Melody In Carnatic Music -Part 2
By Kiranavali Vidyasankar
In the earlier article, we talked about the different notes in Carnatic music - the basic seven notes, the twelve notes in an octave and why the twelve are called by sixteen different names. We now come to the next step, i.e., scales.
What is a scale? A scale is an outline that is arrived at with the permutation and combination of notes. In Carnatic music, we have 72 basic scales called the Melakarta. They are full scales in the sense that they use all the seven basic notes - Sa, Ri, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha and Ni - both in the ascent and descent, which is the fundamental requirement to make the octave complete or sampoorna. In other words, there is no skipping of notes, although the variety of the variable notes (Ri, Ga, Ma, Dha and Ni) may differ.
Let us go into the details. This 72 Melakarta is not a very ancient concept. Although the need to classify similar sounding ragas or scales under a common group was felt a few centuries ago, this concept has finally taken shape in the hands of a great music scholar called Muddu Venkatamakhi. Today the 72 Melakarta scheme is considered one of the most scientific, comprehensive and beautiful schemes in the music systems of the world.
Now how do we get the figure 72? It is very simple and logical. The basic premise is that we need just one variety of each of the seven basic notes. We'll worry about other complex patterns later.
We start by first simplifying the octave into two parts - the Poorvanga and the Uttaranga. The Poorvanga comprises the first four notes, Sa to Ma and the Uttaranga the next 4, Pa to the higher Sa.
Since Sa and Pa are the fixed notes in an octave, we only have to consider the variable notes. The variable notes in the Poorvanga are Ri, Ga and Ma. Since there are only two varieties of Ma, the application of Ma is not difficult. But there are three varieties each of Ri and Ga.
The 16 notes of Carnatic music
Let us first see how many combinations of Ri and Ga are possible (also see the chart of the 16
notes):
Ri 1 can combine with Ga 1, Ga 2 and Ga 3.
Ri 2 can combine with only Ga 2 and Ga 3, as Ri 2 shares the same place value as Ga 1.
Ri 3 can combine only with Ga 3. This is because Ga 2 is the same as Ri 3; and Ga 1 which is actually equal to Ri 2, is lower than Ri 3.
The same principle applies to the Uttaranga where the variable notes are only Dha and Ni. Thus, we get six varieties of the Ri - Ga combination and six of Dha - Ni. The following table shows the six varieties of each:
Combinations of Ri and Ga / Combinations of Dha and NiRi 1 - Ga 1 / Dha 1 - Ni 1
Ri 1 - Ga 2 / Dha 1 - Ni 2
Ri 1 - Ga 3 / Dha 1 - Ni 3
Ri 2 - Ga 2 / Dha 2 - Ni 2
Ri 2 - Ga 3 / Dha 2 - Ni 3
Ri 3 - Ga 3 / Dha 3 - Ni 3
The next step is to just combine each Ri - Ga combination with each of the six combinations of Dha - Ni. For example, Ri 1 - Ga 1 can combine with each of the Dha and Ni combinations and so on. In other words, we can just multiply them and get 36 different possibilities or 36 different scales. We must however recollect that so far we have left Ma untouched. But not to worry. Use Ma 1 once, and then sing the same scale with Ma 2 the next time! It will sound different. So we now have 36 scales with Ma 1 and the same 36 with Ma 2, giving us a total of 72 scales. The following table will show you the common notes Sa and Pa, the different varieties of Ri - Ga, Dha - Ni and with the two varieties of Ma.
Sa / Combinations of Ri and Ga / WithMa 1
or
Ma 2 / Pa / Combinations of Dha and Ni
Ri 1 - Ga 1 / Dha 1 - Ni 1
Ri 1 - Ga 2 / Dha 1 - Ni 2
Ri 1 - Ga 3 / Dha 1 - Ni 3
Ri 2 - Ga 2 / Dha 2 - Ni 2
Ri 2 - Ga 3 / Dha 2 - Ni 3
Ri 3 - Ga 3 / Dha 3 - Ni 3
More about Melakartas in my next article. Meantime, if you have any doubts, please feel free to ask me.