MELAKARTA RAGA SCHEME

Venkatamakhi, who lived in the 16^th century, structured the Carnatic music ragas into a mathematical table based on a scientific classification of their swaras. He identified a total of 72 ragas as Melakarta ragas or Janaka (the parent) ragas. All other ragas must be born out of one of the 72 ragas and therefore, are children ragas or Janya ragas.

These 72 ragas each have a name and are classified into two major groups of 36 each. The first set of 36 ragas all have one common swaram, the Sudha Madhyamam and the second set of 36 ragas all have one common swaram, the Prathimadhyamam. With in these two sets of 36 ragas each, they are further sub-divided into groups of six ragas for each group.

One of the characteristics of Janaka raga or a Melakarta raga is that in each raga, all seven swaras occur in either the arohanam or ascending order or the avarohanam or the descending scales. That is, they would be Sampoornam or would contain a complete set of the swaras. Of the seven swaras (eight, when we include the swaram Sa that is repeated at the end of the seventh), the first four Sa-Ri-Ga-Ma are called Purvanga swaras and the remaining Pa-Da-Ni (or the higher end swaras) are called the Uttaranga swaras. The note Pa or Panchamam does not vary and is fixed. Of the remaining two swaras Da and Ni, Da or the Daivatham can occupy three positions or three variations and Ni or the Nishadham for two positions (although it can occupy three positions, because the Ni has to be always be higher than the Da, in practice, it allows only two variations). Therefore, the three uttaranga swaras can provide six variations as follows:

(1) Pa - Da (Suddha Dhaivatham)- Ni (Suddha Nishadam) - Sa

(2) Pa – Da (Suddha Dhaivatham) –Ni (Kaisika Nishadam) - Sa

(3) Pa – Da (Suddha Dhaivatham) – Ni (Kakali Nishadam) - Sa

(4) Pa- Da (Chatusruthi Dhaivatham) – Ni (Kaisika Nishadam) - Sa

Please note that because Suddha Nishadam has the swara position as Chatusruthi Dhaivatham, only one can be used at any given time.

(5) Pa – Da (Chatusruthi Dhaivatham) - Ni (Kakali Nishadam) - Sa

(6) Pa – Da (Shatsruthi Dhaivatham) – Ni (Kakali Nishadam) - Sa

From these combinations of variations in uttaranga swaras and the fixed notes, seventy Melakarta ragas are formed (with each raga having seven notes in the ascending and seven notes in the descending). From out of these seventy two Melakarta ragas, numerous janya ragas or children ragas are born by varying the ascending and descending scales, by adding or subtracting one more notes in the ascending or descending scales.

Now, let us move on to the classification tables. As stated earlier, the 72 Melakarta ragas are divided into two main groups based on the madhyama swara of MA. There are 36 ragas with Suddhamadhyama and there are 36 ragas with Pratimadhyama to form a total of 72 Melakarta ragas. Each of them is further divided into groups of six ragas or Chakras. Ragas within a charka will have identical one of the following three notes: rishabam or Ri, gandharam or Ga, and Madhyamam or Ma. The following table illustrates the grouping.

	Shudda madyama M1			Prathi madyama M2
	Chakra 1			Chakra 7
1	kanakaangi (kanakaambari)	R1 G1 D1 N1	37	saalagam (sowgandini)
2	ratnaangi (phEnadhyuti)	R1 G1 D1 N2	38	jalaarnavam (jaganmOhinam)
3	gaanamoorti (gaanasaamavaraaLi)	R1 G1 D1 N3	39	jhaalavaraaLi (dhaalivaraaLi)
4	vanaspati (bhaanumati)	R1 G1 D2 N2	40	navaneetam (nabhOmaNi)
5	maanavati (manOranjani)	R1 G1 D2 N3	41	paavani (kumbhini)
6	taanaroopi (tanukeerti)	R1 G1 D3 N3	42	raghupriyaa (ravikriyaa)
	Chakra 2			Chakra 8
7	sEnaavati (sEnaagraNi)	R1 G2 D1 N1	43	ghavaambhodi (geervaaNi)
8	hanumatODi (janatODi)	R1 G2 D1 N2	44	bhaavapriya (bhavaani)
9	dhEnukaa (dhunibhinnashadjam)	R1 G2 D1 N3	45	shubhapantuvaraaLi (shivapantuvaraaLi)
10	naaTakapriyaa (naTabharaNam)	R1 G2 D2 N2	46	shhadvidamaargini (stavaraajam)
11	kOkilapriyaa (kOkilaaravam)	R1 G2 D2 N3	47	suvarnaangi (sowveeram)
12	roopavati	R1 G2 D3 N3	48	divyamaNi (jeevantikaa)
	Chakra 3			Chakra 9
13	gaayakapriyaa (geya hejjajji)	R1 G3 D1 N1	49	dhavalaambari (dhavalaangam)
14	vakulaabharaNam (vaaTee vasantabhairavi)	R1 G3 D1 N2	50	naamanaaraayaNi (naamadEshi)
15	maayamaaLava gowLa	R1 G3 D1 N3	51	kAmavardhini pantuvaraaLi (kaashiraamakriyaa)
16	cakravaakam (tOyavEgavaahini)	R1 G3 D2 N2	52	raamapriyaa (ramaamanOhari)
17	sooryakaantam (chaayaavati)	R1 G3 D2 N3	53	gamanashramaa (gamakakriyaa)
18	haaTakaambari (jayashuddhamaaLavi)	R1 G3 D3 N3	54	vishvaambhari (vamshavati)
	Chakra 4			Chakra 10
19	jhankaaradhwani (jhankaarabhramari)	R2 G2 D1 N1	55	shyaamaLaangi (shyaamaLam)
20	naTabhairavi (naareereetigowLa)	R2 G2 D1 N2	56	shhanmugapriyaa (caamaram)
21	keeravaaNi (keeraNaavaLi)	R2 G2 D1 N3	57	simhEndra madhyamam (sumadyuti)
22	kharaharapriya (shreeraagam)	R2 G2 D2 N2	58	hEmaavati (dEshisimhaaravam)
23	gowri manOhari (gowrivElaavaLi)	R2 G2 D2 N3	59	dharmaavati (dhaamavati)
24	varuNapriyaa (veeravasantam)	R2 G2 D3 N3	60	neetimati (nishhadam)
	Chakra 5			Chakra 11
25	maararanjani (sharaavati)	R2 G3 D1 N1	61	kaantaamaNi (kuntaLam)
26	caarukEshi (tarangini)	R2 G3 D1 N2	62	rishhabapriyaa (ratipriyaa)
27	sarasaangi (sowrasEnaa)	R2 G3 D1 N3	63	lataangi (geetapriyaa)
28	harikaambhOji (harikEdaaragowLa)	R2 G3 D2 N2	64	vaacaspati (bhooshaavati)
29	dheera shankaraabharaNam	R2 G3 D2 N3	65	mEcakalyaaNi (shaantakalyaaNi)
30	nagaanandini (naagaabharaNam)	R2 G3 D3 N3	66	citraambari (caturaaNgiNi)
	Chakra 6			Chakra 12
31	yaagapriyaa (kalaavati)	R3 G3 D1 N1	67	sucaritra (santaana manjari)
32	raagavardhani (raagacooDaamaNi)	R3 G3 D1 N2	68	jyOtiswaroopini (jyOti raaga)
33	gangayabhooshhani (gangaatarangini)	R3 G3 D1 N3	69	dhaatuvardani (dhowta pancamam)
34	vaagadeeshwari (bhOgachaayaa naaTTai)	R3 G3 D2 N2	70	naasikabhooshhaNi (naasaamaNi)
35	shoolini (shailadEshaakshhi)	R3 G3 D2 N3	71	kosalam (kusumaakaram)
36	calanaaTTai	R3 G3 D3 N3	72	rasikapriyaa (rasamanjari)

From the names of the ragas, we will be able to identify the Melakarta to which it belongs. This is provided by the kaTapayadi scheme. According to this scheme, the first two letters of a raga will lead us to identify the melakarta to which it belongs. The following table is useful for this purpose.

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0
ka	kha	ga	gha	Nga	Ca	cha	ja	Jha	nya
Ta	Tha	Da	Dha	Na	Ta	tha	da	Dha	na
pa	pha	ba	bha	Ma
ya	ra	la	va	Sha	Shha	sa	ha

For example, the first two letters of the raga nagaanandini are na and ga and from the above table, you can locate these two consonants in column 0 and column 3. When you reverse the numbers 0 and 3, you get 30 are Melakarta 30. You can verify this from the table of Melakarta ragas provided above.