This animated chart for the Melakartha Scheme in English has been created, at the suggestion of my Guru Sri Cherthala Suresh Pai, for the sake of non-Malayalees who may be interested but unable to understand the Malayalam version
You might have noticed that R2-G1, R3-G1, R3-Ga2 and Dha2-Ni1, Dha3-Ni1, Dha3-Ni2 combinations are missing in the Melakartha Chart. One has to understand the rules governing the Melakartha Scheme before one goes into the details as to why this occurs. See rule 5.
Rules governing the Melakartha scheme
1. The ragas should contain atleast one sruthi of all sapthaswaras - sampoorna
2. The raga shoud include the upper Sa also to complete a swarashttakam - octave
3. One swara is allowed only one sruthi sthaanam
4. The sruthi sthana of the swaras should be in ascending order in aarohana.
5. Vakrasanchaaram & samasanjaaram is disallowed.
6. The avarohana sruthi should be a mirror image of the aarohana
7. The raga should have thristhayi sanjaaram - manthrsthayi, madhyasthayi, thaarasthayi
Sa and Pa have only one sruthi sthaanam, hence fixed.
Ma has 2 sruthi sthaanam - M1 is used in raga 01 to 36 & Ma2 is used in raga 37 to 72.
Ri Ga Dha & Ni have 3 sruthi sthaanam.
Warning: Let us not try to study the name of ragas at this stage. We shall proceed by numbers.
The first raga comprises Sa Ri1 Ga1 Ma1 Pa Dha1 Ni1 ^Sa
As one proceeds from one raga to the next, change occurs first in sruthi of Ni1 to Ni2 Ni3
After the 3rd Ni, Dha changes to the next postion Dha2
Now, this is where the first hitch occurs.
The next one should have been Dha1-Ni1? As per rule 5 above this creates a samasancharam.
So the fourth raga has Dha2-Ni2.
Again Dha remaining the same as above, Ni2 changes to Ni3 in the fifth raga.
To proceed further Dha has to change to Dha3.
Now, this is where the second hitch occurs.
The 6th raga should begin with Dha3-Ni1? No, Ni1 is smaller than & Ni2 is equal to Dha2. See rule 5.
This leaves one with only Ni3 to combine with Dha3 as the sixth raga.
To reiterate the above combination of Dha and Ni
Raga1 > Dha1-Ni1
Raga2 > Dha2-Ni2
Raga3 > Dha3-Ni3
(There is no Dha2-Ni1 combination)
Raga4 > Dha2-Ni2
Raga5 > Dha2-Ni3
(There is no Dha3-Ni1 nor Dha3-Ni2 combination)
Raga6 > Dha3-Ni3
....End of any changes possible with utharanga swaras Pa Dha Ni Sa.
The above six ragas with poorvangam Sa Ri1 G1 Ma1 constitutes the first chakra.
The same chages that occured with Dha & Ni in utharangam occurs with Ri & Ga in poorvangam.
The combination for Dha &Ni remains the same for all six ragas in all chakra.
Poorvanga swara change occurs from chakra to chakra.
Chakra1 > Ri1-Ga1
Chakra2 > Ri1-Ga2
Chakra3 > Ri1-Ga3
(There is no Ri2-Ga1 combination)
Chakra4 > Ri2-Ga2
Chakra5 > Ri2-Ga3
(There is no Ri3-Ga1 nor Ri3-Ga2 combination)
Chakra6 > Ri3-Ga3
This leads us the end of the 36th raga in the 6th chakra.
Thereafter history repeats itself with Ma2 replacing Ma1 from 37th to 72nd raga.
End of story.
Now that one has understood the layout one can proceed to learn the names of the 72 krama-sampoorna ragas in the Melakartha scheme.
Any mistake that may have escaped attention may please be commented on in the comment box below.
.
Rules governing the Melakartha scheme
1. The ragas should contain atleast one sruthi of all sapthaswaras - sampoorna
2. The raga shoud include the upper Sa also to complete a swarashttakam - octave
3. One swara is allowed only one sruthi sthaanam
4. The sruthi sthana of the swaras should be in ascending order in aarohana.
5. Vakrasanchaaram & samasanjaaram is disallowed.
6. The avarohana sruthi should be a mirror image of the aarohana
7. The raga should have thristhayi sanjaaram - manthrsthayi, madhyasthayi, thaarasthayi
Sa and Pa have only one sruthi sthaanam, hence fixed.
Ma has 2 sruthi sthaanam - M1 is used in raga 01 to 36 & Ma2 is used in raga 37 to 72.
Ri Ga Dha & Ni have 3 sruthi sthaanam.
Warning: Let us not try to study the name of ragas at this stage. We shall proceed by numbers.
The first raga comprises Sa Ri1 Ga1 Ma1 Pa Dha1 Ni1 ^Sa
As one proceeds from one raga to the next, change occurs first in sruthi of Ni1 to Ni2 Ni3
After the 3rd Ni, Dha changes to the next postion Dha2
Now, this is where the first hitch occurs.
The next one should have been Dha1-Ni1? As per rule 5 above this creates a samasancharam.
So the fourth raga has Dha2-Ni2.
Again Dha remaining the same as above, Ni2 changes to Ni3 in the fifth raga.
To proceed further Dha has to change to Dha3.
Now, this is where the second hitch occurs.
The 6th raga should begin with Dha3-Ni1? No, Ni1 is smaller than & Ni2 is equal to Dha2. See rule 5.
This leaves one with only Ni3 to combine with Dha3 as the sixth raga.
To reiterate the above combination of Dha and Ni
Raga1 > Dha1-Ni1
Raga2 > Dha2-Ni2
Raga3 > Dha3-Ni3
(There is no Dha2-Ni1 combination)
Raga4 > Dha2-Ni2
Raga5 > Dha2-Ni3
(There is no Dha3-Ni1 nor Dha3-Ni2 combination)
Raga6 > Dha3-Ni3
....End of any changes possible with utharanga swaras Pa Dha Ni Sa.
The above six ragas with poorvangam Sa Ri1 G1 Ma1 constitutes the first chakra.
The same chages that occured with Dha & Ni in utharangam occurs with Ri & Ga in poorvangam.
The combination for Dha &Ni remains the same for all six ragas in all chakra.
Poorvanga swara change occurs from chakra to chakra.
Chakra1 > Ri1-Ga1
Chakra2 > Ri1-Ga2
Chakra3 > Ri1-Ga3
(There is no Ri2-Ga1 combination)
Chakra4 > Ri2-Ga2
Chakra5 > Ri2-Ga3
(There is no Ri3-Ga1 nor Ri3-Ga2 combination)
Chakra6 > Ri3-Ga3
This leads us the end of the 36th raga in the 6th chakra.
Thereafter history repeats itself with Ma2 replacing Ma1 from 37th to 72nd raga.
End of story.
Now that one has understood the layout one can proceed to learn the names of the 72 krama-sampoorna ragas in the Melakartha scheme.
Any mistake that may have escaped attention may please be commented on in the comment box below.
.
Looks great! How did you do this gif? In which software program?
ReplyDelete