What are Melakartha or Janaka Ragas?

Janaka Rāga

Janaka, Melakartha, or Mela Rāga are all different names for the same. A rāga can be called a Melakartha Rāgā if it satisfies the following conditions:

1. It should be a Sampoorna Rāga
2. It should not be a Vakra Rāga
3. It must use only one variant of each swara (no anya swaras)

Note: 

There are 72 such Melakartha Rāgas in Carnatic Music. Now, we’ll derive that number. 

72 Melakartha Rāgas (Sampoorna Paddhathi/Tradition)

We know from the blog about Swarasthānas of all the pitch positions that exist and that in Carnatic music, there are 16 possibilities which are placed as 12 pitch positions. It is strongly recommended to understand all that before continuing this blog. 

Now, suppose we take the possibilities of rāgas that can occur with just Ri and Ga in consideration, we’ll get these 6 possibilities:

1. R1G1
2. R1G2
3. R1G3
4. R2G2
5. R2G3
6. R3G3

Similarly, there can be 6 possibilities of rāga that can occur with Da and Ni in consideration:

1. D1N1
2. D1N2
3. D1N3
4. D2N2
5. D2N3
6. D3N3

Then, for each of the Ri-Ga combination, there are 6 Da-Ni combinations. Hence, we get 6 x 6 = 36 possibilities of rāgas that can occur.

Now we’ll multiply that by 2. Why? Because there are two swarasthānas of Ma – M1 & M2. So the same 36 possibilities will occur twice with the only difference being that the first 36 rāgas will contain M1 and the second 36 rāgas will contain M2. Hence we get the total number of Melakartha Rāgas as 72. 

There is an ancient framework by which, from the name of the rāga alone, its Melakartha number and thereby its swarasthānas could be known. Read more about it (Katapayādhi Sutra) here.

These 72 rāgas form the complete Melakartha system, from which numerous Janya Rāgas are derived. Read about Janya Rāgas here.