Carnatic Music Theory for Beginners: Scales and Western Similarities

In Carnatic music, the C major scale (C D E F G A B C) corresponds most closely to the raga Shankarabharanam, melakarta number 29, because it contains Sa (C), Ri (D), Ga (E), Shuddha Madhyamam (F), Pa (G), Da (A) and Ni (B).

Video lesson by Jason Zac · Beginner · 8 min

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This lesson is for musicians who already know Western scales and want a clear way into Carnatic melody. It is presented by NSM alumnus Raghavan Subramanian, who uses the familiar C major scale and the piano keyboard as a bridge into ragas, swaras and the melakarta system.

Music has three broad aspects

Music can be thought of as melody (the notes and pitch classes), rhythm and harmony. Carnatic music has always focused on melody, so this lesson starts there and leaves rhythm for later.

Start with the C major scale

The C major scale is C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C. Its interval pattern is whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half. In Carnatic music, the closest raga to this scale is Shankarabharanam, which is number 29 in the melakarta system of 72 parent ragas.

A raga is more than a scale

A scale is just a set of notes. A raga also tells you:

• which notes are more important than others,
• the ascent and descent, called arohanam and avarohanam,
• how each swara should be approached.

That last point matters a lot. On a violin, veena or guitar you can start on one pitch and glide smoothly into another. On a piano, keyboard or harmonium, which produce fixed, discrete pitches, that smooth glide is impossible. This gliding approach is a very important part of Indian raga, though this lesson does not go deep into it.

The octave and its 12 notes

The good news is that both systems share the octave, and both divide it into 12 pitch classes. There is a long debate about tuning. Natural temperament is the acoustical tuning, where the distance between neighbouring notes is not identical. Equal temperament, already being explored around the time of Bach, makes every adjacent pair of keys the same ratio: the 12th root of 2. Divide the frequency of C# by C, or F# by F, in any octave and you get that same constant. This is why a keyboard can move from C major to D, E, F or G major with no problem. Setting that difference aside, both systems use the same 12 notes.

Naming the swaras

Taking C as the tonic, the Carnatic swaras map onto the keyboard like this:

• Sa = C and Pa = G. These never change; every melakarta raga has both.
• Ma is either F (Ma 1, Shuddha Madhyamam) or F# (Ma 2, Prati Madhyamam).
• Ri and Ga: choose any two of C#, D, D#, E. The lower becomes Ri, the higher becomes Ga.
• Da and Ni: choose any two of G#, A, A#, B. The lower becomes Da, the higher becomes Ni.

The melakarta rules

Every melakarta raga contains Sa, Pa, one of the two Ma's, a Ri-Ga pair and a Da-Ni pair, following the rules above. These rules are why there are exactly 72 melakarta ragas, not 71 or 73.

Checking C major against the rules

1. Does it have Sa? Yes, C.
2. Does it have Pa? Yes, G.
3. Does it have F or F#? Yes, F, so Shuddha Madhyamam.
4. Two notes from C#, D, D#, E? Yes, D (Ri) and E (Ga).
5. Two notes from G#, A, A#, B? Yes, A (Da) and B (Ni).

So the all-white-key major scale fits the melakarta format, and it corresponds to Shankarabharanam.

How to practise this

At the keyboard, play C major slowly and say the swara names aloud: Sa, Ri, Ga, Ma, Pa, Da, Ni, Sa. Then try the selection rules yourself: swap F for F#, or pick a different Ri-Ga pair, and notice that each valid combination gives a different melakarta scale. Remember that a keyboard only shows the notes; the way a raga approaches each note is learned by listening.

Questions about this lesson

Which Carnatic raga is the same as the C major scale?

The closest raga is Shankarabharanam, melakarta number 29. Its swaras map to C, D, E, F, G, A, B, though a raga also includes rules about emphasis and how notes are approached.

What are Shuddha Madhyamam and Prati Madhyamam?

They are the two forms of Ma. With C as Sa, Shuddha Madhyamam is F and Prati Madhyamam is F#.

How are Ri and Ga chosen in a melakarta raga?

Two notes are picked from C#, D, D#, E (with C as Sa). The lower one becomes Ri and the higher one becomes Ga; Da and Ni are chosen the same way from G#, A, A#, B.

Can you play a raga fully on a piano or harmonium?

You can play its notes, but a keyboard cannot glide smoothly from one pitch into another. That gliding approach to notes is a very important part of Indian raga and is easier on instruments like violin or veena.

Practise it

• Melakarta SphereNavigate a three-dimensional map of the melakarta system.
• Solfa StudioPractise scales, solfège and swaras with visual and musical context.
• All free music apps40 practice tools for harmony, rhythm, ear training and more.

Related lessons

• Carnatic Music Theory for Beginners: Melakarta and ShankarabharanamThe 72 melakarta ragas come from fixing Sa and Pa, choosing one of two Ma notes and one of six Ri-Ga and six Dha-Ni pairs (6 × 6 × 2 = 72); raga 29, Shankarabharanam, uses the same notes as the Western major scale.
• Scale vs Key vs Mode vs Raga: Finally ExplainedA key is the root note everything is heard against, a scale is the set of intervals chosen from that root, a key signature is how a major or relative minor scale is written in notation, a mode is the same set of notes heard with a new leader (relative) or borrowed on the same root (parallel), and a raga adds rules such as different ascending and descending notes and glides.
• Carnatic Ragas Meet Western Chords: Harmonizing Melakarta Ragas on PianoTo harmonize a Melakarta raga on piano, write out its seven notes (Sa and Pa fixed, plus one choice each of Re, Ga, Ma, Dha and Ni), then stack thirds on every note of the raga to get its triads and seventh chords, including unusual ones such as augmented and flat-five chords.
• Truly Understand Modes From 2 Easy PerspectivesYou can understand modes in two ways: treat each mode as its own scale built from one root by changing intervals, or keep one key signature, such as F major with Bb, and start on each scale degree to get Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian and Locrian.