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While speaking about Musical Instruments in this chapter and also in subsequent chapters, we will be obliged to refer to some technical aspects of Music or use technical terms. Without going deep into the Theory of Indian Music we may give some idea about the fundamental concepts of it so that the further discussion on the topic on hand can be put in the proper perspective. 2.14.1 Nada The basic material of music is sound. The sound is common to both speech and music. Nada literally means sound but the term, used in the context of music, refers to musical sound. In other words, Nada is the sound produced through vocal cord or an instrument, with the deliberate intention of producing music. The process of production of Nada is given a philosophical touch in the traditional texts. At first the desire to produce music occurs in the 'Atma' or the soul. The Atma stimulates 'manas' the mind, which in turn activates the fire in the human body, said to be residing in the Brahmagranthi (the region behind the naval). The fire reacts with the prana, the vital air and rises through the five regions - the nabhi (naval), hrt (heart), kantha (throat), sira (head) and finally the Asya or the face before emerging out as a musical sound. So says Tyagaraja, the saint composer of South Indian Music, in his composition"Sobillu Sapta svara Sundarula Bhajimpave Manasa" as the sound emerging from "Nabi-hrtkantha-rasana nasadulayandu".

53 For the production of good music one must concentrate on the Nada and worship it (Nadopasana). To go one step further Nada is equated with the absolute reality and is called Nada Brahman. 2.14.2 Sthayi Sthayi is the range of Nada that can normally be traversed by a human voice. It can roughly be equated to an octave. Generally three sthayis are marked out as suitable for creations of musical structures and these three sthayis are mandra (low), madhya (middle) and tara (high). Sounds in one sthayi though differing in pitch with those of other sthayis exhibit some similarity. Any particular sound in a sthayi has a similar sound in another, which double the pitch of its counterpart. Thus all sounds in mandra sthayi have a corresponding sound in madhya sthayi which when doubled give similar sounds in the Tara sthayi. The term sthayi has a synonym in sthana, meaning place. The three sthanas mandra, madhya and tara arise from the three sthanas or places namely, hrt (heart), kantha (throat) and murdha (region behind the nose or the region of the head) respectively. 2.14.3 Svara Svara is the unit of a melodic tone. Svaras when combined aesthetically give rise to a melodic pattern. The number of svaras that exist in a sthayi is seven. The seven svaras are assigned names, which denote their positions in the ascending order of the pitch. They are referred to their abbreviated forms.

Svaras Abbreviations Sadja sa Rsabha ri ga 54 Gandhara Madhyama Pancama Dhaivata Nisada ma 嘟� 嘟� 嘟� 嗉嬥綄 pa da The seven svaras can be articulated in all the three sthayis but they are not assigned separate names. We simply call them Sadja, mandra sthayi rsabha and so on. 2.14.4 Svarasthanas The operational areas of the different svaras are not always the same. In fact, it is the variety in the dimension of the svaras that is one of the factors in bringing about the different melodies. For instance there are two rsabhas called suddha rsabha and catuhsruti rsabha respectively. These are called svarasthanas. Among the seven svaras, all expect Sadja and Pancama have two varieties each. They are Svarasthanas 1 234567 8 9 10 11 12 Svara (sa) Sadja (ra) Suddha rsabha (ri/ga) Catuhsruti rsabha (gi/ru) Sadharanna Gandhara (gu) Antara Gandhara (ma) Suddha Madhyama (mi) Prati Madhyama (pa) Pancama (dha) Suddha Dhaivata (dhi/na) Catuhsruti Dhaivata (ni/dhu) Kaisiki Nisada (nu) Kakali Nisada

55 2.14.5 Sruti Sruti, in the context of South Indian Music, refers to the pitch level on which a singer or an instrument player settles his Madhya sthayi Sadja. A singer fixes his madhya sthayi Sadja at a pitch from which he can traverse comfortably up to the descending Pancama and to the ascending Pancama. To keep the mandra sthayi Sadja from shifting of the sruti, musicians seek the assistance of a musical instrument called sruti box that constantly sounds the basic notes. One may also use a Tambura for the same purpose. 2.14.6 Vadi, Samvadi, Vivadi and Anuvadi A piece of music is a structure built up of svaras. Of these some are vital to the melodic arrangement. They occur again and again and the whole structure appears to be built around them. They are vadisvaras. Some of the svaras will strike a concordance with the vadi svaras while some others may have discordant relationship with them. The corresponding concordant notes are called Samvadi svaras while the discordant ones are called Vivadi svaras. There are certain other svaras, which are neither concordant nor discordant with respect to the vadis. They are called Anuvadis. Some examples can be given. Vadi Samvadi Sadja Pancama Vadi Vivadi Suddha rsabha Suddha Gandhara Vadi Sadja Anuvadi Catuhsruti rsabha

56 2.14.7 Raga Raga is the basis on which melody is constructed in Indian Music. It furnishes the basic material for weaving all melodic structures with respect to a composition or the rendering of a melodic pattern in an imaginative way. There could be several songs in the same raga but each one will have a different pattern depending upon the sequence in which the svaras of the raga are arranged. Each raga has a set pattern of svaras that is different from another raga. A raga may require generally, a minimum of 5 svaras, the maximum, of course, being 7. For example, Mohana raga has only 5 svaras, namely Sadja, Catuhsruti rsabha, Antara Gandhara, Pancama and Catuhsruti Dhaivata, while Sankharabharana has seven notes namely, Sadja, Catuhsruti rsabha, Antara Gandhara, Suddha Madhyama, Pancama, Catuhsruti Dhaivata and Kakali Nisada. 2.14.8 Raga Classification: The ragas may be classified in more than one way depending upon the criterion of classification. One Classification is Janaka raga (parent raga) and Janya raga (derived raga). The janaka raga will have all the seven svaras both in the ascending mode and descending mode and they will be in the same order. The Janya raga will have combination of same svaras as its Janaka raga but not perhaps all of them or in the same order. Thus, while Sankarabharana, the janaka raga has the svaras Sa, ri, gu, ma, pa, dhi, nu and sa in the ascending note, its Janya raga Arabhi, does not have 'gu', 'nu' in its ascending mode though it has all the seven svaras of its Janaka in its descending mode.

57 The Janaka ragas are also called as Melakarta ragas. There are 72 Melakarta ragas based on the permutation and combination of the 12 svara sthanas. Thus, among the first six melakarta ragas, the first five 5 svaras remain common - sa, ra, ga, ma, pa while the last two svaras have combinations of (i) dha, na (ii) dha, ni (iii) dha, nu (iv) dhi, ni (v) dhi, nu and (vi) dhu, nu. The six ragas are named as Kanakangi, Ratnangi, Ganamurti, Vanaspati, Manavati and Tanarupi respectively.