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Svara
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This article is about a concept in Indian classical music. For other uses, see Swara (disambiguation).

Swara(Hindi वर), also spelled swara, is a Sanskritword that connotes Indian classical music
a note in the successive steps of the octave. More comprehensively, it Carnatic musicHindustani music
is the ancient Indian concept about the complete dimension of musical Concepts
pitch.[1][2] ShrutiSwaraAlankarRagaRasaTala
SangitaVadya
The swara differs from the shruti concept in Indian music. A shruti is
VTE
the smallest gradation of pitch that a human ear can detect and a
singer or instrument can produce.[3] A swara is the
selected pitches from which the musician constructs the scales, melodies and ragas. The ancient Sanskrit text Natya
Shastraidentifies and discusses twenty two shruti and seven swara.[3] The swara studies in ancient Sanskrit texts
include the musical gamut and its tuning, categories of melodic models and the raga compositions.[4]

The seven notes of the musical scale in Indian classical music are shadja (ष ज), rishabh (ऋषभ), gandhar (गा धार),
madhyam (म यम), pancham (प चम), dhaivat (धैवत) and nishad ( नषाद). These seven swaras are shortened to Sa,
Ri (Carnatic) or Re (Hindustani), Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, and Ni.[5] Collectively these notes are known as the sargam (the
word is an acronym of the consonants of the first four swaras). Sargam is the Indian equivalent to solfege, a
technique for the teaching of sight-singing. The tone Sa is, as in Western moveable-Do solfège, the tonic of a piece
or scale.[5]

Contents [hide]
1 Origins
2 Solfege
3 Notation and practice
3.1 Swaras in Carnatic music
4 See also
5 Further reading
6 References
6.1 Bibliography
7 External links

Origins [ edit ]

The word swara (Sanskrit: वर) is derived from the root svr which means "to sound".[6]

The word is found in the Vedic literature, particularly the Samaveda, where it means accent and tone, or a musical
note, depending on the context. The discussion there focusses on three accent pitch or levels: svarita(sounded,
circumflex normal), udatta (high, raised) and anudatta (low, not raised). However, scholars question whether the
singing of hymns and chants were always limited to three during the Vedic era.[6][7] The word also appears in other
texts. For example, it appears in Jaiminiya Upanishad Brahmana section 111.33, where the cyclic rise and setting of
sun and world, is referred to as "the music of spheres", and the sun is stated to be "humming the wheel of the

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world".[8] According to Ananda Coomaraswamy, the roots "svar, meaning "to shine" (whence surya or sun), and svr,
meaning "to sound or resound" (whence swara, “musical note”) and also in some contexts "to shine", are all related
in the ancient Indian imagination.[8][9]

The swara concept is found in Chapter 28 of the ancient Natya Shastra, estimated to have been completed between
200 BCE to 200 CE.[10] It calls the unit of tonal measurement or audible unit as Śhruti,[11]with verse 28.21
introducing the musical scale as follows,[12][13]

त वराः –
ष ज च ऋषभ चैव गा धारो म यम तथा ।
प चमो धैवत चैव स तमोऽथ नषादवान ् ॥ २१॥
— Natya Shastra, 28.21[14][10]

These seven swaras are shared by both major ragasystems of Indian classical music, that is the North Indian
(Hindustani) and South Indian (Carnatic).[5]

In the general sense swara means tone, and applies to chanting and singing. The basic swaras of Vedic chanting are
udatta, anudatta and svarita. The musical octave is said to have evolved from the elaborate and elongated chants of
Sama Veda, based on these basic swaras.[15] Siksha is the subject that deals with phonetics and pronunciation.
Naradiya Siksha elaborately discusses the nature of swaras, both Vedic chants and the octave.

Solfege [ edit ]

The solfege (sargam) is learnt in abbreviated form of swara: sa, ri (Carnatic) or re (Hindustani), ga, ma, pa, dha, ni,
sa. Of these, the first that is "sa", and the fifth that is "pa", are considered anchors that are unalterable, while the
remaining have flavors that differs between the two major systems.[5]

Svara in North Indian system of raga[16][17]

Svara Ṣhaḍja Ṛiṣhabha Gāndhāra Madhyama Pañchama Dhaivata Niṣhāda
(Long) (ष ज) (ऋषभ) (गा धार) (म यम) (प चम) (धैवत) ( नषाद)
Svara Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni
(Short) (सा) (रे ) (ग) (म) (प) (ध) ( न)
E♭ (komal F (shuddha A♭ (komal
12 Varieties D♭ (komal re), ga), ma), dha), B♭(komal ni),
C (shadja) G (panchama)
(names) D (shuddha re) E (shuddha F♯ (teevra A (shuddha B (shuddha ni)
ga) ma) dha)

( ) Svara in South Indian system of raga[17]

Svara Ṣaḍja Ṛṣabha Gāndhāra Madhyama Pañcama Dhaivata Niṣāda

(Long) (ष ज) (ऋषभ) (गा धार) (म यम) (प चम) (धैवत) ( नषाद)
Svara Sa Ri Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni
(Short) (सा) (र ) (ग) (म) (प) (ध) ( न)
D♭(suddha A♭(suddha
E♭(sadharana
ri), F♯ (prati dha),
ga), B♭(kaisiki ni),
16 Varieties D♯(satsruti ma), A♯(satsruti
C (sadja) E (suddha G (pancama) B (suddha ni),
(names) ri), F♮ (suddha dha),
ga), B♮(kakali ni)
D♮(catussruti E♮ (antara ga) ma) A♮(catussruti
ri) dha)

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Notation and practice [ edit ]

A dot above a letter indicates that the note is sung one octave higher, and a
dot below indicates one octave lower. Komal notes are indicated by an Through swara,

underscore, and the tívra Ma has a line on top which can be vertical or Isvara (god) is realized.

horizontal. {Or, if a note with the same name - Sa, for example - is an octave —A proverb among Indian musicians

higher than the note represented by S, an apostrophe is placed to the right: Translator: Guy Beck[18]

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).}

The basic mode of reference is that which is equivalent to the Western Ionian mode or major scale
(called Bilawal thaat in Hindustani music, Dheerasankarabharanam in Carnatic). All relationships between pitches
follow from this. In any seven-tone mode (starting with S), R, G, D, and N can be natural(shuddha, lit. 'pure')
or flat (komal, 'soft') but never sharp, and the M can be natural or sharp (teevra) but never flat, making twelve notes
as in the Western chromatic scale. If a swara is not natural (shuddha), a line below a letter indicates that it is flat
(komal) and an acute accent above indicates that it is sharp (teevra, 'intense'). Sa and Pa are immovable (once Sa is
selected), forming a just perfect fifth.

In some notation systems, the distinction is made with capital and lowercase letters. 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 - teevra Ma - which uses the letter M. Sa and Pa are always abbreviated as S
and P, respectively, since they cannot be altered.

The chart below assumes Sa to be at C.

Full form Abbreviated form Full form Abbreviated form Western (when C is
(Carnatic) (Carnatic) (Hindustani) (Hindustani) the tonic)
Ṣaḍja Sa Ṣaḍja Sa C
Shuddha Shuddha
Shuddha Ma Ma F
Madhyama Madhyama
Prati Teevra
Prati Ma M'a F#
Madhyama Madhyama
Panchama Pa Panchama Pa G

Swaras in Carnatic music [ edit ]

The swaras in Carnatic music are slightly different in the twelve-note system. There are three types each of
Rishabha, Gandhara, Dhaivata and Nishada. There are two types of Madhyama, while Pancham and Shadja are
invariant. In Carnatic Music, swaras have prakruti and vikruti swaras. The vikruti swaras are Ri, Ga, Ma, Da and Ni.
The rest -- Sa and Pa -- are prakruti swaras.

Position Swara ( वर) Short name Notation Mnemonic[19] # of half steps from Sa
1 Ṣhaḍja Sa S sa 0
2 Shuddha Rishabha Ri R1 ra[19] 1
3 Chatushruti Rishabha Ri R2 ri[19] 2
3 Shuddha Gandhara Ga G1 ga[19] 2
4 Shatshruti Rishabha Ri R3 ru[19] 3
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4 Sadharana Gandhara Ga G2 gi[19] 3

5 Antara Gandhara Ga G3 gu[19] 4
6 Shuddha Madhyama Ma M1 ma[19] 5
7 Prati Madhyama Ma M2 mi[19] 6
8 Pancham Pa P pa[19] 7
9 Shuddha Dhaivata Dha D1 dha[19] 8
10 Chatushruti Dhaivata Dha D2 dhi[19] 9
10 Shuddha Nishada Ni N1 na[19] 9
11 Shatshruti Dhaivata Dha D3 dhu[19] 10
11 Kaisiki Nishada Ni N2 ni[19] 10
12 Kakali Nishada Ni N3 nu[19] 11

As you can see above, Chatushruti Rishabha and Shuddha Gandhara share the same pitch (3rd key/position).
Hence if C is chosen as Shadja, D would be both Chatushruti Rishabha and Shuddha Gandhara. Hence they will not
occur in same raga together. Similarly for two swaras each at notes 4, 10 and 11.[20]

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