INDIAN music is commonly referred to as raga-music. Etymology of ‘raga’ can be traced to the root word ‘ranj’ (ranjayati) meaning, to add colour to or to give delight. Raga is also used in the sense of attachment, passion. In Indian classical music (both North Indian and South Indian), ‘raga’ refers to a melodic idea that pervades the entire musical genre at multiple levels.

In his article on the concept of raga, Ramanathan discusses the different ways in which scholars and musicologists of the 20th and 21st CE, both Indian and non-Indian, have described ‘raga’ – raga is an abstract entity; it is a continuum of musical tone; it is a continuum with scale and tune as its two extremes; raga is a mode, distinguished from a scale and other raga-s belonging to the same scale by an array of melodic features, and gives rise to rasa; the Garland Encyclopedia of World Music defines it as ‘system governing melody’. Ramanathan himself describes raga as ‘a collection of abstracted melodic characteristics’. It is clear in all the cases that, the emphasis is on the idea of raga being distinct from the scale or arrangement of svara-s¹ that it is based on.

It is a commonly held belief that the roots of Carnatic music (in fact Indian music itself) may be traced to the melodic chants of the Samaveda. The Jaiminiya Upanishad Brahmana² enjoins the manner in which the gayatra saman (a specific type of chant) is to be enunciated – ‘just like waters flow, as if out of fear of deterioration if they moved too straight, in a meandering course, sometimes spinning into whirlpools, and then rambling on, chartering their own path.’ While the melodic deviation spoken about in this context is very different from the scale-raga discussion described earlier, it does seem to ring a familiar note in the idea that this musical aesthetic involves a non-linear depiction of melody.

From the melodic perception of the Samavedic chants to the delineation by musician thinkers of recent times, the idea of the ‘raga’ has travelled many spatial and temporal miles, making way for multiplicity of projections and perceptions of itself and the musical material associated with it. This essay attempts to follow the flow of the raga idea through the twists and turns in its course, spinning around in the whirlpool of raga’s current image, an abstract idea vocalized through performance of musical compositions and manodharma³ forms.

The idea of raga is elaborated in two sections broadly. The first one is an account of raga in relation to musical thought and its development over the last eight centuries. This is based on textual sources including treatises on music and their interpretations by scholars. The second section engages with the active interaction between aspects of performance and text, focusing on how they help each other to redefine themselves, and the musical context that they belong to. Here I discuss the changes in the fundamental understanding of scale and raga, and the ways in which this effects differences in perception of raga,⁴ and its characteristics. Finally, the idea of raga is explored with respect to melodic units called ‘prayoga-s.’⁵ Two main types of prayoga-s, namely alankara and raga-vyanjaka,⁶ that form the core of raga delineation, are discussed in the light of their being essential to the pluralistic perception of the melodic material of raga.

 

The word ‘raga’ is first seen in Brhaddesi of Matanga before which it is opined that the idea existed in the descriptions of Bharata’s Natya-sastra, where it was referred by the word ‘jati’. The 13th CE work Sangita Ratnakara and its contemporary texts explain in detail about derivation of melodic scales where the approach is to provide a theoretical construct about how scales were derived, formulated, and classified. Raga, in these works is treated independent of the scale, with descriptions centred around categories of raga-s prevalent at that time, and musical forms associated with them.

The idea of melody being evocative of rasa (aesthetic sentiment), is initially expressed in works that deal with music as an aspect of theatre and dramaturgy. This idea was adopted by later musicians and thinkers who sought to attribute this quality to raga. The association with rasa led to visual imageries of raga-s, as text, and in other media of performance. Somanatha, in his work Raga Vibodha, depicts raga-s as having physical forms, specifying the colour of their clothing – which is in fact indicative of the colour that the author ascribes to the raga, according to the rasa (sentiment) and bhava-s (moods) that it was associated with – the instrument or weapon in their hand, sometimes relating to a specific emotional state. The Ragamala paintings, which draw mainly from Hindustani music, speak of the interaction between aesthetics of the aural and creativity of the visual.

 

The emergence of the concept of ‘mela’ around 15th CE gave rise to many developments and changes in the approach to systematizing music. Mela was initially looked upon purely as a theoretical construct, and developed, in stages, to perform the function of ordering, categorizing and organizing various musical concepts like svara, svarasthana (pitch position), and raga.

Two events have had a great impact in the development of the ‘mela’ concept and its relation to raga, and Carnatic music context of present day. The first, is the logical computation of melodic possibilities resulting in the framework of the seventy-two mela-s, which then resulted in the melakarta-s becoming a part of performance. The second, is the formulation of aroha-avaroha⁷ for raga-s. It could be considered a consequence of the first.

Venkatamakhi, author of Caturdandi Prakashika (1660 CE) emphatically states that only 72 mela-s can be obtained by combinations of the twelve svara-s in a register or sthayi. Though Venkatamakhi himself only talks about 19 mela-s and the raga-s in those groups, subsequent musician-thinkers seem to have taken on the task of giving a melodic form to the 72 mela ideology. In this process many raga-s were artificially created, to fulfil the requirement of the 72 mela scheme. This eventually led to raga-isation of the 72 computational possibilities.

A beautiful ragamalika composition⁸ ‘72 Melaragamalika’ of Maha Vaidyanatha Sivan (1844-1893 CE) incorporates all the 72 melakarta raga-s. It was composed with the objective of giving an encapsulated version of the melodic form of the 72 melakarta-s. It established for the first time that all 72 could be rendered musically. In the process of creating the melodic form for the 72 mela construct, two systems/approaches came to be adopted.

 

Two raga systems – melakarta and raganga. In the melakarta system it was a rule that a mela should include all seven svara-s. The melodic entity that was considered the parent was justifiably called ‘melakarta’ (that which gives rise to the mela) and this was also called a raga, and not merely a scale or arrangement of svara-s. The important condition for a raga to be a melakarta was that it should have all seven svara-s in ascent and descent. This resulted in a linear delineation of the melodic form of the melakarta raga-s. All other raga-s under that mela were termed as janya raga-s. As the melakarta raga system got established as the basis of musical thought and repertoire, aroha-avaroha arrangement was considered essential to the understanding of raga.

The other is the raganga raga system. In this, mela is the name of the raga groups and the principal raga (whose name is adopted for the name of the mela itself, as in the melakarta system) is called ‘raganga raga’. One of the main differences between the melakarta and raganga raga systems is that, while melakarta raga-s have a linear sequence of the seven svara-s in both aroha and avaroha, the raganga raga-s would have to include the seven svara-s in the aroha and avaroha combined. This meant that the raganga raga-s stayed away from complete linearisation at a fundamental level.

 

The creation of melodies based primarily on computational principles of permutation and combination of svara varieties, rather than on melodic and aesthetic principles, significantly impacted the conceptualization of raga. New nomenclatures were brought in for the raga-s. Some of the old ones retained their names as such, some others had prefixes to their older names which were necessary to make these raga names acceptable in the 72 mela scheme, while newer raga-s were freshly named. Naming made the scheme functional at one level, but then, the raga-s’ forms also had to be revised and arranged, in order to fulfil the melodic requirements. This meant addition of svara-s for some raga-s, to include all seven svara-s, and for becoming a melakarta the svara arrangement had to be straightened. This eventually changed the perception of the dimensions of the raga in terms of how and where to skip some svara-s or what kind of vakra (zig zag) movements were allowed.

An example of this is the case of the raga Shankarabharana where the usage excluding the svara ‘ni’ (sa da pa) was extensively used in descent. But with the raga becoming a mela-karta the frequently used phrase becomes ‘sa ni da pa’. How these changes are important to the perception and aesthetic of the raga will be discussed a little later. Here it would suffice to say that, though the notion of aroha-avaroha playing a key role in the understanding of a raga gradually acquired prominence over the past two or three centuries, it has a significant role in shaping the current idea of raga.

 

Here I will discuss perceptions of raga depicted in music texts from 13th CE to the latter part of 18th CE. Works like Sangita Ratnakara (13th CE) explicate raga, as having characteristics of two kinds. One is a set of formative characteristics including features like gamaka⁹ and sthaya-s which serve as devices that help to embellish a given melodic context. For example, fifteen kinds of gamaka-s are described, which includes shaking a svara, a glide-like movement from one svara to another, and so on. The other is a set of normative characteristics, ten in number, which help to structure the different dimensions of raga; and distinguish one raga from another. These ten characteristics are based on principles like consonance of svara-s (vadi and samvadi).

By the time of the Caturdandi Prakashika (1660 CE) we find that these normative characteristics are merely terms that are mentioned in relation to the notion of raga and a few of them like graha, amsa and nyasa are retained in the raga descriptions, even though the functionality of the terms is no more the same. It seems that the mention of the terms is mainly to create continuity with the older vocabulary.

The Caturdandi Prakashika describes raga-s in terms of the mela group they come under, the svara-s that are omitted or arranged in a zig zag manner, as well as details of characteristics like graha (starting point), amsa (dominant svara of that raga which serves as the vadi or the sonant), nyasa (ending svara for melodic phrases). Another work, ‘Sangita Saramrta’ of Tulaja (1729-1735 CE), give details of the mela to which the raga belongs, and then gives melodic descriptions based on musical pieces in that raga. It can be observed that mela groups had become very important to the understanding of raga-s. The method of illustrating raga-s with usages from compositions, could be an indication of overlap in the development of thought and practice.

 

The Ragalakshana of Muddu Venkatamakhin (early 18th CE) which documents the 72 raganga raga-s gives very short descriptions, including details of svara-s omitted or in vakra movement. Sangraha Cudamani (1750-1800 CE) is the earliest available record of the melakarta raga system. Here too, the description of the melakarta raga-s and their respective janya-s includes a composition that incorporates the aroha-avaroha of each of the raga-s.

To encapsulate, it is seen that in the last two centuries, the notion of raga was primarily depicted by – (a) the mela group to which it belongs, in the 72 mela scheme; (b) arrangement of svara-s, represented by aroha-avaroha; and (c) melodic phrases found in compositions in the respective raga.

I now explore the development of the idea of raga from later 18th CE to present day. How the aroha-avaroha gained prominence in the raga space and its understanding, was elaborated in the earlier paragraphs. Here we deliberate on the consequences of this linear perception on performance, with respect to compositional as well as manodharma forms. It is observed from the Sankarabharana example cited earlier in this essay that, in some cases, with linearisation, phrases that were earlier important to the raga became less significant. The deeper impact of this in time, is that the linear aroha-avaroha became the basic identity of the raga and all other features were perceived in relation to this arrangement.

 

From saying that, in Sankarabharana, in the melodic region from ‘sa-pa’ the possibilities are ‘sa da pa’, sa ni pa’ or ‘sa ni da pa’, it was modified to say that ‘sa ni da pa’ is the basis, and ‘sa da pa’ or ‘sa ni pa’ are allowed by the use of the feature of varja or skipping of notes to make phrases in raga-s. A similar impact can be seen in case of the janya raga-s where the importance of aroha-avaroha as well as identification of the melakarta as the parent raga has given rise to an apparent importance to the parent raga, as well as defining the aroha-avaroha arrangement of the janya as ‘derived’ from that of the parent. Here skipping svara-s or zig-zag movement of svara-s in the aroha-avaroha are distinctive features. These developments led to merging of identities of raga-s, certain raga-s becoming almost obsolete, and some living through the single composition in them.

This is not to take a stance on the impact of the changes but to understand in what ways and how they have been instrumental in shaping what we know today as Carnatic music. Within the space of these changing events and formulations, raga has been constantly pushing boundaries, recreating its image at every instance. In the steady flow of time the idea of raga manages to turn over roles and functions of its various aspects and retain its essential characteristics of intuitive-ness, and perpetual motion.

 

In the period between 1750-1875 CE lived the Trinity of Carnatic music – Tyagaraja, Muddusvami Diksita and Syama Sastri. They were master composers whose creations became defining factors of the essential aspects of Carnatic music today. Most of the musical material that we have today is drawn from their ideologies and perceptions, be it raga, tala, or compositional structures.

It is interesting to see how the ideologies of the Trinity travelled through time – roughly two hundred years – so that musicians of today claim to be performing raga-s as depicted by Tyagaraja or Muddusvami Diksita. Compositions are the devices employed by these composers to record their perception of raga-s, and the framework of guru-sishya parampara served as the most effective method of transmission of these compositions and thereby, the ideologies. The interaction of raga and compositional structures within the space of oral transmission through the different parampara-s ensures preservation of essential elements of the raga’s melodic form. It also offers scope for intuitive and experiential understanding whereby, a pluralistic approach to exploration of possibilities is conceivable.

In the engagement of the musician with the raga through the means of composition, ‘sangati’ or melodic variation is one of the features that mediates the two aspects of performance (which relates to the moment), and preservation (which relates to continuity), in the song. It refers to improvisation/s on a section of a composition which are not necessarily by the composer himself. In many instances, it helps to adapt a composition of an earlier period to the current melodic context.

There are musicians whose names have been associated, even identified, with raga-s that they were known to be experts of. An example is Todi Seetharamayya, who it is said, sang Todi so well that, in times of need, he would pawn his Todi rendition to a willing patron and get money. Patnam Subrahmanya Iyer who was a musician composer of the 20th CE was famed for his mastery in singing Begada raga. G.N. Balasubramaniam, another musician composer of 21st CE was known for his exploratory rendition of raga-s like Andolika – raga-s that were quite recently added to the Carnatic music repertoire.

 

Tune is yet another melodic feature associated with the idea of raga. Studying musical pieces in Anandabhairavi raga, Ramanathan tells us how many of the songs in that raga can be traced to two or three basic varnamettu-s that are replicated in them. Today there are quite a few raga-s that can be traced to a basic tune, on which they are developed, like Punnagavarali, Saurashtra. These tunes were probably expanded to suit the Carnatic raga idea and depicted in compositions. A reverse of this process is where, in the musical score of films in South India, the melodic appeal of raga-s and/or phrases that are used in Carnatic music renditions are adapted to suit the theatrical contexts, giving a very different aesthetic to the raga, so much so that it no longer is identifiable with the Carnatic sound.

I now come to the final section of the essay where ‘prayoga’ is considered in its aspect of being critical to the understanding of raga. Here I examine the two main types of prayoga-s – alankara and raga vyanjaka (described in the beginning of this essay), with respect to the factors that are important for their enunciation, and how they engage within the raga space, offering scope for complex, and extensive exploration.

 

One of the most important factors that affect the enunciation of prayoga-s is ‘gamaka’. Prayoga-s are fundamentally groups of svara-s. They acquire the ability to depict a raga when combined with the appropriate gamaka-s. Alankara prayoga-s admit of fewer gamaka-s than the raga vyanjaka. Prayoga and gamaka engage with each other within the framework of kala-pramana (the temporal aspect), to produce melodic variations in the case of alankara prayoga-s, and melodic complexity with respect to the raga vyanjaka type. The engagement of these two entities of prayoga and gamaka is interwoven into the fabric of raga to create an aural aesthetic that is again reflected on the raga and experienced as its (raga’s) rasa. It is within this chain of interactions that the conceptualization of the raga idea and the melodic identity of respective raga-s is formulated and established.

For example, raga-s like Mohana or Hamsadhvani do not allow for extensive use of gamaka-s. They include extensive use of alankara prayoga-s and minimal use of raga vyanjaka ones. In general, therefore these raga delineations are built mainly on melodic variations. This makes them ‘easy’ or relatively simpler to understand and explore. Raga-s like Athana or Ahiri on the other hand, thrive mainly on gamaka-s, both with respect to the different kinds, as well as in different intensities. They are primarily made up of raga vyanjaka prayoga-s and mostly avoid use of alankara prayoga-s. This results in melodic complexity in the raga delineation. These raga-s are therefore considered as ‘difficult’ to understand. Nevertheless, Mohana and Ahiri are both identified as Carnatic raga-s, each epitomizing the aesthetic experience of the genre in their own way.

 

In his essay ‘The House of Bamboo’, Shiv Visvanathan talks about rhizomes, ginger in particular, which relate very well to the current idea of raga. In the first place it is interesting to see how ginger, an everyday ingredient in an Indian kitchen space, is a type of plant that inspires an idea which we normally associate with so-called ‘higher’ levels of intellectuality and technique. As for raga, it is melodic space for which svara-s function as the basis, just like the roots of a plant.

The melodic space of raga which includes tunes, phrases, moods, emotions, and more, allows for the development of various musical forms both structured and non-structured, compositions and manodharma. Its core is made up of the dynamic entities of prayoga and gamaka. They constantly engage with each other, and with the melodic space of raga, springing forth diversity in approach, and plurality in growth. Like the soil on which all these are grounded, kala-pramana, the temporal aspect, provides the framework for the movement across continuity and change, that is key to the idea of raga.

 

Footnotes:

1. Svara here may be translated as ‘note’.

2. Brahmana-s are those parts of Vedic texts which enjoin the rules and regulations relating to rituals ordained in the respective Veda that it belongs to. The Brahmana referred to here is therefore understood to belong to the Samaveda.

3. Manodharma includes extempore and improvised music.

4. Some contemporary musicians advocate that raga-s of today maybe of two kinds – namely, scale-based and phrase-based, and they build on this notion.

5. Prayoga is a melodic unit that includes svara-s and gamaka-s or melodic movements. It is normally described in relation to the raga which it is a part of.

6. Alankara prayoga-s are those that are based on generic svara patterns, and raga vyanjaka prayoga-s are those that are distinct to a particular raga’s melodic form.

7. Aroha-avaroha is a specific arrangement of svara-s in ascent and descent within a register. It serves as a skeletal outline of the raga’s melodic characteristic.

8. A composition that has many raga-s, in contrast to the common practice of a composition being set to one raga.

9. Gamaka is commonly translated as musical embellishment or, melodic movement – sometimes of a particular svara and sometimes between svara-s.

 

References:

Hema Ramanathan, ‘Ragalakshana Sangraha, by Hema Ramanathan’, 2008, Music Research Library, accessed 24 September 2020, http://musicresearchlibrary.net/omeka/items/ show/2232.

N. Ramanathan, ‘Early Indian Heptatonic Scales and Recent Diatonic Theory by N. Ramanathan’, 2008, Music Research Library, accessed 24 September 2020, http://musicresearchlibrary.net/omeka/items/show/2323

N. Ramanathan, ‘Influence of Sastra on Prayoga: Svara System in the Post-Sangitaratnakara Period by N. Ramanathan’, 2008, Music Research Library, accessed 24 September 2020, http://musicresearchlibr, ary.net/omeka/items/show/2331.

N. Ramanathan, ‘Interpreting the Graham part of the Svara Passages in the Kirtanas of Muttusvami Dikshitar, by N. Ramanathan’, 1992, Music Research Library, accessed 24 September 2020, http://musicresearch-library.net/omeka/items/show/2333.

N. Ramanathan, ‘The Concept of Raga by N. Ramanathan,’ Music Research Library, accessed 24 September 2020, http://musicresearchlibrary.net/omeka/items/show/ 3024.

N. Ramanathan, ‘The Concept of Sruti, by N. Ramanathan’, Music Research Library, accessed 24 September 2020, http://music-researchlibrary.net/omeka/items/show/2375.

R.N. Iyengar, ‘Vina, Sruti, Svara and Raga in Classical Music with a Discussion on their Vedic Roots’, 2017, Music Research Library, accessed 24 September 2020, http://music-researchlibrary.net/omeka/items/show/2630

Shiv Visvanathan, ‘The House of Bamboo’, in A Carnival for Science. Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 1997. http://www.sans-kritebooks.org/2009/04/sanskrit-english-dictionary-v-s-apte/

Subrahmanya Sastri (ed.), Raga Vibodha of Somanatha, 1945, The Adyar Library Series No. 48, Adyar Library, Madras.

Subrahmanya Sastri (ed.), Revised, Sarada S., Samgita-ratnakara of Sarngadeva, Vol.1, 1992, Adyar Library and Research Centre, Madras.

Sumathi Krishnan (ed.), Translated by Sumithra Vasudev, Introduction, ‘Melaraga-malika of Maha Vaidyanatha Sivan’, 2018, Music Academy Madras, Chennai.

Matthew Harp Allen, ‘Tales Tunes Tell: Deepening the Dialogue Between "Classi- cal" and "Non-Classical" in the Music of India’, Yearbook for Traditional Music, Vol. 30, 1998, pp. 22-52, International Council for Traditional Music Stable, URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/768552

Venkatamakhi, ‘Caturdandiprakasika of Venkatamakhi, Chennai, 1986’, Music Research Library, accessed 24 September 2020, http://musicresearchlibrary.net/omeka/items/show/2724.