Ragas

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INTRODUCTION

A word on notation; we shall use the 12 notes to an octave system to illustrate the notes to generate ragas in Carnatic music

On a harmonium the successive notes in one octave are as marked above

We will ignore English note notation and denote the notes as 1 2 3 4 5 6….12; taking successive notes irrespective of them being white or black..

For one octave we then obtain 12 notes..

To generate the various ragas prevalent in the Carnatic music system, we need 16 notes; this is accomplished in a simple manner, by providing two values to one pitch, viz., R2 and G1 for the third key R3 and G2 for the fourth key and so on.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

S R1 R2 R3

G1 G2 G3 M1 M2 P D1 D2 D3

N1 N2 N3 Ṡ

A raga that takes seven notes, successively ascending in pitch is a sampoorna raga

In the carnatic music system there are 72 such possible sampoorna ragas, termed the Melakarta Ragas, also called Janaka ragas. An important caveat is that in carnatic music the notes are not fixed they have oscillations or gamakas for some notes in a raga that gives it its characteristic mood. Therefore carnatic music cannot be strictly notated in terms of the swaras. The carnatic music today has been handed down from lessons to a guru to a student on a one-one basis; or by listening to lessons from a guru, rather than from a written text.

=======> Go to Introduction to Melakarta Ragas <=======

In this section on the raga of the week, we shall get familiar with the various ragas in the carnatic music system, by listening to popular pieces in each raga. For completion, we will indicate the arohanam and avarohanam of the raga, which simply states the type of notes that make up the raga. Since we will be keen to understand popular ragas let us take one popular raga each week and listen to well known songs in it.

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