What is the indian 22 shrutis systems? What are the swaras of a rāga? This chapter explains these two concepts.
A base scale of 7 notes
Indian classical music systems are using a scale built from 7 notes. These notes and their abbreviated names, commonly used in sargam (when singing notes) are:
- Shadja / Sa The mother of all notes
- Rishabh / Re
- Gandhar / Ga
- Madhyam / Ma
- Pancham / Pa
- Dhaivat / Dha
- Nishad / Ni
A scale of 12 notes
In both Hindustani and Carnatic classical music, the two shrutis Sa and Pa are achala (immovable), they will always stay shuddha (natural).
The other 5 notes are chala (movable) : Re, Ga, Ma, Dha, Ni.
Re, Ga, Dha, Ni can be either, from low pitch to high pitch:
- komal: flat
- shuddha: natural
We will write these 4 notes in lowercase when they are komal, and in Bhatkhande notation with a line under the notes:
R G D N
For Ma, it can be either, from low pitch to high pitch:
- shuddha: natural
- teevra: sharp
Ma can be teevra, but it cannot be komal. We will write it in lowercase when it is teevra, and in Bhatkhande notation with a vertical line above it:
M
So, the total of notes is now 7 + 4 + 1 = 12.
Here is the full scale, from low to high Sa:
sRrGgmMpDdNnsu
In textual form, the altered version of Re, Ga, Ma, Dha, Ni are written in lower case, either komal or teevra.
Note: The Wikipedia svaraH ascii notation uses ‘m’ for Shuddh Ma and ‘M’ for Ma Teevra.
A full scale of 22 shrutis
In addition, komal notes can have two flavours (for Re Ga Dha Ni):
- Ati Komal: very flat
- Komal: flat
In addition, shuddh notes can have two flavours (for Re Ga Ma Dha Ni):
- Shuddha: natural
- Teevra Shuddh: sharper than natural (Teevra Shuddh X means Higher version of Shuddh X, it doesn’t means Teevra).
In addition, teevra notes can have two flavours (for Ma):
- Teevra: sharp
- Teevratama: very sharp
As you can see, each of these 5 notes has 4 shrutis possible.
At last, this is forming a full scale of 22 shrutis (2 + 5 * 4 = 22), with precise fractions, mathematically accurate and musically pleasant and divine. These 22 Shrutis are not theoretical postulates, but solid musical facts that provide the foundation of Indian music, and have been used for centuries. Many of these notes are known and used since more than 2000 years is several cultures, from Babyloniens, to Greeks, and closer to us, some musical systems used in europe before the generalisation of 12 equal tones temperament.
From these 22 shrutis, rāgas will be built, by extracting notes. For each rāga, the selected shrutis will become the swaras of the rāga. We will say shrutis for the possible notes present in the music system, and swaras for the selected notes of a rāga.
For Hindustani Classical music or Carnatic Music, 22 shrutis are nearly the same. Although, they do not have the same names, and they are not all used in both systems.
Each shruti is assigned a sargam, which identifies its place in the list of 22 shrutis. The same sargams are used for Hindustani and Carnatic classical music, but the shrutis have a distinct full name in each of the musical systems.
These shrutis are mathematically correct, with well defined ratios, scientifically perfect and the musical result is divine.
Flavours: a variety of choices
It exists different styles for Hindustani and Carnatic music: Given a rāga, different gharānās may play it differently while keeping the main characteristics of the rāga. The style may change by instrument family: strings, woodwind, voice, …
Also, they may use different shruti variations for the swaras of a rāga. We decided to call it flavour.
See our 👆 Rāga Flavours in details.
Sargams of shrutis for Hindustani music
The shrutis will be named as follow for Hindustani Classical Music (some of them are unused in Hindustani music):
- S: Shadja
- r1: Ati komal Re
- r2: Komal Re
- R1: Shuddha Re
- R2: Teevra Shuddh Re
- g1: Ati komal Ga
- g2: Komal Ga
- G1: Shuddha Ga
- G2: Teevra Shuddh Ga
- M1: Shuddha Ma
- M2: Ek Shruti Ma
- m1: Teevra Ma
- m2: Teevratama Ma
- P: Pancham
- d1: Ati komal Dha
- d2: Komal Dha
- D1: Shuddha Dha
- D2: Teevra Shuddh Dha
- n1: Ati komal Ni
- n2: Komal Ni
- N1: Shuddha Ni
- N2: Teevra Shuddh Ni
Sargam of shrutis for Carnatic music
This shrutis will be named as follow for Carnatic Music:
- Sa
- r1: Ek shruti Re
- r2: Dvi shruti Re
- R1: Tri shruti Re
- R2: Chatu shruti Re
- g1: Shuddha Ga
- g2: Sadhanran Ga
- G1: Antara Ga
- G2: Chyut madhyam Ga
- M1: Shuddha Ma
- M2: Teevra Shuddha Ma
- m1: Prati Ma
- m2: Chyut Pancham Ma
- Pa
- d1: Ek shruti Dha
- d2: Dvi shruti Dha
- D1: Tri shruti Dha
- D2: Chatu shruti Dha
- n1: Shuddha Ni
- n2: Kaishiki Ni
- N1: Kakali Ni
- N2: Chyut Shadja Ni
Difference of shrutis in Hindustani and Carnatic classical music
Three shrutis differ from both scales:
- r1: Ati komal rishabh is very very komal in Carnatic music, quite close to Shadja
- m2: Slightly different between both systems, but very close
- N2: Chyut Shadja Nishad is very very teevra in Carnatic music, quite close to upper Shadja
Different opinion about shrutis exists: freedom of choice
It exists slightly different opinion about some shrutis, their names and mainly their ratio with base shrutis. But even if we have chosen this system for iTabla Pandit Studio Pro, it is perfectly suitable for playing shruti box, tanpura and tabla for all musicians. Also, if you have some good arguments about changes in the scale, we may consider your opinion and offer a way to adapt the software to it.
References
Watch video: 22 shrutis simplified by Sangeeta Shankar
Watch video: 22 Shrutis Simplified - Chapter 2: The Fundamentals
See: Shruti in Wikipedia
See: Just intonation in Wikipedia
See: What is a raag? by indianclassicalmusic.com
See: 22 shrutis by Dr Vidyadhar OKE for full details about the 22 shrutis, history and theory.