Pentatonic Scales in Carnatic Music: Janya Ragas for Beginners

In Carnatic music the Western major pentatonic (C D E G A) is the raga Mohanam and the minor pentatonic (1, b3, 4, 5, b7) is Suddha Dhanyasi; both are janya ragas, derived from parent scales.

Video lesson by Jason Zac · Beginner · 5 min

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This beginner lesson looks at Carnatic classical music through the eyes of a Western music student. Hosted by Jason Zac, it features Nathaniel School of Music alumnus Raghavan Subramanian, who links the two pentatonic scales you already know from Western music to their Carnatic names. It follows an earlier part of the series on major and minor scales and melakartas, and is ideal if you want to bring some Indian classical colour into your playing.

What is a janya raga?

Carnatic music organises its parent scales as melakarta ragas. Ragas derived from them, often by leaving notes out, are called janya ragas. Pentatonic (five-note) scales fall into this janya family.

The major pentatonic: Mohanam

Western music has two main pentatonic scales, the major pentatonic and the minor pentatonic. The major pentatonic in C uses the notes C D E G A C. It is simply the C major scale with the 4th and 7th notes (F and B) removed.

In Carnatic music this scale is the raga Mohanam. A huge number of songs use it, both in classical Carnatic music and in Indian film music.

The black-key shortcut

There is a handy way to remember the major pentatonic on the piano. Start on Gb (also called F#) and play only the black keys up to the next Gb. Those five black keys form a major pentatonic scale, so you get the sound of Mohanam straight away. You can also play it in a higher octave.

So there are two ways to remember it:

• Take a major scale and drop the 4th and 7th notes.
• Play all the black keys starting from Gb.

The minor pentatonic: Suddha Dhanyasi

The minor pentatonic comes from the natural minor scale. Number the minor scale 1 2 3 4 5 6 7, then drop the 2nd and 6th notes. What remains is the 1st, the minor 3rd, the 4th, the 5th and the minor 7th.

In Carnatic music this is the raga Suddha Dhanyasi. Like Mohanam, it appears in a great deal of classical and film music.

Other important ragas to know

Some important ragas have no direct Western equivalent, but they are worth hearing as a gentle step outside Western music.

Mayamalavagowla

This is the very first raga taught to almost every Carnatic student. It is a melakarta (parent) raga, number 15 in the system. Its sound is the one you often hear in documentaries about India, where a simple run up and down the scale gives an instant Indian flavour.

Shivaranjani

Shivaranjani is another very important pentatonic raga, used widely for sad, melancholic moods. In C it uses C D Eb G A C. Notice that it is the major pentatonic with the 3rd lowered from E to Eb.

Misra Shivaranjani

If you add E alongside the Eb in Shivaranjani, it becomes Misra Shivaranjani. Both Shivaranjani and Misra Shivaranjani are very popular in Indian light music and film music.

How to practise

1. Play the C major scale, then play it again leaving out F and B to hear Mohanam.
2. Play all the black keys from Gb up to Gb and notice that it is the same major pentatonic sound.
3. Play a natural minor scale, then leave out the 2nd and 6th to hear Suddha Dhanyasi.
4. Play C D Eb G A C slowly to feel the melancholy of Shivaranjani, then add E to explore Misra Shivaranjani.
5. Say the Carnatic name aloud each time you play a scale, so the two systems link up in your memory.

Questions about this lesson

What is the major pentatonic scale called in Carnatic music?

It is called Mohanam. In C it uses C D E G A, which is the C major scale without F and B.

Which Carnatic raga matches the minor pentatonic scale?

Suddha Dhanyasi. It is the natural minor scale with the 2nd and 6th notes removed, leaving the 1st, minor 3rd, 4th, 5th and minor 7th.

What notes are in raga Shivaranjani?

In C, Shivaranjani uses C D Eb G A. It is often used for sad or melancholic moods, and adding E alongside the Eb turns it into Misra Shivaranjani.

What is the first raga taught in Carnatic music?

Most Carnatic students begin with Mayamalavagowla, which is melakarta raga number 15. It is the sound often used in documentaries to suggest an Indian flavour.

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.
• Carnatic Music Theory for Beginners: Scales and Western SimilaritiesIn 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).
• 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.
• 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.