| The
use of sixteen swara names has led to some people describing an
octave as being divided into more than twelve
swara sthanas (as many as twenty two). But, as the table and keyboard
diagrams show, there are only twelve sthanas and certain pairs of
swaras occupy the same nominal swara
sthana (eg. Chatusruthi Rishabam and Suddha Gandharam). In an
earlier era (or for that matter, in contemporary Hindustani music),
the duplicate name swaras were not used
i.e. each swara sthanam was associated with one and only one
swaram. The swaras of the
octave then read (in Ra-Ri-Ru notation) Sa - Ra - Ri - Gi - Gu - Ma
- Mi - Pa - Da - Di - Ni - Nu - Sa. The remaining swaras, Ru, Ga, Du
and Na, were considered to be tainted ('Dhosham') and their use was
to be avoided. These four swaras are called as Vivadi
swaras and their use is now generally accepted. The occurrence of
combinations of swaras
gives rise to melodies which can then be classified on the basis of
the swaras that are used. This leads to the scheme of ragas which is
our next topic of discussion.
===========================================
| |##|
|##| | |##|
|##| |##| | |##|
|##| | |##|
| |##|
|##| | |##|
|##| |##| | |##|
|##| | |##|
| |##|
|##| | |##|
|Ri| |##| | |##|
|Di| | |##|
| |##|
|##| | |Sa|
|Ga| |Gu| | |Pa|
|Na| | |##|
| |__|
|__| | |__|
|__| |__| | |__|
|__| | |__|
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
Ru | | |
| Du | |
| |
| |
|
Ra | Gi | Ma | Mi | Da | Ni | Nu |
|____|____|____|____|____|____|____|____|____|____|____|
Figure 3:
Swaras for four and half kattai reference pitch
|
