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RAGAS
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| Ragas fall into two types, the base
or melakarta ragas and the derived or janya ragas. Melakarta ragas
have a formal structure and follow a fairly rigid scheme of scientific
organization whereas the janya ragas are rooted in usage and are liable to evolve with the music.
In fact many janya ragas change their character over time. Janya ragas
are derived from the melakarta ragas through various means as described subsequently. Melakarta
ragas are identified by the fact that they use all seven swaras and the
arohanam and avarohanam are always Sa-Ri-Ga-Ma-Pa-Da-Ni-Sa and Sa-Ni-Da-Pa-Ma-Ga-Ri-Sa.This
type of arohanam and avarohanam is denoted by the term
sampoornam, indicating completeness. The existence of multiple swara sthanas for Ri, Ga,
Ma, Da and Ni implies that by collecting combinations of these, we can form a system of
melakartas. This concept will be developed in the succeeding section. Any raga that does not
belong to the melakarta system is a janya raga. Janya ragas are
characterized by missing notes in the arohanam and/or avarohanam (eg. Sa-Ri-Ga-Pa-Da-Sa), the use
of twisted progressions (eg. Sa-Ga-Ri-Ma-Pa-Da-Ni-Sa) etc.
Janya ragas and their classifications will be described subsequently.
The definition of melakarta given above is a currently accepted
done. In the past, melakartas have been defined in other ways, sometimes
incompatible with the sampoornam characteristic. The present system is mathematically much more
elegant and that appears to be one of the reasons for its wide spread
acceptance and use in the past few centuries. |
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