Ajay Parasuraman

Firstly, apologies to all. After an extremely grueling 3 weeks at work, my zest for writing just flickered back on. Let bygones be that. I have just gotten back from a K.S Gopalakrishnan flute-kutcheri at Rasikapriya, Cochin. The review of that can wait. Possibly, forever

I write this next post as I listen to a Saketh Raman concert very recently downloaded. If you remember right, the last post introduced you to the origins of the two forms, viz a viz, Carnatic and Hindustani. This one will involve the terms involved in both the forms.

You must all be familiar with the Saptaswaras, lit. Seven notes — Sa, Ri, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, and Ni. A raaga is a combination of all or some of the swaras. A raaga will have an aarohana or ascent, and an avarohana or descent. The various combinations of the swaras is what gives each raaga it’s distinct identity. Any song, be it in Carnatic or Hindustani, will have a tune. It is based on the raaga of the song that a tune is composed. Most or all of the terms in Carnatic have their similar sounding counterparts in Hindustani as well.

In Carnatic, a raaga is divided into two — Janaka (or Parent) raaga and Janya (or Child) raaga. A Janaka raaga is also called a Melakartha raaga and will have all the seven notes, in order, in it’s ascent and descent. A Janya raaga is one that has evolved from a Melakartha raaga and, as you must have guessed, will not involve all the seven notes. In other words, a subset of a Melakartha raaga will give you a Janya raaga, and innumerable ‘children’ are possible from any given Melakartha raaga. In Hindustani, the thaat is the equivalent to the Melakartha in Carnatic. However the classifications in each of the forms differ from each other. In Carnatic, there are 72 Melakartha raagas, to Hindustani’s 10 thaats.

The 72 Melakartha raagas each have a number associated with them — this number against a raaga is assigned based on the katapayaadi sankhya. In this nomenclature, 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. The katapayadi sankhya is a simplification of Aryabhatta‘s Sanskrit numerals. The numbers associated with each of the syllables are given below:

कटपयादि संख्या

Note that the name katapayadi comes from the contents of the first row in either of the tables formulated by Aryabhatta. Let’s see if an example simplifies the use of the Table(s) – Take Natakapriya. The first two syllables in the name are Naa and Ta. Going by the table, we get 0 and 1 as the corresponding numbers. Now, taking the reverse, we get 10. Hence, Natakapriya has been given the number 10 in the Melakartha list based on this scheme of numbering. Now, that you’ve learnt how to assign numbers to melakartha raagas, next post will be about the classification of raagas within the list of 72 Melakarthas and also the categorization of different raagas in the Hindustani system.

Hope this has been worth your time. Until next time, cheerio!

Firstly, apologies to all. After an extremely grueling 3 weeks at work, my zest for writing just flickered back on. Let bygones be that. I have just gotten back from a K.S Gopalakrishnan flute-kutcheri at Rasikapriya, Cochin. The review of that can wait. Possibly, forever

I write this next post as I listen to a Saketh Raman concert very recently downloaded. If you remember right, the last post introduced you to the origins of the two forms, viz a viz, Carnatic and Hindustani. This one will involve the terms involved in both the forms.

You must all be familiar with the Saptaswaras, lit. Seven notes — Sa, Ri, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, and Ni. A raaga is a combination of all or some of the swaras. A raaga will have an aarohana or ascent, and an avarohana or descent. The various combinations of the swaras is what gives each raaga it’s distinct identity. Any song, be it in Carnatic or Hindustani, will have a tune. It is based on the raaga of the song that a tune is composed. Most or all of the terms in Carnatic have their similar sounding counterparts in Hindustani as well.

In Carnatic, a raaga is divided into two — Janaka (or Parent) raaga and Janya (or Child) raaga. A Janaka raaga is also called a Melakartha raaga and will have all the seven notes, in order, in it’s ascent and descent. A Janya raaga is one that has evolved from a Melakartha raaga and, as you must have guessed, will not involve all the seven notes. In other words, a subset of a Melakartha raaga will give you a Janya raaga, and innumerable ‘children’ are possible from any given Melakartha raaga. In Hindustani, the thaat is the equivalent to the Melakartha in Carnatic. However the classifications in each of the forms differ from each other. In Carnatic, there are 72 Melakartha raagas, to Hindustani’s 10 thaats.

The 72 Melakartha raagas each have a number associated with them — this number against a raaga is assigned based on the katapayaadi sankhya. In this nomenclature, 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. The katapayadi sankhya is a simplification of Aryabhatta‘s Sanskrit numerals. The numbers associated with each of the syllables are given below:

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Kadi nava

ka

kha

ga

gha

nga

ca

cha

ja

nya

Tadi nava

á¹­a

á¹­ha

ḍa

ḍha

ṇa

ta

tha

da

na

Padi pancha

pa

pha

ba

bha

ma

Yadi ashta

ya

ra

la

va

śha

sha

sa

ha

कटपयादि संख्या

	१	२	३	४	५	६	७	८	९	०
कादि नव	क	ख	ग	घ	ङ	च	छ	ज	झ	ञ
टादि नव	ट	à¤	ड	ढ	ण	त	थ	द	ध	न
पादि पंच	प	फ	ब	भ	म
यादि अष्ट	य	र	ल	व	श	ष	स	ह

Note that the name katapayadi comes from the contents of the first row in either of the tables formulated by Aryabhatta. Let’s see if an example simplifies the use of the Table(s) – Take Natakapriya. The first two syllables in the name are Naa and Ta. Going by the table, we get 0 and 1 as the corresponding numbers. Now, taking the reverse, we get 10. Hence, Natakapriya has been given the number 10 in the Melakartha list based on this scheme of numbering. Now, that you’ve learnt how to assign numbers to melakartha raagas, next post will be about the classification of raagas within the list of 72 Melakarthas.

Hope this has been worth your time. Until next time, cheerio!

Ajay Parasuraman

I know I promised that the next post would be on Ragas but there was a concert review in the pipeline as well. So, this comes before that.

Due to travel issues and budget constraints, I was forced to stay out of T.M Krishna and Sangeetha Sivakumar‘s concert at Narada Gana Sabha. While strolling aimlessly, I chanced upon one other concert which was supposed to be happening at one of the closest venues from my home – one of Sudha Raghunathan(more likely to be identified with this song), which was held as a part of the 75th Avatara Mahotsavam of Sri Sri Jayendra Saraswathi Swamigal at Krishna Gana Sabha on 19th July 2010. The audience — with grey-haired men and women all around, I was probably the only one who brought down the average age of people present there, which was about 55 — were made to wait for about half-an-hour from the scheduled start during which the chief guest, Sri Sri Jayendra Swamigal, made his way through to the stage amidst loud chants of ‘Jaya Jaya Shankara, Hara Hara Shankara’ and variations of the same.

The mini-concert (as it wasn’t an actual full-fledged concert as such) started off with a piece popularized by M.S Subbulakshmi in her times — a shloka on Dakshinamoorthy. Then, she sang the very popular Muthuswamy Dikshithar kriti Vatapi in the Raga Hamsadhwani. The song as you know is in praise of Lord Ganesha and usually, it sets the pace for the rest of the concert to follow. Blame it on the audio system or the constantly murmuring crowd, the performance didn’t live up to expectations. Sudha lacked her usual ferocity as she delivered the sangatis with effort. Her usually vibrant voice refused to abide by her wishes. I frankly felt like the adjudicator at one of the High School Carnatic competitions.

Then she started off singing the anupallavi of the Thyagaraja composition Mokshamu Galadha in the Raga Saramati — Now, I’m opposed to such antics as singing the composition from the last and moving on to the start of it. Picture a composition in praise of Rama that starts off with Hanuman landing in Lanka and ends with Rama’s Pattabhishekam. How would it be if one sung the Pattabhishekam first and then of Sita being held captive in Lanka. The entire intended meaning of a song is reversed. In any case, I’ll let that one go by for now.

The mini-concert took a ‘mini’ break for an hour or so, and we were treated to a very enlightening discourse by Kanchi Periyavaa himself! The concert resumed as soon as the related festivities were done with. The second-half, so to say, began with Mamavatu Sri Saraswati in the Raga Hindolam. Then, the evergreen song extremely popular at Navaratri concerts, Annapoorne Visalakshi in the Raga Sama was sung.

On the whole, we were treated to a lacklustre and mediocre performance from someone whose reputation ranks among the highest in their field. Sudha’s voice lacked the usual tenacity of sangati delivery and effortless brigas. The Chennai kutcheri crowd are among the most demanding and ardent rasikas there are. Did Sudha satisfy their palates? I don’t think so.

I know I promised that the next post would be on Ragas but there was a concert review in the pipeline as well. So, this comes before that.

Due to travel issues and budget constraints, I was forced to stay out of T.M Krishna and Sangeetha Sivakumar’s concert at Narada Gana Sabha. While strolling aimlessly, I chanced upon one other concert which was supposed to be happening at one of the closest venues from my home.

Ajay Parasuraman

Indian Classical Music is broadly divided into two forms — Carnatic and Hindustani, both respectively popular in South and North India. Both forms share their origins to the Sama Veda — if you get a chance to attend a ritual done in the Sama Veda tradition, do listen to the pattern of flow of its hymns. Very musical!

However, the credit for the ‘invention’ of Carnatic Music, as we hear it now, goes to Purandara Dasa — hence, it is Purandara Dasa who has been referred to, widely, as being the ‘Father of Carnatic Music’. The history of the Hindustani form of rendering dates back to the period of The Elamites in Persia — around 800 BC. Purandara Dasa has influenced Hindustani music as well — the foremost and arguably the most famous proponent of Hindustani music and court musician of Akbar the Great, Tansen‘s guru Haridas Swami was a student of Purandara Dasa! On a slightly different although relevant note, Alexander the Great apparently raided his victims’ palace not only of jewels and the like,but also of Ancient Persian musical instruments, which played key roles in religious affairs of the time.

The most important text on music is Bharata Muni’s Natya Shaastra. Written circa 3rd century CE, the work deals extensively with music, dance, drama and also each of the emotional responses that the mind produces viz. a viz., the Nava Rasa’s ( lit. the Nine expressions)

All the technicalities — definitions of ‘raaga/raag‘, ‘taala/taal‘ etc — shall be taken care of in the forthcoming posts. This write-up was just to give you a very basic idea of the respective origins of the two branches. Little by little, we shall try and cover the entire spectrum of music (though, as they say, music is endless!).

Next post shall be about what a Raag/Raga is, different forms of compositions in each form — Varnam, Geetham etc in Carnatic. Dhrupad, Khayal etc in Hindustani. So, keep watching this space for more!

Here is announcing the launch of another segment, something we have wanted to start for a long long time, covering various aspects of Indian classical music. We were missing a person qualified enough to write for us. Now we have found him, and we shall let him do his and the section’s intro for you.

Hello world,

My name is Ajay Parasuraman and I’m the answer to this variegated site not having a segment on Indian Classical Music.

First things first, a bit about self : I’ve been learning Carnatic Music for about 15 years now, under the tutelage of several great names in the field — some of them are, Late Sri. Mavelikkara Prabhakara Varma and Sri. Kumara Kerala Varma (a student of Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer). Currently I learn under Padmabhushan P.S Narayanaswamy (student of Semmangudi, again). It has been my privilege to have been associated with such great names.

I started learning Hindustani Music from my mother about 3 years ago. My mother is a student of Sri. Ramesh Narayan (student of Pandit Jasraj)  and Sri. Mohan Kumar, who would surely feature among the Top 10 in the who’s who of Hindustani Music list.

This section of the site will, initially, explore Classical Music from a bird’s eye point of view before diving into it’s deepest depths — the Davy Jones’ Locker, so to say. It will not be an overload of theory, as such — I hope to be reviewing here, some of the Concerts that I will be attending. Do voice your opinion as comments to the same!

I will try and be regular as much as possible with my posts. I hope this section of the site proves to be an informative and at the same time, entertaining read.

Thanks for your time!