the figure above represents the chakras of the melakartha scheme...
ill now tell you whats Melakarta all about...
Carnatic music is more conceptual than any other music in the world...
Melakarta is a collection of fundamental ragas (musical scales) in Carnatic music (South Indian classical music). Melakarta ragas are parent ragas (hence known as janaka ragas) from which other ragas may be generated.
In Hindustani music the thaat is equivalent of Melakarta. There are 10 thaats in Hindustani music, though the commonly accepted melakarta scheme has 72 ragas.
A melakarta raga is sometimes referred as mela, karta or sampoorna as well.
Rules for melakarta raagas:
Ragas must contain the following characteristics to be considered Melakarta.
They are sampoorna ragas - they contain all seven swaras (notes) of the octave in both ascending and descending scale.
They are krama sampoorna ragas - that is the sequence is strictly ascending and descending in the scales, without any jumps or zig-zag notes.
The upper shadjam is included in the raga scale [2] (ragas like Punnagavarali and Chenchurutti are not melakarta as they end with nishadham)
The ascending and descending scales must have the same notes.
HOW DID THIS ALL START? History...
The mela system of ragas was first propounded by Raamamaatya in his work Svaramelakalanidhi c. 1550. He is considered the father of mela system of ragas. Later Venkatamakhin expounded in the 17th century in his work Caturdandi Prakaasikaa a new mela system known today as melakarta. He had made some bold and controversial claims and defined somewhat arbitrarily 6 swaras from the known 12 semitones, at that time, to arrive at 72 melakarta ragas. The controversial parts relate to double counting of R2 (and similar swaras) and his exclusive selection of madyamas for which there is no specific reasoning. However, today the 72 melakarta ragas have gained significant following, though to this day this system is being criticized. Venkatamakhin was known to be extremely critical of Raamamaatya.
BEING PROUD INDIANS.. COZ WE WERE THE FIRST TO GIVE THE NUMBER '0'... Aint we a little too Mathematical?.. yes... Carnatic Music is mathematical too!
A hundred years after Venkatamakhin's time the Katapayadi sankhya rule came to be applied to the nomenclature of the melakarta ragas. The sankhya associates Sanskrit consonants with digits. The digits corresponding to the first two syllables of the name of a raga, when reversed, give the index of the raga. Thus the scale of a melakarta raga can be easily derived from its name.
For example, Harikambhoji raga starts with syllables Ha and ri, which have numbers 8 and 2 associated with them. Reversing them we get 28. Hence Harikambhoji is the 28th Melakarta raga.
(ILL POST WHAT KATAPAYAADI FORMULA MEANS IN MY NEXT POST....)
ill now tell you whats Melakarta all about...
Carnatic music is more conceptual than any other music in the world...
Melakarta is a collection of fundamental ragas (musical scales) in Carnatic music (South Indian classical music). Melakarta ragas are parent ragas (hence known as janaka ragas) from which other ragas may be generated.
In Hindustani music the thaat is equivalent of Melakarta. There are 10 thaats in Hindustani music, though the commonly accepted melakarta scheme has 72 ragas.
A melakarta raga is sometimes referred as mela, karta or sampoorna as well.
Rules for melakarta raagas:
Ragas must contain the following characteristics to be considered Melakarta.
They are sampoorna ragas - they contain all seven swaras (notes) of the octave in both ascending and descending scale.
They are krama sampoorna ragas - that is the sequence is strictly ascending and descending in the scales, without any jumps or zig-zag notes.
The upper shadjam is included in the raga scale [2] (ragas like Punnagavarali and Chenchurutti are not melakarta as they end with nishadham)
The ascending and descending scales must have the same notes.
HOW DID THIS ALL START? History...
The mela system of ragas was first propounded by Raamamaatya in his work Svaramelakalanidhi c. 1550. He is considered the father of mela system of ragas. Later Venkatamakhin expounded in the 17th century in his work Caturdandi Prakaasikaa a new mela system known today as melakarta. He had made some bold and controversial claims and defined somewhat arbitrarily 6 swaras from the known 12 semitones, at that time, to arrive at 72 melakarta ragas. The controversial parts relate to double counting of R2 (and similar swaras) and his exclusive selection of madyamas for which there is no specific reasoning. However, today the 72 melakarta ragas have gained significant following, though to this day this system is being criticized. Venkatamakhin was known to be extremely critical of Raamamaatya.
BEING PROUD INDIANS.. COZ WE WERE THE FIRST TO GIVE THE NUMBER '0'... Aint we a little too Mathematical?.. yes... Carnatic Music is mathematical too!
A hundred years after Venkatamakhin's time the Katapayadi sankhya rule came to be applied to the nomenclature of the melakarta ragas. The sankhya associates Sanskrit consonants with digits. The digits corresponding to the first two syllables of the name of a raga, when reversed, give the index of the raga. Thus the scale of a melakarta raga can be easily derived from its name.
For example, Harikambhoji raga starts with syllables Ha and ri, which have numbers 8 and 2 associated with them. Reversing them we get 28. Hence Harikambhoji is the 28th Melakarta raga.
(ILL POST WHAT KATAPAYAADI FORMULA MEANS IN MY NEXT POST....)
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