Positions of swaras:

Position: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Sa R 1 R 2

G 1

R 3

G 2

G 3 Ma 1 Ma 2 Pa D 1

D 2

N 1

D 3

N 2

N 3

Simpler view:

R1 R2 G1 G2 M1 M2 Pa D1 D2 N1 N2

Simpler

Notation**

R-

Low

R-

High

G-

Low

G-

High

M1 M2 Pa D-

Low

D-

High

N-

Low

N-

High

Table 1

Melakarta ragas have exactly 1 Ri-Ga-Da-Ni each. Ri has to be lower than

Ga. Da has to be lower than Ni. This is the only requirement.

So, Ri can take 3 positions - 2, 3 or 4 in table 1 – referred to as R1, R2 and

R3. Ga can take 3 positions - 3,4 or 5 - referred to as G1, G2 and G3. This means positions 3 and 4 can be either Ri or Ga depending on the raga.

Ri in R1 can have Ga in G1, G2 or G3 for Ri-Ga pairs. i.e. (R1,G1) or

(R1,G2) or (R1,G3) – these are 3 possible combinations.

Ri in R2 can have Ga in G2 or G3 for Ri-Ga pairs. i.e. (R2, G2) or (R2,G3) - these are 2 combinations.

Ri in R3 can have Ga in G3 for Ri-Ga pair i.e. ( R3,G3) - this is 1 combination.

So, Ri-Ga pairs have 3+2+1 = 6 combinations.

A similar idea applies to Da-Ni combinations - ( D1,N1), (D1, N2), (D1, N3), (D2, N2), (D2,N3), (D3,N3) for a total of 6 combinations. Positions 10 and

11 can be either Da or Ni depending on the raga.

So there is a total of 36 combinations of Ri-Ga and Da-Ni combinations i.e. 6 Ri-Ga combinations paired with each of the 6 Da-Ni combinations.

Since there are 2 Ma positions we have 36 x 2 = 72 combinations of Ri-Ga-Ma-Da-Ni combinations resulting in 72 Melakarta ragas.

With this set of combinations, positions 3 and 4 may be a Ri in one raga but will be Ga in another raga. Similarly positions 10 and 11 may be Da

in one raga but could be Ni in another raga.

Raga Arohanam 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Mayamalava Gowla S R1 G3 M1 Pa D1 N3 S

Shankarabharanam S R2 G3 M1 Pa D2 N3 S

Kalyani S R2 G3 M2 Pa D2 N3 S

Hari Kamboji S R2 G3 M1 Pa D2 N2 S

Karaharapriya S R2 G2 M1 Pa D2 N2 S

Table 2

** In the simpler notation we ignore the 3 positions of Ri and Ga. We only consider the 2 lower positions of Ri and 2 higher positions of Ga ignoring

the overlap of Ri and Ga in positions 3 and 4. Similar idea is applied in Da-Ni combinations. Only 2 lower Da positions D1, D2 and 2 higher

positions of Ni i.e. N2, N3 are considered ignoring the overlap in positions 10, 11. This gives us Ri-L, Ri-H, Ga-L, Ga-H ( positions 2,3,4,5) and Da-L,

Da-H, Ni-L, Ni-H ( positions 9, 10, 11, 12).

For Shriya’s easy reference:

Raga Arohanam 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Mayamalava Gowla S R -

Low

G-

High

M1 Pa D-Low N-High S

Shankarabharanam S R -High

G-High

M1 Pa D-High N-High S

Kalyani S R-

High

G-

High

M2 Pa D-High N-High S

Hari Kamboji S R-High

G-High

M1 Pa D-High N-Low S

Kharaharapriya S R-

High

G-Low M1 Pa D-High N-Low S

Table 3

Of the 72 combination Melakarta ragas Mayamalavagowla has the greatest distance between Ri and Ga (i.e. 3 notes) and between Da and Ni (i.e. 3

notes). There is only 1 other raga with Prati madhyama which has the same distance between these notes. Kharaharapriya has the Ri-Ga and Da-Ni

adjacent to each other.

The 72 Melakarta ragas are divided into 2 groups of 36 based on the Ma.

Within each group of 36, ragas are divided into 6 groups of 6 ragas. Each group of 6 ragas belongs to a Chakram. Within each Chakram group

of 6 ragas, the 6 combinations of Da-Ni are cycled through with the Ri-Ga combinations remaining fixed. For example, both HariKamboji (28

th

Mela) and Dheera Sankarabharanam (29th

Mela) belong to the 5th

Chakram (with R2-G3) but have different Da-Ni pairs. Harikamboji has (D2-N2) and

DheeraSankarabharanam has (D2-N3) with their Melakarta numbers 28 and 29 reflecting their swara closeness.

Position Swara Short name Notation Mnemonic

1 Shadja Sa S sa

2 Shuddha Rishabha Ri R1 ra

3 Chatushruti Rishabha Ri R2 ri

3 Shuddha Gandhara Ga G1 ga

4 Shatshruti Rishabha Ri R3 ru

4 Sadharana Gandhara Ga G2 gi

5 Antara Gandhara Ga G3 gu

6 Shuddha Madhyama Ma M1 ma

7 Prati Madhyama Ma M2 mi

8 Panchama Pa P pa

9 Shuddha Dhaivata Dha D1 dha

10 Chatushruti Dhaivata Dha D2 dhi

10 Shuddha Nishada Ni N1 na

11 Shatshruti Dhaivata Dha D3 dhu

11 Kaisiki Nishada Ni N2 ni

12 Kakali Nishada Ni N3 nu