1.2 Sixteen names, twelve positions
Name all sixteen swaras with their numbers, and explain why two different names can sound the same pitch.
Sa and pa have one form each. Ma has two. Ri, ga, da and ni have three each. That is sixteen names — and only twelve places for them to sit inside an octave, so four pairs of names share a pitch. This looks like an error until you see what the names are for: they say which swara the note is behaving as, not only where it is.
Work through these
Write out all sixteen names: sa, three ri, three ga, two ma, pa, three da, three ni.
Written as R1 to R3, G1 to G3, M1 and M2, D1 to D3 and N1 to N3, with sa and pa carrying no number. This is the vocabulary every raga description is written in.
Svara · ReferenceCount the twelve positions in an octave and place the sixteen names into them.
Four positions carry two names each, so sixteen names fit into twelve places with four of them doubled up. Doing the count yourself is what makes the next item make sense.
Find the four pairs that share a pitch, and say which two names each pair holds.
R2 and G1 are the same pitch, and so are R3 and G2, D2 and N1, and D3 and N2. Whether a note is called ri or ga depends on the raga it is sitting in and on how it is approached.
Take one raga you have heard of and write out which of the sixteen it uses.
A raga's identity starts with which swaras it takes, and writing one out turns the sixteen names from a list into something with a use. Mayamalavagowla is the obvious one to start with.
Appreciating Carnatic Music · Course
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