Today’s Indian music is based on the Thaat system, which is a derivative of Mukam System (Persian). Today’s natural scale is not the same as the original ancient natural scale.
The ten Thaats of modern Northern music are not able to cover 56 Moorshanas of Vedic music. And, there are scales (Thaats or Mails) and Raags in Indian music today that do not follow Bharat’s doctrine.

The questions often asked by the students of Hindustani music are:

1. Can one categorize 56 Moorshanas into 10 parent scales (Thaats)?
2. Are there any equivalent Moorshanas for Bhairav, Poorvi, Todi and Marva thaat?
3. Can one define 12 notes of an octave through the Sharuti system to establish all the Thaats?
4. is there any provision in Gram and Moorshana system to have an interval bigger than 4 Sharuties (such as Re komal to Ga Shudh in Bhairav or an interval of 3 semitones)?

Answers to all the above questions are; no, no, no and no.

Then what happened?
How did we go from one system to the other, which are not compatible with each other?

There is no simple answer. In essence, the practice of music did not change as much as its interpretation has. We need to understand both the old and new and then build a bridge to use the best of both worlds.

Next few posts will address this very issue.

If you have been following this blog, I hope it has widened your horizons. This blog is not about today’s headlines. It is about the ancient art of music. The very first article still stays equally relevant as the very last one. Do not forget to revise the old articles to keep the information fresh. Only revisions can turn a piece of information into knowledge, and without knowledge, there is no wisdom!

Sangtar’s music blog:: Advance Theory
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In ancient Indian music, order of intervals in an octave was classified in Grams. The word Gram means a village. The main note of a Gram or the Gramini (village head), must have three properties:

1. It must be a 4 Sharuti Suwar (note),
2. It must have a perfect fourth and a perfect fifth in the octave, and
3. The next note from the main note must be a three Sharuti note.

In ancient Indian music, there were three grams.

1. Shadaj Gram
2. Madhyam Gram and
3. Gandhar Gram

The first two Grams have a harmonic relation to each other. The third Gram, Gandhar gram has four Vikrat notes. It did not have the qualities to create Jaties and Moorshanas that would follow the rules of Gram and Sharuties (accepted intervals). The musicologist never made it the subject of their attention. Indian Classical music is based on the first two Grams.

To understand the Grams, let’s see the ancient natural octave and its Sharuties once more:

In simple text, we can write it like this:

4S, 3R, 2G, 4M, 4P, 3D, 2N

This is Shadaj Gram, the Gram of Shadaj or Sa. According to the Gram properties:
1. Sa is a 4 Sharuti note,
2. Ma and Pa in this octave are Sa’s perfect fourth and fifth, and
3. Re, which is the next note from Sa, is a 3 Sharuti note.

As I have described in earlier posts, there are two Vikrat notes in Shadaj Gram:

1. Antar Gandhar and
2. Kakali Nishad

Antar Gandhar (modern shudh Ga) is two Sharuties higher than the natural Shadaj Gram Gandhar and Kakali Nishad is two Sharuties higher than Natural Shadaj Gram Nishad.

In Shadaj Gram, Re and Pa are not in perfect fourth Samvad. When Pa (fifth) is lowered one Parman Sharuti (5 Savarts), it becomes a perfect fourth to Rishav. At that point it loses its perfect fifth relation with the root. As the intervals change, the Gram is also changed. When the Pancham or Pa is in perfect harmony with Re, then the octave reflects the second Gram, Madhyam Gram.

In Madhyam Gram, Ma is the first note of the octave. Therefore, the Madhyam Gram is:

4M, 3P, 4D, 2N, 4S, 3R, 2G

In this order, Madhyam is the only note that fulfills all three requirements to be called the main note of this Gram. It is a four Sharuti note. Nishad and Shadaj are its perfect fourth and fifth and the next note, Pa, is a three Sharuti note.

Changing the Gram:
There are two ways to alter the Shadaj Gram tuning into Madhyam Gram tuning:
1. Lower the fifth or Pa one Parman Sharuti so it becomes perfect fourth to the second or Re. In this case, note names do not change. Shadaj Gram Madhyam becomes the first note of the new Gram.
2. Tune the third or Gandhar two Sharuties higher, so it becomes perfect third to the root or Shadaj. In Shadaj Gram this note is Antar Gandhar. The first scale from Sa is called the first Santra (with Antar Gandhar) Moorshana of Shadaj Gram. If you now change the names of the notes (Sa becomes Ma), the first Santra Moorshana of Shadaj Gram become first Shudh (pure) Moorshana of Madhyam Gram. Here is the explanation:

a. Shadaj Gram is: 4S, 3R, 2G, 4M, 4P, 3D, 2N
b. Shadaj Gram with Antar Gandhar is: 4S, 3R, 4G, 2M, 4P, 3D, 2N
c. Madhyam Gram is: 4M, 3P, 4D, 2N, 4S, 3R, 2G

Now compare the Sharuti order of C with B

C: 4-3-4-2-4-3-2
B: 4-3-4-2-4-3-2

Therefore, the S R G M P D N of Shadaj Gram become M P D N S R G of Madhyam Gram. This example illustrates that the Shadaj Gram octave with Antar Gandhar is the same as Shudh (pure) Madhaym Gram and both of these Grams have a harmonic relation (perfect fourth).

Sangtar’s music blog:: Advance Theory
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