Sa to Swaras

Let’s start with the MOST BASIC thing in all of music (not debatable): Swara.
If you’re coming from a Western music background, you can think of Swaras as “notes.”

Now, what is a swara exactly? In simple words, it’s a vibration — any vibration that creates a sound. But not just any random sound like a car honk or a door slam (Though they can also be turned to music) — a swara is a sound with musical tone or pitch. That’s what makes it special.

There are seven main Swaras used in music across the world:
  Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni.

These are the ones we all know and love, but here’s the thing — these aren’t their “real” names.
Sa – Shadaj
Re – Rishabh
Ga – Gandhar
Ma – Madhyam
Pa – Pancham
Dha – Dhaivat
Ni – Nishad

(Yeah, I know — suddenly the sargam notes sound ancient and royal)

Alright, now that we know what swara actually is, let’s move one step deeper.
Time to visit their types — Shuddha and Vikrit swaras.

Shuddha Swaras are the seven natural notes we already saw:
Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni.
These are the pure, original sounds — kind of like the default setting of music.

Now, what about Vikrit Swaras?

At times, a note may vary slightly in pitch — either raised or lowered. When this alteration occurs, the note is called a Vikrit Swara.
In Western terms, that means the note has been sharpened or flattened.

There are two ways a note can go rogue:

1. Komal Swara – when a Shuddha swara is lowered a little.
   (In Western music, this would technically be a “flat” note.)
   
   

2. Tivra Swara – when a Shuddha swara is raised in pitch.
   Ma is the only note that can be raised to form Tivra Ma, while the others either stay pure or become Komal.”

Also, not every swara is flexible.
Some remain constant, no matter what. These are Sa and Pa, known as “Achala Swaras”, meaning immovable notes. 

So finally:
12 total swaras = 7 Shuddha + 4 Komal + 1 Tivra.

The Saptak 

Now that we’ve handled the Swaras themselves, let’s talk about the Saptak.
The word Saptak literally means “group of seven,” referring to the seven notes that make up one full scale.

In Hindustani music, we usually deal with three main Saptaks, though technically there can be five. Let’s check them out one by one:

1. Anu-Mandra Saptak – the “ultra-low” octave or so you would call it.
   These are really deep notes.
   We show them using two dots below the swara.

2. Mandra Saptak – slightly higher than the previous one but still deep and rich.
   Represented by one dot below the swara.

3. Madhya Saptak – the middle octave.
   These notes sound balanced — not too high, not too low.
   No dots or markings needed here; they’re just the standard ones.

4. Tara Saptak – the higher octave.
   These notes have higher pitch and more brightness.
   Represented by one dot above the swara.

5. Anu-Tara Saptak – the “ultra-high” octave or so you would call it.
   These are even higher in pitch than the Tara Saptak notes.
   Represented by two dots above the swara.

So basically, Saptaks are octaves.
In practice, musicians mostly use the Mandra, Madhya, and Tara Saptaks — the lower, middle, and higher octave respectively.

And here’s the math bit:
Each time you move up a saptak, the frequency doubles.

And that’s All for this article ! To quench your intrigue and clear the plot holes that we created in this lesson do check out our other articles . 

PEACE !  🎻  There is no Hindustani Music Emoji btw...