Melakarta - Definition and Overview

In Carnatic music, a melakarta or melakartha or janaka or sampoorna raga is one that comprises all seven swaras. There are 72 melakarta ragas.

Scale

Each melakarta raga has a different scale. The scales are constructed as follows: out of the twelve semitones of the octave S, R1, R2=G1, R3=G2, G3, M1, M2, P, D1, D2=N1, D3=N2, N3, a melakarta raga must necessarily have S and P, one of the M's, two of the R's and G's, and two of the D's and N's. Also, R must necessarily precede G and D must precede N. This gives 2 × 6 × 6 = 72 melakarta ragas.

A raga which has the same scale as a Melakarta raga (or a subset thereof) is said to be a janya of it (janya means born or derived from). Every raga is the janya of a melakarta raga. Ragas whose notes are found in more than one melakarta raga are assigned janyas based on subjective notions of similarity.

History

The melakarta classification was first expounded by Venkatamakhi in the 17th century. A hundred years later 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 letters (syllables) of the name of a raga, when reversed, give the index of the raga in the list below. Thus the scale of a melakarta raga can be easily derived from its name.

Table of Melakarta ragas

NOTE: Please do not click on the red links below. Audio files with the scales are coming soon.

External links

• The katapayadi sankhya applied to the melakarta ragas (http://members.tripod.com/~RKSanka/music/katapaya.html)
• Explanation of the two melakarta systems (http://www.geocities.com/vasudevanvrv/carnatic/mela.htm)