Swara

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The notes, or swaras, of Indian music are shadja, rishabh, gandhar, madhyam, pancham, dhaivat and nishad. Collectively these notes are known as the sargam. In singing, these become Sa, Ri (Carnatic) or Re (Hindustani), Ga, Ma, Pa, Da (Carnatic) or Dha (Hindustani), and Ni. (The word sargam takes the consonants of the first four swaras). Only these syllables are sung, and further designations are never vocalized. When writing these become, S, R, G, M, P, D, N. A dot above a letter indicates that the note is sung one octave higher, and a dot below indicating one octave lower. If a swara is not natural (shuddha), a line below a letter will indicate it is flat (komal), and an acute accent above a letter will indicate that it is sharp (tivra or tivar). In some notation systems, the distinction is made with capital and lowercase letters. R, G, D, and N may be either shuddha or komal; M may be either shuddha or tivra. Sa and Pa are immovable (once Sa is selected), forming a just perfect fifth

Perfect fifth

The perfect fifth is the musical interval between a note and the note seven semitones above it on the musical scale. For example, the note G lies a perfect fifth above C; D is a perfect fifth above G, C is a perfect fifth above F, and so on....
.

Sargam is the Hindustani (North Indian) and Carnatic

Carnatic music

Carnatic music is a system of music commonly associated with the southern part of the Indian subcontinent, with its area roughly confined to four modern states of India: Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu....
(South Indian) equivalent to the western solfege

Solfege

In music, solf?ge is a pedagogical solmization technique for the teaching of sight-singing in which each note of the score is sung to a special syllable, called a solf?ge syllable ....
, a technique for the teaching of sight-singing. Sargam is practiced against a drone

Drone (music)

In music, a drone is a harmony or monophony effect or accompaniment where a note or chord is continuously sounded throughout much or all of a piece, sustain or repetition , and most often establishing a tonality upon which the rest of the piece is built....
and the emphasis is not on the scale but on the interval

Interval (music)

In music theory, the term interval describes the relationship between the pitch of two notes.Intervals may be described as:*vertical if the two notes sound simultaneously...
s, thus it may be considered just intonation

Just intonation

In music, just intonation is any musical tuning in which the frequency of notes are related by ratios of whole numbers. Any interval tuned in this way is called a just interval; in other words, the two notes are members of the same harmonic series ....
.

In certain forms of Indian classical music and qawwali

Qawwali

Qawwali is a form of Sufi devotional music popular in South Asia, particularly in areas with a historically strong Muslim presence, such as southern Pakistan, and parts of India....
, when a rapid 16th note sequence of the same note is sung, different syllables may be used in a certain sequence to make the whole easier to pronounce. For example, instead of "sa-sa-sa-sa-sa-sa-sa-sa" said very quickly, it might be "sa-da-da-li-sa-da-da-li" which lends itself more to a quick and light tongue movement.

Classification of swaras

Although the sargam contains only seven kinds of notes, five of them (R, G, M, D and N) may designate up to two different pitches. The notes S and P, however, are fixed. The basic mode of reference is that which is equivalent to the Western Ionian mode

Ionian mode

The Ionian mode is a musical mode of diatonic scale. It was part of the music theory of ancient Greece, and was based around the relative natural scale in C ....
(this is called Bilawal
Bilawal

Bilawal is the basic thaat in Hindustani classical music. It is equivalent to the Western Ionian mode and contains the notes S R G m P D N S' ....
thaat
Thaat

A thaat is a musical mode in Hindustani music. Thaats always have seven different pitches and are the basis for the organization and classification of ragas in North Indian classical music....
in Hindustani music). All relationships between pitches follow from this basic arrangement of intervals. In any given seven-tone mode (starting with S), R, G, D, and N can be natural

Natural sign

In musical notation, a natural sign is an accidental sign used to cancel a Flat or Sharp from either a preceding note or the key signature....
(shuddha, lit. 'pure') or flat (komal, 'soft') but never sharp, and the M can be natural or sharp

Sharp (music)

In music, sharp means higher in pitch. More specifically, in musical notation, sharp means "higher in pitch by a semitone ," and has an associated symbol , which is often confused with the number sign ....
(tivra) but never flat, making up the twelve notes in the Western equal tempered chromatic scale

Chromatic scale

The chromatic scale is a musical scale with twelve Pitch es, each a semitone or half step apart. "A chromatic scale is a diatonic scale consisting entirely of half-step interval ," having, "no tonic ," due to the symmetry or equal spacing of its tones....
(but without Western pitch equivalencies like, for example, A# and Bb). When abbreviating these tones, the form of the note which is relatively lower in pitch always uses a lowercase letter, while the form which is higher in pitch uses an uppercase letter. So komal Re/Ri uses the letter r and shuddha Re/Ri, the letter R, but shuddha Ma uses m because it has a raised form-tivra Ma-which uses the letter M. Sa and Pa are always abbreviated as S and P, respectively, since they cannot be altered. If a note with the same name-Sa, for example-is an octave higher than the note represented by S, an apostrophe is placed to the right: S'. If it is an octave lower, the apostrophe is placed to the left: 'S. Apostrophes can be added as necessary to indicate the octave: for example, ``g would be the note komal Ga in the octave two octaves below that which begins on the note S (that is, two octaves below g). (In some cases, rather than apostrophes, a dot above the note is used to indicate upper octave and a dot below lower octave. In addition, sometimes upper- and lowercase letters are replaced with accent marks or lines above or below the letter indicating komal and tivra). The chart below assumes Sa to be at C, although the tone Sa is not associated with any particular pitch as it can be interchangeable. As in Western moveable-Do solfege, Sa refers to the tonic of a piece or scale rather than to any particular pitch.

Full form (Carnatic)	Abbreviated form (Carnatic)	Full form (Hindustani)	Abbreviated form (Hindustani)	Western
Shadjam	Sa	Shadj	Sa	C
Shuddha Madhyama	Shuddha Ma	Shuddha Madhyama	Ma	F
Prati Madhyama	Prati Ma	Tivra Madhyama	M'a	F#
Panchama	Pa	Panchama	Pa	G

Swaras in Carnatic music

The swaras in Carnatic music are slightly different in the 12 note system. There are 3 types each of Rishabha, Gandhara

Gandhar (music)

Gandhar is the third full note in the Indian classical music system. Like Western classical music, Indian classical music divides the octave into 12 semitones of which the 7 basic notes are Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni Sa, in order, replacing Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do....
, Dhaivatha and Nishadha. There are 2 types of Madhyama, while Panchama and Shadja are invariant.

Position	Swara	Short name	Notation	Mnemonic
1	Shadja	Sa	S	sa
2	Shuddha Rishabha	Ri	R1	ra
3	Chathusruthi Rishabha	Ri	R2	ri
3	Shuddha Gandhara	Ga	G1	ga
4	Shatsruthi Rishabha	Ri	R3	ru
4	Sadharana Gandhara	Ga	G2	gi
5	Anthara Gandhara	Ga	G3	gu
6	Shuddha Madhyama	Ma	M1	ma
7	Prati Madhyama	Ma	M2	mi
8	Panchama	Pa	P	pa
9	Shuddha Dhaivatha	Dha	D1	dha
10	Chathusruthi Dhaivatha	Dha	D2	dhi
10	Shuddha Nishadha	Ni	N1	na
11	Shatsruthi Dhaivatha	Dha	D3	dhu
11	Kaisiki Nishadha	Ni	N2	ni
12	Kakali Nishadha	Ni	N3	nu

As you can see above, Chathusruthi Rishabha and Shuddha Gandhara share the same pitch (3rd key/ position). Hence if C is chosen as Shadja, D would be both Chathusruthi Rishabha and Shuddha Gandhara. Hence they will not occur in same raga together. Similarly for two swaras each at notes 4, 10 and 11.

What The Swaras Mean

Each shuddha swara (i.e., Sa, Re/Ri, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha/Da, and Ni) is traditionally held to have originated in the sound of a different animal, and some have additional meanings of their own. Also, each swara is associated with one of the seven chakra

Chakra

Chakra is a Sanskrit word that translates as wheel or disc.Chakra is a concept referring to wheel-like vortices which, according to traditional Indian medicine, are believed to exist in the surface of the etheric double of man....
s of the body. Just as the swaras ascend through the saptak

Saptak

Saptak means "gamut" or "the series of seven notes". It denotes the set of swaras, Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni which comprise a musical scale in Indian classical music....
, so they are mapped onto the chakras in the body in ascending order. Komal notes are associated with the left side of each chakra; the left channel, Ida Nadi

Nadi (yoga)

are the channels through which, in traditional Indian medicine and spiritual science, the energies of the subtle body are said to flow. They connect at special points of intensity called chakras....
, is the side of emotion and intuition. Shuddha and tivra notes are associated with the right side; the right channel, Pingala Nadi

Nadi (yoga)

Raga

Raga refers to musical mode used in Indian classical music. It is a series of five or more musical notes upon which a melody is made. In the Indian musical tradition, ragas are associated with different times of the day, or with seasons....
s, therefore, have more or less of an effect on a given chakra depending on the notes they contain.

Swara	Expansion	Meaning	Animal	Chakra	God
Sa	Shadja	Sagar	peacock	muladhara ??????? (anus Anus The anus is an opening at the opposite end of an animal's digestive tract from the mouth. Its function is to expel feces, unwanted semi-solid matter produced during digestion, which, depending on the type of animal, may be one or more of: matter which the animal cannot digest, such as coprolite ; food material after all the nutrients have b... )	Brahman
Re	Rishabha	bull	bull Cattle Cattle, colloquially referred to as cows, are domestication ungulates, a member of the subfamily Bovinae of the family Bovidae. They are raised as livestock for meat , dairy products , leather and as draft animals .... /skylark Skylark The Skylark is a small passerine bird species. This lark breeds across most of Europe and Asia and in the mountains of north Africa. It is mainly resident in the west of its range, but eastern populations are more bird migration, moving further south in winter....	??????????? (genitals)	Agni
Ga	Gandhara (????????)	Gagan	goat Goat The domestic goat is a subspecies of goat domesticated from the wild goat of southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the Bovidae family and is closely related to the sheep: both are in the goat-antelope subfamily Caprinae....	?????? (solar plexus and stomach Stomach In most mammals, the stomach is a hollow muscular organ of the gastrointestinal tract involved in the second phase of digestion, following mastication.... )	Rudra (Shiva)
Ma	Madhyama	middle	dove Dove Pigeons and doves constitute the family Columbidae within the order Columbiformes, which include some 300 species of near passerine Aves.... /heron Heron The herons are wading birds in the Ardeidae family. Some are called egrets or bitterns instead of herons.Within the family, all members of the genera Botaurus and Ixobrychus are referred to as bitterns, and - including the Zigzag Heron or Zigzag Bittern - are a monophyletic group within the Ardeidae....	anahata ????? (heart Heart The heart is a muscle organ in all vertebrates responsible for pumping blood through the blood vessels by repeated, rhythmic contractions, or a similar structure in annelids, mollusks, and arthropods.... and lung Lung The lung is the essential respiration organ in air-breathing animals, including most tetrapods, a few fish and a few snails. In mammals and the more complex life forms, the two lungs are located in the chest on either side of the heart.... s)	Vishnu
Pa	Panchama	fifth	cuckoo Cuckoo The cuckoos are a family, Cuculidae, of near passerine birds. The order Cuculiformes, in addition to the cuckoos, also includes the turacos .... /nightingale Nightingale The Nightingale , also known as Rufous and Common Nightingale, is a small passerine bird that was formerly classed as a member of the Thrush family Turdidae, but is now more generally considered to be an Old World flycatcher, Muscicapidae....	visuddha ??????? (throat Throat In anatomy, the throat is the anterior part of the neck, in front of the vertebrae. It consists of the pharynx and larynx. An important feature of the throat is the epiglottis, a flap which separates the esophagus from the vertebrate trachea and prevents inhalation of food or drink.... )	Naarada
Dha	Dhaivata	Dharti	horse Horse The horse is a hoofed mammal, a subspecies of one of seven extant species of the family Equidae. The horse has evolution of the horse over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, odd-toed ungulate animal of today....	ajña ????? (third eye Third eye The third eye is a mysticism and esotericism concept referring in part to the ajna chakra in certain Eastern and Western spiritual traditions.... )	Ganesha
Ni	Nishada	outcast Outcast An Outcast is a person with a social stigmaOutcast may also refer to:In literature:*... /hunter	elephant Elephant Elephants are large land mammals of the order Proboscidea and the family Elephantidae. There are three living species: the African Bush Elephant, the African Forest Elephant and the Asian Elephant ....	sahasrara ??????? (crown of the head)	Surya(Sun)

External links

Article on vivadi swaras, by Haresh Bakshi

Swara

Classification of swaras

Swaras in Carnatic music

What The Swaras Mean

Further reading

External links

See also