Mēḷakarta is a collection
of fundamental ragas
(musical scales) in Carnatic
music (South Indian
classical music). Mēḷakarta
ragas are parent ragas
(hence known as janaka
ragas) from which other
ragas may be generated. A
melakarta raga is
sometimes referred as
mela, karta or sampurna as
well.
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.
Rules for Mēḷakarta
Ragas must contain the
following characteristics to
be considered Melakarta .
They are sampurna ragas
– they contain all seven
swaras (notes) of the
octave in both ascending
and descending scale [1][2]
They are krama
sampurna ragas – that is
the sequence is strictly
ascending and descending
in the scales, without any
jumps or zig-zag notes [2]
The upper shadjam is
included in the raga scale
[2] (ragas like
Punnagavarali and
Chenchurutti are not
mēḷakarta as they end with
nishadam)
The ascending and
descending scales must
have the same notes [2]
↑Jump back a section
History
The mēḷa 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 Venkatamukhi , a
gifted musicologist in the
17th century expounded a
new mela system known
today as mēḷakarta in his
work Chaturdandi
Prakaasikaa . [3] He made
some bold and
controversial claims and
defined somewhat
arbitrarily 6 svaras from
the known 12 semitones, at
that time, to arrive at 72
mēḷakarta ragas. The
controversial parts relate
to double counting of R2
(and similar svaras ) and his
exclusive selection of
madyamas for which there
is no specific reasoning
(also known as asampurna
melas as opposed to
sampurna ragas). However,
today the 72 mēḷakarta
ragas use a standardized
pattern, unlike
Venkatamakhi's pattern,
and have gained a
significant following.
Govindhacharya is credited
with the standardization of
rules and known for giving
different names for
standard ragas that have a
different structure but the
same swaras as those
proposed by Venkatamakhi.
[3] The scales in this page
are those proposed by
Govindaacharya.
↑Jump back a section
Determining the
Mēḷakarta
Main article: Katapayadi
sankhya
A hundred years after
Venkatamakhin's time the
Katapayadi sankhya rule
came to be applied to the
nomenclature of the
mēḷakarta 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 mēḷakarta 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 Mēḷakarta rāga.
of fundamental ragas
(musical scales) in Carnatic
music (South Indian
classical music). Mēḷakarta
ragas are parent ragas
(hence known as janaka
ragas) from which other
ragas may be generated. A
melakarta raga is
sometimes referred as
mela, karta or sampurna as
well.
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.
Rules for Mēḷakarta
Ragas must contain the
following characteristics to
be considered Melakarta .
They are sampurna ragas
– they contain all seven
swaras (notes) of the
octave in both ascending
and descending scale [1][2]
They are krama
sampurna ragas – that is
the sequence is strictly
ascending and descending
in the scales, without any
jumps or zig-zag notes [2]
The upper shadjam is
included in the raga scale
[2] (ragas like
Punnagavarali and
Chenchurutti are not
mēḷakarta as they end with
nishadam)
The ascending and
descending scales must
have the same notes [2]
↑Jump back a section
History
The mēḷa 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 Venkatamukhi , a
gifted musicologist in the
17th century expounded a
new mela system known
today as mēḷakarta in his
work Chaturdandi
Prakaasikaa . [3] He made
some bold and
controversial claims and
defined somewhat
arbitrarily 6 svaras from
the known 12 semitones, at
that time, to arrive at 72
mēḷakarta ragas. The
controversial parts relate
to double counting of R2
(and similar svaras ) and his
exclusive selection of
madyamas for which there
is no specific reasoning
(also known as asampurna
melas as opposed to
sampurna ragas). However,
today the 72 mēḷakarta
ragas use a standardized
pattern, unlike
Venkatamakhi's pattern,
and have gained a
significant following.
Govindhacharya is credited
with the standardization of
rules and known for giving
different names for
standard ragas that have a
different structure but the
same swaras as those
proposed by Venkatamakhi.
[3] The scales in this page
are those proposed by
Govindaacharya.
↑Jump back a section
Determining the
Mēḷakarta
Main article: Katapayadi
sankhya
A hundred years after
Venkatamakhin's time the
Katapayadi sankhya rule
came to be applied to the
nomenclature of the
mēḷakarta 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 mēḷakarta 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 Mēḷakarta rāga.
No comments:
Post a Comment