Melakartha Raga


The mēḷa system of ragas was first propounded by Raamamaatya in his work Svaramelakalanidhi c. 1550.He is considered the father of mela system of ragas. Later, Venkatamakhin, a gifted musicologist in the 17th century, expounded a new mela system known today as mēḷakarta in his work Chaturdandi Prakaasikaa.He made some bold and controversial claims and defined somewhat arbitrarily 6 svaras from the known 12 semitones, at that time, to arrive at 72 mēḷakarta ragas. The controversial parts relate to double counting of R2 (and similar svaras) and his exclusive selection of madyamas for which there is no specific reasoning (also known as asampurna melas as opposed to sampurna ragas). However, today the 72 mēḷakarta ragas use a standardized pattern, unlike Venkatamakhi's pattern, and have gained a significant following. Govindhacharya is credited with the standardization of rules and known for giving different names for standard ragas that have a different structure but the same swaras as those proposed by Venkatamakhi.The scales in this page are those proposed by Govindaacharya.

Rules for Mēḷakarta
Ragas must contain the following characteristics to be considered Melakarta.
    They are sampurna ragas – they contain all seven swaras (notes) of the octave in both ascending and descending scale.
    They are krama sampurna ragas – that is the sequence is strictly ascending and descending in the scales, without any jumps or zig-zag notes.

    The upper shadjam is included in the raga scale (ragas like Punnagavarali and Chenchurutti are not mēḷakarta as they end with nishadam). 

    The ascending and descending scales must have the same notes. 





Melakartha Ragas - 72


1 | kanakAn'gi                 | S R1 G1 M1 P D1 N1 S | S N1 D1 P M1 G1 R1 S

2 | rathnAn'gi                 | S R1 G1 M1 P D1 N2 S | S N2 D1 P M1 G1 R1 S

3 | gAnamUrthi                 | S R1 G1 M1 P D1 N3 S | S N3 D1 P M1 G1 R1 S

4 | vanaspathi                 | S R1 G1 M1 P D2 N2 S | S N2 D2 P M1 G1 R1 S

5 | mAnavathi                  | S R1 G1 M1 P D2 N3 S | S N3 D2 P M1 G1 R1 S

6 | thAnarUpi                  | S R1 G1 M1 P D3 N3 S | S N3 D3 P M1 G1 R1 S

7 | sEnAvathi                  | S R1 G2 M1 P D1 N1 S | S N1 D1 P M1 G2 R1 S

8 | HanumathOdi                | S R1 G2 M1 P D1 N2 S | S N2 D1 P M1 G2 R1 S

9 | DhEnukA                    | S R1 G2 M1 P D1 N3 S | S N3 D1 P M1 G2 R1 S

10 | nAtakapriya                | S R1 G2 M1 P D2 N2 S | S N2 D2 P M1 G2 R1 S

11 | kOkilapriya                | S R1 G2 M1 P D2 N3 S | S N3 D2 P M1 G2 R1 S

12 | rUpavathi                  | S R1 G2 M1 P D3 N3 S | S N3 D3 P M1 G2 R1 S

13 | gAyakapriya                | S R1 G3 M1 P D1 N1 S | S N1 D1 P M1 G3 R1 S

14 | vakulAbharaNam             | S R1 G3 M1 P D1 N2 S | S N2 D1 P M1 G3 R1 S

15 | mAyAmALava gowLA           | S R1 G3 M1 P D1 N3 S | S N3 D1 P M1 G3 R1 S

16 | chakravAkam                | S R1 G3 M1 P D2 N2 S | S N2 D2 P M1 G3 R1 S

17 | sUryakAntam                | S R1 G3 M1 P D2 N3 S | S N3 D2 P M1 G3 R1 S

18 | HAtakAmbari                | S R1 G3 M1 P D3 N3 S | S N3 D3 P M1 G3 R1 S

19 | Jan'kAradhvani             | S R2 G2 M1 P D1 N1 S | S N1 D1 P M1 G2 R2 S

20 | naTabhairavi               | S R2 G2 M1 P D1 N2 S | S N2 D1 P M1 G2 R2 S

21 | kIravANi                   | S R2 G2 M1 P D1 N3 S | S N3 D1 P M1 G2 R2 S

22 | KaraHarapriya              | S R2 G2 M1 P D2 N2 S | S N2 D2 P M1 G2 R2 S

23 | gowrimanOHari              | S R2 G2 M1 P D2 N3 S | S N3 D2 P M1 G2 R2 S

24 | varuNapriya                | S R2 G2 M1 P D3 N3 S | S N3 D3 P M1 G2 R2 S

25 | mAraranjani                | S R2 G3 M1 P D1 N1 S | S N1 D1 P M1 G3 R2 S

26 | chArukeshi                 | S R2 G3 M1 P D1 N2 S | S N2 D1 P M1 G3 R2 S

27 | sarasAn'gi                 | S R2 G3 M1 P D1 N3 S | S N3 D1 P M1 G3 R2 S

28 | HarikAmbhOji               | S R2 G3 M1 P D2 N2 S | S N2 D2 P M1 G3 R2 S

29 | DhIrashan'karAbharaNam     | S R2 G3 M1 P D2 N3 S | S N3 D2 P M1 G3 R2 S

30 | nAgAnandhini               | S R2 G3 M1 P D3 N3 S | S N3 D3 P M1 G3 R2 S

31 | yAgapriya                  | S R3 G3 M1 P D1 N1 S | S N1 D1 P M1 G3 R3 S

32 | rAgavarDhani               | S R3 G3 M1 P D1 N2 S | S N2 D1 P M1 G3 R3 S

33 | gAn'geyabhushani           | S R3 G3 M1 P D1 N3 S | S N3 D1 P M1 G3 R3 S

34 | vAgaDhIsvari               | S R3 G3 M1 P D2 N2 S | S N2 D2 P M1 G3 R3 S

35 | shUlini                    | S R3 G3 M1 P D2 N3 S | S N3 D2 P M1 G3 R3 S

36 | chalanAta                  | S R3 G3 M1 P D3 N3 S | S N3 D3 P M1 G3 R3 S

37 | sAlagam                    | S R1 G1 M2 P D1 N1 S | S N1 D1 P M2 G1 R1 S

38 | jalArnavam                 | S R1 G1 M2 P D1 N2 S | S N2 D1 P M2 G1 R1 S

39 | JAlavarALi                 | S R1 G1 M2 P D1 N3 S | S N3 D1 P M2 G1 R1 S

40 | navanItham                 | S R1 G1 M2 P D2 N2 S | S N2 D2 P M2 G1 R1 S

41 | pAvani                     | S R1 G1 M2 P D2 N3 S | S N3 D2 P M2 G1 R1 S

42 | raGupriya                  | S R1 G1 M2 P D3 N3 S | S N3 D3 P M2 G1 R1 S

43 | gavAmbodhi                 | S R1 G2 M2 P D1 N1 S | S N1 D1 P M2 G2 R1 S

44 | bhavapriya                 | S R1 G2 M2 P D1 N2 S | S N2 D1 P M2 G2 R1 S

45 | shubhapanthuvarALi         | S R1 G2 M2 P D1 N3 S | S N3 D1 P M2 G2 R1 S

46 | shadhvidha mArgiNi         | S R1 G2 M2 P D2 N2 S | S N2 D2 P M2 G2 R1 S

47 | suvarNAn'gi                | S R1 G2 M2 P D2 N3 S | S N3 D2 P M2 G2 R1 S

48 | dhivyAmaNi                 | S R1 G2 M2 P D3 N3 S | S N3 D3 P M2 G2 R1 S

49 | dhavalAmbari               | S R1 G3 M2 P D1 N1 S | S N1 D1 P M2 G3 R1 S

50 | nAmanArAyaNi               | S R1 G3 M2 P D1 N2 S | S N2 D1 P M2 G3 R1 S

51 | kAmavardhini               | S R1 G3 M2 P D1 N3 S | S N3 D1 P M2 G3 R1 S

52 | rAmapriya                  | S R1 G3 M2 P D2 N2 S | S N2 D2 P M2 G3 R1 S

53 | gamanashrama               | S R1 G3 M2 P D2 N3 S | S N3 D2 P M2 G3 R1 S

54 | vishvAmbhari               | S R1 G3 M2 P D3 N3 S | S N3 D3 P M2 G3 R1 S

55 | shyAmaLAngi                | S R2 G2 M2 P D1 N1 S | S N1 D1 P M2 G2 R2 S

56 | shanmuKapriya              | S R2 G2 M2 P D1 N2 S | S N2 D1 P M2 G2 R2 S

57 | simHendra madhyamam        | S R2 G2 M2 P D1 N3 S | S N3 D1 P M2 G2 R2 S

58 | HemAvathi                  | S R2 G2 M2 P D2 N2 S | S N2 D2 P M2 G2 R2 S

59 | DharmAvathi                | S R2 G2 M2 P D2 N3 S | S N3 D2 P M2 G2 R2 S

60 | nIthimathi                 | S R2 G2 M2 P D3 N3 S | S N3 D3 P M2 G2 R2 S

61 | kAnthAmaNi                 | S R2 G3 M2 P D1 N1 S | S N1 D1 P M2 G3 R2 S

62 | rishabhapriya              | S R2 G3 M2 P D1 N2 S | S N2 D1 P M2 G3 R2 S

63 | lathAngi                   | S R2 G3 M2 P D1 N3 S | S N3 D1 P M2 G3 R2 S

64 | vAchaspathi                | S R2 G3 M2 P D2 N2 S | S N2 D2 P M2 G3 R2 S

65 | mEchakalyANi               | S R2 G3 M2 P D2 N3 S | S N3 D2 P M2 G3 R2 S

66 | chithrAmbari               | S R2 G3 M2 P D3 N3 S | S N3 D3 P M2 G3 R2 S

67 | sucharithra                | S R3 G3 M2 P D1 N1 S | S N1 D1 P M2 G3 R3 S

68 | jyothisvarUpiNi            | S R3 G3 M2 P D1 N2 S | S N2 D1 P M2 G3 R3 S

69 | dhAtuvardhani              | S R3 G3 M2 P D1 N3 S | S N3 D1 P M2 G3 R3 S

70 | nAsika bhUshaNi            | S R3 G3 M2 P D2 N2 S | S N2 D2 P M2 G3 R3 S

71 | kosalam                    | S R3 G3 M2 P D2 N3 S | S N3 D2 P M2 G3 R3 S
72 | rasikapriya                | S R3 G3 M2 P D3 N3 S | S N3 D3 P M2 G3 R3 S Source: Internet

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