Musical Scales: Thāṭ and Rāga

Shrikant G. Talageri

[This article is a short(!) tribute to the incomparable greatness of Indian music.

A few points:
1. If the article contains ambiguities or errors, particularly in respect of the Chinese
scales (where I had to choose from different ambiguous sources), I beg not only the
indulgence of the readers but also that the reader should point out these errors in
comments. If necessary, they will be corrected.
2. The reader must excuse my arbitrariness or idiosyncracy in the use of general
spellings versus phonetic or strictly Sanskritic spellings: thus, I have used rāga
rather than rāg, but tāl rather than tāla.
3. In the few places where I have given the URLs of youtube videos, the reader
must be prepared for the peculiar habit of the youtube site of often arbitrarily
deleting videos from their site - in which case some particular video may not be
available].

The two basic components of music are melody and rhythm (or, in common Indian
parlance sur and tāl). Here in this article we will only discuss some of the basic
aspects of the melody or sur aspect of music.

Pitch is the highness or lowness of any sound. Now this is not a technical scientific
article in that sense, so it will be assumed that the reader understands what is
"high" and "low" in pitch without any scientific explanations provided for
understanding the terms, and we will not discuss the scientific technicalities and
physics of sound relationships and production, but only the actual notes.

If pitch is represented on a long vertical line so that various points higher or lower
on that line depict higher and lower pitches respectively, then there is a certain
fixed distance/length on that line which represents what is known as an "octave": if
we start with a sound at a certain pitch and mark it as a point on that line, and then
keep taking the voice higher and higher, we will reach another point further up
where we find what is clearly the same sound at a higher pitch: (technically this is
because the second sound is formed out of twice the number of wave cycles per
second, measured in hertz, as the first sound, but we will not concern ourselves
with these technicalities). This length, or distance between the two points, is what
is called an "octave". An octave is a natural division of sound, and a natural
phenomenon which is discovered in every civilization which develops a musical
culture.

This "octave" can be illustrated with a musical instrument. Take for example the
easiest instrument to illustrate the octave: a harmonium. We will find that the keys
on a harmonium are in two rows, a lower row of white keys and a higher row of
black keys, in the following form:

As we can see, the pattern of keys (taking both rows) is as follows:

white-black-white-black-white,
white-black-white-black-white-black-white.
Let us number the keys 1 to 12. Each key one after the other produces a sound
which keeps rising by one note over the previous key.
In the above picture, the first 12 keys represent (at least on the harmonium) what
we call the mandra saptak (low octave), the next 12 keys represent the madhya
saptak (middle octave) and the last 12 keys represent the tār saptak (high octave).

If we press any two keys at the same time, we will generally hear a discordant
medley of two sounds. But if we press key 1 and key 13 (i.e. the first key in the
first series of 12, and the first key in the second series of 12) together, we will hear
a composite sound in what is called "absolute harmony" because it is actually the
same sound at two different pitches: it will be as if we are hearing the same sound
moving like a wave between a high pitch and a low pitch. Similarly, if we press
any other two keys which are at a distance of 12 (or multiples of the same) from
each other (2 and 14, 3 and 15, or even 1 and 25, 2 and 26, etc), the same effect of
"one sound at two pitches" will be produced.
The octave is the length or distance, on the "pitch" line, between a given sound and
the same sound at a (i.e. at the next) higher pitch, and this distance has been
theoretically divided by musicologists into fixed smaller divisions known as
"cents", where one octave is 1200 cents.
In ancient India with its unique oral tradition (as shown in the oral transmission of
the Rigveda in oral form for millenniums without the slightest change), the various
notes were distinguished on the basis of the performer's highly-trained voice and
ears, and passed on from guru to śiṣya in that form, and musical instruments were
also tuned on that basis, and the notes and the natural scale were based on pure
acoustics, leading to very subtle nuances in sounds. In Western music, the octave is
divided into 12 equal notes of 100 cents each. This is known as the "tempered
scale" because of this uniform equal division into 100 cents. Because of the
dominant use of the harmonium in learning Indian classical music, and consequent
laxity, modern day Indian music has also generally leveled out the notes into equal
divisions.

Apart from the octave, there is another very important distance between two
sounds: the fifth. The different notes of the scale within an octave are in fact
possible on the basis of this relationship between two sounds: just as we get one
sound in the form of an undulating wave between two pitches when we press two
keys at a distance of 12 (i.e. at 1200 cents) from one another, and this distance is
called an "octave" with the resulting composite sound producing "absolute
harmony"; similarly we get another combined sound which is extremely musical
when we press two keys at a distance of 7 (i.e. 700 cents) from one another (e.g.
key 1 and key 8, key 2 and key 9, etc.), and this distance is known as a "fifth", and
the resulting composite sound produces what is described as two different sounds
in "perfect harmony".
In the above picture of the harmonium keys, if the first white key represents the
starting note called ṣaḍja or SA, the eighth white key represents the ṣaḍja or SA in
the higher octave, and the fifth white key represents the pañcam or PA. These two
notes SA and PA are considered the two basic and unalterable pillars of the octave
or saptak. From these two are produced the other notes.

We will examine this subject under the following heads:

I. The Formation of the Notes of the Octave.
II. The Classification of Parent-Scales or Thāṭs and Meḷas.
III. The Rāgas of Indian Music.
IV. India's Unparalleled Musical Wealth and Contribution to World Music.

I. The Formation of the Notes of the Octave

As we saw:
1. Once the starting-point pitch is chosen, it becomes the note SA, and a sound
which is 1200 cents higher than this SA becomes the next SA in a higher pitch, and
the distance (of absolute harmony) between the two sounds produces the octave
of 1200 cents.
2. The next note, produced by perfect harmony within the octave, is 700 cents
higher than SA, and this is called PA.

How do the other sounds of the scale arise?

1. Just as any note is in absolute harmony with the note 1200 cents higher than it,
it is therefore also in absolute harmony with the note 1200 cents lower than it. All
the three notes are the same note, e.g. SA, in three different octaves (and of course
also in all other octaves extending further into higher pitches as well as into lower
pitches), since they all represent the starting points of the respective octaves. In the
above picture of the keyboard of a harmonium, the first, the eighth and the fifteenth
white keys represent SA in the three octaves.
SA is in perfect harmony with PA which is 700 cents higher within the octave: so
the fifth, twelfth and nineteenth white keys represent PA in the three octaves.
But if SA is in perfect harmony with the note 700 cents above it, it is also in
perfect harmony with the note 700 cents below it. In the above diagram, this note
would be represented by the fourth, eleventh and eighteenth white keys (the
eighteenth key being 700 cents below the next SA, not shown in the picture). Now,
since all the three octaves already have notes named PA, this note, which is 500
cents above the lower SA, has to be given another name: madhyam or MA.
So each SA is in perfect harmony with the PA higher than it, and with the MA
lower than it.
So now, within each octave, we have three notes in harmony with each other: SA,
MA and PA.

2. In each octave, the MA is in perfect harmony with the higher SA (700 cents
above it), and the PA is in perfect harmony with the lower SA (700 cents below it).
Therefore MA and PA also are in harmony with each other. The distance between
MA and the PA above it is 200 cents: this distance is called a tone (or a second,
but this word used here would be confusing, so let us just call it a tone here).
From this, we get the remaining notes within the octave, each separated from the
note below it by a tone or 200 cents: 200 cents above SA is ṛṣabh (RE or RI), 200
cents above RE is gāndhār (GA), 200 cents above PA is dhaivat (DHA), and 200
cents above DHA is niṣād (NI).
Thus we get the seven "primary" or shuddh (pure) notes: SA, RE, GA, MA, PA,
DHA, and NI, representing the seven white keys (in the above picture of the
keyboard) in an octave.
These seven shuddh notes with SA as the starting point (and therefore counted as
0 cents) are SA (0 cents), RE (200 cents), GA (400 cents), MA (500 cents), PA
(700 cents), DHA (900 cents), NI (1100 cents). The next higher SA is at 1200
cents.

3. Then what notes do the seven black keys represent?

As we saw, the distance between GA and the MA above it, as well as between NI
and the SA above it, is only 100 cents. This distance, half of the tone, is known as
a semi-tone.
At the distance of a 100 cents below RE, GA, DHA and NI, we get the four flat
(komal) forms of these four sounds: re, ga, dha and ni, represented by the first,
second, fourth and fifth black keys in the octave.
At a distance of a 100 cents above MA (and a 100 cents below PA), we get the
sharp (tīvra) form of the former sound, i.e. ma, represented by the third black key.
[Logically, this could also be called pa, the komal form of PA, but since SA and
PA are considered as the two original fixed (acal) notes which have only one form
each, this note is called ma].

So the 12 final notes (semi-tones) of the tempered scale octave, as normally used at
present, are:

ṣaḍja (SA) - 0 cents.

komal ṛṣabh (re) - 100 cents.
ṛṣabh (RE) - 200 cents.
komal gāndhār (ga) - 300 cents.
gāndhār (GA) - 400 cents.
madhyam (MA) - 500 cents
tīvra madhyam (ma) - 600 cents.
pañcam (PA) - 700 cents
komal dhaivat (dha) - 800 cents.
dhaivat (DHA) - 900 cents.
komal niṣād (ni) - 1000 cents.
niṣād (NI) - 1100 cents.
(upper) ṣaḍja (SA) - 1200 cents.
[Henceforward, for brevity, the notes will be written as S r R g G M m P d D n N
S. The notes in the upper octave will be marked with an accent, e.g. Ś, and in the
lower octave, if it becomes necessary to specify it, will be underlined, e.g. N.]
The original form of Indian classical music, however, was based on actual
acoustics. Hence, the distances between the notes were not "tempered" and equal.
The actual distance between a starting note (S) and the note which is in perfect
harmony with it (P) is actually 702 cents (if the octave is divided into 1200 cents)
rather than 700 cents. This is too extremely tiny a difference for the normal human
ear to hear, which is why there is little apparent difference between ancient Indian
classical music and its present-day form. But perhaps the (although exaggerated in
myths and tales) almost magical effect that music was supposed to produce must
have been due to the scale and notes used in ancient music, based on purely natural
acoustic relationship between sounds, producing pure acoustic vibrations in the air.
The ancient Indian scale had 22 śrutis, also called micro-tones or (less correctly)
quarter-tones, a more minute division of sounds within the scale than the 12 semi-
tones. Other than the two fixed or acal (अचल) sounds S and P, all the other 10
semi-tones had two subtle variations each, one slightly higher than the other. The
use of these subtle variations in different rāgas, or melodies, passed on vocally and
orally down the ages, was the secret of the almost magical effect of music.

These 22 śrutis were derived on the basis of the continuing application of the
perfect harmony principle, as follows: the starting point S was, of course, at 0
cents. The note higher than S which is in perfect harmony with it is at 702 cents.
The next note above this which is in perfect harmony with this note is at 1404
cents, i.e. in the next octave: but this is actually the same note as the note in the
earlier octave at 204 cents (i.e. 1200 cents below 1404). The next note above this in
perfect harmony with this note is at 906 cents. The next note above this which is in
perfect harmony with this note is at 1608 cents, i.e. in the next octave: but this is
actually the same note as the note in the earlier octave at 408 cents (i.e. 1200 cents
below 1608). Continuing with this pattern, we get the following 22 śrutis:
ṣaḍja (S) - 0 cents.
lower komal ṛṣabh (r1) - 90 cents.
upper komal ṛṣabh (r2) - 114 cents.
lower ṛṣabh (R1) - 180 cents.
upper ṛṣabh (R2) - 204 cents.
lower komal gāndhār (g1) - 294 cents.
upper komal gāndhār (g2) - 318 cents.
lower gāndhār (G1) - 384 cents.
upper gāndhār (G2) - 408 cents.
lower madhyam (M1) - 498 cents.
upper madhyam (M2) - 522 cents.
lower tīvra madhyam (m1) - 588 cents.
upper tīvra madhyam (m2) - 612 cents.
pañcam (P) - 702 cents
lower komal dhaivat (d1) - 792 cents.
upper komal dhaivat (d2) - 816 cents.
lower dhaivat (D1) - 882 cents.
upper dhaivat (D2) - 906 cents.
lower komal niṣād (n1) - 996 cents.
upper komal niṣād (n2) - 1020 cents.
lower niṣād (N1) - 1086 cents.
upper niṣād (N2) - 1110 cents.
(upper) ṣaḍja (Ś) - 1200 cents.

It will be noticed that a full tone (the distance between M1 and P) is actually 204
cents, which is also the distance between S and R2, R2 and G2, G2 and m2, P and
D2, and D2 and N2. And likewise between r2 and g2, and so on. The distance
between 2 forms of the same note (r1 and r2, etc.) is 24 cents. And between the
two closest forms of two distinct notes (S and r1, R2 and g1, etc.) is 90 cents.

As we can see, each of the notes (except S and P, which were fixed), had 2
varieties each, one low (flat) and the other high (sharp), at a distance of 24 cents
from each other. Each rāga must have used one particular form of a note, and the
different śrutis must also have been used as extra notes to add beauty to each
melody. Which of the two varieties to use depended on the rāga: the difference
was too subtle for the untrained ear to detect the difference, but the acoustic effect
of the two varieties must obviously have been different. Even today, using the
tempered scale, the magical effect of the different rāgas on the mood, the
intellect, the health and the environment is phenomenal: one can imagine what the
effect of the śruti-based rāgas must have been!

All this heritage is now extinct. But while it may not be possible to fully revive
śruti-based rāgas, perhaps all may not be lost either. While details of the exact
śrutis used in each rāga may not be available, nor the method of śruti-based
teaching and singing (with the very subtly trained ears required to recognize such
minute variations), some individuals have indeed made attempts to delve into this
lost treasure-house: according to a report in the Indian Express (16/5/1999),
Avinash Patwardhan, a nephew of the renowned social worker Baba Amte,
created a flute which could play the 22 śrutis, and was in the process of
developing a harmonium which could also play them. It is not clear what finally
came out of all this, but the efforts of this great musicologist deserve general honor
and recognition.

II. The Classification of Parent-Scales or Thāṭs and Meḷas

Different melodies use different (now, of course, tempered-scale) notes.

When a person starts learning music, the first thing he has to learn is to sing the
scale of shuddh notes (S R G M P D N Ś - Ś N D P M G R S) in āroh
(ascending) and avaroh (descending) orders in the correct pitch. This is known in
Hindustani (North Indian Classical) music as the Bilāval thāṭ, in Carnatic (South
Indian Classical) music as the Dhīraśaṅkarābharaṇam meḷa, and in western
classical music as the Major Scale. Listening to this ascending-and-descending
singing of the scale will give a familiar feel, since this is the common scale we hear
when people learn music in real life or in films.

But there are other scales. To get an idea of the different atmospheres created by
different scales, play this above scale 4-5 times continuously, in ascending and
descending order, on a harmonium (with the first 8 white keys) to get into the
atmosphere of it. Then play another scale, for example Bhairav thāṭ (replacing the
second and sixth white keys with the black keys immediately preceding them): S r
G M P d N Ś - Ś N d P M G r S. You will immediately notice the difference.
There is one more aspect of melody that is necessary to take note of in
understanding scales and melodies: the aspect of steps or intervals between the
two consecutive notes within a scale, in terms of semi-tones. Just as the precise
notes in a scale give the scale its special, unique and characteristic feel and
atmosphere, the length of the interval between consecutive notes also gives
(perhaps more sharply) the particular special atmosphere of a scale. This is
particularly so in pentatonic scales, because there are only 5 notes, so the intervals
between two consecutive notes can be of many kinds. The intervals are based on
the number of semi-tones (each of 100 cents) between two consecutive notes, and
are named as follows: 1 (semi-tone), 2 (tone), 3 (minor third), 4 (major third), 5
(fourth), 6 (augmented fourth), 7 (fifth), 8 (minor sixth), 9 (major sixth), 10 (minor
seventh), 11 (major seventh), and 12 (octave).
Below, the lists of scales will show both the notes as well as the intervals (in terms
of semi-tones) of each scale:
II.A. HEPTATONIC Scales (Thāṭs / Meḷas) of Indian Classical Music:

V. N. Bhatkhande (1875-1935), the great musicologist, in his seminal book

"Śrīmallakṣya Saṅgītam" (1909), classified the heptatonic (7 note) scales of
Hindustani music into 10 thāṭs: Bilāval, Khamāj, Kāfī, Āsāvarī, Bhairavī, Kalyāṇ,
Mārvā, Pūrvī, Toḍī and Bhairav.
[Note: The above are the scales or thāṭs. Actually the rāga Mārvā has no P: rāga
Pūriyā-Kalyāṇ has the full scale. Likewise, the rāga Pūrvī also has an additional
M].

While Bhatkhande only named 10 thāṭs, actually we also get the following 10 out
of 22 possible additional thāṭs: ĀnandBhairav, Paṭdīp, NaṭaBhairav, AhīrBhairav,
Kiravāṇī, Cārukeśi, Basantamukhārī, Madhuvantī, Vācaspati, and
SarasvatīRanjanī.

As we saw, P is in perfect harmony with the lower S, and M is in perfect harmony

with the upper Ś: the note between M and P is conventionally taken to be m (i.e.
M sharp or tīvra), but it could equally well be treated as p (P flat or komal): so that
m = p.
We can get 16 thāṭs with the combination of notes MP, and 16 with the
combination of notes mP. Theoretically, there could be another 16 thāṭs with the
combination of notes Mp (i.e. Mm). Hindustani music actually does have at least 4
(out of 16 theoretically possible) such thāṭs: Lalat, AhīrLalat, Pañcam and
Meladalan. These 24 scales or thāṭs are as follows:

[In the case of these scales, we will also list them on the basis of the aspect of steps
or intervals between the two consecutive notes within a scale. Just as the precise
notes in a scale give the scale its special, unique and characteristic feel and
atmosphere, the length of the interval between consecutive notes also gives
(perhaps more sharply) the particular special atmosphere of a scale, and this is
particularly so in pentatonic scales, because there are only 5 notes, so the
intervals between two consecutive notes can be of many kinds. The intervals are
based on the number of semi-tones (each of 100 cents) between two consecutive
notes, and are named as follows: 1 (semi-tone), 2 (tone), 3 (minor third), 4
(major third), 5 (fourth), 6 (augmented fourth), 7 (fifth), 8 (minor sixth), 9
(major sixth), 1000 (minor seventh), 1100 (major seventh), and 1200 (octave).]

THĀṬ NOTES INTERVALS NOTES

1. Bilāval SRGM PDNŚ 221 2221 All Śuddha
2. Khamāj SRGM PDnŚ 221 2212 n
3. Kāfī SRgM PDnŚ 212 2212 gn
4. Āsāvarī SRgM PdnŚ 212 2122 gdn
5. Bhairavī SrgM PdnŚ 122 2122 rgdn
6. Kalyāṇ SRGm PDNŚ 222 1221 m
7. Mārvā SrGm PDNŚ 132 1221 rm
8. Pūrvī SrGm PdNŚ 132 1131 rmd
9. Toḍī Srgm PdNŚ 123 1131 rgmd
10. Bhairav SrGM PdNŚ 131 2131 rd
11. ĀnandBhairav SrGM PDNŚ 131 2221 r
12. Paṭdīp SRgM PDNŚ 212 2221 g
13. NaṭaBhairav SRGM PdNŚ 221 2131 d
14. AhīrBhairav SrGM PDnŚ 131 2212 rn
15. Kiravāṇī SRgM PdNŚ 212 2131 gd *
16. Cārukeśi SRGM PdnŚ 221 2122 dn *
17. Basantamukhārī SrGM PdnŚ 131 2122 rdn
18. Madhuvantī SRgm PDNŚ 213 1221 gm
19. Vācaspati SRGm PDnŚ 222 1212 mn *
20. SarasvatīRanjanī SRgm PDnŚ 213 1212 gmn
21. Lalat SrGM mdNŚ 131 1231 rmd -P+M
22. AhirLalat SrGM mDnŚ 131 1312 rmn -P+M
23. Pañcam SrGM mDNŚ 131 1321 rm -P+M
24. Meladalan SrgM mdnŚ 122 1222 rgmdn -P+M

As we saw, V. N. Bhatkhande in 1909 analyzed and classified the scales of

Hindustani into 10 thāṭs. However, long before him, Venkaṭamakhin, a minister in
the court of Thanjavur had analyzed and classified the scales in Carnatic music in
his treatise "Caturdaṇḍi-Prakāśikā", written somewhere around 1650.

His classification included not only all the 32 natural heptatonic scales, but 40
more scales based on a novel classification of the notes: a total of 72 meḷas.
He classified the eight notes r, R, g, G, d, D, n, N in such a way that four of them
(R, g, D, n) had two different names each, and could, in separate rāgas and meḷas,
be treated as two different notes in forming scales:
r = śuddha ṛṣabha - R1
R = catuśruti ṛṣabha or śuddha gandhāra - R2 or G1
g = ṣaṭśruti ṛṣabha or sādhāraṇa gandhāra - R3 or G2
G = antara gandhāra - G3
d = śuddha dhaivata - D1
D = catuśruti dhaivata or śuddha niṣāda - D2 or N1
n = ṣaṭśruti dhaivata or kaiśikī niṣāda - D3 or N2
N = kākalī niṣāda - N3

Thus, in a Hindustani heptatonic scale, we can get the combinations rg, rG, Rg,
RG, dn, dN, Dn, DN. In the Carnatic scales, Venkatamakhin's classification also
brought in four more combinations: rR, gG, dD, nN (treated as R1G1, R3G3,
D1N1, D3N3 respectively because of the dual nomenclature).

So the 72 meḷas of Carnatic music are as follows:

THĀṬ / MEḶA NOTES INTERVALS HINDUSTANI

1. Kanakāṅgī SrRM PdDŚ 113 2113
2. Ratnāṅgī SrRM PdnŚ 113 2122
3. Gaṇamūrti SrRM PdNŚ 113 2131
4. Vanaspati SrRM PDnŚ 113 2212
5. Mānāvatī SrRM PDNŚ 113 2221
6. Tānarūpī SrRM PnNŚ 113 2311
7. Senāvatī SrgM PdDŚ 122 2113
8. Hanumaṭṭoḍi SrgM PdnŚ 122 2122 Bhairavī
9. Dhenukā SrgM PdNŚ 122 2131
10. Nāṭakapriyā SrgM PDnŚ 122 2212
11. Kokilapriyā SrgM PDNŚ 122 2221
12. Rūpāvatī SrgM PnNŚ 122 2311
13. Gāyakapriyā SrGM PdDŚ 131 2113
14. Vakulābharaṇam SrGM PdnŚ 131 2122 Basantamukhārī
15. Māyāmālavagauḷa SrGM PdNŚ 131 2131 Bhairav
16. Cakravākam SrGM PDnŚ 131 2212 AhīrBhairav
17. Sūryakāntam SrGM PDNŚ 131 2221 ĀnandBhairav
18. Hāṭakāmbarī SrGM PnNŚ 131 2311
19. Jhanakāradhvani SRgM PdDŚ 212 2113
20. Nāṭabhairavī SRgM PdnŚ 212 2122 Āsāvarī
21. Kiravāṇī SRgM PdNŚ 212 2131 Kiravāṇī
22. Kharaharapriyā SRgM PDnŚ 212 2212 Kāfī
23. Gaurīmanoharī SRgM PDNŚ 212 2221 Paṭdīp
24. Varuṇapriyā SRgM PnNŚ 212 2311
25. Mārurañjanī SRGM PdDŚ 221 2113
26. Cārukeśī SRGM PdnŚ 221 2122 Cārukeśi
27. Sarasāṅgī SRGM PdNŚ 221 2131 NaṭaBhairav
28. Harikāmbhojī SRGM PDnŚ 221 2212 Khamāj
29. Dhīraśaṅkarābharaṇam SRGM PDNŚ 221 2221 Bilāval
30. Nāganandinī SRGM PnNŚ 221 2311
31. Yāgapriyā SgGM PdDŚ 311 2113
32. Rāgavardhanī SgGM PdnŚ 311 2122
33. Gāṅgeyabhūṣaṇī SgGM PdNŚ 311 2131
34. Vāgadhīśvarī SgGM PDnŚ 311 2212
35. Śūlinī SgGM PDNŚ 311 2221
36. Calanāṭa SgGM PnNŚ 311 2311
37. Sālagam SrRm PdDŚ 114 1113
38. Jalārṇavam SrRm PdnŚ 114 1122
39. Jhālāvarālī SrRm PdNŚ 114 1131
40. Navanītam SrRm PDnŚ 114 1212
41. Pāvanī SrRm PDNŚ 114 1221
42. Raghupriyā SrRm PnNŚ 114 1311
43. Gavāmbodhi Srgm PdDŚ 123 1113
44. Bhāvapriyā Srgm PdnŚ 123 1122
45. Śubhapantuvarāli Srgm PdNŚ 123 1131 Toḍī
46. Ṣaḍvidhamārgiṇī Srgm PDnŚ 123 1212
47. Suvarṇāṅgī Srgm PDNŚ 123 1221
48. Divyamaṇi Srgm PnNŚ 123 1311
49. Dhavalāmbarī SrGm PdDŚ 132 1113
50. Nāmanārāyaṇī SrGm PdnŚ 132 1122
51. Kāmavardhanī SrGm PdNŚ 132 1131 Pūrvī
52. Rāmapriyā SrGm PDnŚ 132 1212
53. Gamanaśrama SrGm PDNŚ 132 1221 Mārvā
54. Viśvambarī SrGm PnNŚ 132 1311
55. Śyāmalāṅgī SRgm PdDŚ 213 1113
56. Ṣaṇmukhapriyā SRgm PdnŚ 213 1122
57. Siṁhendramadhyamam SRgm PdNŚ 213 1131
58. Hemavatī SRgm PDnŚ 213 1212 SarasvatīRanjanī
59. Dharmavatī SRgm PDNŚ 213 1221 Madhuvantī
60. Nītimatī SRgm PnNŚ 213 1311
61. Kāntāmaṇi SRGm PdDŚ 222 1113
62. Ṛṣabhapriyā SRGm PdnŚ 222 1122
63. Latāṅgī SRGm PdNŚ 222 1131
64. Vācaspati SRGm PDnŚ 222 1212 Vācaspati
65. Mecakalyāṇī SRGm PDNŚ 222 1221 Kalyāṇ
66. Citrāmbarī SRGm PnNŚ 222 1311
67. Sucaritrā SgGm PdDŚ 312 1113
68. Jyotisvarūpiṇī SgGm PdnŚ 312 1122
69. DhātuvarDhāni SgGm PdNŚ 312 1131
70. Nāsikabhūṣaṇī SgGm PDnŚ 312 1212
71. Kosalam SgGm PDNŚ 312 1221
72. Rasikapriyā SgGm PnNŚ 312 1311

These meḷas, like the thāṭs of Hindustani music, are usually parent-scales (or
janaka rāgas) as well as rāgas to be sung and played.

Now let us see the same above 76 heptatonic thāṭs/meḷas (including the 4 Mm
scales) as per intervals (numbered as per the meḷa list above):

1. Intervals: 11 22222 (3 Interval Patterns, 13 scales):

THĀṬ / MEḶA NOTES INTERVALS
2222211
11. Kokilapriyā SrgM PDNŚ 122 2221
62. Ṛṣabhapriyā SRGm PdnŚ 222 1122
2222121
10. Nāṭakapriyā SrgM PDnŚ 122 2212
23. Gaurīmanoharī (Paṭdīp) SRgM PDNŚ 212 2221
26. Cārukeśī SRGM PdnŚ 221 2122
64. Vācaspati SRGm PDnŚ 222 1212
2221221
8. Hanumaṭṭoḍi (Bhairavī) SrgM PdnŚ 122 2122
20. Nāṭabhairavī (Āsāvarī ) SRgM PdnŚ 212 2122
22. Kharaharapriyā (Kāfī ) SRgM PDnŚ 212 2212
28. Harikāmbhojī (Khamāj) SRGM PDnŚ 221 2212
29. Dhīraśaṅkarābharaṇam (Bilāval) SRGM PDNŚ 221 2221
65. Mecakalyāṇī (Kalyāṇ) SRGm PDNŚ 222 1221
Mm. Meladalan SrgM mdnŚ 122 1222

2. Intervals: 111 222 3 (15 Interval Patterns, 33 scales):

THĀṬ / MEḶA NOTES INTERVALS
 3111222:
12. Rūpāvatī SrgM PnNŚ 122 2311
3112122
24. Varuṇapriyā SRgM PnNŚ 212 2311
32. Rāgavardhanī SgGM PdnŚ 311 2122
3112212
30. Nāganandinī SRGM PnNŚ 221 2311
34. Vāgadhīśvarī SgGM PDnŚ 311 2212
44. Bhāvapriyā Srgm PdnŚ 123 1122
3112221
9. Dhenukā SrgM PdNŚ 122 2131
35. Śūlinī SgGM PDNŚ 311 2221
56. Ṣaṇmukhapriyā SRgm PdnŚ 213 1122
66. Citrāmbarī SRGm PnNŚ 222 1311
3121122
68. Jyotisvarūpiṇī SgGm PdnŚ 312 1122
3121212
46. Ṣaḍvidhamārgiṇī Srgm PDnŚ 123 1212
70. Nāsikabhūṣaṇī SgGm PDnŚ 312 1212
3121221
14. Vakulābharaṇam SrGM PdnŚ 131 2122
(Basantamukhārī )
21. Kiravāṇī SRgM PdNŚ 212 2131
58. Hemavatī (SarasvatīRañjanī) SRgm PDnŚ 213 1212
71. Kosalam SgGm PDNŚ 312 1221
3211221
50. Nāmanārāyaṇī SrGm PdnŚ 132 1122
3122112
47. Suvarṇāṅgī Srgm PDNŚ 123 1221
3122121
16. Cakravākam (AhīrBhairav) SrGM PDnŚ 131 2212
27. Sarasāṅgī (NaṭaBhairav) SRGM PdNŚ 221 2131
59. Dharmavatī (Madhuvantī) SRgm PDNŚ 213 1221
3122211
7. Senāvatī SrgM PdDŚ 122 2113
17. Sūryakāntam (ĀnandBhairav) SrGM PDNŚ 131 2221
63. Latāṅgī SRGm PdNŚ 222 1131
3212121
52. Rāmapriyā SrGm PDnŚ 132 1212
 3212211
2. Ratnāṅgī SrRM PdnŚ 113 2122
19. Jhanakāradhvani SRgM PdDŚ 212 2113
53. Gamanaśrama (Mārvā) SrGm PDNŚ 132 1221
3221211
4. Vanaspati SrRM PDnŚ 113 2212
25. Mārurañjanī SRGM PdDŚ 221 2113
3222111
5. Mānāvatī SrRM PDNŚ 113 2221
61. Kāntāmaṇi SRGm PdDŚ 222 1113

3. Intervals: 1111 2 33 (12 Interval Patterns, 24 scales):

THĀṬ / MEḶA NOTES INTERVALS
2111313
49. Dhavalāmbarī SrGm PdDŚ 132 1113
2111331
67. Sucaritrā SgGm PdDŚ 312 1113
2113113
1. Kanakāṅgī SrRM PdDŚ 113 2113
51. Kāmavardhanī (Pūrvī) SrGm PdNŚ 132 1131
Mm. Pañcam SrGM mDNŚ 131 1321
2113131
13. Gāyakapriyā SrGM PdDŚ 131 2113
69. Dhātuvardhanī SgGm PdNŚ 312 1131
2113311
31. Yāgapriyā SgGM PdDŚ 311 2113
2131113
3. Gaṇamūrti SrRM PdNŚ 113 2131
54. Viśvambarī SrGm PnNŚ 132 1311
55. Śyāmalāṅgī SRgm PdDŚ 213 1113
2131131
15. Māyāmālavagauḷa SrGM PdNŚ 131 2131
(Bhairav)
57. Siṁhendramadhyamam SRgm PdNŚ 213 1131
72. Rasikapriyā SgGm PnNŚ 312 1311
Mm. AhirLalat SrGM mDnŚ 131 1312
2131311
33. Gāṅgeyabhūṣaṇī SgGM PdNŚ 311 2131
60. Nītimatī SRgm PnNŚ 213 1311
2311113
6. Tānarūpī SrRM PnNŚ 113 2311
2311131
18. Hāṭakāmbarī SrGM PnNŚ 131 2311
43. Gavāmbodhi Srgm PdDŚ 123 1113
2311311
36. Calanāṭa SgGM PnNŚ 311 2311
45. Śubhapantuvarāli (Toḍī) Srgm PdNŚ 123 1131
Mm. Lalat SrGM mdNŚ 131 1231
2313111
48. Divyamaṇi Srgm PnNŚ 123 1311

4. Intervals: 1111 22 4 (3 Interval Patterns, 3 scales):

THĀṬ / MEḶA NOTES INTERVALS
4112211
38. Jalārṇavam SrRm PdnŚ 114 1122
4121211
40. Navanītam SrRm PDnŚ 114 1212
4122111
41. Pāvanī SrRm PDNŚ 114 1221

5. Intervals: 11111 3 4 (3 Interval Patterns, 3 scales):

THĀṬ / MEḶA NOTES INTERVALS
4111311
37. Sālagam SrRm PdDŚ 114 1113
4113111
39. Jhālāvarālī SrRm PdNŚ 114 1131
4131111
42. Raghupriyā SrRm PnNŚ 114 1311

So far, we have seen scales with 7 notes (i.e. heptatonic scales). It must be noted
that the above are thāṭs (parent-scales) as distinct from rāgas (melodies or
melodic-scales): there can be many rāgas within each thāṭ (all using basically the
same notes, but completely different from each other in the various different
characteristics that make up a rāga, which we will see later in more detail). A rāga
is the actual melody, a thāṭ is the full set of all the notes used in the rāga. Usually,
a thāṭ has the same name as a prominent rāga from within that thāṭ.
A rāga may have the full set of the 7 notes of a thāṭ in the āroh (ascending form)
and have a note or two missing in the avaroh (descending form), or vice versa. Or
there may be certain different notes missing in the āroh or avaroh, while having,
both (āroh and avaroh) put together, all the 7 notes of the thāṭ. In all these cases,
the rāga is still clearly identifiable with that thāṭ.

The complication in classification arises when we examine rāgas with 6 notes

(hexatonic scales) and rāgas with 5 notes (pentatonic scales). This leads to
confusion if one wants to classify them within heptatonic thāṭs: for example both
the pentatonic rāgas Deskār and Bhūp have the same 5 notes SRGPDŚ (with M
and N missing).
If we compulsorily classify these rāgas into the 10-heptonic-thāṭ paradigm, do we
classify them as belonging to the Bilāval thāṭ (assuming that the missing M and N
are shuddh notes), to the Kalyāṇ thāṭ (assuming that the missing M and N are
tīvra and shuddh notes respectively), to the Khamāj thāṭ (assuming that the
missing M and N are shuddh and komal notes respectively), or to the Vācaspati
thāṭ (assuming that the missing M and N are tīvra and komal notes respectively)?
In common practice, due to the modern convention of force-fitting all rāgas into
the artificial 10-heptatonic-thāṭs paradigm, Deskār is classified as belonging to
the Bilāval thāṭ (assuming that the missing M and N are shuddh notes), and Bhūp
as belonging to the Kalyāṇ thāṭ (assuming that the missing M and N are tīvra and
shuddh notes respectively)!
Generally, in such cases, the thāṭ is arbitrarily decided, not on the basis of the set
of notes in it, but on the basis of other characteristics: as already pointed out, each
thāṭ is named after a certain typical rāga as well: thus Bilāval, Kalyāṇ, etc. are
thāṭs as well as rāgas with special characteristics. So the rāga under
consideration, e.g. Deskār , is classified on the assumption that its aṅga
(characteristic features) more resembles the aṅga of rāga Bilāval, and that of
Bhūp, which has the exactly same notes, more resembles the aṅga of rāga
Kalyāṇ. Clearly, all this has nothing really to do with the classification of the set
of notes in the rāga.
This force-fitting is therefore not correct, and so here we are classifying it as an
independent pentatonic thāṭ Bhūp, containing already two different rāgas with the
same five notes.

Here, therefore, we will note the nature of hexatonic and pentatonic melodies or
melodic structures (rāgas), as independent scales (thāṭs). Usually, these scales
represent both the thāṭ and rāga. Here, on the basis of the notes in both the āroh
and avaroh combined, we are taking into count as thāṭs only rāgas which do not
ordinarily have both the forms of any note (i.e. both r and R, or both g and G, etc),
except three hexatonic scales (there may be more not counted by us) belonging to
the rR-gG-dD-nN meḷa variety of southern scales.

II.B. HEXATONIC Scales of Indian Classical Music:

1. Intervals: 222222 (1 Interval Pattern, 1 scale):

SCALE NOTES INTERVALS
222222
Sehrā SRGm dnŚ 222 222

2. Intervals: 2222 1 3 (3 Interval Patterns, 14 scales):

SCALE NOTES INTERVALS
322122
GopikāBasant SgMP dnŚ 322 122
GorakhKalyāṇ SRMP DnŚ 232 212
Śaṅkarā SRGP DNŚ 223 221
RṣabhīMālkauns SrgM dnŚ 122 322
NāyakīKānaḍā SRgM PnŚ 212 232
Naṭanārāyāṇī SRGM PDŚ 221 223
322212
Manoharī SgMP DnŚ 322 212
Nāgagāndhārī SRMP DNŚ 232 221
Bhavānī Srgm dnŚ 123 222
SampūrṇaMālkauns SRgM dnŚ 212 322
Śivakāmbhojī SRGM PnŚ 221 232
YamunāKalyāṇī SRGm PDŚ 222 123
321222
Navamanoharī SRMP dnŚ 232 122
Mṛganandana SRGm DNŚ 222 321

3. Intervals: 222 11 4 (9 Interval Patterns, 19 scales):

 SCALE NOTES INTERVALS
412221
HariNaṭa SGMP DNŚ 412 221
Trimūrti SRgP dnŚ 214 122
Ravicandrikā SRGM DnŚ 221 412
Ratnakāntī SRGm PNŚ 222 141
ŚuddhaSimantinī SrgM PdŚ 122 214
412212
Jujahuli SGMP DnŚ 412 212
Niṣādī SRmP DNŚ 241 221
Kaśyapī SrgP dnŚ 124 122
Śrīrañjanī SRgM DnŚ 212 412
Vilāsinī SRGM PNŚ 221 241
412122
Sarasvatī SRmP DnŚ 241 212
411222
Jaganmohan SRmP dnŚ 241 122
421221
Pheṇādyutī SrMP dnŚ 142 122
Mānavī SRgP DnŚ 214 212
Hamsavādinī SRGM DNŚ 221 421
421212
Salagavarāli SrgP DnŚ 124 212
421122
Jyoti SGmP dnŚ 421 122
422121
Rasāvalī SrMP DnŚ 142 212
422211
Jīvantikā SrMP DNŚ 142 221

4. Intervals: 22 11 33 (10 Interval Patterns, 16 scales):

SCALE NOTES INTERVALS
112323
GujarīToḍī Srgm dNŚ 123 231
Vasantavarālī SRMP nNŚ 232 311
113232
Pūriyā SrGm DNŚ 132 321
Nīleśvarī SgMm PnŚ 321 132
113322
Rasachandra SRGM mDŚ 221 133
121233
KaiśikiRañjanī SRgM dNŚ 212 331
121332
Malayamārutam SrGP DnŚ 133 212
Rañjanī SRgm DNŚ 213 321
122133
Sarasānana SRGM dNŚ 221 331
131223
Latikā SRGP dNŚ 223 131
Rāgamālinī SrGM PDŚ 131 223
131232
Vijayanāgarī SRgm PDŚ 213 123
131322
Gopikātilakam SRgm PnŚ 213 132
132132
Jaikauns SgMm DNŚ 321 321
Indupriyā SrGm PnŚ 132 132
Nīlāṅgī SRgm dDŚ 213 213

5. Intervals: 2 111 3 4 (9 Interval Patterns, 14 scales):

SCALE NOTES INTERVALS
211314
Indumatī SGmP dNŚ 421 131
ŚuddhaSohanī SrGM DNŚ 131 421
211413
Dhavalāṅgam SrGm PdŚ 132 114
213114
Jogia SrMP dNŚ 142 131
Vijayavasanta SGmP nNŚ 421 311
Śyāmalam SRgm PdŚ 213 114
213141
Cakravāka SrGM DnŚ 131 412
Amarasenapriyā SRgm PNŚ 213 141
214113
Mandhārī SrGm PNŚ 132 141
214131
BaṅgālBhairav SrGM PdŚ 131 214
231141
Candrajyoti SrRm PDŚ 114 123
231411
Śrīvantī Srgm PNŚ 123 141
241131
CandraKalyāṇ SRmP dNŚ 241 131
Gauḷa SrGM PNŚ 131 241

6. Intervals: 111 333 (3 Interval Pattern, 4 scales):

SCALE NOTES INTERVALS
331131
Kalagaḍa SrGP dDŚ 133 113
331311
Triveṇī SrGP dNŚ 133 131
Gaurīkriyā SgmP nNŚ 331 311
313131
Devamuni SgGP dNŚ 313 131

II.C. PENTATONIC Scales of Indian Classical Music:

Pentatonic scales are more widespread than hexatonic scales. The musical
systems of the Far East, for example, typically mainly have pentatonic scales.

1. Intervals: 222 33 (2 interval patterns, 6 scales):

SCALE NOTES INTERVALS
22233
Vīṇāvādinī SRG PnŚ 22 332
22323
Bhūp SRG PDŚ 22 323
MadhmādSāraṅg SRM PnŚ 23 232
Mālkauns SgM dnŚ 32 322
Durgā SRM PDŚ 23 223
ŚuddhaDhanyāsī SgM PnŚ 32 232

2. Intervals: 11 2 44 (3 interval patterns, 9 scales):

SCALE NOTES INTERVALS
12144
Jhilāf SGM PdŚ 41 214
14124
BhūpālToḍī Srg PdŚ 12 414
Vaijayantī SRm PNŚ 24 141
KhamājīDurgā SGM DnŚ 41 412
Gambhīranāṭa SGM PNŚ 41 241
14142
Līlāvatī SRg PdŚ 21 414
Bhinnaṣaḍja SGM DNŚ 41 421
Guṇakali SrM PdŚ 14 214
Amṛtavarṣiṇī SGm PNŚ 42 141

3. Intervals: 1 22 3 4 (9 interval patterns, 22 scales):

SCALE NOTES INTERVALS
12234
Cittākarṣiṇī Srg MdŚ 12 234
Haṁsadhvanī SRG PNŚ 22 341
Guhamanoharī SRM DnŚ 23 412
Nāgasvarālī SGM PDŚ 41 223
12324
ChāyāToḍī Srg mdŚ 12 324
KāfīCandrakauns SgM DnŚ 32 412
ŚrīKalyāṇ SRm PDŚ 24 123
12342
Dhavalaśrī SGm PDŚ 42 123
Rasarañjanī SRM DNŚ 23 421
AuḍavTukhārī SRg MdŚ 21 234
12432
Kalāvatī SGP DnŚ 43 212
Abhogī SRg MDŚ 21 243
13224
Madhurañjanī SgM PNŚ 32 241
 13242
Sūryakauns SgM DNŚ 32 421
Yoginī SGm PnŚ 42 132
14232
BairāgīBhairav SrM PnŚ 14 232
Śivarañjanī SRg PDŚ 21 423
Śobhāvarī SRM PdŚ 23 214
Hinḍol SGm DNŚ 42 321
14322
KokilāPañcam SgM PdŚ 32 214
Mamatā SGP DNŚ 43 221
14223
Bhūpeśvarī SRG PdŚ 22 314

4. Intervals: 1 2 333 (3 interval patterns, 5 scales):

SCALE NOTES INTERVALS
12333
Harikauns Sgm DnŚ 33 312
13233
Madhukauns Sgm PnŚ 33 132
Candrakauns (new) SgM dNŚ 32 331
Devanandinī SrG mDŚ 13 233
13323
Jait SrG PDŚ 13 323

5. Intervals: 11 33 4 (1 interval pattern, 2 scales):

SCALE NOTES INTERVALS
13314
Bibhās SrG PdŚ 13 314
Girijā SGM dNŚ 41 331

6. Intervals: 1 222 5 (3 interval patterns, 5 scales):

SCALE NOTES INTERVALS
12252
AdbhutKalyāṇ SRG DNŚ 22 521
Devrañjanī SMP dnŚ 52 122
12225
Kumudki SRG mNŚ 22 251
12522
Kuntalavarāli SMP DnŚ 52 212
BudhaManoharī SRG MPŚ 22 125

7. Intervals: 11 2 3 5 (1 interval pattern, 1 scale):

SCALE NOTES INTERVALS
13152
Devarañjanī SMP dNŚ 52 131

8. Intervals: 111 3 6 (2 interval patterns, 2 scales):

SCALE NOTES INTERVALS
11316
Megharañjī SrG MNŚ 13 161
13116
DeśaGauḍ SrP dNŚ 16 131

II.D. Other Scales of Indian Classical Music:

Before going further, it must be noted that there are many rāgas which do not fit
into the list of heptatonic (7-note), hexatonic (6-note) and pentatonic (5-note) thāṭs
or scales given by us above even from the point of view of notes. This is because
the full scale of a great many rāgas contains both forms of one or more notes so
that there can be more notes than 7 (our above list does not include such scales
except the Lalat-type heptatonic Mm scales, and the mainly heptatonic Carnatic
scales of the rR, gG, dD and nN types).

As we will see, some of the Arabic maqams have 8, 9 or 10 notes. In our

classification of the scales of Indian music, we have taken only heptatonic (7-note),
hexatonic (6-note) and pentatonic (5-note) scales. However, many rāgas can have
a set of more than 7 notes, having both forms of one or more notes, these extra
notes being ignored in the official thāṭ classification.

Many rāgas have 8 notes with both forms of one note. Some examples:
SrRgM PdnŚ: KomalDesī.
SRGM PDnNŚ: AlhaiyāBilāval, Soraṭh, Des.
SRgGM PDNŚ: DevGandhār.
SRGMm PDNŚ: Bihāg, Kedār, Basant, GauḍSāraṅg.

Many rāgas have 9 notes with both forms of two notes. Some examples:
SRgGM PDnNŚ: Jaijaivantī, Nīlāmbarī, RāmdāsīMalhār.
SrRgGM PdnŚ: LakṣmīToḍī.

Many rāgas have 10 notes with both forms of three notes. One example:
SRgGM PdDnNŚ: Janglā.

Another version of a rāga named above has 11 notes with both forms of four
notes:
SrRgGM PdDnNŚ: LakṣmīToḍī.

While this brings into focus a great many rāgas with more than 7 notes, it may be
noted that there are also many rāgas which would be classified as 5-note or 6-note
rāgas, which would not fit into our earlier list of scales, because they likewise
have both forms of a note. Some examples of such "pentatonic" scales with 6
notes:
SGM PnNŚ: Tilaṅg.
SgGM PnŚ: Jog.
SRM PnNŚ: BrindāvanīSāraṅg.
Or the following "hexatonic" scales with 7 notes:
SRMm PDNŚ: ŚuddhaSāraṅg.
SRGM DnNŚ: Rāgeśrī.

All these are scales with different notes. We will not classify these scales here as
we have classified the 7-note, 6-note and 5-note scales (with notes and intervals)
because then we enter the rich and unparalleled world of thousands of rāgas, found
only in our Indian music. It may just be noted here that Indian scales, unique in
world music, go beyond the lists given earlier (which lists also could be suitably
enlarged with more research even without including these scales).

II.E. SOME NON-INDIAN MUSICAL SCALES:

We saw the primary scales in Indian Classical music, north and south. We will
now just take a brief and passing look at the musical scales in some other major
music systems of the world.

1. WESTERN CLASSICAL MUSIC is completely different from Indian

Classical music, since it is based on the principle of simultaneous Harmony
between different sounds, and the consequent use of chords (multiple notes in
harmony with each other being played or sung simultaneously) rather than on
linear Melody - although of course Melody ultimately has to be one of the two
pillars of any form of music (the other pillar being Rhythm). We will not go into
the intricacies of the western Harmony system here, we will only note the main
musical scales of Western Classical music, on the basis of intervals:

Heptatonic Scales:
C SCALE NOTES INTERVALS HINDUSTANI- CARNATIC
Major SRGM 221 2221 Bilāval -
PDNŚ Dhīraśaṅkarābharaṇam
Natural Minor SRgM PdnŚ 212 2122 Āsāvarī - Nāṭabhairavī
Harmonic Minor SRgM PdNŚ 212 2131 Kiravāṇī
Melodic Minor SRgM 212 2221 Paṭdīp - Gaurīmanoharī
Asc PDNŚ 221 2212 Āsāvarī - Nāṭabhairavī
ŚndP MgRS
Desc
Lydian SRGm 222 1221 Kalyāṇ - Mecakalyāṇī
PDNŚ
Lydian SRGm 222 2121 ---
Augmented dDNŚ

Western scales can start from any key, and the melody is named after the Scale and
the key: the white keys (see the picture of the keyboard of the harmonium) are
called C, D, E, F, G, A and B. Thus the most common, C Major is a Major scale
starting on the first white key, and D Major is a Major scale starting on the second
white key and then taking the same interval pattern 221 2221. [All the scales below
are C scales].

Hexatonic Scales:
C SCALE NOTES INTERVALS
Major Hexatonic SRGM PDŚ 221 223
Minor Hexatonic SRGm PnŚ 222 132
Whole-tone Hexatonic SRGm dnŚ 222 222
Major Blues SRgG PDŚ 211 323
Minor Blues SgMm PnŚ 321 132
Tritone Scale SrGm PnŚ 132 132
Two-semi-tone Tritone SrRm PdŚ 114 114
Augmented Scale SgGP dDŚ 313 112

Pentatonic Scales:
C SCALE NOTES INTERVALS
Major Pentatonic SRG PDŚ 22 323
Minor Pentatonic Scale SgM PnŚ 32 232
Semi-tonal Pentatonic SRg PdŚ 21 414
Neutral Pentatonic SRM PnŚ 23 232

There are a few other scales found in the folk music of some parts of Europe, and
composers have often experimented with other scales, but they are not part of the
official repertoire of Western Classical Music - actually even some of the above
scales are not commonly used. It will be noticed that the number and range of
scales in western music is extremely limited in comparison with Indian Classical
music, although we have not given a completely exhaustive list of Indian scales -
there are many more rarely used, or present in old lists - and the above list of
western scales itself includes many not used in Classical music but new
innovations in modern forms of music like jazz. And remember, we are still
discussing thāṭ scales, not rāga scales!

But we must also keep in mind that a large number of scales is not the only
criterion for judging richness and variety in any musical system, and that, apart
from the fact that Western Classical music develops its richness on the basis of
Harmony rather than Melody, there are usually unofficial and individualistic
aspects of musical performance in any musical system which lend richness, variety
and depth to the music. Nevertheless the enormous variety of scales in Indian
music testifies to its unique richness.

2. JAPANESE CLASSICAL MUSIC, in the East, is based on 10 scales in 4

pentatonic variants:
SCALE NOTES INTERVALS
 22323
Ryo SRG PDŚ 22 323
Ritsu (Gagaku) SRM PDŚ 23 223
Ritsu (Minyo) SgM PnŚ 32 232
23232
Yo SRM PnŚ 23 232
14142
Hirajoshi SRg PdŚ 21 414
Kumoijoshi SrM PdŚ 14 214
Iwato SrM mnŚ 14 142
14232
Akebono SRg PDŚ 21 423
Han-Kumoi SRM PdŚ 23 214
In-Sen SrM PnŚ 14 232

There are also a handful of hexatonic scales more rarely used:

SCALE NOTES INTERVALS
122 142
Niagari SrM PDNŚ 142 122
Honchoshi Srg MmnŚ 122 142
122 322
Yosen SRM PDnŚ 232 212
Ritsu Srg mdnŚ 122 322
Yo SRg MPnŚ 212 232

3. CHINESE CLASSICAL MUSIC has three primary pentatonic scales, the first
of which, with the addition of certain notes, can produce some hexatonic and
heptatonic scales. The two primary pentatonic scales are the tonal pentatonic and
the semi-tonal pentatonic:
Tonal pentatonic: SRGPDŚ (intervals 22323).
Semitonal pentatonic: RmdDrR (intervals 42141).
Neutral Pentatonic: PDSRMP (intervals 23232).

The Tonal pentatonic (also called Mongolian) scale can start on each of the five
notes, and uses the same five notes, so that the interval pattern is the same. So we
get the five following scales (or rather modes):
Pentatonic Scales: Intervals: 222 33 (1 interval pattern, 5 scales):
SCALE NOTES INTERVALS
22323
Gong SRG PDS 2 2 3 2 3
Shang RGP DSR 2 3 2 3 2
Jue GPD SRG 3 2 3 2 2
Zi PDS RGP 2 3 2 2 3
Yu DSR GPD 3 2 2 3 2

From this 20 hexatonic scales are produced by adding either M, m, n, or N (these

additions are respectively called Qing Jue, Bian Zi, Run and Bian Gong):

Hexatonic Scales: Intervals: 1 2222 3 (3 interval patterns, 20 scales):

SCALE NOTES INTERVALS
321222
Run Gong SRG PDnS 223 212
Run Shang RGP DnSR 232 122
Run Jue GPD nSRG 321 222
Run Zi PDn SRGP 212 223
Run Yu DnS RGPD 122 232
322122
Qing Jue Gong SRG MPDS 221 223
Bian Gong Zi PDN SRGP 221 223
Qing Jue Shang RGM PDSR 212 232
Bian Gong Yu DNS RGPD 212 232
Qing Jue Zi PDS RGMP 232 212
Bian Gong Shang RGP DNSR 232 212
Qing Jue Yu DSR GMPD 322 122
Bian Gong Jue GPD NSRG 322 122
Qing Jue Jue GMP DSRG 122 322
Bian Gong Gong SRG PDNS 223 221
322212
Bian Zi Gong SRG mPDS 222 123
Bian Zi Shang RGm PDSR 221 232
Bian Zi Jue GmP DSRG 212 322
Bian Zi Zi PDS RGmP 232 221
Bian Zi Yu DSR GmPD 322 212
From the Mongolian or Tonal Pentatonic, we also get 15 heptatonic scales, by
adding MN, mN, or Mn: (these additions are respectively called Qing Yue, Ya
Yue and Yan Yue:

Heptatonic Scales: Intervals: 11 22222 (1 interval pattern, 15 scales):

SCALE NOTES INTERVALS
2212221
Qing Yue Gong SRGM PDNS 221 2221
Ya Yue Zi PDNS RGmP 221 2221
Qing Yue Shang RGMP DNSR 212 2212
Ya Yue Yu DNSR GmPD 212 2212
Yan Yue Zi PDnS RGMP 212 2212
Qing Yue Jue GMPD NSRG 122 2122
Yan Yue Yu DnSR GMPD 122 2122
Qing Yue Zi PDNS RGMP 221 2212
Ya Yue Shang RGmP DNSR 221 2212
Yan Yue Gong SRGM PDnS 221 2212
Qing Yue Yu DNSR GMPD 212 2122
Ya Yue Jue GmPD NSRG 212 2122
Yan Yue Shang RGMP DnSR 212 2122
Ya Yue Gong SRGm PDNS 222 1221
Yan Yue Jue GMPD nSRG 122 1222

Very few of the scales are actually in use, and the practice of continuously shifting
from scale to scale within a piece of music makes the actual notations of the scales
a bit superfluous. Many of these scales are more prominent in different kinds of
folk music in different parts of China. The scales can add different extra notes for
effect in the musical compositions, and add some kinds of chords as well for effect.

4. ARABIC (OR WEST ASIAN) CLASSICAL MUSIC is closer to Indian

classical music in the sense that its scales are melodies as in Indian music. They
are called maqams, and are equivalent to rāgas: the thāṭs/meḷas we have already
shown are also basically rāgas, except that in our above list we have only counted
those rāgas as thāṭs which have a distinct set of notes and intervals. When it
comes to the actual rāgas as melodies, we get an extremely larger number of rāga-
scales, since there can be different and distinct rāgas having the same notes but
completely different melodies for which there are different characteristics.
In that sense, the Arabic maqams are much more limited in number and can be
enumerated as maqams (scales/melodies) rather than separately as thāṭs (scales)
and rāgas (melodies).
As we will see later, the classical music of West Asia is probably derived in its
historical origins from Indian classical music, although it has a completely
different sound and style. It retains features such as associating maqams with
specific emotions (the rasa of Indian classical music) and its greatest feature is that
it still retains a system of quarter-tones or microtones (which is still used in
practice in Indian classical music but has become obsolete in theory). The quarter-
tones are of course, not exactly quarter tones, but pitches between two semi-tones,
and are expressed below in the form of fractions approximately as half semitones.
In the last two or three maqams, the pitches are even more complicated and have
to be expressed in even more minute approximate fractions:

1. Intervals: 11 22222 (1 Interval Pattern, 7 scales):

MAQAM NOTES INTERVALS
2212221
'Ajam SRGM PDNŚ 221 2221
'Ajam-Ushayran nSRg MPDn 221 2221
Farahfaza - I PDnS RgMP 212 2122
Kurd RgMP DnŚR 122 2122
Lami RgMP dnŚR 122 1222
Nahawand - I SRgM PdnŚ 212 2122
Nahawand-Kabir SRgM PDnŚ 212 2212

2. Intervals: 111 222 3 (3 Interval Pattern, 10 scales):

MAQAM NOTES INTERVALS

1311222
Shahnaz-Kurdi RgMP DnrR 122 2131
1312212
Nahawand-Murassa SRgM mDnŚ 212 1312
Zanjaran SrGM PDnŚ 131 2212
Saba-Zamzam - I RgMm DnSR 121 3122
Shawq-Afza SRGM PdNŚ 221 2131
 1312122
Farahfaza - II PDnS RgmP 212 2131
Hijaz RgmP DnSR 131 2122
Nahawand - II SRgM PdNŚ 212 2131
Nikriz SRgm PDnŚ 213 1212
Sultani-Yakah SRgM PdNŚ 212 2131

3. Intervals: 1111 2 33 (2 Interval Patterns, 6 scales):

MAQAM NOTES INTERVALS
1231131
Athar-Kurd Srgm PdNŚ 123 1131
2131131
Hijazkar SrGM PdNŚ 131 2131
Nawa-Athar SRgm PdNŚ 213 1131
Shahnaz RgmP DnrR 131 2131
Shadd-'Araban PdNS RgmP 131 2131
Suzidil DnrR GMdD 131 2131

4. Intervals: 1111 22 3 (1 Interval Pattern, 1 scale):

MAQAM NOTES INTERVALS
2113121
Saba-Busalik RGMm DnSr 211 3121

As pointed out earlier, an important feature of Arabic scales and music is the use of
quarter-tones: notes somewhere between two semi-tones. Thus we get g+ which is
between g and G, or n+ which is between n and N. The interval must then be
calculated in terms of half of a semitone, written below as 1/2.

4. Intervals: 1 2222 11/2 11/2 (2 Interval Patterns, 4 scales):

MAQAM NOTES INTERVALS
11/2 11/2 2 2 2 1 2
Mahur S R g+ M P D N Ś 2 11/2 11/2 2 2 2 1
11/2 11/2 2 2 1 2 2
Bayati I R g+ M P D n S R 11/2 11/2 2 2 1 2 2
Ushaq-Masri R G M P D n+ S R 2 1 2 2 11/2 11/2 2
Suzdalara S R g+ M P D n S 2 11/2 11/2 2 2 1 2

5. Intervals: 11 22 3 11/2 11/2 (1 Interval Pattern, 5 scales):

MAQAM NOTES INTERVALS
11/2 11/2 2 1 3 1 2
Bayati-Shuri R g+ M P d N S R 11/2 11/2 2 1 3 1 2
Hijaz-Awj R g m P D n+ S R 1 3 1 2 11/2 11/2 2
Huzam g+ M P d N S R g+ 11/2 2 1 3 1 2 11/2
Rahat-al-Arwah n+ S R g m P D n+ 11/2 2 1 3 1 2 11/2
Suznak S R g+ M P d N Ś 2 11/2 11/2 2 1 3 1

6. Intervals: 222 11/2 11/2 11/2 11/2 (1 Interval Pattern, 8 scales):

MAQAM NOTES INTERVALS
1 /2 11/2 2 11/2 11/2 2 2
1

Bayati R g+ M P D n+ S R 11/2 11/2 2 2 11/2 11/2 2

Husayni R g+ M P D n+ S R 11/2 11/2 2 2 11/2 11/2 2
'Iraq n+ S R g+ M P D n+ 11/2 2 11/2 11/2 2 2 11/2
Kirdan S R g+ M P D n+ S 2 11/2 11/2 2 2 11/2 11/2
Nairuz S R g+ M P d+ n Ś 2 11/2 11/2 2 11/2 11/2 2
Rast S R g+ M P D n+ S 2 11/2 11/2 2 2 11/2 11/2
Yakah P D n+ S R g+ M P 2 11/2 11/2 2 11/2 11/2 2
Sikah g+ M P D n+ S R g+ 11/2 2 2 11/2 11/2 2 11/2

7. Intervals: 11 222 11/2 21/2 (1 Interval Pattern, 1 scale):

MAQAM NOTES INTERVALS
21/2 1 2 1 2 2 11/2
Musta'ar g+ m P D n S R g+ 21/2 1 2 1 2 2 11/2

8. Intervals: 11 2 33 1/2 11/2 (1 Interval Pattern, 1 scale):

MAQAM NOTES INTERVALS
11/2 2 1 3 1 3 1/2
Awj-'Iraq n+ S R g m P n n+ 11/2 2 1 3 1 3 1/2
There are some scales (maqams) which have more than 7 notes; and, except for the
first one below, the rest go above the octave and use slightly differing notes as they
step into the next octave:

9. Intervals: 1111 2 3 11/2 11/2 (1 Interval Pattern, 1 scale) - 8 notes:

MAQAM NOTES INTERVALS
Saba - I R g+ M m D n S r R 1 /2 11/2 1 3 1 2 1 1
1

10. Intervals: 1111 22 3 11/2 11/2 (1 Interval Pattern, 1 scale) - 9 notes:

MAQAM NOTES INTERVALS
Saba - II R g+ M m D n S r R G 1 /2 11/2 1 3 1 2 1 1
1

11. Intervals: 11111 2222 3 (1 Interval Pattern, 1 scale) - 9 notes:

MAQAM NOTES INTERVALS
Hijazkar-Kurd SrgM PdnNSrG 1 2 2 2 1 2 1 1 1 3

12. Intervals: 1111 22 33 (1 Interval Pattern, 1 scale) - 9 notes:

MAQAM NOTES INTERVALS
Saba-Zamzam - II RgMm DnSrG 1 2 1 3 1 2 1 3

13. Intervals: 1 222 3 11/2 11/2 11/2 11/2 (1 Interval Pattern, 1 scale) - 9 notes:
MAQAM NOTES INTERVALS
Dalanshin S R g+ M P D n+ S r G 2 1 /2 11/2 2 2 11/2 11/2
1

13

14. Intervals: 111 22 33 11/2 11/2 11/2 (1 Interval Pattern, 1 scale) - 10 notes:
MAQAM NOTES INTERVALS
Bastanikar n+ S R g+ M m D n S r 1 /2 2 11/2 11/2 1 3 1 2
1

G 13

Finally there are three maqams which contain notes slightly raised or lowered,
which cannot be satisfactorily explained in numerals, not even with the fractions
used above (though it is true that these fractions are also approximate ones). They
range from the relatively simpler Sazkar to the more complicated Jiharkah and the
extremely complicated Sikah-Baladi (the last of which is so complicated in the
exact pitch of its notes that it is only rarely sung or played and only by musicians
out to show their exceptional skill and virtuosity). This slight raised or lowered
note will be indicated below with arrows and nominal or extremely approximate
values in fractions of semitones:

15. Intervals: 222 1/4 11/4 11/2 11/2 11/2 (1 Interval Pattern, 1 scale) - 8 notes:
MAQAM NOTES INTERVALS
Sazkar S R R↑ g+ M P D n S 2 /4 11/4 11/2 2 2 11/2
1

11/2

16. Intervals: 1 22 13/4 21/4 11/2 11/2 (1 Interval Pattern, 1 scale) - 7 notes:
MAQAM NOTES INTERVALS
Jiharkah g+ M P D↓ n↓ S R g+ 1 /2 2 13/4
1
1 21/4 2
11/2

17. Intervals: 1 11/8 13/8 13/8 17/8 11/4 13/4 21/4 (1 Interval Pattern, 1 scale) - 8
notes:
MAQAM NOTES INTERVALS
Sikah-Baladi P d+↓ n+↑ 1 /8 21/4 11/4
3

S↓ r R g+↓ M↑ P 11/8 1 13/8 13/4 17/8

As we can see, the number of scales (52) and interval patterns (22) is limited as
compared to Indian music. As in the case of Indian rāgas, some maqams have not
only the same interval-patterns but also the same notes (unlike the distinctly
different Indian thāṭs/meḷas listed earlier): e.g. Kirdan and Rast, or Nahawand-II
and Sultani-Yakah, or Bayati and Husayni. Others have the same notes, but start
on different notes: e.g. 'Ajam-Ushayran, Farahfaza-I, Kurd and Nahawand-Kabir,
or Farahfaza-II, Hijaz and Nikriz.

The maqam system of Arabic music is relatively closer to Indian classical music
in its emphasis on melody, though the maqam musical style of West Asia
(varieties of which are found right up to Afghanistan, and also found influencing
Kashmiri music) is very distinctly different from Indian Classical music in most
respects. Incidentally, as all other forms of world music have contributed their bits
to Indian film music, Arabic-Persian-Turkish music has also often been used to
give a West Asian coloring to songs in Hindi films: the most glaring example
(though it would not be immediately obvious to Indian film-song lovers, since the
accompanying musical instruments in the song are all Indian ones, or ones
regularly used in Indian film music) is the maqam bayati as used in the film song
"ghar aaya mera pardesi" in the film Awara.
But except for its more open preservation of microtones, West Asian music is not
as rich as Indian music. The total number of scales (52) that we have seen, and it is
possible there are a few more not included in the list above, are actually equivalent
to the melodies themselves: in Indian music, however, the scales (thāṭs) are just
the basis for countless melodies (rāgas), and there are literally thousands of rāgas.

III. The Rāgas of Indian Music

We have seen the scales or thāṭs/meḷas of Indian classical music. However, the
thāṭs are not themselves rāgas, although in almost all cases the above thāṭs are
named after certain particular rāgas which have those same notes. A rāga is a
melody containing the following characteristics, and as mentioned above, there are
literally thousands of rāgas in Indian music. In this article, we can only touch upon
the basic aspects of the rāga system itself, and with reference to only a few of the
thousands of rāgas (i.e. in explaining any point, we will only consider one or two
of scores or hundreds of examples):

1. SCALE OR SET OF NOTES:

The first characteristic of a rāga is its scale or the full set of notes used in it. We
have already given a listing of heptatonic (7-note), hexatonic (6-note) and
pentatonic (5-note) thāṭs or scales.
In all of the cases, a thāṭ is also a rāga.
In many cases, it is the only rāga in the thāṭ and therefore both rāga and thāṭ are
identical. Thus, what we have called the pentatonic thāṭ Śivarañjanī is also a
rāga Śivarañjanī, with the notes SRg PDS., the only rāga in the thāt.

But this is not always the case. Usually, there are many distinctly different rāgas
which use the same scale or set of notes: Thus the heptatonic scale of Bhairavī
thāṭ (SrgM PdnŚ) is found in the distinctly different rāgas Bhairavī, Bilāskhānī
Toḍī and Komal Āsāvarī.
If we take the pentatonic thāṭ Bhūp (SRG PDS) listed earlier, we again have a
rāga Bhūp (or Bhūpālī) as well as another rāga Deskār with exactly the same
identical five notes and belonging to the same pentatonic thāṭ.
Thus, a rāga is actually something beyond the basic scale notes, and a thāṭ can
have many rāgas with the same set of notes, but with different other
characteristics, thus constituting totally different melodies. The thāṭ is basically a
full set of the notes.
As we saw above, many of the Arabic maqams have the same basic set of notes,
e.g. Kirdan and Rast, or Nahawand-II and Sultani-Yakah, or Bayati and Husayni.
Others have the same set of notes, but start on different notes: e.g. 'Ajam-
Ushayran, Farahfaza-I, Kurd and Nahawand-Kabir, or Farahfaza-II, Hijaz and
Nikriz. The maqams are therefore rāgas and not thāṭs.
So then what distinguishes one rāga from another one with the same notes?
There are many factors, but first we will examine the factors involving the notes in
the rāga:

a) A rāga has an ascending scale (āroh) and a descending scale (avaroh). The
difference between two rāgas with the same set of notes can be because of a
difference in the notes in āroh and avaroh. The two rāgas may have different
ascending and descending patterns. [In western classical music, the melodic minor
scale (see earlier) is notable for having different notes in the ascent and descent.
Some of the Arabic maqams also use notes differently in the ascent and descent].
Thus the rāga Bhairav has the ascending scale SrGM PdNŚ, and the descending
scale ŚNdP MGrS. The rāga, like so many others, has the same identical notes (in
this case the 7 notes of the Bhairav thāṭ) in both ascent and descent.
But the rāga Sāverī, which also belongs to the Bhairav thāṭ, has only 5 notes in
the ascending scale: SrM PdŚ (G and N are not used in the ascending part of this
rāga), while the descending scale has the full 7 notes: ŚNdP MGrS.
Likewise, the rāga KomalDesī , an 8-note scale with the notes SrRgM PdnŚ, has
5 notes in āroh: SRM PnŚ, and 7 notes in avroh: ŚndP MgrS.

In the three "pentatonic" rāgas named earlier (Tilaṅg, Jog, BrindāvanīSāraṅg),

which have two forms of one note each, thereby actually having 6-note scales, one
form is used in the āroh and the other in the avroh:
Tilaṅg: SGM PNŚ - ŚnP MGS.
Jog: SGM PnŚ - ŚnP MgS.
BrindāvanīSāraṅg: SRM PNŚ - ŚnP MRS.

Officially, a scale with 5 notes is called auḍav, with 6 notes is called ṣāḍav, and 7
notes is called sampūrṇa (full or complete). Thus a rāga can be classified in nine
ways, as auḍav-auḍav (with 5 notes each in āroh and avaroh), auḍav-ṣāḍav (5
notes in āroh and 6 notes in avaroh), etc.
Actually, as we saw, there can be more categories when there are more than 7
notes in any direction.

A rāga may have both forms of a note, e.g. both n and N, in the same direction (in
āroh and/or in avaroh). Thus the rāga Alhaiyā Bilāwal has the following notes in
āroh: SRGP DNŚ (M is missing) and avroh: ŚNnD PMGRS (all 7 notes, with
both n and N): thus the rāga has a scale of 8 notes (as in the avroh).
Likewise, the rāga Bihāg has āroh: SGM PNŚ (R and D missing) and avroh:
ŚNDP mMGRS
(all 7 notes, with both M and m): again a rāga with a scale of 8 notes (as in the
avroh).
[The rāga Gauḍ Sāraṅg has both M and m in both āroh and avroh, and therefore
has a full 8-note scale both ways: SRGMm PDNŚ].

Needless to say, the missing (varjya) notes in either the ascent or descent of any
rāga give a completely different color to the melody, and there can be many
distinct rāgas formed from a single scale (set of notes) with different notes missing
in the ascent or the descent, where the difference in one or more notes in the aroh
and avaroh results in different ascending and descending scales for the rāga.

b) Further, rāgas, being natural melodies and not analytically created scales, are
different in their degree of adherence to rigid rules. Most rāgas generally use only
the notes proper to them, especially the more gambhīr or serious rāgas, but the
more light, popular, and emotionally evocative rāgas are less rigid (especially but
not exclusively in non-classical contexts like films, etc.), and often skillfully use
certain extra notes to give depth and beauty to the melody. The very popular rāga
Śivarañjanī, for example, has the 5 notes SRg PDŚ: but regularly uses extra notes
to add beauty and emotional depth to the melody, mainly the note G, which is used
sparingly but extremely skilfully to give depth to the melody. Check the beautiful
use, in different ways, of the extra note G in different film songs like Jane Kahan
Gaye Wo Din (from the film Mera Naam Joker), or O Mere Sanam (from the
film Sangam), or Tere Mere Beech Men (from the film Ek Dooje Ke Liye).
The use of extra notes for beauty and effect does not change the thāṭ or scale
classification of a rāga: e.g. Śivarañjanī will still be classified as a pentatonic
thāṭ/rāga with the notes SRg PDŚ.

In the Bhairavī thāṭ, for example, the rāga Bhairavī is known for its very liberal
use of other notes, while the rāgas which almost strictly adhere to the notes of the
Bhairavī thāṭ (i.e. SrgM PdnŚ) are the rāgas known as Bilāskhānī Toḍi and
Komal Ṛṣabh Āsāvarī. (with different notes in āroh and avroh). Pahāḍī is
another rāga known for liberal use of extra notes for beauty.
The rāga Dhanī, likewise, a pentatonic rāga with SgM PnŚ uses an extra note R
in avaroh for effect, to such an extent that it seems to have become a regular
phenomenon.

c) Finally, we have the very important distinction of śruti: as we saw, Indian music
earlier had 22 different micro-tones (wrongly also called quarter-tones), and,
except for the two acal (अचल) sounds S and P, all the other ten semitones have
two forms each: a slightly lower form and a slightly higher form. Although these
finer distinctions are not maintained in general music (since the use of the
harmonium and the tempered western scale have resulted in a blurring of the śruti
distinctions in popular recognition), they are still observed to some extent in
classical music, although not specified in notation. We can note these śrutis with +
signs as in the Arabic maqams. Thus:
In rāga Mārvā, as well as rāga Toḍī, the r is slightly lower than normal: it could
be understood as S+ (a note between S and r, although closer to r).
In rāga Darbārī Kānaḍā, the g is slightly lower than normal: it could be
understood as R+ (a note between R and g, although closer to g).
In rāga Miyā Malhār, the g is higher than normal: it could be understood as g+ (a
note between g and G, although closer to g).
As per the writings of Paluskar and Asarekar, for example, the notes r and d are
slightly lower in rāga Bhairav than in rāga Bhairavī, the R and D are slightly
lower in rāga Bibhās than in rāga Yaman Kalyāṇ, the n in Gauḍ Malhār is
slightly lower than in rāga Bhairavī, the g in rāga Toḍī is slightly lower than in
rāga Bhairavī, the G in rāga Mālkauns is slightly lower than in rāga Yaman
Kalyāṇ, and so on.
Thus the actual notes in the scales of rāgas have a greater richness and variety than
is immediately discernible from a consideration of the bare notes, since the
notation does not take note of the distinction between higher and lower śrutis,
though these śrutis are automatically distinguished in the actual music by the
expert performer and the discerning listener without consciously realizing it.

The rich variety of scales in Indian music is thus hidden by the convention of
force-fitting rāgas into the 10-heptatonic-thāṭs paradigm.

2. SPECIAL ASPECTS OF THE RĀGA:

Quite apart from the set of notes in a rāga, there are many other factors
distinguishing different rāgas from each other even when they have the same
notes. We will merely list them, from the least tangible to the most tangible:

1. Firstly, the rāgas are classified according to time, season and emotion (rasa):

a) According to the time of day, the rāgas are usually classified into three-hour
divisions of the day known as prahar. Often, the division is even more minute,
dividing the rāgas into two-hour divisions. Here we will just divide the day
roughly into its most distinct four parts and note just a few of the typical or
prominent rāgas which fall into them:
Morning: Lalat, Jogiyā, Bhairav, Bibhās, AhirBhairav, Toḍī, GujarīToḍī.
Afternoon: GauḍSāraṅg, BrindāvanīSāraṅg, ŚuddhaSāraṅg, Bhīmpalās.
Evening: Mārvā, Pūriyā, Pūrvī, Pīlū, Hamīr, YamanKalyāṇ, Hamsadhvanī.
Night: Chandrakauns, Mālkauns, Sohanī, Abhogī, Darbārī, Aḍāṇā, Bāgeśrī.
Actually, the same rāga in different lists may be found attributed to different
neighboring periods, and it is noteworthy that the rāga most associated in popular
perception with dawn, Bhūp, is actually classified as a night rāga.

b) Again, the rāgas are divided according to the six seasons. One exemplary rāga
and Hindi film song from each group is given:
Vasant (Spring): Basant. "Basant Hai Aya" (film: Anchal):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tp_BPGKGwRc

Grīṣma (Summer): Dīpak. "Jagamaga Jagamaga Diya Jalao" (film: Tansen):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sWo9fkWdRY

Varṣā (Monsoon): GauḍMalhār: "Garjat Barsat Sawan Ayo Re" (film: Barsaat ki
Raat):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62TjjoPCyG8

Śarad (Autumn): Bhairav: "Mohe Bhool Gaye Sanwariya" (film: Baiju Bawra):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7V7U54rMjw

Hemant (pre-Winter): Hemant: "Sudh Bisar Gayi Aaj" (film: Sangeet Samrat
Tansen):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V77EVaQgrOI

Śiśir (Winter): Mālkauns: "Adha Hai Chandrama" (film: Navrang):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aasw1WDNhgY
This classification seems particularly apt in respect of spring and monsoon songs.

c) Rāgas are also supposed to either evoke or express (or both) certain moods. This
is known as rasa (emotion) and as per the well-known division into nine rasas:
śṛṅgāra (love, beauty), hāsya (laughter), raudra (anger), karuṇa (pathos),
bibhatsa (disgust), vīra (valour), bhayānaka (fear), adbhuta (wonder) and śānta
(peace). However, there is no definitive list of rāgas which evoke or express these
moods.
In my opinion, generally, more than the rāgas themselves, it is the expertise of the
singer or performer which can express or evoke moods through any rāga.
However, there can be no doubt that karuṇa (pathos), or at least a soft, mellow
mood, does seem to be inherent in some rāgas like Śivrañjanī, GujarīToḍī,
AhirBhairav, Charukeśī, etc.

2. Secondly, the rāgas are characterized by special features based on the notes
which are most prominent in the melody:
At the more general level, there are two distinctions:
Firstly, there are pūrvāṅga-pradhān rāgas (where S,r,R,g,G,M,m are more
prominent), e.g. Pūrvī, Bihāg, GorakhKalyāṇ, Yaman, Khamāj, and uttarāṅga-
pradhān rāgas (where P,d,D,n,N,Ś are more prominent), e.g. Sohanī , Bhairavī,
Lalat, Candrakauns, Kedār, Basant.
Secondly, rāgas generally move within certain octaves. There are five octaves: the
normal middle madhya saptak, the lower mandra saptak, the even lower ati-
mandra saptak, the higher tār saptak, and the even higher ati-tār saptak. The
two "ati" octaves are more rarely used. Certain rāgas generally move more in the
lower or mandra-madhya saptak space, e.g. DarbārīKānaḍā, Toḍī, Bhūp,
Jhinjhoṭī , Pilū; and certain others move more in the higher or madhya-tār
saptak space, e.g. Adāṇā, GujarīToḍī , Sohanī, GauḍMalhār, Kāliṅgḍā. Some
ṛagas freely span all the three main mandra-madhya-tār octaves: Bhairav,
Mālkauns, Durgā, Śivarañjanī.

More specifically, there are many other characteristics which give any rāga its
identity. We will examine many of these characteristic features of just one
exemplary rāga, Kedār.
Full scale: SR(G)Mm PDnNŚ.
Āroh scale: S(G)Mm PDŚ.
Avroh Scale: SNnD PmMRS.
Āroh-Avroh: SM(G)P PD PP Ś - Ś N D P M P D n D P MPDP M R Ś.
Vādī svar (dominant or most frequently used note): M.
Saṁvādī svar (next dominant or second most frequently used note): S.
Nyās svar (resting note): P.
Pakaḍ: SM(G)P D P M R S. [There is a prominent characteristic glide in
SM(G)P, and the G is said to be "hidden" by M]
Ālāp or Calan (general movement):
S DP DPM MP PS SR-S; S RS MRS SDP PS; S RS SM MRS SM MP DPM
RS;
SM PDPM MPDnDP M PM RS; SMMP mPDnDP mPDMP PŚ ŔŚ NDP
DPM RS;
PPŚ ŚŔŚ ŚḾ ḾŔŚ NDPM PMRS.

Only a person trained or training in classical music will understand the above, and
will in fact even go much farther beyond that in elaborating on the rāga.
But here are a few prominent Hindi film songs (arranged alphabetically film-wise)
based on kedār (always keeping in mind that film songs and light songs are
usually more flexible in following the rāga rules than strictly classical renditions):
1. Amrapali- Jao Re Jogi Tum
2. Andaz- Uthaye Ja Unke Sitam
3. Ashiyana- Main Pagal Mera Manwa Pagal
4. Benazir- Mil Ja Re Janejana
5. Bhakt Surdas- Panchhi Bawra Chand Se Preet Laga Le
6. Ek Musafir Ek Hasina- Aap Yunhi Agar Hamse Milte Rahe
7. Ek Musafir Ek Hasina- Bahut Shukriya Badi Meherbani
8. Ek Musafir Ek Hasina- Hamko Tumhare Ishq Ne Kya Kya Bana Diya
9. Ek Musafir Ek Hasina- Phir Tere Sheher Mein Lutne Ko
10. Ghar- Aapki Ankhon Mein Kuchh
11. Guddi- Hamko Man Ki Shakti Dena
12. Jahan Ara- Kisi Ki Yaad Mein Duniya Ko Hai Bhulaye Hue
13. Jangli- Ehsan Tera Hoga Mujh Par
14. Leader- Aaj Hai Pyar Ka Faisla Ai Sanam
15. Mughal-e-Azam- Bekas Pe Karam Kijiye
16. Munimji- Sajan Bin Neend Na Aye
17. Narsi Bhagat- Darshan Do Ghanshyam Nath
18. Palki- Kal Raat Zindagi Se Mulaqat Ho Gayi
19. Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon- Anchal Mein Saja Lena Kaliyan
20. Rajkumar- Is Rang Badalti Duniya Mein
21. Son of India- Chal Diye Deke Gham
22. Tel Malish Boot Polish- Kanha Ja Teri Murli Ki Dhun Sun
23. The Burning Train- Pal Do Pal Ka Saath Hamara
And the following Marathi film songs or natyageet in kedār:
1. Avghachi Saunsar- Aaz Mi Alavite Kedar
2. Baikocha Bhau- Kokila Ga Re
3. Gulacha Ganpati- Hi Kuni Chhedili Taar
4. Kanyadan- Tu Astaa Tar
5. Zhala Gela Visrun Za- Tu Nazarene Ho Mhatle
6. Nat. Katyar Kalzat Ghusli- Surat Piya Ki Na Chhin Bisraye

The following are videos of two of the above songs (the 8th and 17th in the Hindi
list):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZZ2cDL8Q5I

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UYtyMXwEuo

3. SPECIAL FEATURES OF INDIAN MUSIC:

What is the speciality of Indian classical music? There are doubtless thousands of
wonderful books and articles - and of course documentary films and videos -
giving minute details on all aspects of Indian music: the countless old and current
classical and folk musical instruments, the rāgas and tāls, lists of (film-etc.) songs
and of recorded classical and semi-classical performances in different rāgas and
tāls, the different types of Vedic chanting, the countless distinct classical, folk and
tribal forms of music and dance, etc. In my article on "Hindutva or Hindu
Nationalism", I pointed out the need for a massive all-India campaign to collect
and bring together in one place all these great aspects of our music before they
become a mere memory - or remain not even that - of the past.

But here I will show a small part of a popular video on youtube which shows a
very special aspects of Indian (especially Hindustani Classical) music: the
following video is by the eminent violin maestra Kala Ramnath, in which she
demonstrates in a nutshell a fundamental difference between the western style of
music (actually perhaps all other styles of music in the world) and Hindustani
classical music. As this video is now missing on youtube, I am uploading it on my
youtube channel, and giving the URL of that post:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iESWw0w5sY

Indian music is characterized by a very wide variety of ornamentation, and also

by harmonization with a drone (usually played by some instrument like the
tanpura or the shruti-pipe). The details of all this very, very complicated musical
science will best be explained by musical experts. Here I will only give the URL of
one youtube video (I am sure there are many more, and more detailed, other videos
available on the subject) which illustrates some of these points to a lay audience:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9t4WcumdnR0

IV. India's Unparalleled Musical Wealth and Contribution to World Music

Indian music is absolutely the richest in the world, and its original and fundamental
contributions to world music are unparalleled.

In mathematical science, ancient India conceived and analysed the mathematical

concepts of zero and infinity, achieved a fundamental revolution by devising a
numeral system which can represent any and every conceivable number with only
ten symbols, and coined names for numbers of incredibly high denominations (a
Buddhist work, Lalitavistara, gives the names for base-numbers up to 10421, ie.
one followed by 421 zeroes)! And, at the same time, we have the Andamanese
Onge language, which to this day has not developed the concept of numbers
beyond three: they have names only for “one”, “two”, and "three", and a word
"many" which is used for all numbers above three! This represents the absolutely
most pristine stage in any language in the world. This is the case in almost every
field of culture: on the one hand, India has the richest traditional cuisine in the
world, one of the most highly developed traditions of architecture in all its aspects,
and an incredibly wide range of costumes and ornaments, all of hoary antiquity,
and, on the other hand, we have tribes who are hunter-gatherers and subsist only on
wild berries, who live in caves, or who live almost in the nude.
In every aspect of culture, India has the full range, from the simplest and most
pristine to the richest and most developed and complicated.

Likewise, in music, our Indian classical music has, since thousands of years,
developed a detailed theory of music, and used the richest range of notes (twenty-
two microtones as compared to the twelve notes of western classical music), scales
(every possible combination of the basic notes, and umpteen varieties of rāgas
within each combination), modes and rhythms.

We have the most unimaginably wide range of rhythms (which will not be
elaborated in this article which is mainly about thāṭs and rāgas), from the very
simplest to the most complicated and intricate, with, for example, rhythms having
even 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, etc. beats per cycle, (almost unimaginable in most of the
rest of the world, except in West Asia and the adjacent Balkans - probably, as we
will see, ultimately derived from Indian music) and the most intricate rhythmic
techniques in the world, including complicated cross-rhythms (again, almost
unimaginable in most of the rest of the world, except in parts of Africa).

And, at the same time, the absolutely most pristine form of music in the world is
found among the Veddas of Sri Lanka: they possess the most primitive form of
singing in the world, and, along with certain remote Patagonian tribes, are the only
people in the world who “not only do not possess any musical instrument, but
do not even clap their hands or stamp the ground”(SACHS:1940:26).

The range of Indian music is beyond belief:

Curt Sachs writes: “The roots of music are more exposed in India than
anywhere else. The Vedda in Ceylon possess the earliest stage of singing that
we know, and the subsequent strata of primitive music are represented by the
numberless tribes that in valleys and jungles took shelter from the raids of
northern invaders. So far as this primitive music is concerned, the records are
complete or at least could easily be completed if special attention were paid to
the music of the ‘tribes’…[There are] hundreds of tribal styles…”
(SACHS:1943:157). A study of the richness and incredible variety in all the forms
of tribal music in India would be truly mind-boggling.
Then there is the folk music, the range and variety of which is equally mind-
boggling: every single part of India is rich in its own individual wide range of
styles of folk music, and the folk music of even any one state of India (say
Maharashtra, Rajasthan or Karnataka, or the north-east, for example, or even Sind,
Baluchistan, Sri Lanka or Bhutan for that matter) would merit a lifetime of study.
And, right on top, we have the great tradition of Indian Classical Music, which we
have already referred to. Although the oldest living form of classical music in the
world, and although it has evolved and developed over the centuries, losing and
gaining in the process, Sachs points out that “there is no reason to believe that
India’s ancient music differed essentially from her modern music”
(SACHS:1943:157). [Even Muslim rulers, including most of the Mughals, did a
great deal in preserving and perpetuating many aspects of Indian culture, for which
they often received the flak of Islamic theologians. In many cases, in fact, they
developed such a deep respect and attachment for some aspects, that they even
tried to appropriate credit for them: in respect of Indian music, for example, Alain
Danielou points out that “Amir Khusrau (AD 1253-1319)…wrote that Indian
music was so difficult and so refined that no foreigner could totally master it
even after twenty years of practice”; and the Muslim attachment to Indian music
grew to such an extent that it led to the invention of stories about “how the
various styles of Northern Indian music were developed by musicians of the
Mohammedan period…Under Moslem rule, age-old stories were retold as if
they had happened at the court of Akbar…Such transfer of legends is
frequent everywhere. We…find ancient musical forms and musical
instruments being given Persian-sounding names and starting a new career as
the innovations of the Moghul court” (DANIELOU:1949:34). The sum of it is
that many Muslim rulers also contributed in the preservation and perpetuation, and
even the enriching, of many aspects of native Indian classical culture].
Many western musicologists (Alain Danielou, M.E. Cousins, Donald Lentz, etc.)
have spoken about the superiority of Indian classical music over western classical
music, but without going into that it is at least certain that Indian Classical music is
one of the most highly developed classical forms in the world.
Apart from the classical music, we have that other great and ancient tradition, of
Vedic chanting and singing in its many varieties, best preserved in South India, and
different varieties of Sanskrit songs, preserved in temples and maṭhs all over India.
And in all the varieties of music (classical, folk, popular and tribal), we have the
most unparalleled range of musical instruments in the world, unique in their range
from the most primitive and simple to the most sophisticated and complicated in
respect of techniques of making, artistic appearance, techniques of playing, and
qualities of sound, in every type: idiophonic, membranophonic, aerophonic and
chordophonic; monophonic, pressurephonic, polyphonic and multiphonic.
All this music and all these musical instruments were preserved down the ages by
temple traditions, courts, courtesans, great masters and professional castes, musical
institutions, and tribal, caste and community traditions.
The twentieth century saw a consolidation of all this rich musical wealth due, on
the one hand, to the invention of recording devices, and, on the other, to the
enthusiasm natural in a modern India in the atmosphere of an independence
movement. New generations of musicians and scholars, and government bodies
like Films Division, Akashwani and Doordarshan, did a herculean job in studying,
recording and popularising all forms of Indian music.
New trends in classical music (eg. the gharana system, new semi-classical forms,
including Marathi natya sangeet, etc.), new innovations (eg. the “Vadyavrind”
orchestration of Indian melodic music, etc.), and new genres of popular music (eg.
new forms of devotional music - bhajans, artis, etc., of popular music like the
bhavgeet genre in Marathi music, and Film Music) in every part of India added to
India’s incomparable musical wealth.

India also contributed to world music in some fundamental ways:

India's Contribution to World Music:
India's contribution to World Music has been greater than any other area, country
or civilization. To begin with, A.C.Scott at the very start of his "The Theatre in
Asia", tells us: "It will be seen that stage practice in Asia owes a great deal to
India as an ancestral source. Indian influence on dance and theatre which are
one and the same thing in Asia was like some great subterranean river
following a spreading course and forming new streams on the way"
(SCOTT:1972:1).

A much greater and in-depth study of all the musical data throughout Asia is
extremely necessary, but for starters, the following quotations from Curt Sachs'
seminal work, "The Rise of Music in the Ancient World - East and West", will
give some faint idea of the fundamental nature of India's contribution to music in
almost the whole of Asia:

"In the retinue of Buddhism, it had a decisive part in forming the musical
style of the East, of China, Korea and Japan, and with Hindu settlers it
penetrated what today is called Indo-China and the Malay Archipelago. There
was a westbound exportation too. The fact, of little importance in itself, that
an Indian was credited with having beaten the drum in Mohammed's military
expeditions might at least be taken for a symbol of Indian influence on Islamic
music. Although complete ignorance of ancient Iranian music forces us into
conservation we are allowed to say that the system of melodic and rhythmic
patterns characteristic of the Persian, Turkish and Arabian world, had
existed in India as the rāgas and tālas more than a thousand years before it
appeared in the sources of the Mohammedan Orient" (SACHS:1943:193).

It must be noted that West Asian music was the direct source of much of the
classical music of Europe at least in the matter of musical instruments. As the
Wikipedia entry on Arabic music tells us:
"The majority of musical instruments used in European medieval and
classical music have roots in Arabic musical instruments that were adopted
from the medieval Islamic world.[17][18] They include the lute, derived from the
oud; rebec (an ancestor of the violin) from rebab, guitar from qitara, naker
from naqareh, adufe from al-duff, alboka from al-buq, anafil from al-nafir,
exabeba (a type of flute) from al-shabbaba, atabal (a type of bass drum) from
al-tabl, atambal from al-tinbal,[18] the balaban, castanet from kasatan, and
sonajas de azófar from sunuj al-sufr.[19]
The Arabic rabāb, also known as the spiked fiddle, is the earliest known
bowed string instrument and the ancestor of all European bowed instruments,
including the rebec, the Byzantine lyra, and the violin.[20][21] The Arabic oud in
Islamic music was the direct ancestor of the European lute.[22] The oud is also
cited as a precursor to the modern guitar. The guitar has roots in the four-
string oud, brought to Iberia by the Moors in the 8th century.[23] A direct
ancestor of the modern guitar is the guitarra morisca (Moorish guitar), which
was in use in Spain by the 12th century. By the 14th century, it was simply
referred to as a guitar.[24]
A number of medieval conical bore instruments were likely introduced or
popularized by Arab musicians,[25] including the xelami (from zulami).[26]"
[We will refer shortly to some of these musical instruments and their ultimate
Indian origin].

"China also passed on to Japan the ceremonial dances of India with their
music, which were Japanized as the solemn and colorful Bugaku"
(SACHS:1943:105).

"the oldest preserved style, the classical Sino-Japanese Bugaku dances

[…are…] of Indian origin, and Chinese and Japanese music on the whole
were under Indian influence in the second half of the first millennium A.D.
And yet the most typical trait of Indian music, its sophisticated rhythmical
patterns or tālas, had no chance in the East. In 860 A.D., someone wrote a
treatise on drumming in China, with over one hundred ‘symphonies’ which
doubtless were Indian tālas; but nothing came of this, and not one of the Far
Eastern styles has preserved the slightest trace of such patterns. The three
rhythms used in Tibetan orchestras, and kept up in percussion even when the
other parts are silent, are obviously not Far Eastern, but deteriorated Indian
patterns. The elaborate polyrhythm of Balinese cymbal players that Mr. Colin
MePhee has recently described is not Far Eastern either" (SACHS:1943:139).

"So vital in East Asiatic music is the delicate vacillation that dissolves the
rigidity of pentatonic scales that all possible artifices have carefully been
classified, named, and, by the syllabic symbols of their names, embodied in
notation: ka (to quote the terms of Japanese koto players); that is, sharpening
a note by pressing down the string beyond the bridge; niju oshi, sharpening
by a whole tone; é, the subsequent sharpening of a note already plucked and
heard; ké, sharpening it for just a moment and releasing the string into its
initial vibration; yū, the same, but making the relapse very short before the
following note is played; kaki, plucking two adjoining strings in rapid
succession with the same finger; uchi, striking the strings beyond the bridges
during long pauses; nagashi, a slide with the forefinger over the strings; and
many others [….] Recent investigation has made clear that this tablature is a
Chinese transcription of Sanskrit symbols used in India. Indeed, the graces of
long zithers, unparalleled in East Asiatic music, are nothing else than the
gamakas of India, imported with the sway of Buddhism during the Han
Dynasty and given to the technique of Chinese zithers, which became the
favorite instruments of meditative Buddhist priests and monks"
(SACHS:1943:143-44).

"The strange, never-ceasing drones used in the choral singing of Tibet belong
in the Indian, not the Chinese sphere of Tibetan civilization"
(SACHS:1943:145).

In Siamese (Thai) music, "the comparatively large share of drums, however,

indicates the neighborhood of India" (SACHS:1943:152).

In Burmese music, "These penetrant oboes, which lead the melody instead of
the tinkling gongs of Java and Bali, are definitely Indian. But still more Indian
is the unparalleled drum chime of, normally, twenty-four carefully tuned
drums, suspended inside the walls of a circular pen, which the player,
squatting in the center, strikes with his bare hands in swift, toccata like
melodies with stupendous technique and delicacy" (SACHS:1943:153).

In respect of the Slendro or "male" scale in Indonesian music, "It seems that the
modes or, better, the melodies ascribed to the modes, matter today only from
the standpoint of choosing the adequate time for performance: pieces in nem
are to be played between seven and midnight; sanga is the right mode for the
early morning between midnight and three and for the afternoon between
noon and seven; manjura belongs to the hours between 3:00 A.M. and noon.
This time table is unmistakably Indian. The name salendro points also to
India. It probably stemmed from the Sumatran Salendra Dynasty, which
ruled Java almost to the end of the first thousand years A.D. and had come
from the Coromandel Coast in South India. Thus it might be wiser to connect
slendro with ragas like madhyamāvati, mohana, or hamsadhvanī than with the
Chinese scale" (SACHS:1943:132).

Alain Danielou tells us (in his “Introduction to the Study of Musical scales”)
that the Indian “theory of musical modes…seems to have been the source from
which all systems of modal music originated” (DANIELOU:1943:99), and goes
so far as to suggest that “Greek music, like Egyptian music, most probably had
its roots in Hindu music” (DANIELOU:1943:159-160).
An extremely significant contribution by India is the "classification of musical
instruments". Wikipedia very brazenly tells us: "Hornbostel-Sachs or Sachs-
Hornbostel is a system of musical instrument classification devised by Erich
Moritz von Hornbostel and Curt Sachs, and first published in the Zeitschrift
für Ethnolgie in 1914. An English translation was published in the Galpin
Society Journal in 1961. It is the most widely used system for classifying
musical instruments by ethnomusicologists and organologists (people who
study musical instruments). The system was updated in 2011 as part of the
work of the Musical Instrument Museums Online (MIMO) Project.[2]
Hornbostel and Sachs based their ideas on a system devised in the late 19th
century by Victor-Charles Mahillon, the curator of musical instruments at
Brussels Conservatory. Mahillon divided instruments into four broad
categories according to the nature of the sound-producing material: an air
column; string; membrane; and body of the instrument. From this basis,
Hornbostel and Sachs expanded Mahillon's system to make it possible to
classify any instrument from any culture". The four-fold classification by them,
which is the official classification everywhere now, divides musical instruments
into idiophonic, membranophonic, chordophonic and aerophonic. We will not
count a fifth and modern category, electrophonic.
The claim that this classification was done by Mahillon, Sachs, or Hornbostel is an
extremely fraudulent claim (a glaring example of the western "digestion" of Indian
sciences and presentation of Indian ideas as western discoveries or inventions, so
consistently highlighted by Rajiv Malhotra), and they very clearly simply lifted the
ancient Indian system of classification of musical instruments from the time of
Bharata's Natya Shastra (pre-500 BCE) into four categories:
1. Ghaṇa vādya: idiophonic instruments.
2. Avanaddha vādya: membranophonic instruments.
3. Tata vādya, chordophonic instruments.
4. Suṣira vādya: aerophonic instruments.

Further, long before anywhere else in the world, Bharata in his Natya Shastra
(older than 500 BCE) also classifies the octave into seven notes (even the very
names are as at present: ṣaḍja, ṛṣabha, gāndhāra, madhyama, pañcama, dhaivata
and niṣāda), twelve semi-tones and twenty-two śrutis (quarter-tones or micro-
tones). This annotation of the tones and semitones has been adopted into western
classical system only in medieval times.

At this point, a campaign to attribute the origin of major aspects of Indian music to
Islamic sources - sometimes even to particular individuals like Amir Khusro - is
the norm. Everything, from tablas and lutes (sitar, sarod, etc.) to the khayal gayaki
or style of Hindustani music are attributed to the Muslim invaders or to the
scholars of the Mughal and other Muslim courts of medieval India. This is based
only on two things: myths manufactured during the Mughal rule, and the West
Asian names given to originally Indian musical instruments and forms of music.

In respect of Hindustani music in general, it must be noted that there is no reason

to suppose that it is any different from what it was thousands of years ago, except
that it continued to evolve and develop over the ages. As Curt Sachs points out,
"when we read in Bharata's classical book of the twenty-two microtones in
ancient Indian octaves, of innumerable scales and modes, and of seventeen
melodic patterns and their pentatonic and hexatonic alterations, we realize
that music at, or even before, the beginning of the first century AD was by no
means archaic. Indeed, there is no reason to believe that India's ancient music
differed substantially from her modern music" (SACHS 1943:157).

More specifically, as Danielou puts it: "Northern Indian classical music […]
though it lent itself easily to temporary fashions […] seems to have remained
the same in spite of temporary changes. It still conforms with the definitions
in some of the most ancient books. The stories that relate how the various
styles of northern Indian music were developed by musicians of the
Mohammedan period seem usually unfounded. Under Muslim rule, age-old
stories were retold as if they had happened at the court of Akbar, so as to
make them acceptable to new rulers and win the practice and honors
bestowed on the creative artistes of the day. Such transfer of legends is
frequent everywhere. We should therefore not be surprised to find ancient
musical forms and musical instruments being given Persian-sounding names
and starting a new career as the innovations of the Mughal courts"
(DANIELOU:1949:34).

Thus many things whose current names are of Persian or Arabic origin (a large
number of purely local sweets in India are referred to, for example, by the West
Asian generic name "halwa") but which are actually of purely Indian origin. The
khayāl gayaki, despite its name, does not bear even the faintest resemblance in its
musical style to anything in West Asia: in fact, it stands distinct from all other
musical styles in the world in its mīṇḍ base. And the Muslim musicians in India
were too busy actually learning from the ocean of Indian music to spend any time,
much less to have the ability, to make fundamental changes in it. According to
Danielou above, Amir Khusro (1253-1319), usually credited (many centuries later)
with all kinds of fundamental innovations in Hindustani music, "wrote that Indian
music was so difficult and so refined that no foreigner could totally master it
even after twenty years of practice".

Similarly presently used names like the tabla, sitar, sarod, shehnai and tanpura
are used to argue that the lute (to which class all the three stringed instruments
above belong) was introduced into India from West Asia by Muslims or other
Persians before them, although these three lutes above also have no parallels in
sound, construction or playing-technique anywhere outside India. But more on the
lute shortly.
The tabla, for example, now known with its Arabic-given name, has absolutely no
parallels outside India in any respect, but it has been consistently portrayed as an
invention of Amir Khusro. This myth was busted by the eminent tabla maestra
Aban Mistry (a Parsi artiste) who proved that the instrument already existed in
ancient India and is depicted in a sculpture in the Bhaja caves near Lonavala in
Maharashtra, dated to the second century BCE!
About the shehnai, it is found in simpler forms as a folk-instrument through most
parts of India, and its southern counterpart, the nādaswaram, at least as per the
Wikipedia, is described in the ancient Tamil text, Silappadikāram (composed at
least around 500 BCE) by the name vangiyam. At any rate, the instrument clearly
evolved from more rudimentary instruments of the same type found in the interior
and southern parts of India.

Strangely, Curt Sachs, who so clearly recognizes the antiquity, richness and variety
of Indian music from the most primary to the most complex forms, and India's
fundamental contributions to world music to both east and west, is extremely
niggardly in recognizing or accepting India's wealth of musical instruments. In his
book on "The History of Musical Instruments" (1940), he ends his section on
Indian musical instruments with the incredible statement "In ancient India, as in
Egypt, there is no instrument for which we can trace a native origin. All of
them seem to have come from the west or the north. Strangely enough we will
have to wait for the middle ages to find a native stock in Indian music"
(SACHS:1940:161)!
The extremely ludicrous extent to which he goes in order to produce such a picture
is worth seeing. Taking the oldest text, the Rigveda, which is not in any case a
musical treatise nor a text covering more than a restricted area from westernmost
U.P. and Haryana outwards to southern and eastern Afghanistan, he tells us that it
mentions only "four instruments, the āghāṭi, bakura, gargara and vāṇa"
(SACHS:1940:152):
1. He admits that the identity of the first, the āghāṭi, is unknown, and therefore
dismisses it from consideration.

2. About the second, the bakura, he in a most incredible fashion identifies it as a

conch shell by tracing the word and instrument, of all places, to "modern
Madagascar; in the northern district of this large island, bakora is the name of
the shell-trumpet" (SACHS:1940:152)! How and by what means the insular
Rigvedic people, in the third millennium BCE, could have acquired a musical
instrument, one of their allegedly only four instruments, from Madagascar
(Malagasy) is not explained.

3. The gargara, according to Sachs, is "a stringed instrument, therefore it

probably was the horizontal arched harp, the only instrument depicted on
Indian reliefs before the Christian era" (SACHS:1940:152). A little later, about
the word karkarī in the Atharvaveda, he again tells us "the word karkarī […]
may be a more recent form of gargara" (SACHS:1940:153)!
However, not only does the name gargara (or, for that matter, karkarī) not sound
like the name of a stringed instrument (it is clearly an onomatopoeic name for a
rousing drum, and the actual meaning of the word is "whirlpool"), but Wilson and
Geldner actually translate the term as "drum" (and Jamison and Monier-Williams
as simply a kind of "instrument").
All this jugglery is also a part of the lute story, which we will see presently.

4. Sachs ignores another musical instrument godhā which is named along with the
gargara in the Rigveda VIII.69.9. The word actually means a sinew or chord (i.e.
clearly the string of a stringed instrument) and also the leathern-guard tied to the
quiver of a bow to protect the hand from injury. Wilson and Geldner translate it as
the latter, but the context (in VIII.69.9, which refers to the gargara, godhā and
piṅgā, the third being a bowstring, sounding out simultaneously as the singer sings
the praise of Indra) makes it clear it is a musical instrument, and Monier-Williams
translates it as a chord, and also points out that the Kātyāyana Śrautasūtra specifies
that godhā is a stringed instrument, while Griffith translates it as a "lute" and
Jamison as a "vīṇā". Clearly, godhā refers to a stringed instrument being played
along with a percussion (gargara).

5. About vāṇa, Sachs tells us that "the instrument vāṇa was probably a flute,
since it was played by the Maruts, who were spirits of storm. A simple vertical
flute, veṇu, or 'cane', is still used by aboriginal tribes of India"
(SACHS:1940:153).Three presumptions: that spirits of storm play flutes, that vāṇa
became veṇu, and that the "aboriginal tribes" of India borrowed a non-native
instrument from the Rigvedic people (since Sachs has already told us that in
"ancient India […] there is no instrument for which we can trace a native
origin")!
However, the word in the Rigveda is generally translated as "music" or "voice",
but the word, as per Monier-Williams, clearly means a harp with a hundred strings
in the Yajurveda, Brāhmaṇas and Śrautasūtras.
[Note: it must be remembered that the oldest Indian texts, the Rigveda and the
other Vediic Samhitas, basically represented only a small part of the geographical
area of northwestern India, and these texts, moreover, were not manuals of musical
practice].

6. Later, referring to the vīṇā, which is named in the Yajurveda (Vājasaneyi

Samhitā 30), he decides that this name "has supplanted gargara"
(SACHS:1940:153) - which, as we saw, he wrongly identified with a stringed
instrument (harp) in the Rigveda.
In fact, in line with the Madagascar attribution above, he attributes the word vīṇā
to Egypt: "the most striking evidence of an Egyptian origin is the word vīṇā. As
this term according to its spelling (ṇ without a preceding r) must be a foreign
word, there is little doubt of its identity with the Egyptian name of the harp"
(SACHS:1940:153). Again, we are left mystified as to how and by what means the
name of an ancient Egyptian instrument (so obscure that you will not find the word
listed in any list of important Egyptian musical instruments, nor find its trail
anywhere between Egypt and India) could have mysteriously entered the
Yajurveda and replaced an earlier Rigvedic name (gargara), then again got
replaced by another form (karkarī) of the earlier name (gargara) in the later
Atharvaveda, and finally come back into form as a generic term for all Indian
stringed instruments in later history. And Sachs himself, as we saw above, tells us
that Egypt has no native instrument!
Incidentally, if Sachs can suggest that the word veṇu (flute) is a development from
vāṇa, then it could be more logical to suggest that the word vīṇā is a development
from vāṇa, since both these words definitely refer to stringed instruments. It could
alternately be a word borrowed from the inner languages of India (e.g. Dravidian).

But the main point behind all this is the claim, by Sachs among others, that lutes
did not exist in ancient India and there were only harps: lutes came from the west
through Persia. This is based on the alleged absence of lutes in Indian cave
paintings and carvings in the years BCE, the idea that vīṇā only referred to harps,
and the West Asian-origin names of some of the most prominent lutes and lute-
zithers (tānpura, sitār, sarod, etc.).
But as already pointed out by Alain Danielou, quoted earlier: "Under Muslim
rule, age-old stories were retold as if they had happened at the court of Akbar,
so as to make them acceptable to new rulers and win the practice and honors
bestowed on the creative artistes of the day. Such transfer of legends is
frequent everywhere. We should therefore not be surprised to find ancient
musical forms and musical instruments being given Persian-sounding names
and starting a new career as the innovations of the Mughal courts".
The absence of cave paintings and carvings of the lutes or lute-zithers in very early
times is not a point, since there are no cave-paintings and carvings before the
Buddhist era anyway, and we do find lutes depicted after the Buddhist era both in
the north as well as in the Ajanta caves in Maharashtra (dated 2nd century BCE to
4th century CE).
In any case, we have the testimony of Sachs himself with regard to, for example,
bells, that they existed in India long before they are recorded in stone: "The first
iconographic record of the hand bell or ghaṇṭā is not conclusive. As late as the
seventh century it is depicted in one of the caves at Aurangabad; yet five
hundred years earlier, the greco-Syrian philosopher, Bardesanes, had related
that while the Hindu priest prayed, he sounded the bell. It was small and
tulip-shaped, with a thick clapper. As it was exclusively used by priests in the
worship of Hindu divinities, the handle was finely decorated with religious
symbols, such as Siva's trident, Vishnu's eagle or Hanuman, the king of the
apes" (SACHS 1940:222). Obviously the bell was not invented on the day the
Greco-Syrian philosopher saw it (itself 500 years before its first depiction in stone
carvings or paintings), but was an old and traditional instrument. So also lutes
were not played in India from the first day they were depicted in carvings and
paintings.
Further, while sitar and sarod were names given during the period of Islamic rule
to earlier Indian instruments popularized and adapted or modified in the Mughal
court, the name tanpura was given to a fretless drone lute which has no parallels
outside India. Further, while the earliest mention of the word tunbur in West Asia
is in Middle Persian and Sassanid records (after 200 CE), the word tambura (still
used for folk instruments, but replaced by the Persianized tanpura for the classical
instrument) has a much greater antiquity in India. It is supposed to be the
instrument placed by a celestial musician called Tumburu or Tumbaru named in
the Mahabharata (BCE) and whose name is derived from the Sanskrit word tumba
for the gourd (used in making the resonator of the lutes).
But the two strongest pieces of evidence against the foreign origin of Indian lutes
are:
1. Far from having adopted the lute from sophisticated western models, many of
the western lutes are in fact held by most musicologists to have been descended
from ancient and primitive forms of lutes actually found as folk instruments deep
inside India. The ravanahatha of the south (including Sri Lanka), and common in
Rajasthan and Gujarat, is believed to be the ultimate ancestor of the violin (of the
violin family and also of all bowed string instruments) through the West Asian
rebab. This has been explained in detail by musicologists since more than a
hundred years. The seminal piece of work "Violin Making: As it Was and Is" by
Edward Heron-Allen (1885) traces this historical development, and is still cited to
this day. India today has the widest range and variety of lutes (short-necked and
long-necked, fretted and non-fretted, and plucked and bowed).
2. Sachs disputes the above, and tries to trace the origin of lutes (and lute-zithers)
to Persia. Unfortunately, his analysis of Indian music (as opposed to his analysis of
Indian musical instruments), proves exactly the opposite: according to him, ancient
India only had harps (which are almost extinct in India today) and no lutes. The
basic musical difference between harps and (particularly the present day Indian)
lutes is that harps are open-string instruments while lutes are stopped-string
instruments.
And here is what Sachs has to say about Bharata's ancient text the Natya-Shastra,
which he agrees could be as early as the 4th century BCE and about which he tells
us that it "testifies to a well-established system of music in ancient India, with
an elaborate theory of intervals, consonances, modes, melodic and rhythmic
patterns" (SACHS 1943:164). Further, after some discussion later, he tells us
about the text itself that "Bharata's text was probably rehandled as early as
antiquity, and it may confirm the idea that Bharata himself wrote his treatise
much earlier" (SACHS 1943:168).
He also tells us that this text establishes that it represents a stage where the "slow
transition from folk-song to art-song, from hundreds of tribal styles to one all-
embracing music of India […] had long ago come to an end" (SACHS
1943:157). In short, the musical tradition mirrored in the text must be much older
than the date of the text (itself as early as the 4th century BCE, and written much
earlier).
And here is what Sachs has to say about the 7-tone-22-shruti system of notes
described in Bharata's text: "We know that two basic principles have shaped
scales all over the world: the cyclic principle with its equal whole tones of 204
and semitones of 90 Cents, and the divisive
principle with major whole tones of 204, minor whole tones of 182, and large
semitones of 112 Cents. Bharata’s system derives from the divisive principle,
and this, in turn, stems from stopped strings. But the earlier part of Indian
antiquity had no stringed instrument except the open-stringed harp; no lute,
no zither provided a fingerboard. India must have had the up-and-down
principle, and it cannot but be hiding somewhere." (SACHS:1943:169)
In short: the system described in Bharata's text is a musical system going back far
into the pre-Buddhist past and representing a scale system which, at least as per
Sachs' own admission, could only have been derived from experiments with
stopped strings. This has been sought to be explained by some musicologists in
various unconvincing ways, but the only logical explanation is that ancient India,
long before Bharata's Natya-Shastra, long before the Buddha, had a fully
developed system of octaves based on an analysis of notes which were based on
musical instruments with stopped strings, so obviously very-ancient India (in the
early 1st millennium BCE and much earlier) had indigenous musical instruments
with stopped strings (lutes, lute-zithers, stick-zithers).

Incidentally, for what it is worth, it may be noted that as per the “Guinness Book
of Facts and Feats”, bagpipes (so characteristic of Scottish music), and hourglass
drums (the talking drums or message drums of Africa), originated in India.

This is not to claim that everything originated in India. To take just the two most
important non-Indian (and specifically European) musical instruments which have
found an extremely important place in Indian music, we have the violin and the
harmonium. To some extent also the organ (in Marathi natya sangeet), the
clarinet (in Carnatic music), and a very large range of other instruments in film
music (not necessarily only Hindi), as well as tunes and compositions, and many
other major or minor instruments introduced into India by immigrating groups - I
will not name any here because it is a subject for more detailed study and analysis.
But one must use one's powers of logical discrimination (viveka-buddhi) to
evaluate claims and counter-claims.
In any case, no culture is an island in itself, and aspects derived from other cultures
do not in any way impinge on the supreme greatness of Indian music.

There is, however, a difference between Indian music and western music. Today,
the vast ocean of Indian music is under lethal attack from largescale
commercialism, cultural apathy, and westernization. Apart from literally thousands
of musical instruments and styles going extinct, and records of musical theory and
performance neglected and left to rot and be destroyed forever, there is the trend of
overwhelmingly large sections of Indian youth being drawn towards what can only
be described (and I offer no apologies) as bastardized forms of "Indian" music
which are Indian only in language.

To illustrate on a simple level, see the following video explaining in popular

language a fundamental difference between Hindustani and western music (see
from 1.39 to 3.47 minutes):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_IdMpE1ryg

The grotesque Dr.-Jekyll-to-Mr.-Hyde transformation of Indian music (i.e. music

in an Indian language) to a westernized caricature - often a hundred times worse
than the one seen in this example - is a familiar feature in present-day "Indian"
music being successfully propagated in every Indian language. Is this monstrous
process reversible? Can we save Indian music, in all its multifarious varieties, from
total extinction of the major part and utter corruption of the remaining minor part?
Only time will tell.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

DANIELOU 1943: An Introduction to the Study of Musical Scales. Danielou,

Alain. The India Society, London, 1943.

DANIELOU 1949: Northern Indian Music, Vol. 1. Danielou, Alain. Christopher

Johnson, London, 1949.

DANIELOU 1954: Northern Indian Music, Vol. 2. Danielou, Alain. Christopher

Johnson, London, 1954.

HERON-ALLEN 1885: Violin Making: As it Was and Is. Heron-Allen, Edward.

Ward, Lock and Co. Ltd., London, 1885.

SACHS 1940: The History of Musical Instruments. Sachs, Curt. W.W.Norton &
Company, New York, 1940.

SACHS 1943: The Rise of Music in the Ancient World, East and West. Sachs,
Curt. W.W.Norton & Company, New York, 1943.

SCOTT 1972: The Theatre in Asia (The History of the Theatre). Scott, A.C.
Weidenfeld and Nicholson, London, 1972.