Before trying to understand Katapayādhi Sūtra, it is strongly recommended to know about Melakartha Rāgas. You can read about them here.  What is Katapayādhi Sūtra in Carnatic Music? Katapayādhi Sūtra is an ancient numerical encoding system used to determine the…

Before understanding Janya rāgas, it is recommended to first understand Melakartha Rāgas. You can read about the same here.  Janya Rāgas are rāgas derived from the 72 Melakartha Rāgas. Or we could say a rāga becomes a Janya rāga if…

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: Sampoorna Rāga: A rāga that has all seven swaras in both its…

What is a Rāga? A Rāga is a set of swaras that has its own rasa.  Note: A Rāga must never be defined only as a set of swaras without referring to the aesthetic identity, expression, emotion and experience it…

What are Shruthis? The word Shruthi is used in many contexts.  Modern Carnatic performance operates within the 12 Swarasthanas. The 22 Shruthi model belongs primarily to historical and theoretical discussions. 22 Shruthi system To understand the 22 Shruthi system, knowing…

We have already discussed what Swaras are and their types. We also know now that some swaras (vikruthi swaras) have different variants. So, in an octave, we now have: S, R1, R2, R3, G1, G2, G3, M1, M2, P, D1,…

Swaras are musically significant pitch identities understood in relation to the chosen Aadhara Shruthi. The seven swaras (Saptha-swaras): Sa, Ri, Ga, Ma, Pa, Da, Ni are the Sapthaswaras.  Among the seven, Sa and Pa are called Prakriti swaras. What does…

The Carnatic violin is not a different instrument; it is the same violin used in Western music, tuned differently according to the Carnatic system. In Carnatic, violins are tuned based on Aadhara Shruthi. Reading the blog on Aadhara Shruthi is strongly recommended…

To understand clearly what Aadhara Shruthi is, one must already know clearly what sound fundamentally is, and also know what is frequency & pitch. So, it is strongly recommended to read the blog about Sound, Frequency & Pitch before continuing…

What is Vibration? An object is said to be vibrating when it is rapidly moving to-and-fro about an equilibrium position (or also called as in an oscillatory motion).  What is Sound?  Vibrations of an object that is transmitted through a…