1G2, R1G3, R2G2, R2G3 and R3G3
• Similarly we can have 6 entries for Dha,Ni combination as follows:
  D1N1, D1N2, D1N3, D2N2, D2N3 and D3N3
• Thus we have 2 unique entries for Ma, 6 entries for Ri,Ga and 6 entries for Ni,Dha. This makes a total of 2x6x6 = 72 unique combinations of all the 7 swaras defined based on 12 keys in an octave. .
• Thus using the Melakartha algorithm we can create 72 Melakartha ragas. A mELakarta rAgA is also called a Sampoorna raga as it has all the 7 swaras in it.