ACHARYANET

• - LEARN FROM THE LEGENDS-

(Excerpt From Perfecting Carnatic Music Level l E-book)

Refer to the Explanation of the Derivation of 72 Melakartas by Shri Ravikiran in

this video.

In Carnatic music system, as in other major systems, the octave is divided

into 12 parts, giving rise to 12 notes. But the singular distinction here is that 4 of
these notes are given two names, which results in a 16 note system. The
reasons for this are beyond the scope of this article, but these extra 4 notes
make Carnatic music more exhaustive, and give rise to possibilities of
thousands of ragas. The first note Sa and its fifth perfect Pa are constants.
Among the other notes, Ri, Ga, Da and Ni have three values each, while the
remaining note Ma has two values. The full names of the 16 notes used in
Carnatic music are:

Shadjam Sa Prati Madhyamam M2

Shuddha Rishabham Rl Panchamam p

Chatushruti Rishabham R2 Shuddha Dhaivatam Dl

Shatshruti Rishabham R3 Chatushruti Dhaivatam D2

Shuddha Gandharam Gl Shatshruti Dhaivatam D3

Sadharana Gandharam G2 Shuddha Nishadam Nl

Antara Gandharam G3 Kaishika Nishadam N2

Shuddha Madhyaman Ml Kakali Nishadam N3

It is to be noted that R2 = Gl, R3 = G2, D2 = Nl and D3 = N2 respectively.