Note on pitch and ornament:
In a very real sense, the essence of Hindustani music lies in the intonation of the notes of the Raga and the ornaments used in the course of articulating those notes. There are, of course, several other elements to be correctly managed to give life to a Raga, however, these two - pitch and ornamentation - are the most basic of all.
Except for the first and fifth notes, the pitches of notes used in Hindustani music are not fixed. Indeed, even the first and fifth notes were not fixed in pitch in ancient times: they became so only during the medieval period, as a result of modifications to the system brought about by Amir Khusrau.
In ancient times, there was a system of absolute pitch mesurement by means of a particular flute that the Gandharva used as a pitch pite. This flute was known as "Vasu" (pronunciation: VUH-su, "u" as in "put"). It had fixed dimensions, with the distance from the embrochure to the first finger hole being "18 fingers". A "finger" was a fixed measurement.
Subsequently, however, with the decline of the Sanskrit tradition (due to the rise of Buddhism), the Vasu went out of vogue and there was no longer a standard and recognised absolute pitch from which other pitches took their reference. So any convenient pitch could be regarded as the tonic note, called the "Sa" (pronunciation: SAA) note.
However, the early division of the heptad into 22 Shruti (pronunciation: SHRU-ti, "u" as in "put") (which may, for the time being and for want of a better expression, be called microtones) remained in vogue. [Indian musicological texts do not use the term "octave"; instead, the term used is "Saptaka" (pronunciation: SUHP-tuh-kuh), meaning the compass of the seven notes - transliterated for the purposes of this article as "heptad".]
Why were there 22 Shruti? The answer is simple to understand. It ancient times, there were three standard intervals:
- Kshudrantara (pronunciation: KHUD-raan-tuh-ruh, the first "u" as in "put", second and third "u" as in "but") - This generally corresponded to a "semitone", as the smallest interval is currently known in western music.
- Madhyantara (pronunciation: MUHD-yaan-tuh-ruh, the first "u" as in "put", second and third "u" as in "but") - an interval midway between the Kshudrantara and Brhadantara, generally one and a half times greater than the Khudrantara.
- Brhadantara (pronunciation: BR-HUD-aan-tuh-ruh) - about two Kshudrantara, that is to say, generally corresponding to what is currently known as a "whole tone" in western music.
The heptad of Indian art music comprised (and comprises) of twenty two Shruti because 22 is the smallest WHOLE NUMBER that can be used to accommodate all the three types of Shruti. If a Kshudrantara is considered to be a musical (pitchwise) unit (or interval) of 1, the Brhadantara would be an unit of 2 but the Madhyantara would be an inconvenient fractional unit of one and a half. Rather, it is much easier to consider the Kshudrantara as an unit of 2, so that a Madhyantara would be an unit of 3 and a Brhadantara would be an unit of 2 Shruti.
The note names of Indian art music, in DESCENDING order were:
| Sa (pronunciation: SAA) | 4 | Shruti
|
| Ni (pronunciation: NII) | 2 | Shruti
|
| Dha (pronunciation: DHAA) | 3 | Shruti
|
| Pa (pronunciation: PAA) | 4 | Shruti
|
| Ma (pronunciation: MAA) | 4 | Shruti
|
| Ga (pronunciation: GAA) | 2 | Shruti
|
| Re (pronunciation: RAY) | 3 | Shruti
|
| Total | 22 | Shruti
|
Simple! It is worth noting that our ancient and medieval musicological Texts consider Shruti and notes in DESCENDING order - a point unfortunately missed by many modern musicologists of the modern era, including Pandit Bhatkhande himself. For example, when our Texts say that Sa has 4 Shruti, it means that the distance from Sa to Ni is 4 Shruti. Pandit Bhatkhande and his followers, however, err by misunderstanding this point: they think the Texts mean the distance from Sa to Re is 4 Shruti. In reality, the ascending distance from Sa to Re is 3 Shruti, because Re has 3 Shruti. As a result of this misunderstanding, a good deal of twentieth century musicological analysis of these scholars is fundamentally flawed. The only context where these are in the ascending order is when the ancient musicologists speak of the Gandharagrama - the basis of a scale (i.e., the plan of a layout of the notes within the heptad) that went out of use a long time ago. A discussion of this format or layout, as also of the othe two (Madhyamagrama, which is also extinct today and Shadjagrama which is the only one in vogue today and is characterised by there being a distance of 13 Shruti between Pa and Sa), is beyond the scope of this article, as is another important point to remember and, for the time being, accept, viz.: the absolute values of Shruti are not constant. This means that one Shruti may be greater or lesser than another.
It is said by many scholars that the note names Sa, Re and so on are abbreviated forms of words like Shadja, Rshabha, etc. Indeed, there are medieval Texts that have also said this. Unfortunately, this is incorrect. The words, the so-called abbreviated forms of which are Sa, Re and so on, are merely fanciful inventions of a later period. The fact is, the names Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha and Ni are themselves very old, and have been coined by the Gandharva musician-musicologists of ancient times. Contrary to popular belief, they are not abbreviations of words. The following table gives an outline of the incorrect popular view and a far more plausible view, advocated by the pioneering twentieth century musicologist Dr. Bimal Roy D.Litt. (Hony.), with whom both Dr Chintamani Rath and Prof Basavi Mukerji had the good fortune to study.
| Note
| Incorrect popular understanding
| Dr Bimal Roy's theory
|
| Sa
| Shadja
(pronunciation: SHUD-juh)
| "that from which six (notes) are born"
| Sa-Re-Ga are the three phonetic sounds in the word "Svarga" meaning "heaven", which actually meant the upper reaches of inhabitable parts of mountains, where lived, among others, the Devata and the Gandharva people.
[How musical is a bull? How is an ascetic associated with music?]
|
| Re
| Rshabha
(pronunciation: HRSHUH-bhuh)
| either a bull or an ascetic (according to context)
|
| Ga
| Gandhara
(pronunciation: gaan-Dhaa-ruh)
| of the Gandharva people
|
| Ma
| Madhyama
(pronunciation: MUH-dhyum-uh)
| (the note in the) middle
| Ma and Dha are the two phonetic sounds in the word "Madhya" meaning "middle", referring to the middle heights of mountains, where lived, among others, the Pitara, Mitara, Yaksha and Varuna people.
Pa: this was the fifth note Panchama.
[What is "Dhaivata?" What musical association does it carry?]
|
| Pa
| Panchama
(pronunciation: PUN-chuh-muh)
| fifth (note)
|
| Dha
| Dhaivata
(pronunciation: DHUH-i-vuh-tuh)
| ?
(meaning not known)
|
| Ni
| Nishada
(pronunciation:
Ni-SHAA-duh)
| hunter
| Ni is the first phonetic sound (the only one needed to cover a single remaining note) in the word "Neecha", meaning "low", referring to the lower or plain lands, where dwelt, among others, the Rshi and the Manushya people.
[Why hunter, of all people/callings?]
|
After the modification in notes used in Hindustani music made by Amir Khusrau, the notes Ga and Ni changed their character as compared with their earlier qualities. Earlier, Ga and Ni had two Shruti each. However, Amir Khusrau started with the "Yaman" mode (pronunciation: yuh-MUHN), where Ga and Ni were higher than the earlier Ga and Ni by about two Shruti each, thus making these two notes of four Shruti each. He called the notes of the Yaman mode the "Chadhi" (pronunciation: CHUH-dee) or "Kadhi" (pronunciation: KUH-dee) notes, meaning "high" (in pitch) notes. He made Sa and Pa fixed notes and introduced a flattened form of each of the other notes, calling these the "Komal" forms. The fixed (descending) distance between Pa and Sa was (and is) 13 Shruti.
Over time, the Komal Ma of Amir Khusrau came to be accepted as the Shuddha form of Ma and the Ma used in the Yaman mode (which is two Shruti lower than Pa and so higher than Komal Ma by two Shruti) became the altered form. [Pronunciation of "Shuddha": SHUd-dhuh, the first u" as in "put", the second "u" as in "but". Pronunciation of "Komal": KOH-mul]
The notes Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha and Ni are today known as "Shuddha Svara" or "pure notes". This expression is used in contradistinction to "Vikrta Svara" or "altered notes". [Pronunciation of "Vikrta": VI-kr-tuh]. Thus Re may be flattened to get the Vikrta Svara "Komal Re". Only, because Re has three Shruti, there can be three forms of Komal Re, thus:-
|
Shuddha Re
|
- Komal Re - this is quite high, being very near Shuddha Re. Ragas like Shree and Marva use this form of Komal Re
- Komal Re - this is quite low in pitch, being quite close to Sa. Ragas like Bhairav and Bhairavi and others use this Re, which is why, in these Raga, Re is not used in the ascent: it is approached only "from above", i.g., with a very quick and very soft touch of Ga.
|
|
Sa
|
In like manner, there can be three forms of Komal Dha and two forms of Komal Ga and Komal Ni. There can also be three forms of Teevra Ma. "Teevra" refers to the "sharpened" form of Ma. [Pronunciation of "Teevra": TEE-vruh].
The following table illustrates the present day notes used in Hindustani music:-
|
Notation
|
Notes
|
Comments
|
| S
|
Sa
|
|
| N
|
- (Shuddha) Ni
- (Shuddha) Ni
|
Either of these two Shruti could be Shuddha Ni. Because Sa is now a fixed note, these Shruti are in the Ni domain. Yaman Raga (for example) uses the higher pitched Shuddha Ni but Bihag Raga uses the lower pitched Shuddha Ni.
|
| N
|
|
Either of these two Shruti could be Komal Ni. Again, because Sa is now a fixed note, these Shruti are in the Ni domain. In fact, Miyan-Malhar Raga uses both: in its phrase N-D-N-S, the actual sequence in a slow passage is N-D-N-N-S, where the first (descending) N is the lower Komal Ni but the next N (ascending to Shuddha Ni) is the higher Komal Ni. The Shuddha Ni itself is the lower Shuddha Ni, somewhat like the one Bihag uses.
|
| D
|
- (Shuddha) Dha
- (Shuddha) Dha
|
Either of these Shruti could be Shuddha Dha. For example, Deshkar Raga and Hamir Raga use the higher pitched Shuddha Dha but Khamaj Raga and kafi Raga use the lower pitched Shuddha Dha
|
| D
|
|
Either of these two Shruti could be Komal Dha. For example, Puria Dhanashri raga uses the higher pitched Komal Dha but Bhairav raga uses the lower pitched Komal Dha
|
| P
|
Pa
|
|
| M'
|
- (Teevra) Ma
- (Teevra) Ma
- (Teevra) Ma
|
Either of these three Shruti could be Teevra Ma. Because Pa is a fixed note, these Shruti are all Teevra Ma. Examples: Yaman Raga uses the highest Teevra ma, Basant Raga uses the middle Teevra Ma pitch and Lalit Raga uses both the lowest Teevra Ma pitch and the middle Teevra Ma pitch.
|
| M
|
(Shuddha) Ma
|
|
| G
|
- (Shuddha) Ga
- (Shuddha) Ga
|
Either of these two Shruti could be Shuddha Ga. Since Ma already has its Teevra ma Shruti as Vikrita Svara, these Shruti are in the Ga domain. Yaman Raga (for example) uses the higher pitched Shuddha Ga but Bihag Raga uses the lower pitched Shuddha Ga.
|
| G
|
|
Either of these two Shruti could be Komal Ga. A good example of the use of these two Komal Ga is found in Darbari Kanada Raga. In this Raga, when G is used after R with the intention of descending thereafter (for example to, say, D), the lower of the two Komal Ga pitches is used. But when the intention is to advance to M, the higher of the two Komal Ga is used.
Another example is Malkauns Raga, where the lower Komal Ga is used in descending phrases but the higher Komal Ga is used in ascending passages.
Again, the Komal Ga of Miyan-Ki-Malhar Raga is higher than that of Darbari Kanada.
|
| R
|
- (Shuddha) Re
- (Shuddha) Re
| Either of these two Shruti could be Shuddha Re.
|
| R
|
|
Either of these two Shruti could be Komal Re. For example, Shree and Marva Raga use the higher pitched Komal Re but Bhairav and Bhairavi Raga use the lower pitched Komal Re.
|
| S
|
Sa
|
|
|
It is important to understand that the use of Shruti as shown in the above table is merely a guide. The actual articulation of the notes in a performance will use even finer Shruti. For example, the note M in Bhairava Raga can actually sometimes "lean" just that little bit higher than its normal Shuddha position without quite encroaching into the Teevra Ma domain. Furthermore, the same note in a given Raga may well be subtly different at different times, even for the same performer during a single performance and for that selfsame performer at different times. This is the reason why a "scientific" study of Shruti in Hindustani music as performed, using pitch measuring instruments like an oscilloscope, is doomed to fail right from the start, because it negates the very foundations of the concept of the use of Shruti.
This is one important reason why Hindustani music is referred to as "Gurumukhi Vidya" (pronunciation: GU-RU-mu-khi VId-yaa, "u" as in "put"), meaning a discipline ("Vidya") that may be properly learnt only from the mouth ("Mukhi") of the Teacher ("Guru").
Ornaments:
Ornaments or embellishments are vital components in Hindustani music. Remove the ornaments and the music dies.
The act of ornamentation is called "Alankarana" (pronunciation: uh-LUN-kuh-run-uh). It means to beatify. Alankarana comprises Raga Alankarana (melodic ornamentation), Tala Alankarana (rhydhmic ornamentation) and Nartana Alankarana (dance ornamentation - in musicological texts, it is made clear that music comprises vocal music, instrumental music and dance). Here we shall consider only Raga Alankarana.
Raga Alankarana may use two kinds of ornaments:
- Varnayukta (pronunciation: VUR-nuh-yuk-tuh, the "u" in "yuk" as in "put", all other "u" as in "but") Alankara (pronunciation: uh-LUN-kaa-ruh) (Alankara means ornament): Varna means a short group of notes. This kind of ornamentation is using small note groups in particular and attractive ways within the Raga context.
- Varnatirikta (pronunciation: VUR-naa-ti-RIK-tuh) Alankarana, also called Shuddha Alankara or Shabdalankara (pronunciation: SHUB-daa-lun-kaar-uh): This kind of ornamentation does not use note groups but embellishes the notes themselves by means of dynamics, glissandi, grace notes, accents, use of different vowels and tonal variances, and so on.
Each of these two main classifications has sub-varieties which in turn have further groups and subgroups within them. The total number of such Alankarana and Alankara adds up to several scores. A full description is beyond the scope of this article but may be found in Prof. Basavi Mukerji's book "Improvisation in Hindustani Classical Music".
In the following list of Raga descriptions, notes are referred to by means of their modern conventional symbols: S, N, D and so on.
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