Swara (Sanskrit: वर) or svara[1] is an Indian classical music term that connotes simultaneously a breath, a vowel, a note, the sound of a musical note corresponding to its name, and the successive steps of the octave, or saptanka. More comprehensively, it is the ancient Indian concept of the complete dimension of musical pitch.[2][3] At its most basic comparison to western music, a swara is, essentially, a "note" of a given scale. However, that is but a loose interpretation of the word, as a swara is identified as both a musical note and tone; a "tone" is a precise substitute for sur, relating to "tunefulness". Traditionally, Indian musicians have just seven swaras/notes with short names: sa, re, ga, ma, pa, dha, ni, which they collectively refer to as saptank or saptaka. This is one of the reasons why swara is considered a symbolic expression for the number seven. In another loose comparison to western music, saptank (as an octave or scale) may be interpreted as solfège, e.g. the notes of a scale as Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti (and Do).
The word svara (Sanskrit: स्वर) is derived from the root svr which means "to sound".[4] To be precise, the svara is defined in the Sanskrit nirukta system as:
svaryate iti svaraḥ (स्वर्यते इति स्वरः, does breathing, shines, makes sound),
svayam rājate iti svaraḥ (स्वयं राजते इति स्वरः, appears on its own) and
sva rañjayati iti svaraḥ (स्व रञ्जयति इति स्वरः, that which colours itself in terms of appealing sound).
The Kannada word svara and Tamil alphabet or letter suram do not represent a sound, but rather more generally the place of articulation (PoA) (பிறப்பிடம்), where one generates a sound, and the sounds made there can vary in pitch.
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 tones during the Vedic era.[4][5]
In the general sense svara means tone, and applies to chanting and singing. The basic svaras of Vedic chanting are udatta, anudatta and svarita. Vedic music has madhyama or ma as principal note so that tonal movement is possible towards lower and higher pitches, thus ma is taken for granted as fixed in any tonal music (madhyama avilopi, मध्यम अविलोपी).
One-svara Vedic singing is called ārcika chanting, e.g. in chanting the following texts on one note:
aum aum aum / om om om
hari om tatsat
shivoham shivoham
raam raam raam raam
raadhe raadhe
siyaa-raam siyaa-raam
or the like. Two-svara Vedic singing is called gāthika chanting, e.g. in chanting the following text on two notes:
om
shaan-
tih,
om
shaan-
tih,
om
shaan-
tih, ...
M
M----
P-M,
M
M----
P-M,
M
M----
P-M, ...
or
P
P----
D-P,
P
P----
D-P,
P
P----
D-P, ...
or
S
S----
R-S,
S
S----
R-S,
S
S----
R-S, ...
The musical octave is said to have evolved from the elaborate and elongated chants of the Samaveda, based on these basic svaras.[6]Siksha is the subject that deals with phonetics and pronunciation. Naradiya Siksha elaborates the nature of svaras, both Vedic chants and the octave.
In the Upaniṣads
The word also appears in the Upanishads. 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 world".[7] According to Ananda Coomaraswamy, the roots "svar", meaning "to shine" (whence "surya" or sun), and "svr", meaning "to sound or resound" (whence "svara", “musical note”) and also in some contexts "to shine", are all related in the ancient Indian imagination.[7][8]
In Śāstra literature
The concept of a svara is found in Chapter 28 of the text Nāṭya Śāstra, estimated to have been completed between 200 BCE to 200 CE.[9] It names the unit of tonal measurement or audible unit the śruti,[10] with verse 28.21 introducing the musical scale as follows:[11][12]
These seven svaras are shared by both major raga systems of Indian classical music, that is the North Indian (Hindustani) and South Indian (Carnatic).[14]
Sapta svara, also called sapta swara or sapta sur, refers to the seven distinct notes of the octave or the seven successive svaras of a saptak. The sapta svara can be collectively referred to as the sargam (which is an acronym of the consonants of the first four svaras). Sargam is the Indian equivalent to solfège, a technique for the teaching of sight-singing. As in Western moveable-Do solfège, the svara Sa is the tonic of a piece or scale.[14] The seven svaras of the saptak are the fundamentals of heptatonic scales or melakartaragas and thaats in Carnatic and Hindustani classical music.
The seven svaras are śaḍja (षड्ज), r̥ṣabha (ऋषभ), gāndhāra (गान्धार), madhyama (मध्यम), pañcama (पञ्चम), dhaivata (धैवत) and niṣāda (निषाद).[15] The svaras of the sargam are often learnt in abbreviated form: sā, ri (Carnatic) or re (Hindustani), ga, ma, pa, dha, ni.[14] Of these, the first svara that is "sa", and the fifth svara that is "pa", are considered anchors (achal svaras) that are unalterable, while the remaining have flavours (komal and tivra svaras) that differs between the two major systems. [14]
Svara in North Indian system of raga () [16][17][18]
North Indian Hindustani music has fixed names of a relative pitches, but South Indian Carnatic music keeps on making interchanges of the names of pitches in case of ri-ga and dha-ni whenever required. Swaras appear in successive steps in an octave. More comprehensively, svara-graam (scale) is the practical concept of Indian music comprising seven + five= twelve most useful musical pitches.[2][3] Sage Matanga made a very important statement in his Brihaddeshi some 1500 years ago that:
षड्जादयः स्वराः न भवन्ति
आकारादयः एव स्वराः
Shadaj aadayah svaraah na bhavanti
aakar aadayah eva svaraah
i.e. Shadaj, Rishabh, Gandhar, ... (and their utterance) are not the real svaras but their pronunciation in the form of aa-kar, i-kaar, u-kaar ... are the real form of the svaras.
It is said that Shadaj is the basic svara from which all the other 6 svaras are produced. When we break the word Shadaj then we get, Shad- And -Ja. Shad is 6 and ja is 'giving birth' in Indian languages. So basically the translation is:
षड् - 6, ज -जन्म . Therefore, it collectively means giving birth to the other 6 notes of the music.
The absolute frequencies for all svaras are variable, and are determined relative to the saptak or octave. E.g. given Sa 240Hz, Re 270Hz, Ga 288Hz, Ma 320Hz, Pa 360Hz, Dha 405Hz, and Ni 432Hz, then the Sa after the Ni of 432Hz has a frequency of 480Hz i.e. double that of the lower octave Sa, and similarly all the other 6 svaras. Considering the Sa of the Madhya Saptak then frequencies of the other svaras will be,
Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha NiMandra Saptak: 120Hz, 135Hz, 144Hz, 160Hz, 180Hz, 202.5Hz, 216Hz.}Madhya Saptak: 240Hz, 270Hz, 288Hz, 320Hz, 360Hz, 405Hz, 432Hz.}Taara Saptak: 480Hz, 540Hz, 576Hz, 640Hz, 720Hz, 810Hz, 864Hz.}
All the other svaras except Shadaj (Sa) and Pancham (Pa) can be komal or tivra svaras but Sa and Pa are always shuddha svaras. And hence svaras Sa and Pa are called achal svaras, since these svaras don't move from their original position. Svaras Ra, Ga, Ma, Dha, Ni are called chal svaras, since these svaras move from their original position.
Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni - Shuddha SvarasRe, Ga, Dha, Ni - Komal SvarasMa - Tivra Svaras
The svara differs slightly from the śruti concept in Indian music. Both the svara and the śruti are but the sounds of music. According to the music scholars of the distant past, the śruti is generally understood as a microtone besides veda and an ear. In the context of advanced music, a śruti is the smallest gradation of pitch that a human ear can detect and a singer or instrument can produce.[19] There are 22 śruti or microtones in a saptaka of Hindustani music but Carnatic music assumes 24 śruti. A svara is a selected pitch from 22 śrutis, using several of such svaras a musician constructs scales, melodies and ragas. In the presence of a drone-sound of perfectly tuned Tanpuras, an ideal svara sounds sweet and appealing to human ear but particularly some 10 śrutis of the saptaka sound out of pitch (besuraa) when compared to the very drone. A tuneful and pleasing tone of the svara is located at a fixed interval but there is no fixed interval defined for two consecutive śrutis anywhere that can safely and scientifically be used throughout with respect to a perfect drone sound.
The ancient Sanskrit text Natya Shastra by Bharata identifies and discusses twenty two shruti and seven shuddha and two vikrita svara.[19] The Natya Shastra mentions that in Shadaj graama, the svara pairs saa-ma and saa-pa are samvaadi svaras (consonant pair) and are located at the interval of 9 and 13 shruti respectively. Similarly, svara pairs re-dha and ga-ni are samvaadi svara too. Without giving any example of 'a standard measure' or 'equal interval' between two successive shrutis, Bharata declared that saa, ma or pa shall have an interval of 4 shrutis measured from the pitch of the preceding svara, re or dha shall have an interval of 3 shrutis measured from the pitch of the preceding svara and ga or ni shall have an interval of 2 shrutis measured from the pitch of the preceding svara respectively. The following quote explains it all:
Dve dve nishaada gaandhaarau tristrii rishabha dhaivatau.
Bharata also makes some unscientific and unacceptable observations ignoring practically proven truths like samvaad (samvaada/ संवाद) or consonance of ma-ni, re-dha, re-pa and ga-ni as each of these svara pairs do not have equal number of shrutis to establish samvaad. In reality, the above-mentioned pairs DO create samvaad or consonances which Bharata did not recognize for unknown reasons. None of the musicologists give in writing the 'practical basis' or technique of ascertaining the ideal tonal gap between the note pairs like saa-re, re-ga, ga-ma, ma-pa, pa-dha, dha-ni, ni-saa* (taar saa) until Sangeet Paarijat of Ahobal (c. 1650). The svara studies in ancient Sanskrit texts include the musical gamut and its tuning, categories of melodic models and the raga compositions.[20]
Perhaps the greats like Bharata, Sage Matanga and Shaarnga-deva did not know the secret of tuneful tones (up to acceptable level of normal human ear, on the basis of taanpuraa drone) for they do not mention use of drone sound for any of the musical purposes. Most of the practicing musicians knew very well that all the tuneful tones of seven notes could be discovered with the help of the theory of samvaad, in which saa-saa* (*means upper octave), saa-ma and saa-pa play the most crucial role.
Notation and practice
As per the widely used Bhatkhande Svara Lipi (Bhakthande's Swar Notation script), a dot above a letter (svara symbol) indicates that the note is sung one saptak (octave) higher, and a dot below indicates one saptak lower. Komal notes are indicated by an underscore, and the tívra Ma has a line on top which can be vertical or horizontal. (Or, if a note with the same name - Sa, for example - is an octave higher than the note represented by S, an apostrophe is placed to the right: 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).) In other words, the basic rule is that the number of dots or apostrophes above or below the svara symbol means the number of times dots or apostrophes, respectively, above or below the corresponding svara in madhya saptak (middle octave).
The basic mode of reference in the Hindustani system is that which is equivalent to the Western Ionian mode or major scale (called Bilavalthaat in Hindustani music, Sankarabharanam in Carnatic). In the Carnatic system however, the beginner exercises are sung in the raga Mayamalavagowla, which corresponds to the Western Double harmonic scale. The reason for this being the symmetry of the scale, with the first half mirroring the second half, and the existence of all the important inrervals (half, whole and double note). This is something that is absent in the major scale, which only consists of half and whole notes. 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 svara 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 (tīvra, '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.
Comparison between Carnatic, Hindustani, and Western Notations
The svaras in Carnatic music are slightly different in the twelve-note system. Each svara is either prakr̥ti (invariant) or vikr̥ti (variable). Ṣaḍjam and Pañcamam are prakr̥ti svaras, whilst R̥ṣabham, Gāndhāram, Mādhyamam, Dhaivatam and Niṣādam are vikr̥ti svaras. Ma has two variants, and each of Ri, Ga, Dha and Ni has three variants. The mnemonic syllables for each vikṛti svara use the vowels "a", "i" and "u" successively from lowest to highest. For example, r̥ṣabham has the three ascending variants "ra", "ri" and "ru", being respectively 1, 2 and 3 semitones above the tonic note, ṣaḍjam.
As you can see above, Catuśruti Ṛṣabham and Śuddha Gāndhāram share the same pitch (3rd key/position). Hence if C is chosen as Ṣaḍjam, D would be both Catuśruti R̥ṣabham and Śuddha Gāndhāram. Hence they will not occur in same rāgam together. Similarly for the two svaras each at pitch positions 4, 10 and 11.[22]
The shruti or śruti is the smallest interval of pitch that the human ear can detect and a singer or musical instrument can produce. The concept is found in ancient and medieval Sanskrit texts such as the Natya Shastra, the Dattilam, the Brihaddeshi, and the Sangita Ratnakara. Chandogya Upanishad speaks of the division of the octave in 22 parts.
A thaat is a "parent scale" in North Indian or Hindustani music. It is the Hindustani equivalent of the term Melakartha raga of Carnatic music. The concept of the thaat is not exactly equivalent to the western musical scale because the primary function of a thaat is not as a tool for music composition, but rather as a basis for classification of ragas. There is not necessarily strict compliance between a raga and its parent thaat; a raga said to 'belong' to a certain thaat need not allow all the notes of the thaat, and might allow other notes. Thaats are generally accepted to be heptatonic by definition.
Saptak means "gamut" or "the series of seven notes". It denotes the set of swaras i.e. Shadja (Sa), Rishabha (Ri), Gāndhāra (Ga), Madhyama (Ma), Panchama (Pa), Dhaivat (Dha), Nishada (Ni), Shadja (Sa) which comprise a musical scale in Indian classical music. In Sanskrit, saptak literally means "containing seven" and is derived from the Sanskrit word Sapta which means "seven". The Saptak comprises the Sapta Svaras, i.e. the seven svaras or the seven notes of classical music.
Bilaval or Bilawal is a raga and the basis for the eponymous thaat in Hindustani classical music. Raga Bilaval is named after Veraval, Gujarat.
Darbari Kanada, or simply Raga Darbari, is a raga in Carnatic music. It is a janya ragam of 20th Melakarta raga Natabhairavi. Being an ancient raga, its original name is unknown. It is believed to be borrowed into Hindustani classical music by Miyan Tansen, the famous 16th-century composer in emperor Akbar's court. It belongs to the Kanada family. This tradition is reflected in the name itself; Darbar is the Persian derived word in Hindi meaning "court." As the most familiar raga in the Kanada family, it may sometimes also be called Shuddha Kanada or pure Kanada. It belongs to the Asavari thaat. This raag is called raaga Kaanada in Yakshagana Karnataka state dance. It is also sometimes written as Durbari and Durbarikanada.
Sohini is a raga in Hindustani classical music in the Marwa thaat. Alternate transliterations include Sohani and Sohni. Like Bahar, it is a small raga, with not much space for elaboration. It emotes the feel of longing, of passive sensuousness.
Kafi is a raga in Hindustani classical music. It corresponds to Kharaharapriya in Carnatic music and Dorian mode in Western music
Yaman is a heptatonic (sampurna) Indian classical raga of Kalyan Thaat.
Hameer is a nocturnal Hindustani classical raga nominally placed in Kalyan thaat. All the (shuddha swaras along with (teevra madhyam are used in it. Generally, its vaadi swar is dhaivat and the samavaadi swar is gandhar. However, some exponents consider the vaadi swar to be pancham as Hameer is mainly sung in the upper half of an octave and is nocturnal. Pancham is not taken in the aaroh but is taken in avroh. Its jati is "Sampurn Sampurn". "Vadi Svar" is Dhaivat and Samvadi Swar is Gandhar.
A Carnatic raga refers to ragas used in Carnatic music. It has several components: a primordial sound (nāda), tonal system (swara), pitch (śruti), scale, ornaments (gamaka), and important tones.
Durga is a raga in Hindustani Classical music. It shares some features with Shuddha Saveri of Carnatic music, but is significantly different from it in terms of the sancharas of the raga.
Desh or Des is a Hindustani classical music raga which belongs to the Khamaj thaat. This raga is very similar to raga Khamaj.
Jaijaivanti or Jaijaiwanti is a Hindustani classical raga belonging to Khamaj Thaat. According to the Guru Granth Sahib, this raga is a mixture of two others: Bilaval and Sorath. The raga appears in the latter section in Gurbani, as only four hymns were composed by Guru Tegh Bahadur, the ninth Sikh guru. These hymns were added by his son and successor Guru Gobind Singh in 1705 A.D. This raga is not mentioned in any Indian classical scriptures on music nor in the Ragmala.
Rishabha is the second svara out of the seven svaras of Hindustani music and Carnatic music. Rishabha is the long form of the syllable रे for simplicity while singing the syllable. Rishabha is pronounced as Re and Ri.
Gandhara is the 3rd svara from the seven svaras of Hindustani music and Carnatic music. Gandhara is the long form of the syllable ग. For simplicity in pronouncing while singing the syllable, Gandhara is pronounced as Ga.
Pancham is the fifth svara from the seven svaras of Hindustani music and Carnatic music. Pancham is the long form of the syllable प. For simplicity in pronouncing while singing the syllable, Pancham is pronounced as Pa. It is also called as पंचम in the Devanagri script.
Dhaivata is the sixth svara from the seven svaras of Hindustani music and Carnatic music. Dhaivata is the long form of the syllable ध. For simplicity in pronouncing while singing the syllable, Dhaivata is pronounced as Dha.
Nishada is the seventh and last svara in Hindustani music and Carnatic music. Nishada is the long form of the syllable नी. For simplicity in pronouncing while singing the syllable, Nishada is pronounced as Ni.
Shadaj is the first svara out of the seven svaras of Hindustani music and Carnatic music. Shadaj is the long form of the syllable सा. For simplicity in pronouncing while singing the syllable, Shadaj is pronounced as Sa. It is also called as षड्ज in the Devanagri script.
Madhyam is the fourth svara from the seven svaras of Hindustani music and Carnatic music. This article is written from the Hindustani perspective. Madhyam is the long form of the syllable म. For simplicity in pronouncing while singing the syllable, Madhyam is pronounced as Ma. It is also called as मध्यम in the Devanagri script.
Mathieu, W. A. (1997). Harmonic Experience: Tonal Harmony from Its Natural Origins to Its Modern Expression. Inner Traditions Intl Ltd. ISBN0-89281-560-4. An auto didactic ear-training and sight-singing book that uses singing sargam syllables over a drone in a just intonation system based on perfect fifths and major thirds.
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