A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE KRITI FORM AS HANDLED BY SHYAMA SHASTRI, TYAGARAJA AND MUDDUSWAMI DIKSHITAR

It is well known that the kriti is the most important musical form in South Indian  music. The Musical trinity Shyama Shastri (1762-1827), Tyagaraja (1767-1847), and Muddusvami Dikshitar (1776-1835) were great composers of the kriti form and raised it to an unprecedented levels of musical excellence. Trinity’s kriti’s have immense richness of music and high flexibility. Here, the anga’s Pallavi, Anupallavi and Charana were not mere sections, but important stages of musical expressions and development. Kriti’s of the trinity offer maximum scope for musical freedom on account of their dynamism. It is only in the kriti form that these great composers have evolved their distinctive compositional styles.

Kriti’s of Tyagaraja have an endless variety in music and rhythm like the Kshetragna’s padam’s. The music of the Anupallavi is usually repeated in the Charana in Tyagaraja’s kriti’s. It is also said that he was the first one to have introduced sangati’s or melodic variations to unfold the  raga stages. In the kriti’s of Shyama Shastri there is a two dimensional treatment of music and rhythm. His specialty was svara - saithya with its natural, yet highly aesthetic musical flow. Mudduswami Dikshitar is known for his grand style in the treatment of raga. In Dikshitar’s kriti’s there is no such musical repetition as in Tyagaraja’s  kriti’s. Yet another feature of Dikshitar is the madhyamakala sahithya which, very effectively portrays the entire raga structure in a nutshell. The longer Anupallavi in the place of Charana is also typical of Dikshitar’s compositional style. Such an Anupallavi is in the modern times referred to as Samashatri Charana.

THE KRITI STYLES OF THE TRINITY- A GENERAL STUDY

Tyagaraja’s style is simple, spontaneous and captivating. It requires caliber of a very high order to present a simple style. Scholars usually compare Tyagaraja’s style to Srimad Bhagavadgita. The Bhagavadgita is in very simple Samskrita and yet it contains the essence of Indian philosophy. Tyagaraja’s kriti’s appeal to the classes as well as the masses. They are compared to grapes (Draksha rasa), which taste sweet at once. They can be sung with ease and confidence. A majority of Tyagaraja kritis are in Telugu language.

Kriti’s like Evarimaata (Kamboji) Kshirasgara sayana (Devagandhari) Koluvaiyunnade (Bhairavi) are typical examples of Tyagaragaja’s style. Tyagaraja’s Ghanaraga pancharatna are a class by themselves. His other group kriti viz the Kovur Pancharatnam and the Tiruvorriyur panchartnam are also widely sung. 

Muddusvami Dikshitar’s music style in his kriti’s is that of a Vainika. It is compared with the great epic poems on account of its solidarity of art. Dikshitar’s kriti’s are compared to the coconut (Narikela rasa) on account of the initial hardship involved in understanding and enjoying their intrinsic merit. In order to taste the coconut one has to remove the fiber and break the shell. The kriti’s Balagopala (Bhairavi ) Sri Rajagopala (Saveri) Dakshina Murthy (Shankarabharana) are classic examples of Dikshitar’s style. Dikshitar has sung in praise of many gods and goddesses, whose shrines he had visited. The Navagraha kriti’s shodasaganapati kriti’s, panchalingasthala kriti’s are some of the well known kriti’s of Dikshitar. His kriti’s are in chaste Samskrita.

Shyama Shastri’s kriti’s style is peculiar as it is neither simple as Tyagaraja’s nor laborious as Dikshitar’s. He has composed mostly in Telugu and occasionally in Samskrita and Tamil. In all kriti texts we find the attitude of a child to its mother. They are in the form of fervent appeal to goddess mother. From the point of view of rasa Shyama Shastri’s kriti’s are compared to the plantain fruit (Kadali rasa) where one has to only peel off the rind to eat the fruit. The kriti’s “O Jagadamaba” (Ananadabhairavi), “Ninne namminanu (Todi), Ninnu Vinaga mari (Puravakalyani) are examples of Shyama Shastri’s musical style. His three Svarajati’s in the raga’s Todi, Bhairavi and Yadukula Kambhoji and his Navartna malika kriti’s are outstanding compositions.

A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE KRITI FORMS OF THE TRINITY WITH RESPECT TO MELODIC RHYTHMIC AND OTHER TECHNICAL ASPECTS

The available compositions of Tyagaraja with music number a little less than seven hundred. In Tyagaraja’s kriti’s the following categories are seen.

a. Simple kriti’s like Sri Jananki manodhara(Isamanohari), Tolinenujeyu (Kokiladhvani) , Sitpate (Khamas) Nee Bhakti Bhagya Sudha (Jayamaonhari).

b. Kriti’s which are in the medium category. Tulasi bilva (Kedaragaula), Etavunan ercitivo (Yadukulakambhoji), Gitarthamu (Suruti raga), Lekana (Asaveri).

c. Advanced types of kriti’s with many sangati’s of different complexities. Cakkani Raja (Kharaharapriya), Epapamu (Athana), Najivadhara (Bilahari), Darini telusu(Suddha saveri). About two hundred and fifty compositions of Dikshitar are available; it is interesting that only about twenty five to thirty Dikshitar kriti’s were known to musicians in the older days. It was only after the publication of the Sangeetha Sampradaya Pradarsini many other kriti’s were brought to limelight. 

In Dikshitar’s kriti’s classification into simple, medium and advanced types (as in Tyagaraja kriti’s) is not possible because whether long or short all Dikshitar kriti’s have more or less the same melodic complexity. Recently a number of very simple kriti’s have been popularized. Some of them seem to the spurious.

In the kriti’s of Shama Shastri not only the musical flow but also the length of the composition has also been maintained more or less uniform. About seventy compositions of Shyama Shastri are available to us.

RAGA TREATMENT IN THE KRITI FORMS OF THE TRINITY

Tyagaraja has handled about two hundred Raga’s in his kriti’s he has composed in about forty melakarta raga’s in all the popular janya raga’s and in many rare raga’s. About seventy new raga’s have been handled by Tyagaraja for the first time.

E.g: Umabharanam, Nalinakanti,Malayamarutam, Siddesena, Jayanarayani and Abhogi. In many kriti’s in the rare raga’s the musical structure in the Pallavi in just a sketch explaining the raga.

Nijamaramulanu in the raga Umabharana one kalai Adi tala.

Thus it is clear that the Arohana and Avarohana of the raga Umabharanam is

Sa RI Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni SA,  

Sa Ni Pa Ma RI Ga Ma RI SA.

Such simple picturisation of raga with scalar treatment is characteristic of Tyagaraja kriti’s.

The total number of raga’s found in Dikishtar’s kriti’s number about one hundred and sixty. Special care has been taken to work beautifully into the text of the songs, the names of the ragas. The line “Samsaarabhityapahe” in the kriti Sri Sarasvati Namostute in Arabhi raga is a classic example. The raga name Arabhi is very dexterously woven into the text of the song. Thus there are no doubts or disputes regarding the ragas of the kriti’s of Dikshitar. Rare raga’s like Mangalakaisiki, Kannadabangala, Ardraesi, Jayasuddhamalvai and Maahuri have been immortalized in the kriti’s of Dikishitar. Some of these ragas had existed even before the trinity’s period; Dikshitar has brought out the archaic form of these raga’s very effectively.

The raga treatment of Dikishtar in different from that of Tyagaraja. The musical structure consists of specific raga phrases which are very effectively put together to present a sound majestic musical statement.

Consider the kriti Tyagaraja yoga vaihavam in Anandabhairavi raga- tisra eka tala.

The above is just the first time of the Pallavi of the kriti, see how the phrases.

When joined together establish the raga Anandabhairavi with all its grandeur. Shyama Shastri has handled about thirty three ragas in his composition. The rare raga’s seen in his kriti’s are Karnataka kapi, Chintamani and Kalgada.Like Tyagaraja and Dikshitar, Shyama Shastri has not composed in the seventy  two melakarta raga’s, raga’s handled by Shyama Shastri are Todi,Bhairavi,Kkambhoji, Sankarabbarana and Kalyani. His treatment of Anandabhairavi is unique he has composed five kriti’s in this raga.

Shyama Shastri has his own style of presenting the raga in the kriti. There is a certain whirling movement of the raga phrases in the musical structure of Shyama Shastri.

Durusuga krupajiuci saveri raga, Adi tala

TALA’S IN THE KRITI’S OF THE TRINITY

Tyagaraja has handled all the important tala’s in his kriti’s. A bulk of the kriti’s are in Adi tala. All possible prastara’s of Adi tala are found in one or other of his kriti’s, while he was the first composer to have composed in Desadi and Madhyadi which were popular in Marathi devotional songs.

Samples of Desadi tala kriti’s of Tyagaraja

• Enta vedukandu - Sarasvati manohari 
• Brova Barama - Bahudari 

Samples of Madhyadi kriti’s of Tyagaraja

• Gitarthamu - Surati 
• Nama Kusumamula - Sriraga

Quite a number of Tyagaraja kriti’s are set in Rupaka tala.

• Manasa etulortune -  Malayamarutam.
• Sujanajivana- Khamas raga.

He has also composed kriti’s in Misra chapu tala, Nidhi chala sukhama in Kalyani stands out. There are also kriti’s in Tisra triputa tala with specific accents on the first, fourth and sixth counts.

• Enduku Daya radu – Thodi
• Guruleka – Gowrimanohari
• Toli Janma – Bilahari

Many kriti’s of Dikshitar are set in tisra eka vilamaba kala and misra eka tala’s. Navargarha kriti’s are in the suladi sapta tala’s. Dikshitar has composed in rare time measures like Khanda eka, Sri Dumdurge in Sriranjini is a good example.

Shyama Shastri kriti’s are set in Adi, Rupaka,Misra chapu and Triputa tala’s. Rare tala’s like Tisra mathya and Caturasra ata are also handled occasionally. The kriti structure in adi tala is in such a manner that it can be sung in both one kalai and two kalai. In the Rupaka tala, Shyama Shastri for the first time introduced the peculiar commencement of the kriti’s after one akshara kala e.g. Himadri sute in Kalyani. He also gave new dimensions to the Chapu tala. He not only reversed the tala as 4 + 3 but also treated the tala in yet another way as 2+3+2 in the same reversed pattern Ninuvinga in Purvakalyani 4+3 and Nannu brouvu in Lalita 2+3+2 are standing examples.

IDENTIFICATION OF COMPOSITIONAL STYLES OF THE TRINITY

After studying a number of different types of kriti’s of the trinity we are able to identify the authorship of any kriti of the trinity and also define the compositional style of each composer with reasonable certainty, even when we hear the songs played on the instruments.

In Tyagaraja kriti’s there are musical phrases of various patterns and sizes in madhyama kala being inherent in the musical structure itself. These madhyama kala phrases are interspersed with sama kala phrases.

Along with the madhyama kala musical phrases trikala phrases are also sometimes found inherent in the basic musical structure of the kriti.

The above is the beginning of the kriti “Koluvaiyunnade” in the raga Devagandhari set to Adi tala.Another characteristic feature of Tyagaraja is the presentation of Sangati’s. Even in simple kriti’s there are at least a few sangati’s. In kriti’s like Chakkani margamu in kharaharapriya, we find a special technique of presenting the basic theme itself with a different musical structure thus affording scope for developing fresh Sangati’s from thereof.

Muddusvami Dikshitar’s compositional style is basically a vainika style. This style is characterized by a number of specific phrases with a certain flow of musical evenness.

Kamalambam Bhajare in the raga Kalyani - Adi tala

In the above example we see many specific phrases which have a uniform flow, along with the sahitya (text). The tempo of the kriti is also slow with more Gamaka’s and few Sangati’s.

Another important aspect characteristic of Dikishitar’s style is the presentation of glides or Jaru’s

Hiranmayim in the raga Lalita - tisra eka tala

Shyama Shastri’s kriti style has more emphasis on unfolding the potentialities of the tala, while rendering the kriti. In Adi tala he followed the same compositional style of some of the composers like Pallavi Gopalayyar, Ghanam Krishnayyar and Kavi Matrbbutayya.

Palinchu kamakshi in Madhyamavati can be considered as a good example.The musical structure is made of uniform phrases in Samakala. There is usually a continuous flow of music without much pauses in between, there are more words in the Sahitya with a vowel extensions.

Anupallavi of the kriti Palichu Kamakshi

In present day music we find that the compositional styles of the trinity have been integrated. While it became a musical fashion long ago, to sing Dikshitar kriti’s like Tyagaraja kriti’s presently even kriti’s of Shyama Shastri are sung like a Tyagaraja kriti. Such integrations of the great styles of the trinity has resulted in the loss of the grand individuality of the composer and kriti’s of Dikshitar and Shyama Shastri become a mere nomenclature. It is Tyagaraja’s compositional style in his kriti forms that continues to be popular.

MYSTICS OF MURALI MUSIC

This article has been presented to the whole interest of rasikas and in particular students and fans of Dr M BalamuraliKrishna. Articles in the past talk in plenty about his functional abilities and biography. This is a small attempt to describe his technical dynamism.

Sangeetha Saarvabhouma, Sangeetha Samrat, Sangeetha Kalanidhi Dr M Balamuralikrishna is a unique musical phenomenon of the 20th century. He is a complete musician, complete Rasika, a child of destiny nurtured by his musical sadhana and aided by the laws of nature “success begets success”

During our Q&A sessions Balamurali Sir always says that music cannot be documented, it only has to be experienced. One would catch the connotation of his words when he/she kicks off to pen down a few things about his music. I am sure that one would suffer from Alphamia, Wordomia, Sentomia (deficiency of alphabets, words and sentences respectively) during an attempt to outline his vast repertoire of technical prowess.

The music fraternity accepts that he is “One of the kind” whether be it his voice, his clarity of diction, his Multilingualism , skill to sing ragas like Raghavardhini, Jyothiswaroopini  like he sings Kalyani or Shankarabharana, the way he keeps the audience guessing which raga he has actually begun, his technique of Graha Bedham swinging from the original raga to Bedha raga like a Pendulum, his compositional style whether it be Varna, a Ragamalika, a Gati Bedha kriti, a Thillana; his Sarva Laghu Swaram equalling the velocity of river Alaka, his Intellectually-Intuitioned Swara Akshara called Poruttam today, his Dwi raga Pallavis, his selection of ragas applicable for tonal shift, new Mukhi Tala system, composing a Pallavi without Sahitya, singing a four note raga( Saadharitha Raga) and still giving the crowd a feel of Sampoorna raga, his presence of mind to sing the Kanakku the Mrudangam player played on the last Avartham, his brilliant Karvai patterns, the unconventional Mukthayam and the list just goes on and on and on. 

In short Balamurali Krishna is a musician who does not play the game according to well established rules. He reverses tradition, but not its trappings. He does not regard all that is said in its name as sacrosanct. However, over my years of observation it is strange that his name is excluded when dealt with abstractions like Grahabedha, Dwi Nade, Dwi Raga Pallavis, Thillanas, Karvai, Poruttam though his contributions have been plenty and sometimes stands alone in doing so. 

So, the objective of this article would be to bring out his Bani of Swaraprastaram. Before we get into the intricate let us first understand what a Kalpana Swaram is and its facets.

Kalpana Swaram is derived from the verb Krupi SAmarthye. SAmarthya refers to potential while kalpana refers to creativity. Kalpana Swara in a nutshell refers to the LayakAri raga delineation with the right combination of Ganamakas. 

This article, although by no means exhaustive, aims to demystify some of the elements of Kalpana Swaram singing as per traditional norms and the way Balamurali Krishna looks at it. Please find the accompanying links at the end of the article, I have sung examples of the various aspects discussed in the article to help illustrate the techniques. 

In a typical scenario, the musician chooses a point in a song ( Pallvi, Anu Pallavi or Charanam or Pallavi in Ragam Thanam Pallavi exposition and breaks into Kalpana Swarams. I’ve attempted to enumerate some interesting aspects of Kalpana Swaram singing.

1) Progression from Simple to Complex:

A typical example of Kalpana Swara singing starts off with short, simple Swarams which may be a few notes long and progresses into longer and more complex patterns. Each round of Kalpana swarams ends at the particular point in the lyric chosen. 
    
2) Importance of “Eduppu”:

“Eduppu” denotes the starting point of the lyric that follows each round of Kalpana Swarams. The Eduppu may be on the Samam (coinciding with the beat) or AnAgatha (the talam precedes the music) or AthEtha (the music precedes the talam). There is no rule or requirement that one has to choose a particular line of a given song for Kalpana Swaram singing. Musicians often choose different lines of the same song in different concerts.

3) Slow and fast tempo Swarams:

Very often, Kalpana Swarams are sung in slow tempo first and fast tempo subsequently. The sedate, slow tempo (Chauka KAla) Swarams provide ample scope for Gamaka based and pidi (typical phrases in a given raga) based exploration of the raga, while the fast tempo  (Dhurita KAla) Swarams add an exciting crescendo effect and often include interesting calculations and Swara patterns. 

4) “Kanakku” or calculations:

Musicians often use calculations to enhance the flavour of a Kalpana Swaram rendition. The complexity and extent of use of calculations depend on the musician’s school of thought and less often, on the extent of mastery over rhythm (some musicians are extremely proficient in laya or rhythm and enjoy performing challenging complex calculations in an ex tempore fashion). 

•Use of some standard calculations or korvais

A typical example would be the 5*3 sequence, say in Mohana Ragam, G R S D P, R S D P G, D P G R S. Some korvais may be long and take up the span of an entire avartanam (tala cycle) and may be repeated 3 times with the same basic rhythmic structure.

•“Poruttams” or calculations customized to eduppu

Instead of using a standardized calculation, the rhythmic pattern is customized to merge seamlessly with the melodic pattern of the lyric. Often, the calculation is done so subtly that the listener may not even realize its complexity! 

5) Sarva Laghu Swarams: 

This style of swaram singing brings out the beauty of the raga without resorting to heavy calculation. When employed skilfully, it greatly compounds the overall harmony of rhythm and melody.

6) Focal notes/patterns:

Traversing up and down the scale without any patterns or focal points will result in monotony and the performer will likely run out of ideas. One technique that is often employed is the use of “focal notes”. These notes are chosen to suit the raga in hand, and patterns are built around that given note.
Some times the same pattern can be sung with different focus.  

7) Koraippu: 

Often performed as a finishing touch to the Kalpana Swarams Koraippu (literally meaning reduction) involves starting with longer Swaram patterns say, 5-8 Avartanams and progressively performing shorter patterns (2, 1, ½, ¼ avartanams etc). The alternation between the Vocalist and Violinist provides an interesting contrast. 

THE GRAND MURALI BANI

Balamurali sir believes in making complex things looks too simple; at the same time makes simple things look extremely complex. His short Swarams are typically out of the traditional circuit, but he still excels in singing phrases like MPN...PMS in Amruthavarshini, PMGS..RG in Kalyani without tampering the essence of the raga.

When it comes to Eduppu, he is an expert to take up unheard and not frequently used or never used point in the kriti for his swara rendering. One good example would be “Shobillu Sapthaswara” in the Raga Jaganmohini. Traditionally musicians choose Shobillu for swara prastaram. Some go ahead and display their vidwat by choosing the point Sapta Swara. Now Balamurali Sir goes ahead of all of them and chooses the point in the Charanam, “ Dara Ruk SAma du la lo”, he elaborates at “SAma Dulalo”. One needs to keenly observe that he is not only choosing a unique point but is also converting the above mentioned shaitya part into the swara pattern “Sa Ma”.  This can be again of two focal points i.e. (in Sa Ma -> Sa can be the Madhya stayi Sa, he shall also make it Tara Sa) creating a terrific experience on his listeners.

By doing this he shall follow Swara Patterns as follows:

1. Ṡ N P M G R S N Sa | MAdhulalo

2. S N P M G R, S_Ṡ, S_N, S_P,Sa|MAdhulalo

In the above patterns it is important to note the technical equity he is implementing. It is short yet looks longs when asked to reproduce, looks simple but seems next to impossible when asked to repeat, It cannot be called a  Konakku at the same time one cannot betray it,  it is also a poruttam but of a different variety. 

Now, we know that he makes a difference. Let’s learn the differential difference with some more examples.

The next example I would like to take up is “Shambo Mahadeva” in the raga Kamavardhini. The point he chooses is Maha Deva in the Anu pallavi which is at the 3½  beat from the Samam. Now again the Swara formed behind Maha is Ma Dha. Ma Dha becomes the swarakshara ( Swara and Sahitya).

We shall try to cover all the facet from short swarams to lengthy and complex patterns by keeping Poruttam constant. 

Let’s pick a few examples:

1. SRG | Ma Ha 

2. SRG MD_RG MD_G MD_ |Ma Ha

3. ṠNDP MD_NDP MD_DP MD_P MD_|Ma Ha

You can notice the Yati being followed along with the swaraksharam and a different spot chosen for swara and the eduppu is 3½ beat. This is Balamurali in this format, he is buy one and take all! 

The fare offered is quite a range for even a perceptive listener as many of them are above comprehension. Let’s take the example of Hamsadwani and his Focal Note singing.  

This is a common phrase “G R S N P G”

Now he treats this phrase in 7 different ways. Take a look:

a) Ġ Ṙ Ṡ N P G

b) G Ṙ Ṡ N P G

c) G R Ṡ N P G

d) G R S N P G

e) G R S Ṇ P G

f) G R S Ṇ P̣ G

g) G R S Ṇ P̣ G̣

He uses this method during his “Korp” with different melodic patterns to accentuate the effect. With the rollercoaster ride he has already taken his listeners to now comes the most interesting and breath taking portion of his swara prastaram the “Koraippu”.

Traditionally we hear musicians commence their Korapu from 2 avartams, come to 1 avartham then ½, ¼. But there is a twist in the tale. Now after Balamurali sir sings ¼ he proceeds and goes to ⅛ and even to ½ of ⅛.

Let us consider the avartham has 32 letters. His first attempt would be to sing 48 aksharams. He used to follow this method till 1975; he is actually singing 1½ avarthams. He used to sing close to 15-20 of 1½ avarthams and then would start the descend. So from 48 he comes to 32, from 32 to 16, from 16 to 8, 8 to 4. Now comes the tricky part, he now starts the mixer. He will start alternating between 4,2,1,3 etc with each pattern ending in one or more focal notes.

It is still not done. He can make it a little more complicate sometimes. Here is an example.

In a typical Chatusra nadai (4 subdivisions per beat), some sophisticated techniques include an unlimited tisram (3 subdivisions per beat) which becomes Chatusra Tisram (the underlying gathi is still chatusra but each note takes up 3/4th of a beat) i.e. for 4 intervals accommodating only 3 notes.

In several of his lecture demonstrations and concerts he has illustrated with examples of how a chittai swara or the mukthaya should end. As defined in Sangeetha Suryodaya there has to be a connection with the chittai swaram and the point of the sahityam. The same principle applies to the mukthayam. We can observe Mrudanga Vidwan Palghat Raghu sir adopted this technique during his Tani Avarthanams. The Mukthayam is a part of the song and not an independent entity so is the tani. 

I have sung a Chittai Swaram from the composition Guruni Smarimpumu in the raga Hamsavinodini and an other Chittai Swaram from the Raga Malika Composition Hariye Gati.

Swara Prastara files illustrates the Poruttam concept as used by Dr M Balamuralikrishna.

Audio Links:

Swara-Prastara

Hamsavinodini - Chittai Swara

Hariye Gati - Chittai Swara

GRAHABEDHA

GRAHA BEDHAM AND SYMMETRIES 

The word Graha Bedham also referred to as Shruthi Bedham today, had been a topic of debate from the last eight decades among performing musicians and musicologists.  The topic was of such protracted interest that the experts committee at Music Academy Madras had held a four day discussion in the chairman ship of Tiger Varadacharya in 1944. The participation of great vidwans like P Sambamoorthy, GN Balasubramanium, T.V Subba Rao, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, Valadi Krishna Aiyar made the conference a crow puller and extremely educative.

Finally the president decided that the discussion of the entire subject was only education and therefore no formal proposition need to be moved. The general sense of the house was that Graha Bedha had sastraic sanction, but that as, in actual practise, it will change the raga bhava, it should if at all used sparingly, as an intellectual feat

But unfortunately the subject of discussion or implementation is almost an expired pill whether it be the case of performers, teachers or musicologists.

The music world today seems to be more to do with beauty of the cover rather than the taste of the chocolate. 

There are however considerable reasons for the sad state of affairs. Instead of reasoning the reasons let’s quickly get into the topic. Grahabedham is a very abstract term, though easily definable by words, it gets to hard rock levels to interpret and implement the same. So let’s look at a method that could be appreciated by even a lay listener who has a little understanding of music. 

 Grahabedam is the process of modifying ragas by shifting the base note Sa or the sruthi to various swara sthanas. Symmetry indicates certain types of similarities in the structure of the swaras used in a ragam. Grahabedam is defined for melakartas as well as janya ragas. Consider Dheerasankaraabharanam (Bana - Ma), the 29th melakarta ragam. The swara sthanas for it in one kattai sruthi are as shown in the following keyboard diagram.


=========================================================
| |##| |##| | |##| |##| |##| | |##| |##| | |##|
| |##| |##| | |##| |##| |##| | |##| |##| | |##|
| |##| |##| | |##| |##| |##| | |##| |##| | |##|
| |##| |##| | |##| |##| |##| | |##| |##| | |##|
| |__| |__| | |__| |__| |__| | |__| |__| | |__|
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| Sa | Ri | Ga | Ma | Pa | Da | Ni | Sa | Ri | | |
|____|____|____|____|____|____|____|____|____|____|____|

Swaras in Dheerasankaraabharanam

Suppose we continue to use the same swara sthanas but shift the sruthi to two kattais, what was Sankaraabharanam, takes on a different appearance. The swara locations for two kattai sruthi are given in the following figure.


=========================================================
| |##| |##| | |##| |##| |##| | |##| |##| | |##|
| |##| |##| | |##| |##| |##| | |##| |##| | |##|
| |##| |##| | |##| |##| |##| | |##| |##| | |##|
| |##| |Ra| | |Gu| |Mi| |Da| | |Nu| |##| | |##|
| |__| |__| | |__| |__| |__| | |__| |__| | |__|
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | Ri | Ru | | | Di | Du | | | |
| | Sa | Ga | Gi | Ma | Pa | Na | Ni | Sa | | |
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Swaras for two kattai sruthi

Using this figure, we see that what used to be Chatusruthi Rishabam now becomes Sa and Anthara Gandharam becomes Chatusruthi Rishabam. Continuing along, the Suddha Madhyamam becomes Sadharana Gandharam, Pa becomes Suddha Madhyamam, Chatusruthi Dhaivatham becomes Pa, Kakali Nishadam becomes Chatusruthi Dhaivatham, Sa becomes Kaisika Nishadam. Consulting the melakarta tables, we see that the new swaras correspond to the 22nd melakarta Kharaharapriya (Veda - Bhu). Thus, moving the sruthi to the swara Ri of Sankaraabharanam results in Kharaharapriya. It should be remembered that the absolute pitch of the swaras continue to be the same; it is only because of the shifting of the origin of the scale (the Sa) that a different raga is produced. Evidently, one can carry out the process for janya ragas also.

Consider a notation system for the swara and swara sthanas as follows. Let us represent the swara sthanas by a string of 12 digits, each one corresponding to the twelve swara sthanas into which an octave is divided. The presence of a swara sthana is denoted by a one in the corresponding digit and the absence by a zero. Thus, in the above example of Sankaraabharanam, the representation would be [101011010101]. The first 1 corresponds to Sa; the next swara sthana corresponds to Suddha Rishabam which does not occur in Sankaraabharanam and thus the corresponding digit is 0. The third digit is for Chatusruthi Rishabam and Suddha Gandharam. Since Chatusruthi Rishabam occurs in our example, the third digit is set to 1. The same process can be continued to obtain all the twelve digits. Note that the first digit is always 1 to indicate the use of Sa. In the case of melakartas, Pa is always used and thus, the eighth digit is always 1. Further, all melakartas use seven and only seven swaras and thus the notation always contains seven ones and five zeros. In general, the number of ones in the notation denotes the number of swaras used in that raga. The following list gives the number strings corresponding to the twelve chakrams and the Pa-Sri.. designations. Note that the Purvangam is represented by seven digits and the uttarangam by five digits. The purvangam notations carry a 1 in parenthesis to indicate that the next swara is Sa, which is always present.

Using this notation, Grahabeda is very easy to handle. One simply moves digits from one end of the number to the other. In the example just considered, Sankaraabharanam is represented by [101011010101]. To move the sruthi to Ri, we make the digit corresponding to Ri as the first digit to get [1011010101]. The two digits which were removed are moved over to the right end to obtain [101101010110]. This can be easily verified to represent Kharaharapriya. This ability of a raga to generate other ragas through Grahabedam is denoted by the term Murchanaakara. The absence of this characteristic is termed Amurchanaakara. In light of the above example, Dheeraankaraabharanam and Kharaharapriya are Murchanaakara ragas. Sometimes, the process of grahabedam on a ragam leads to non-existent scales. For example, if we take the Ni of Sankarabharanam as the base swara, we get [110101101010]. This scale has two Madhyamas and no Panchamam and such a scale is not allowable under the current melakarta scheme. Evidently, for a raga to be Amurchanaakara, all the grahabeda derived scales of it should be somewhat like this. Jhaalavaraali (39) is an example of a melakarta which is an Amurchanaakara ragam.

It is important to note that Grahabedam is necessarily a two way process. Instead of generating Kharaharapriya from Sankaraabharanam, we can start with Kharaharapriya and move the sruthi to the Ni to get Sankaraabharanam. Hence, it is appropriate to group together ragas which can be derived from each other and state, for example, that Kharaharapriya and Sankaraabharanam are Grahabeda pairs instead of inappropriately stating that Kharaharapriya can be derived from Sankaraabharanam through Grahabedam. The example just considered leads to the most famous Grahabedam group of melakartas consisting of Mechakalyaani (65), Dheerasankaraabharanam (29), Harikaambhoji (28), Kharaharapriya (22), Natabhairavi (20) and Hanumathodi (8). This group possesses another interesting property. Mechakalyaani uses the 'big' variety of all the swaras (big Ri, big Ga etc.) and proceeding down the group as it is written above, the 'big' swaras are progressively replaced by corresponding 'small' swaras. Thus Dheerasankaraabharanam uses 'small' Ma ( and the rest, 'big'), Harikaambhoji uses 'small' Ma and Ni and so on until we reach Hanumathodi, which uses the 'small' variety of all the swaras.

The Grahabedam process as above can be used on janya ragas also. The notation can handle only janya ragas with symmetric arohanam and avarohanam (meaning the arohanam and avarohanam should have the same swaras) and janya ragas with vivadi swaras cannot be distinguished correctly. The most famous Grahabedam group of janya ragas includes Mohanam, Hamsadwani, Hindolam, Suddha Dhanyaasi, Suddha Saaveri and Madhyamaavathy. 

The next logical question that arises is whether it is possible for a raga (assumed to have symmetric arohanam and avarohanam) to be Grahabedam derivable from itself. If the raga has five or seven swaras (including the fixed Sa), then it turns out that it cannot be Grahabedam derived from itself. Thus, melakartas are not self Grahabedam derivable since they all have seven swaras. If a ragam is self Grahabedam derivable, it can be confusing to the listener since the same tune can belong to a single ragam at two different sruthis! Perhaps, it is no coincidence that we see ancient systems of music with five note scales and the current system with seven note scales, but no significant six note scales. The seven swara scale is most probably here to stay since setting more than seven swaras into twelve swara sthanas would allow very little room for the creation of distinct base ragas especially if the Panchama sthana is reserved and always present.

Consider the 1st melakarta, Kanakaangi (Indu - Pa). It is represented by the sequence [111001011100(1)]. Note the symmetry between the lower and upper portions of the structure due to the repeating sequence 111001. This is an example of a class of symmetry, where the lower and upper portions (not exactly the purvangam and uttarangam, but close) of a raga have a similar structure. This characteristic is possessed by the following melakartas: Hanumathodi (Netra - Sri), Maayaamaalavagowla (Agni - Go), Kharaharapriya (Veda - Bhu), Dheerasankaraabharanam (Bana - Ma) and Chalanaata (Ruthu - Sha). The sixth melakarta Thaanaroopi (Indu - Sha) is denoted by the string [111001010011(1)]. The lower portion of this 111001 is the same as the upper portion 100111 written backwards. This means that the swara steps in the lower portion of the raga in the arohanam are similar to the swara steps in the upper portion in the avarohanam, or these ragas employ a similar swara step structure in the arohanam and avarohanam. This is another type of symmetry and the melakartas which possess this property are Thaanaroopi (Indu - Sha), Kokilapriya (Netra - Ma), Maayaamaalavagowla (Agni - Go), Kharaharapriya (Veda - Bhu), Chaarukesi (Bana - Sri) and Yaagapriya (Ruthu - Pa).

Note that Maayaamaalavagowla possesses both types of symmetries we have looked at. Further, it has no isolated swaras (denoted by the ones all appearing in pairs). This characteristic makes a raga easier to sing (or play on an instrument) since pairs of swaras occur together. It is probably for this reason that this ragam is almost invariably the first that a student is taught. In fact many of the initial lessons are set to this ragam. This practice is generally attributed to Purandara Dasa, who is called the father of modern Carnatic music.

We shall discuss in detail about how Grahabedham is very important and what are the contributions of Graha bedham to Carnatic Music in our future articles.