Srutis and Svaras — beyond the 12 musical notes

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KavyaVriksha

10 min readApr 21, 2023

“Kishori Amonkar felt the real rasa of a raag was hidden in the srutis. It could not be drawn out by singing electrifying taans. It required a gentle caressing of the notes to come out.” — Analysis by her student Arun Dravid

The scale of raga Kaushi Kanada contains the svaras
S g m d n S’ — S’ n d P m g R g m R S ; However, this does not give us the full picture of the raga.

Arun Dravid, a disciple of Kishori Amonkar elaborates that “Kaunsi Kanada, a late night jod-raag, which amalgamated the melodic framework of raag Malkauns on the way up and Darbari Kanada on the way down. Both of them incorporated the flat 3rd (ga) and flat 7th (ni) in their structure, but with a slight variation in their frequencies. The accurate interpretation of Kaunsi Kanada thus required a musician to show four mildly different shades of the two notes.”

These different melodic hues of the Svara(musical note) are a result of its underlying Srutis.

Srutis and Svaras

It is fascinating that multiple forms of classical music utilize the same 12 musical notes; Wikipedia has a table called the 12-tone chromatic scale that starts with C that shows this.

In Carnatic music, these 12 musical notes were extended to 16 svaras by the brilliance of Venkatamakhi who also formulated the 72 mela framework.

See From 12 musical notes to 16 svaras for more details

M S Subbulakshmi’s Concert Tanpuras; Source: Tribute to M S Subbulakshmi (Facebook)

When we learn Indian Classical music, our first understanding of ‘Sruti’ is that it refers to the musical pitch that we sing in or the musical pitch to which the instrument is tuned to.

Explanation of Sruti in the context of musical pitch by R K Shriramkumar

The tanpura is the drone instrument that is used to maintain the pitch as the musicians perform. The nada(resonance, musical sound) of a perfectly tuned tanpura is sublime; hopefully, it will not fade into oblivion given the increased usage of electronic sruti boxes on the stage today.

The term Sruti has multiple meanings, “that which is heard, microtone, value of a note in relative frequency.” — Vidya Shankar in her book ‘The Art and Science of Carnatic Music’ [4]

In Carnatic music, some of the names for svaras reference ‘srutis’ such as chatusruti rishabham(R) and chatusruti dhaivatam(D).

Let us take a deeper dive since there are so many connotations for the term Sruti.

Melodic Symbiosis — Srutis, Svaras and Gamakas

“mere scale is not enough to give the feel of the Raga; connectivity between different notes is essential to create the beauty and aesthetics of the raga. It is the distance between the two notes that decides the kind of movement or gamaka for the svara.” — Seetha Rajan, in her Musical Explorations lecdem

In this lecdem on the treatise from the medieval period, Chaturdandi Prakasika, Sumithra Vasudev explains how its author Venkatamakhi has logically structured the first five chapters in this ancient text: Veena, Sruti, Svara, Mela and Raga.

Sumithra says it is easier to understand going backwards from the fifth chapter that focuses on ragas:

“Ragas, then Melas, their underlying framework; svaras, svaras are made up of ‘Srutis’. We cannot discern an individual sruti audibly; we hear a particular svara. Not practical to try to say and demonstrate this is the fifth sruti of the octave, they are such minute tonal units; so, how do we understand these srutis and draw them into a framework since theory requires it? What helps to do this is the veena.
By veena, it was not just the instrument with frets that was used by theoreticians; the instrument at that time that was almost like a keyboard,(based on strings, whose tension could be varied, to determine the pitch/frequencies and fix them in the octave) was also called the veena.
Hence the first chapter focused on the Veena, followed by chapters on Srutis, Svaras, Melas and then Ragas (one leading to the other).”[5]

Sumithra then shares that Venkatamakhi has two definitions for gamakas and the second definition highlights the inter-relationship between gamakas, srutis and svaras:

“First definition for gamaka is: Shaking of svara when singing/playing
Impact of Gamaka is highlighted in second definition — when the svara is sung or played with gamakam, it reveals the sruti of the position of the related svara; for instance in thodi, the gamaka of the gandhara is an oscillation from lower rishabha.”[5]

And Srutis play a role in determining the intervals between the notes which in turn shape the gamaka.

In Concept of Sruti, T S Parthasarathi clarifies: “Musically, Sruti points to the interval between notes which can be just perceived by the organs of hearing.”

Ragas transcend the 12 svaras(musical notes) because they incorporate the interim srutis with the help of gamakas(movement). This is immediately obvious to instrumentalists; that is why it is considered essential for vocalists to learn an instrument, ideally the veena.

As Jayanthi Kumaresh highlights in this insightful lecdem, while also dispelling the myth that frets corresponding to the musical notes make it easier to play the veena:

The Ri of Saveri is not in the veena fret board(it is almost Sa)
Saveri’s Dha’s position is not at the fret for Suddha Dha

Perception of Sruti across Musical Periods

Source: The Concept of Sruti, by N Ramanathan

In The Concept of Sruti, N Ramanathan states that : “A technical term like Śruti cannot be understood if we isolate it from the system or systems in which it functioned. In order to understand the concept, we have to acquaint ourselves with the entire musical system spoken of by Bharata and other ancients and the changed theoretical set-up in which medieval writers like Rāmāmātya used the term.”[8]

Gramas and 22 Srutis in Natya Sastra (between 04 BCE to 4th century)

The Natya in Natya Sastra refers to dramaturgy that includes music, dance and percussion. [9, N Ramanathan]
Grama : “as several families live in a village, several musical notes comprise a Grama.” Bharata identified two gramas — Sadja Grama and Madhya Grama. [10, S Ramanathan]
Svara: The seven svaras Shadja, Rishaba etc or seven units into which a melodic line can be broken down. Sruti: The intervals underlying the seven svaras are expressed in terms of tonal measures called Sruti. [9, N Ramanathan]
22 Srutis: “In those days, treatise writers could talk to people about intervals between notes in terms of Srutis. In the shadja grama, the interval between ni and sa was of 4 srutis, between ma and pa 3 srutis and between dha and ni of 2 srutis — intervals of 4, 3, 2, 4, 4, 3, 2 totaling 22 srutis — the magical number. There is no need to be baffled.”[10, S Ramanathan]

B Arundhati clarifies an important point along with the diagram below:

“Since the harp accompanying the saman chant was tuned to ni, the derivations of the intervals were from nishada. The distance of s from n was found to be four sruthis. As a result, this four was attached to s, saying that s = four sruthis… a simple clarification — that the number of sruthis given to each note indicates the number of sruthi intervals / units by which that note is distant from the previous note.” [6. Arundhathi B]

***Sruti Intervals — source:*** ***The concepts and application of Sruthis and Gamakas in South Indian Classical Music by Arundhathi B***

22 mathras in Tamil Music in Cilappadikaram

In APPLICATION OF SRUTIS TO RAGAS, musician and musicologist S Ramanathan shares that “Cilapadikaram, the Tamil Classic, mentions 22 mathras. The Tamils had a fundamental scale with intervals of 4, 4, 3, 2, 4, 3, 2 totaling 22.”

How many Srutis exist?

“The answer is: many. Maybe twenty-two (per the great thirteenth century musicologist Śārṅgadeva), maybe sixty-six (a commonly cited count), maybe an infinite number (according to the Bṛhaddeśī, one of our earliest musicological treatises). In any given rāga scale, śrutis will be distributed among the svaras in groups of twos, threes, or fours, each such group defining an acoustic range that may also include the svara’s identity“ [David Shulman, 11]

“Like the course of fish swimming in the water or of birds flying in the sky, Sruti eludes identification, and can be reached only by effort, like the fire latent in wood or the curd in milk.” — Naradiyasiksa (translated by Hema Ramanathan)[1]

A critical point of clarification by N Ramanathan in The Concept of Sruti:

“Some scholars have attempted to locate the twenty-two śruti positions in the various ragas, for instance, the ēkaśruti-ṛṣabha in Gauḷa, dviśruti-ṛṣabha in Māḷavagauḷa, etc. It is clearly seen that in such an event these twenty-two do not remain śrutis but become svaras. Śrutis are not singable entities. If the rishabha(Ri) is flattened and sung, ekaśruti is used as an adjective to indicate this flattened Ri, we cannot claim that the first śruti of Ri is sung.”

Hence, what we hear is a particular svara being sung along with its intonations. N Ramanathan further clarifies with the example of the Chatushruti Ri (higher Ri) that is found in the ragas — Kalyani, Sankarabaranam and Shanmukhapriya:

For the theoretical purpose of classifying ragas, it is given the same name — Chatushruti Ri; however, when it is sung or played on an instrument, it is distinct for each raga i.e the Kalyani Ri is different from the Sankarabaranam Ri which is different than the Shanmukhapriya Ri [10].

An accurate portrayal of a raga is achieved only by “effort” as the Naradiyasiksha eloquently stipulates. As S Ramanathan states: “The note is what is written and the tone is what we hear.”

Carnatic Music — Examples where the raga’s svaras are higher or lower than the named svaras

Source: APPLICATION OF SRUTIS TO RAGAS by S Ramanathan

In APPLICATION OF SRUTIS TO RAGAS, musician and musicologist S Ramanathan illustrates “srutis in ragas” with these examples and additional insights:

Lower Ri

Saveri (“SavE Ri — the Sa itself is Ri”)
Vasantha (“this Ri gets elongated”)

Higher Ri

Lower Ga

Higher Ga

Sankarabaranam
Devagandhari — “It is really the madhyama reduced and shows how the experts have studied these musical intervals.”

Lower Ma

Higher Ma

Saranga (“occurs without gamaka”)
Varali (“It is however wrong to apply this to other pratimadhyama ragas.”)

Lower Dha

Higher Dha

Nayaki (“elongated”)
Sankarabaranam

Lower Ni

Higher Ni

Hindustani Music — Examples where the raga’s svaras are higher or lower than the named svaras

Source: Sangeetha Shankar Creations — 22 Srutis Simplified

In Sangeetha Shankar Creations — 22 Srutis Simplified, examples of Hindustani ragas whose actual notes are higher or lower than the named komal or shudh svaras are shared. It is based on the research by Vidyadhar Oke who has created a harmonium with keys for these interim notes. The associated ragas are illustrated melodiously on the violin by N Rajam.

“Just one single sthaan(position) for each svara does not suffice; each raga has its own shade; when playing a particular raga, to ensure each of its svaras occur in their precise position requires such hard work, needs such meticulous concentration; and when you achieve that precise and perfect “sthaan” for that raga’s svaras, the happiness you get is indescribable” — N Rajam

Komal Ri

Komal Ga

Teevra Ma

Komal Dha

Shudh Ni

Differentiating Two Ragas, “same” svaras in ascent and descent

Ragas Bhupali and Deshkar, both contain the notes S R G P D S; however, they differ when being performed since the Ga in Bhupali is lower than the Ga in Deshkar

Bhupali and Deshkar

Coming full circle — Pitch/Sruti that which is “heard”

Wikipedia defines Pitch as “Pitch is an auditory sensation in which a listener assigns musical tones to relative positions on a musical scale based primarily on their perception of the frequency of vibration (audio frequency).Pitch is closely related to frequency, but the two are not equivalent. Frequency is an objective, scientific attribute that can be measured. Pitch is each person’s subjective perception of a sound wave, which cannot be directly measured.”

In this tutorial, Siddhant Pruthi emphasizes the importance of attentive listening and training the ear to be able to differentiate and ultimately adhere to pitch: